summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorRoger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>2025-10-15 02:14:09 -0700
committerRoger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>2025-10-15 02:14:09 -0700
commit7dcc3e2a1cb5db84c09ade77aede8eae0ea28fa0 (patch)
tree89c3079c0a7414f72558454446b502eca988f0d7
initial commit of ebook 24728HEADmain
-rw-r--r--.gitattributes3
-rw-r--r--24728-8.txt7672
-rw-r--r--24728-8.zipbin0 -> 169030 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h.zipbin0 -> 3143032 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/24728-h.htm8745
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/014.jpgbin0 -> 101821 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/020.jpgbin0 -> 46441 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/028.jpgbin0 -> 34733 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/032.jpgbin0 -> 38936 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/039.jpgbin0 -> 48987 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/048.jpgbin0 -> 97911 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/055.jpgbin0 -> 35111 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/060.jpgbin0 -> 42752 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/066.jpgbin0 -> 26306 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/072.jpgbin0 -> 49775 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/074.jpgbin0 -> 30343 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/079.jpgbin0 -> 23253 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/085.jpgbin0 -> 47856 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/093.jpgbin0 -> 63644 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/097.jpgbin0 -> 71980 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/104.jpgbin0 -> 100983 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/111.jpgbin0 -> 46279 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/122.jpgbin0 -> 116745 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/134.jpgbin0 -> 146140 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/138.jpgbin0 -> 44478 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/143.jpgbin0 -> 98573 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/148.jpgbin0 -> 19643 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/152.jpgbin0 -> 130282 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/156.jpgbin0 -> 50140 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/163.jpgbin0 -> 43796 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/172.jpgbin0 -> 40057 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/177.jpgbin0 -> 40122 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/181.jpgbin0 -> 103499 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/188.jpgbin0 -> 64180 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/191.jpgbin0 -> 130221 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/197.jpgbin0 -> 36596 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/208.jpgbin0 -> 29320 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/220.jpgbin0 -> 69362 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/235.jpgbin0 -> 39393 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/238.jpgbin0 -> 42837 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/241.jpgbin0 -> 125570 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/245.jpgbin0 -> 60696 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/250.jpgbin0 -> 28311 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/255.jpgbin0 -> 36442 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/264.jpgbin0 -> 41776 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/270.jpgbin0 -> 52803 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/279.jpgbin0 -> 141761 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/284.jpgbin0 -> 39649 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/289.jpgbin0 -> 45190 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/295.jpgbin0 -> 72433 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/306.jpgbin0 -> 48390 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/311.jpgbin0 -> 45368 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/318.jpgbin0 -> 79112 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728-h/images/titlepage.jpgbin0 -> 29282 bytes
-rw-r--r--24728.txt7672
-rw-r--r--24728.zipbin0 -> 169001 bytes
-rw-r--r--LICENSE.txt11
-rw-r--r--README.md2
58 files changed, 24105 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/24728-8.txt b/24728-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae99d46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7672 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories Of Georgia, by Joel Chandler Harris
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Stories Of Georgia
+ 1896
+
+Author: Joel Chandler Harris
+
+Release Date: March 2, 2008 [EBook #24728]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF GEORGIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF GEORGIA
+
+By Joel Chandler Harris
+
+Copyright, 1896, by American Book Company
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+In preparing the pages that follow, the writer has had in view the
+desirability of familiarizing the youth of Georgia with the salient
+facts of the State's history in a way that shall make the further study
+of that history a delight instead of a task. The ground has been gone
+over before by various writers, but the narratives that are here retold,
+and the characterizations that are here attempted, have not been brought
+together heretofore. They lie wide apart in volumes that are little
+known and out of print.
+
+The stories and the characterizations have been grouped together so
+as to form a series of connecting links in the rise and progress of
+Georgia; yet it must not be forgotten that these links are themselves
+connected with facts and events in the State's development that are
+quite as interesting, and of as far-reaching importance, as those that
+have been narrated here. Some such suggestion as this, it is hoped,
+will cross the minds of young students, and lead them to investigate for
+themselves the interesting intervals that lie between.
+
+It is unfortunately true that there is no history of Georgia in which
+the dry bones of facts have been clothed with the flesh and blood of
+popular narrative. Colonel Charles C. Jones saw what was needed,
+and entered upon the task of writing the history of the State with
+characteristic enthusiasm. He had not proceeded far, however, when the
+fact dawned upon his mind that such a work as he contemplated must be
+for the most part a labor of love. He felt the influence of cold neglect
+from every source that might have been expected to afford him aid and
+encouragement. He was almost compelled to confine himself to a bare
+recital of facts, for he had reason to know that, at the end of his
+task, public inappreciation was awaiting him.
+
+And yet it seems to the present writer that every person interested
+in the growth and development of the republic should turn with eager
+attention to a narrative embodying the events that have marked the
+progress of Georgia. It was in this State that some of the most
+surprising and spectacular scenes of the Revolution took place. In one
+corner of Georgia those who were fighting for the independence of the
+republic made their last desperate stand; and if they had surrendered to
+the odds that faced them, the battle of King's Mountain would never have
+been fought, Greene's southern campaign would have been crippled, and
+the struggle for liberty in the south would have ended in smoke.
+
+It is to illustrate the larger events that these stories have been
+written; and while some of them may seem far away from this point of
+view, they all have one common purpose and tend to one common end.
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF GEORGIA.
+
+
+
+
+A SEARCH FOR TREASURE.
+
+[Illustration: De Soto 014]
+
+So far as written records tell us, Hernando de Soto and his companions
+in arms were the first white men to enter and explore the territory now
+known on the map as the State of Georgia. Tradition has small voice in
+the matter, but such as it has tells another story. There are hints that
+other white men ventured into this territory before De Soto and his men
+beheld it. General Oglethorpe, when he came to Georgia with his gentle
+colony, which had been tamed and sobered by misfortune and ill luck,
+was firmly of the opinion that Sir Walter Raleigh, the famous soldier,
+sailor, and scholar, had been there before him. So believing, the
+founder of the Georgian Colony carried with him Sir Walter's diary. He
+was confirmed in his opinion by a tradition, among the Indians of the
+Yamacraw tribe, that Raleigh had landed where Savannah now stands.
+There are also traditions in regard to the visits of other white men
+to Georgia. These traditions may be true, or they may be the results
+of dreams, but it is certain that De Soto and his picked company of
+Spaniards were the first to march through the territory that is now
+Georgia. The De Soto expedition was made up of the flower of Spanish
+chivalry,--men Used to war, and fond of adventure. Some of them were
+soldiers, anxious to win fame by feats of arms in a new land; some were
+missionaries, professing an anxiety for the souls of such heathen as
+they might encounter, but even these men were not unfamiliar with the
+use of the sword; some were physicians, as ready to kill as to heal;
+some were botanists, who knew as much about the rapier and the poniard
+as they did about the stamens, pistils, and petals of the flowers;
+and some were reporters, men selected to write the history of the
+expedition. As it turned out, these reporters were entirely faithful
+to their trust They told all that happened with a fidelity that
+leaves nothing to be desired. The record they have left shows that the
+expedition was bent on finding gold and other treasures.
+
+On the 30th of May, 1539, De Soto's expedition landed at Tampa Bay,
+Fla., and his men pitched their tents on the beach. The army was not
+a large one; but it was made up of chosen men, who were used to the
+dangers of war, and who, as stated before, were fond of adventure. There
+was but one gray head in the expedition: therefore, though the army was
+a small one, it was the most enthusiastic and warlike array that had
+ever been seen in the New World. The soldiers wore rich armor, and
+the cavalry rode gayly caparisoned horses. The army was accompanied by
+slaves and mules to bear the burdens. It had artillery and other weapons
+of war; handcuffs, neck collars, and chains for prisoners; crucibles for
+refining gold; bloodhounds, greyhounds, and a drove of hogs.
+
+For nearly a year the little army of De Soto wandered about in Florida,
+ransacking the burying grounds of the Indians in search of treasures,
+and committing such other depredations as were common to the
+civilization of that age. When inquiries were made for gold, the
+Indians always pointed toward the north; and, following these hints,
+the expedition pursued its way through Florida, wandering about in the
+swamps and slashes, but always held together by the enthusiasm of the
+men and their hopes of securing rich spoils.
+
+On the 3d of March, 1540, De Soto's army left Anhayca, which is said to
+have been near the site of Tallahassee, and marched northward. Before
+leaving the Spaniards seized from the Indians a large supply of maize
+(now commonly known as corn), and appropriated whatever else struck
+their fancy. They had spent some time with the Indians at this town of
+Anhayca, and had sent out parties that committed depredations wherever
+an Indian settlement could be found. They made slaves of many Indians,
+treating them with more severity than they treated their beasts of
+burden. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Indians, discovering the
+greed of the Spaniards for gold, should have spread rumors that large
+quantities of the yellow metal were to be found farther north.
+
+Reports came to the Spaniards of a wonderful Indian queen who reigned
+at a place called Yupaha, a settlement as large as a city. One day an
+Indian boy, who had been brought to camp with other prisoners, told the
+Spaniards a good deal about this great Indian queen. He said that she
+ruled not only her own people, but all the neighboring chiefs, and as
+far as the Indian settlements extended. The boy told the Spaniards that
+all the Indians paid tribute to this great queen, and sent her fine
+presents of clothing and gold. De Soto and his men cared nothing about
+fine clothing. They were greedy only for gold and precious stones. They
+asked the Indian boy many questions, and he answered them all. He
+told how the gold was taken from the earth, and how it was melted and
+refined. His description was so exact that the Spaniards no longer
+had any doubt. Their spirits rose mightily, and, after robbing and
+plundering the Indians who had fed and sheltered them during the winter
+months, they broke up their camp and moved northward.
+
+Four days after leaving Tallahassee, the Spaniards came to a deep river,
+which Colonel C. C. Jones, jun., in his "History of Georgia," says was
+the Ocklockonnee, very close to the southwest boundary of Georgia. Two
+days later they came to an Indian village from which the inhabitants
+fled, but a little later a squad of five soldiers was set upon by the
+Indians hiding near the encampment. One of the Spaniards was killed,
+while three others were badly wounded. De Soto left this Indian village
+on the 11th of March, and presently came to a piece of country which the
+Spanish historian describes as a desert. But it was not a desert then,
+and it is not a desert now. It was really a pine barren, such as may
+be seen to this day in what is called the wire-grass region of southern
+Georgia. In these barrens the soil is sandy and the land level,
+stretching away for miles. De Soto and his men saw the primeval pines;
+but these have long since disappeared, and their places are taken by
+pines of a smaller growth. On the 21st of March, the Spaniards came to
+the Ocmulgee River, near which they found an Indian town called Toalli.
+
+There will always be a dispute about the route followed by De Soto in
+his march. This dispute is interesting, but not important. Some say that
+the expedition moved parallel with the coast until the Savannah River
+was reached, at a point twenty-five miles below Augusta; but it is just
+as probable that the route, after reaching the Ocmulgee, was along the
+banks of that stream and in a northwesterly direction.
+
+At Toalli the Indians had summer and winter houses to live in, and they
+had storehouses for their maize. The women wore blankets or shawls made
+of the fiber of silk grass, and the blankets were dyed vermilion or
+black. Thenceforward the Indians whom the Spaniards met with were of a
+higher order of intelligence, and of a more industrious turn, than those
+left behind in Florida and along the southern boundary of Georgia.
+
+As De Soto marched along, he seized Indians and made guides of them,
+or made prisoners and held them until he was furnished with guides and
+interpreters. He also announced to the Indians that he was the Child of
+the Sun, who had been sent to seek out the greatest Prince and Princess.
+This made a great impression on the Indians, many of whom were sun
+worshipers.
+
+Many times during the march the Spaniards were on the point of
+starvation, and the account of their sufferings as set forth in the
+history of the expedition is intended to be quite pathetic. We need
+not pause to shed any tears over these things, for the sufferings the
+Spaniards endured were nothing compared to the sufferings they inflicted
+on the Indians. They murdered and robbed right and left, and no doubt
+the Indians regarded them as demons rather than Christians. More
+than once when the Spaniards were wandering aimlessly about in the
+wilderness, they were found by the Indians and saved from starvation. In
+turn the simple-minded natives were treated with a harshness that would
+be beyond belief if the sickening details were not piously set forth by
+the Spanish historian of the expedition.
+
+[Illustration: Indian Queen 020]
+
+About the 28th of April the expedition reached the neighborhood of
+Cutifachiqui, having been told by three Indians whom they had taken,
+that the queen of that province knew of the approach of the Spaniards,
+and was awaiting them at her chief town just across the river. As De
+Soto came to the shore of the stream, four canoes started from the
+opposite side. One of them contained a kinswoman of the queen, who
+had been selected to invite the Spaniards to enter the town. Shortly
+afterwards the queen came forth from the town, seated on a palanquin or
+litter, which was borne by the principal men. Coming to the water side,
+the queen entered a canoe, over the stern of which was stretched an
+awning to shelter her from the sun.
+
+Under this awning she reclined on cushions; and thus, in company with
+her chiefs, and attended by many of her people in canoes, she crossed
+the river to meet De Soto. She landed, and gave the Spaniard a gracious
+welcome. As an offering of peace and good will, she took from her neck
+a long string of pearls, and gave the gems to De Soto. She also gave him
+many shawls and finely dressed deerskins. The Spaniard acknowledged the
+beautiful gifts by taking from his hand a gold ring set with a ruby, and
+placing it upon one of the queen's fingers.
+
+The old historian pretends that De Soto and his men were very much
+impressed by the dignity and courtesy of the Indian queen. She was the
+first woman ruler they had met in their wanderings. She was tall, finely
+formed, and had great beauty of countenance. She was both gracious and
+graceful. All this is set down in the most pompous way by the Spanish
+chroniclers; but the truth seems to be that De Soto and his men cared
+nothing for the courtesy and hospitality of the queen, and that they
+were not moved by her beauty and kindness. The Spaniards crossed the
+river in canoes furnished by the queen's people, and found themselves
+surrounded by the most hospitable Indians they had yet seen. They were
+supplied with everything the land afforded, and rested in comfortable
+wigwams under the shade of mulberry trees. The soldiers were so
+delighted with the situation, that they were anxious to form a
+settlement there; but De Soto refused to forget the only object of
+the expedition, which was to search for gold and other treasures. His
+determination had the desired effect His men recovered their energies.
+While enjoying the hospitality of the queen, they found out the burial
+places of her people, and gathered from the graves, according to the
+statement of the Spanish historian, "three hundred and fifty weight of
+pearls, and figures of babies and birds, made from iridescent shells."
+
+The mother of the queen lived not far from the town where the Spaniards
+were quartered, and, as she was said to be the owner of many fine
+pearls, De Soto expressed a desire to see her. Upon hearing this, the
+queen sent twelve of her principal men to beg her mother to come to
+see the white strangers and the wonderful animals they had brought
+with them; but the mother of the queen was very shrewd. She rebuked the
+messengers, and sent them back with some sharp words for her daughter;
+and though De Soto did his best to capture the woman, he was never able
+to carry out his purpose.
+
+He then turned his attention to a temple that stood on the side of
+a deserted settlement which had formerly been the chief town of the
+queen's people. This temple, as described by the Spanish chronicler,
+was more than one hundred steps long by forty broad, the walls high in
+proportion, and the roof elevated so as to allow the water to run off.
+On the roof were various shells arranged in artistic order, and the
+shells were connected by strings of pearls. These pearls extended from
+the top of the roof to the bottom in long festoons, and the sun shining
+on them produced a very brilliant effect. At the door of the temple were
+twelve giant-like statues made of wood. These figures were so ferocious
+in their appearance, that the Spaniards hesitated for some time before
+they could persuade themselves to enter the temple. The statues were
+armed with clubs, maces, copper axes, and pikes ornamented with copper
+at both ends. In the middle of the temple were three rows of chests,
+placed one upon another in the form of pyramids. Each pyramid consisted
+of five or six chests, the largest at the bottom, and the smallest at
+the top. These chests, the Spanish chroniclers say, were filled with
+pearls, the largest containing the finest pearls, and the smallest only
+seed pearls.
+
+It is just as well to believe a little of this as to believe a great
+deal. It was an easy matter for the survivors of the expedition to
+exaggerate these things, and they probably took great liberties with
+the facts; but there is no doubt that the Indians possessed many pearls.
+Mussels like those from which they took the gems are still to be found
+in the small streams and creeks of Georgia, and an enterprising
+boy might even now be able to find a seed pearl if he sought for it
+patiently.
+
+It is not to be doubted that rich stores of pearls were found. Some were
+distributed to the officers and men; but the bulk of them, strange to
+say, were left undisturbed, to await the return of the Spaniards another
+day. De Soto was still intent on searching for gold, and he would hear
+of nothing else. He would neither settle among the queen's people for a
+season, nor return to Tampa with the great store of pearls discovered.
+Being a resolute man and of few words, he had his way, and made
+preparations to journey farther north to the province called Chiaha,
+which was governed by a great Indian king. The conduct of the Spaniards
+had been so cruel during their stay at Cutifachiqui, that the queen had
+come to regard them with fear and hatred, and she refused to supply
+them with guides and burden bearers. De Soto thereupon placed her under
+guard; and when he took up his march for Chiaha, the queen who had
+received him with so much grace, dignity, and hospitality, was compelled
+to accompany him on foot, escorted by her female attendants. The old
+Spanish chronicler is moved to remark that "it was not so good usage
+as she deserved for the good will she shewed and the good entertainment
+that she had made him." This was the return the Spanish leader made
+to the queen who had received and entertained his army,--to seize her,
+place her under guard, and compel her to accompany his expedition on
+foot.
+
+One reason why De Soto made the queen his prisoner and carried her with
+the expedition was to use her influence in controlling the Indians along
+his line of march. The result was all that he could have expected. In
+all the towns through which the Spaniards passed, the queen commanded
+the Indians to carry the burdens of the army; and thus they went for a
+hundred leagues, the Indians obeying the queen without question. After a
+march of seven days, De Soto arrived at the province of Chelaque, which
+was the country of the Cherokees. Here the soldiers added to their
+stores of provisions, and renewed their march; and on May 15 they
+arrived in the province of Xualla, the chief town of which is supposed
+to have been situated in the Nacoochee valley. Inclining his course
+westwardly from the Nacoochee valley, De Soto set out for Guaxule, which
+marked the limit of the queen's dominion, and which has been identified
+as Old Town, in Murray County. On this march the queen made her escape,
+taking with her a cane box filled with large pearls of great value. This
+box had been borne by one of the queen's attendants up to the moment
+when she disappeared from the Spanish camp. De Soto made every effort
+to recapture the queen. No doubt the bloodhounds, which formed a part of
+the expedition, were called in to aid in the search; but it was all to
+no purpose. The queen hid herself as easily as a young partridge hides,
+and neither men nor dogs could find her. De Soto went on his way,
+deploring the loss of the valuable pearls.
+
+From Nacoochee to Murray County the march was fatiguing. The route lay
+over mountains as well as valleys. One of the foot soldiers, Juan Terron
+(his folly has caused history to preserve his name), grew so weary on
+this march, that he drew from his wallet a linen bag containing six
+pounds of pearls. Calling to a cavalryman, Juan Terron offered him the
+bag of pearls if he would carry them. The cavalryman refused the offer,
+and told his comrade to keep them. But Juan Terron would not have it so.
+He untied the bag, whirled it around his head, and scattered the pearls
+in all directions. This done, he replaced the empty bag in his wallet,
+and marched on, leaving his companions amazed at his folly. Thirty of
+the pearls were recovered by the soldiers. The gems were of great size,
+and perfect in every particular; and it was estimated that the six
+pounds of pearls would have fetched six thousand ducats in Spain (over
+twelve thousand dollars). The folly of the foot soldier gave rise to
+a saying in the army, that is no doubt current in Spain to this
+day,--"There are no pearls for Juan Terron," which means that a fool
+makes no profits.
+
+Continuing their march, the Spaniards came to the town of Chiaha,--a
+site that is now occupied by the flourishing city of Rome. De Soto
+remained at Chiaha a month, sending out exploring expeditions in search
+of the much-coveted gold. They found traces of the precious metal, but
+nothing more. On the 1st of July, 1540, De Soto left Chiaha, going down
+the valley of the Coosa. His expedition was organized by the spirit of
+greed. It spread desolation wherever it went, and it ended in disaster
+and despair. De Soto himself found a grave in the waters of the
+Mississippi, and the survivors who made their way back home were broken
+in health and spirits.
+
+An attempt has been made to throw a halo of romance over this march
+of the Spaniards through the wilderness of the New World, but there
+is nothing romantic or inspiring about it. It was simply a search for
+riches, in which hundreds of lives were most cruelly sacrificed, and
+thousands of homes destroyed.
+
+
+
+
+OGLETHORPE AND HIS GENTLE COLONY
+
+General James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of the Colony of Georgia,
+was among the few really good and great men that history tells us of.
+We need to keep a close eye on the antics of history. She places the
+laurels of fame in the hands of butchers, plunderers, and adventurers,
+and even assassins share her favors; so that, if we are going to enjoy
+the feast that history offers us, we must not inquire too closely into
+the characters of the men whom she makes heroes of. We find, when we
+come to look into the matter, that but few of those who figured as the
+great men of the world have been entirely unselfish; and unselfishness
+is the test of a man who is really good and great. Judged by this test,
+General Oglethorpe stands among the greatest men known to history.
+
+He had served in the army with distinction, as his father had before
+him. He was on the staff of the great soldier Eugene of Savoy, and
+under that commander made himself conspicuous by his fidelity and
+fearlessness. A story is told of him that is interesting, if not
+characteristic. While serving under Eugene, he one day found himself
+sitting at table with a prince of Würtemberg. He was a beardless
+youngster, and the prince thought to have some sport with him. Taking up
+a glass of wine, the prince gave it a fillip, so that a little flew in
+Oglethorpe's face. The young Englishman, looking straight at the prince,
+and smiling, said, "My prince, that is only a part of the joke as the
+English know it: I will show you the whole of it." With that he threw a
+glassful of wine in the prince's face. An old general who sat by laughed
+dryly, and remarked, "He did well, my prince: you began it."
+
+[Illustration: Oglethorpe 028]
+
+Born in 1689, Oglethorpe entered the English army when twenty-one years
+of age. In 1714 he became captain lieutenant of the first troop of the
+queen's guards. He shortly afterwards joined Eugene on the continent,
+and remained with that soldier until the peace of 1718. On the death of
+his brother, he succeeded to the family estate in England. In 1722 he
+was elected to Parliament from Haslemere, county of Surrey, and
+this borough he represented continuously for thirty-two years. His
+parliamentary career was marked by wise prudence and consistency;
+and his sympathies were warmly enlisted for the relief of unfortunate
+soldiers, and in securing reform in the conduct of prisons. In this way
+Oglethorpe became a philanthropist, and, without intending it, attracted
+the attention of all England. Pope, the poet, eulogizes his "strong
+benevolence of soul."
+
+In that day and time, men were imprisoned for debt in England. The
+law was brutal, and those who executed it were cruel. There was no
+discrimination between fraud and misfortune. The man who was unable to
+pay his debts was judged to be as criminal as the man who, though able,
+refused to pay. Both were thrown into the same prison, and subjected
+to the same hardships. In "Little Dorrit," Charles Dickens has told
+something of those unfortunates who were thrown into prison for debt.
+
+There was apparently nothing too atrocious to be sanctioned by the
+commercial ambition of the English. It armed creditors with the power to
+impose the most cruel burdens upon their debtors, and it sanctioned the
+slave trade. Many crimes have been committed to promote the commercial
+supremacy of Great Britain, and on that blind policy was based the law
+which suffered innocent debtors to be deprived of their liberty and
+thrown into prison.
+
+This condition of affairs Oglethorpe set himself to reform; and while
+thus engaged, he became impressed with the idea that many of the
+unfortunates, guilty of no crime, and of respectable connections, might
+benefit themselves, relieve England of the shame of their imprisonment,
+and confirm and extend the dominion of the mother country in the New
+World, by being freed from the claims of those to whom they owed money,
+on condition that they would consent to become colonists in America.
+To this class were to be added recruits from those who, through lack
+of work and of means, were likely to be imprisoned on account of their
+misfortunes. Oglethorpe was also of the opinion that men of means,
+enterprise, and ambition could be enlisted in the cause; and in this he
+was not mistaken.
+
+He had no hope whatever of personal gain or private benefit. The plan
+that he had conceived was entirely for the benefit of the unfortunate,
+based on broad and high ideas of benevolence; and so thoroughly was this
+understood, that Oglethorpe had no difficulty whatever in securing
+the aid of men of wealth and influence. A charter or grant from the
+government was applied for, in order that the scheme might have the
+sanction and authority of the government. Accordingly a charter was
+granted, and the men most prominent in the scheme of benevolence were
+incorporated under the name of "The Trustees for establishing the
+Colony of Georgia in America." Georgia in America, was, under the terms
+of the charter, a pretty large slice of America. It embraced all that
+part of the continent lying between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers,
+and extending westerly from the heads of these rivers in direct lines to
+the South Seas; so that the original territory of Georgia extended from
+ocean to ocean.
+
+In aid of this enterprise, Oglethorpe not only contributed largely from
+his private means, and solicited contributions from his wealthy friends,
+but wrote a tract in which he used arguments that were practical as well
+as ingenious.
+
+On the 17th of November, 1732, all arrangements having been completed,
+the "Anne" set sail for the Colony of Georgia, accompanied by
+Oglethorpe, who furnished his own cabin, and laid in provisions not
+only for himself, but for his fellow-passengers. On the 13th of January,
+1733, the "Anne" anchored in Charleston harbor. From Charleston the
+vessel sailed to Port Royal; and the colonists were soon quartered
+in the barracks of Beaufort-town, which had been prepared for their
+reception. Oglethorpe left the colonists at Beaufort, and, in company
+with Colonel William Bull, proceeded to the Savannah River. He went up
+this stream as far as Yamacraw Bluff, which he selected as the site of
+the settlement he was about to make. He marked out the town, and named
+it Savannah. The site was a beautiful one in Oglethorpe's day, and it is
+still more beautiful now. The little settlement that the founder of the
+Colony marked out has grown into a flourishing city, and art has added
+its advantages to those of nature to make Savannah one of the most
+beautiful cities in the United States.
+
+Close by the site which Oglethorpe chose for his colony was an Indian
+village occupied by the Yamacraws,--a small tribe, of which Tomochichi
+was chief. At this point, too, was a trading post, which had been
+established by a white man named John Musgrove. This man had married a
+half-breed woman whose Indian name was Coosaponakesee, but who was
+known as Mary Musgrove. In order to insure the friendly reception of his
+little colony and its future safety, Oglethorpe went to the village and
+had a talk with Tomochichi. Mary Musgrove not only acted as interpreter,
+but used her influence, which was very great, in favor of her husband's
+countrymen. This was fortunate, for the Indians were very uneasy when
+they learned that a colony of whites was to be established near their
+village, and some of them even threatened to use force to prevent it;
+but Oglethorpe's friendly attitude, and Mary Musgrove's influence, at
+last persuaded them to give their consent. They made an agreement to
+cede the necessary land, and promised to receive the colonists in a
+friendly manner. Oglethorpe returned to Beaufort when he had concluded
+this treaty, and the Sunday following his return was celebrated as a day
+of thanksgiving. After religious services there was a barbecue, which,
+history tells us, consisted of four fat hogs, turkeys, fowls English
+beef, a hogshead of punch, a hogshead of beer, and a quantity of wine.
+
+[Illustration: Mary Musgrove 032]
+
+On the 30th of January, 1733, the immigrants set sail from Beaufort, and
+on the afternoon of the next day they arrived at Yamacraw Bluff. On the
+site of the town that had already been marked off, they pitched four
+tents large enough to accommodate all the people. Oglethorpe, after
+posting his sentinels, slept on the ground under the shelter of the
+tall pines, near the central watch fire. As a soldier should, he slept
+soundly. He had planted the new Colony, and thus far all had gone well
+with him and with those whose interests he had charge of.
+
+To bring these colonists across the ocean, and place them in a position
+where they might begin life anew, was not a very difficult undertaking;
+but to plant a colony amongst savages already suspicious of the whites,
+and to succeed in obtaining their respect, friendship, and aid, was
+something that required wisdom, courage, prudence, and large experience.
+This Oglethorpe did; and it is to his credit, that, during the time he
+had charge of the Colony, he never in any shape or form took advantage
+of the ignorance of the Indians. His method of dealing with them was
+very simple. He conciliated them by showing them that the whites could
+be just, fair, and honorable in their dealings; and thus, in the very
+beginning, he won the friendship of those whose enmity to the little
+Colony would have proved ruinous.
+
+Providence favored Oglethorpe in this matter. He had to deal with an
+Indian chief full of years, wisdom, and experience. This was Tomochichi,
+who was at the head of the Yamacraws. From this kindly Indian the
+Georgia Colony received untold benefits. He remained the steadfast
+friend of the settlers, and used his influence in their behalf in every
+possible way, and on all occasions. Although he was a very old man,
+he was strong and active, and of commanding presence. He possessed
+remarkable intelligence; and this, added to his experience, made him one
+of the most remarkable of the Indians whose names have been preserved
+in history. There was something of a mystery about him that adds to the
+interest which his active friendship for the whites has given to his
+name. He belonged to the tribe of Lower Creeks; but for some reason or
+other, he, with a number of his tribemen, had been banished. The cause
+of his exile has never been made known; but at this late day it may be
+guessed that he became disgusted with the factional disputes among the
+Creeks, and sought in another part of the territory the peace and repose
+to which his years of service had entitled him; and that when he had
+taken this step, the factions which he had opposed succeeded in having
+him banished. Some such theory as this is necessary to account for the
+tributes that were paid to his character and influence by the Creek
+chiefs who assembled at Savannah to make a treaty with Oglethorpe.
+Tomochichi was ninety-one years old when the Georgia Colony was founded,
+and he had gathered about him a number of disaffected Creeks and
+Yemassees, known as the tribe of the Yamacraws. When the Creeks came to
+Savannah to meet Oglethorpe, the greatest of their chiefs said that
+he was related to Tomochichi, who was a good man, and had been a great
+warrior.
+
+Thus, with Oglethorpe to direct it, and with Tomochichi as its friend,
+the little Georgia Colony was founded, and, as we shall see, thrived and
+flourished.
+
+
+
+
+THE EMPRESS OF GEORGIA
+
+When Oglethorpe landed at Yamacraw Bluff, he was greatly aided in
+his efforts to conciliate the Indians by the wife of John Musgrove, a
+half-breed woman whose Indian name was Coosaponakesee. She was known by
+the colonists as Mary Musgrove, and her friendship for the whites was
+timely and fortunate. She was Oglethorpe's interpreter in his first
+interview with Tomochichi. She was very friendly and accommodating,
+giving aid to Oglethorpe and his colony in every possible way. Finding
+that she had great influence, and could be made very useful to the
+colonists, Oglethorpe employed her as interpreter, and paid her yearly
+one hundred pounds sterling, which in that day was equal to a great deal
+more than five hundred dollars; but Mary Musgrove earned all that was
+paid her, and more. She used all her influence in behalf of the whites.
+She aided in concluding treaties, and also in securing warriors from
+the Creek nation in the war that occurred between the colonists and the
+Spaniards who occupied Florida.
+
+General Oglethorpe had a sincere friendship for Mary Musgrove, and his
+influence over her was such that she never refused a request he made.
+If Oglethorpe had remained in Georgia, it is probable that the curious
+episode in which Mary took a leading part would never have occurred.
+
+Oglethorpe left Georgia on the 23d of July, 1743, and never returned.
+John Musgrove died shortly afterwards, and Mary married a man named
+Matthews, who also died. She then married a man named Thomas Bosomworth,
+who had been chaplain to Oglethorpe's regiment. In 1743, before
+Oglethorpe's departure, Bosomworth had been commissioned to perform all
+religious and ecclesiastical affairs in Georgia. Previous to that he had
+accepted a grant of lands, and had taken up his abode in the Colony. He
+appears to have been a pompous and an ambitious person, with just enough
+learning to make him dangerous.
+
+Before Mary Musgrove married Bosomworth she had never ceased to labor
+for the good of the Colony. No sacrifice was too great for her to make
+in behalf of her white friends. It is true, she had not been fully
+paid for her services; but she had faith in the good intentions of
+the government, and was content. In 1744, a year after Oglethorpe's
+departure from the Colony, Mary married Bosomworth, and after that her
+conduct was such as to keep the whites in constant fear of massacre and
+extermination.
+
+In 1745, Thomas Bosomworth went to England and informed the trustees
+of the Georgia Company that he intended to give up his residence in the
+Georgia Colony. The next year he returned to Georgia, and violated
+the regulations of the trustees by introducing six negro slaves on the
+plantation of his wife near the Altamaha River. This action was at once
+resented; and President Stephens, who had succeeded Oglethorpe in the
+management of the Colony's affairs, was ordered to have the negro slaves
+removed from the territory of Georgia. This was done, and from that time
+forth Bosomworth and his wife began to plot against the peace and
+good order of the Georgia Colony. He used the influence of his wife to
+conciliate the Indians, and secure their sympathy and support. While
+this was going on, he was busy in preparing a claim against the
+government of the Colony for the services rendered and losses sustained
+by his wife, which he valued at five hundred pounds sterling. In
+her name he also claimed possession of the islands of Ossabaw, St.
+Catharine, and Sapelo, and of a tract of land near Savannah which in
+former treaties had been reserved to the Indians.
+
+Bosomworth was shrewd enough not to act alone. In some mysterious way,
+not clearly told in history, he secured the sympathy and support of
+Major William Horton, commander of Oglethorpe's regiment stationed at
+Frederica, and other officers. Colonel Heron, who succeeded Major Horton
+as commander of the regiment in 1747, was likewise gained over to the
+cause of the Bosomworths. By the connivance of this officer, a body
+of Indians, with Malatche at their head, marched to Frederica for a
+conference. At this conference Malatche made a speech in which he told
+of the services which his sister Mary had rendered the colonists, and
+requested that a messenger be sent to England to tell the King that he,
+Malatche, was emperor of all the Creeks. He declared, also, that Mary,
+his sister, was confided in by the whole Creek nation, and that the
+nation had decided to abide by her will and desire.
+
+Bosomworth saw the necessity of pushing the matter forward, and so
+he suggested to Malatche the importance of having himself crowned as
+emperor by those who were with him. Accordingly a paper was drawn up
+giving to Malatche full authority as emperor. This done, Bosomworth was
+quick to procure from the Creek emperor a deed of conveyance to
+Thomas and Mary Bosomworth of the islands of Ossabaw, Sapelo, and St.
+Catharine.
+
+Matters went on peaceably for a while; but Bosomworth was active and
+energetic, and his wife appears to have been entirely under his control.
+He bought on credit a great number of cattle from planters in South
+Carolina, and these he placed on the islands that had been given him
+by Malatche. When his debts fell due, he was unable to pay them. Rather
+than surrender the property for which he was unable to pay, he suggested
+to his wife that she take the title of an independent empress. It is
+doubtful if she knew what an empress was; but she had an idea, that, if
+she claimed to be one, she would be able to buy some red calico at the
+nearest store, as well as an extra bottle of rum. So she fell eagerly
+into the Rev. Mr. Bosom-worth's plans. She sent word to the Creeks that
+she had suddenly become a genuine empress, and called a meeting of the
+big men of the nation. The big men assembled; and Mary made a speech,
+in which she insisted that she was the Empress of Georgia. She must have
+been a pretty good talker; for the Indians became very much excited, and
+pledged themselves to stand by her to the last drop of their blood.
+
+Having thus obtained the support of the Indians, Mary set out for
+Savannah, accompanied by a large body of them. She sent before her a
+messenger to inform the president of the Province that she had become
+empress over the whole territory belonging to the Upper and Lower
+Creeks; that she was on her way to demand the instant surrender of all
+the lands that had belonged to Doth nations; and that, if there should
+be any serious opposition to her demands, the settlement would be
+attacked and destroyed.
+
+[Illustration: Empress Mary 039]
+
+It was a dark hour for the colonists, who were vastly outnumbered by the
+Indians. The president and council were disturbed by the bold threats
+made by Mary Bosomworth. Their first plan was to meet the Indians
+peaceably, and, by gentle measures, find an opportunity to seize Mary
+Bosomworth and ship her to England. In the town of Savannah there were
+only one hundred and seventy men able to bear arms. The president of
+the Province sent a messenger to Mary, while she and her followers were
+still several miles distant, warning her to give up her wild scheme.
+Mary sent back a message expressing her contempt for the Colony and its
+officials. Thereupon the president of the Province determined to put
+the best possible face on the matter, and receive Mary and her savage
+followers boldly. Accordingly the militia was ordered under arms; and as
+the Indians entered the town, they were stopped by Colonel Noble Jones,
+who, at the head of a company of horse, demanded to know whether they
+came with friendly or hostile intentions. He received no satisfactory
+answer to his demand, whereupon he informed the Indians that they must
+ground their arms, as he had orders not to permit an armed man
+among them to set foot within the town. The Indians submitted to the
+unexpected demand, but with great reluctance.
+
+Having grounded their arms, the Indians were allowed to enter the town.
+They marched in regular order, headed by Thomas Bosomworth, who, decked
+out in full canonical robes, with Mary by his side, was followed by
+the various chiefs according to their rank. The army of Indians made a
+formidable appearance as they marched into the town, and the inhabitants
+were terror-stricken at the sight. They marched to the parade ground,
+where they found the militia drawn up to receive them. Here they were
+saluted with fifteen guns, and then conducted to the president's house.
+When the Indians were assembled there, Thomas and Mary Bosomworth were
+ordered to withdraw. Then the president and council asked the Indian
+chiefs in a friendly manner why they visited the town in so large a
+body, not having been sent for by any person in lawful authority. The
+Indians replied that Mary, their empress, was to speak for them, and
+that they would abide by what she said. They had heard that she was to
+be made a prisoner and sent across the great waters, and they wanted to
+know why they were to lose their queen. They said they intended no harm
+to the whites, and begged that their arms might be restored to them.
+Then, after talking with Bosomworth and his wife, they would return and
+settle all public affairs. Their arms were restored to them, but orders
+were given that on no account should any ammunition be issued until the
+true purpose of their visit was made known.
+
+The Indians then had a conference with Mary Bosomworth, and on the
+following day began to conduct themselves riotously, running up and down
+the streets like madmen. As all the men were obliged to perform guard
+duty, the women were compelled to remain alone in their houses. They
+were in a constant state of terror and alarm, expecting every moment to
+be set upon and killed by the unruly savages. While the confusion was at
+its worst, a rumor was circulated that the Indians had cut off the head
+of the president of the council. The report was false; but the colonists
+were in such a state of excitement, that they could scarcely be
+restrained from firing on the Indians. The situation was very critical.
+Great prudence was necessary in order to prevent bloodshed, and save the
+town from destruction.
+
+At this crisis orders were given to the militia to lay hold of Thomas
+Bosomworth, and place him in close confinement. When this order was
+carried out, Mary became frantic, and made threats of vengeance against
+the whole Colony. She cursed General Oglethorpe, declared that his
+treaties were fraudulent, and ordered the colonists to depart from her
+territory. She raved furiously, and claimed control over the entire
+earth. But while engaged in cutting up these extraordinary capers, she
+kept an eye on the leading men among the Indians, who she knew could be
+easily bribed.
+
+The president of the Province, finding that nothing could be done with
+the Indians while they remained under the influence of their so-called
+empress, caused Mary to be privately arrested, and placed her under
+guard with her husband. When this was done, quiet was at once restored.
+The Indians ceased to be boisterous. When the time seemed to be ripe,
+the president of the Province employed men acquainted with the Creek
+language to entertain the chiefs and their warriors in the friendliest
+way. A feast was prepared; and in the midst of it the chiefs were told
+that Bosomworth had become involved in debt, and was anxious to secure
+not only all the lands of the Creeks, but also a large share of the
+bounty paid to them by the King of England, so that he might be able to
+pay his creditors in Carolina. He was also told that the King's presents
+were intended only for the Indians; that the lands near the town were
+reserved for them for their encampments; that the sea islands were
+reserved for them to hunt upon when they should come to bathe in the
+salt waters; and that neither Mary nor her husband had any right to
+these lands, which were the common property of the Creek nations.
+
+For the moment this policy was successful. Even Malatche, Mary's
+brother, seemed to be satisfied; and many of the chiefs declared that
+they were convinced that Bosomworth had deceived them, and that they
+would trust him no more. But Malatche, at his own request, had another
+talk with Thomas and Mary Bosomworth, and was again won over to support
+their wild pretensions; so that, when the Indians were gathered together
+to receive their shares of the royal bounty, Malatche stood up in the
+midst of them, and delivered a most violent speech in favor of the
+claims of Mary as the Empress of Georgia. He declared that she had three
+thousand warriors at her command, and that every man of them would take
+up arms in her defense. At the conclusion of his speech, Malatche drew
+forth a paper and presented it to the president of the council This
+paper was merely the sum and substance of Malatche's speech; and it
+was so clearly the production of Bosomworth, that the effect was far
+different from what the Indians had expected. The astonishment of the
+president and council was so apparent, that Malatche begged to have the
+paper again, so that he might deliver it to the person from whom he had
+received it.
+
+It was important that another conference should be had with the Indians.
+Accordingly they were called together again; and the president of the
+Province made an address, recalling to their minds the fact that when
+General Oglethorpe and his colony landed in Georgia, they found Mary,
+then the wife of John Musgrove, living in a hut at Yamacraw; that at
+that time she was comparatively poor and friendless, being neglected
+and despised by the Creeks, and going about in rags; that General
+Oglethorpe, finding that she could speak both the English and the Creek
+tongues, employed her as an interpreter, gave her rich clothes, and made
+her a woman of some consequence; that she was respected by the colonists
+until she married Thomas Bosomworth, but from that time forth they no
+longer had any confidence in her; that she had no lands of her own; and
+that General Oglethorpe had no treaty with her, but dealt with the old
+and wise leaders of the Creeks, who voluntarily surrendered their waste
+lands to the whites. The president then went on to show that Mary's
+claims had been invented by Thomas Bosomworth as an easy means of
+paying a debt of four hundred pounds which he owed in South Carolina for
+cattle, and that his quarrel with the colonists was due to the fact
+that they had refused to give him a third part of the royal bounty which
+belonged by right to the Indians.
+
+At this point the Creek chiefs begged the president to stop. They had
+heard enough to convince them, they said, and now they wanted to smoke
+the pipe of peace. Apparently this was a happy ending to a very serious
+dispute. But at the very moment when everything was serene, Mary
+Bosomworth made her appearance amongst those who were patching up their
+differences. She had escaped from her guards, and, having secured a
+supply of rum, now made her appearance drunk and furious. She filled the
+air with threats. The president told her, that, unless she ceased her
+efforts to poison the minds of the Indians, he would again order her
+into close confinement. Thereupon Mary turned to Malatche and told him
+what the president had said. In a rage, Malatche seized his arms, and,
+calling to the rest of the Indians to do the same, dared the whites to
+touch the empress. The uproar was great. Every Indian had his tomahawk
+in his hand, and the council expected nothing less than instant death.
+
+At this moment, Captain Noble Jones, who commanded the guard, ordered
+the Indians to deliver up their arms. The savages were overawed by the
+coolness and courage of this intrepid officer. They yielded up their
+arms, and Mary was shut in a private room, and a guard set over her.
+There she was securely kept, and while the Indians remained she had no
+further communication with them. Her husband was then sent for, and
+the president and council tried to reason with him; but he remained
+obstinate, declaring that he would stand up for his wife's rights to
+the last. Finding Bosomworth unreasonable, the council caused him to
+be seized and confined. This done, the authorities then set about
+persuading the Indians to leave the town peaceably and return to their
+own settlements. This the savages did after a while, leaving Savannah in
+small parties until all were gone.
+
+Finding himself no longer supported by the Indians, Thomas Bosomworth
+at last repented of his folly. He wrote to the president and council,
+apologizing for his wanton conduct. He acknowledged the title of his
+wife to be groundless, and relinquished all claim to the lands of the
+Province. Though his offense had been serious, the colonists pardoned
+him, and thus ended the career of Coosaponakesee as Empress of Georgia.
+
+And yet, after all, the Rev. Thomas Bosomworth had his way. Mary seems
+to have lived long; and her husband pressed her claims in London,
+so that, when Henry Ellis was made governor of the Province, he was
+authorized, in 1759, to sell the islands of Ossabaw and Sapelo, as well
+as other Indian lands near Savannah, and out of the moneys received to
+settle the demands of the Bosomworths, and to give them a title to
+the Island of St. Catharine, which they had settled and improved. Mary
+Bosomworth was given four hundred and fifty pounds for goods she had
+expended in the King's service, and it was provided also that she should
+be allowed sixteen hundred and fifty pounds for her services as agent.
+In addition, she was given two thousand pounds, the sum for which
+Ossabaw and Sapelo sold at auction. A grant of St. Catharine Island was
+also made to Mary Bosomworth; so that it may be considered that she was
+richly rewarded for the many good turns she did the colonists in
+her better days, before her mind had been poisoned by the Rev. Mr.
+Bosomworth.
+
+
+
+
+THE LIBERTY BOYS.
+
+[Illustration: The Liberty Boys 048]
+
+In 1765, what is known as the Stamp Act was passed by the Parliament of
+Great Britain, in spite of all the protests made by the agents of
+the Colonies. The people of the Colonies felt that taxation without
+representation was an exercise of power not to be tolerated.
+
+The Stamp Act itself was a very small matter; but many of the American
+Colonies had been setting up claims of independence in various matters.
+As Benjamin Franklin said, the British nation was provoked by these
+claims of independence, and all parties proposed by this piece of
+legislation to settle the question once for all. While the agents of the
+Colonies, and among them Franklin, protested against the Stamp Act, none
+of them supposed that it would be met by armed resistance; and yet the
+terms of the act were insolent and sweeping. It was provided that if the
+stamps were not used, "marriages would be null and void, notes of
+hand valueless, ships at sea prizes to the first captors, suits at
+law impossible, transfers of real estate invalid, inheritances
+irreclaimable." In spite of these sweeping terms, Benjamin Franklin did
+not doubt that the act would be carried into effect, and other patriotic
+Americans thought that the colonists should submit. Even James Otis of
+Boston, who was afterwards among the first to advocate the calling of an
+American congress to deliberate upon the propriety of the acts of Great
+Britain, was of this opinion.
+
+The Georgia authorities regarded the stamp duty as just as any that
+could be generally imposed on the Colonies, though the manner of
+imposing it greatly inspired alarm. But while the other Colonies were
+hesitating, a voice was heard in Virginia. Patrick Henry, speaking
+for the Virginians, made an eloquent protest against the law, and his
+boldness kindled into flames the spirit of opposition that had been
+smoldering in all the Colonies. The Sons of Liberty were organized
+North and South. In Georgia they were known as "Liberty Boys." "Liberty,
+property, and no stamps!" was the cry, and it was a cry that stirred the
+country from one end to the other.
+
+The congress suggested by James Otis of Boston assembled on Monday, the
+7th of October, 1765, Georgia had no delegates in the congress, but
+was represented by a messenger who was sent to obtain a copy of the
+proceedings. Such representation was not because the Colony of Georgia
+failed to sympathize with the purpose for which the congress was called,
+but was entirely due to the influence and popularity of Governor Wright,
+the royal governor, who was not only a good man personally, but wise,
+prudent, and far-seeing. Owing to his exertions, Georgia was not
+represented in the person of delegates. The speaker of the Georgia
+House of Assembly had indeed called a convention of the members for the
+purpose of selecting delegates to the Colonial Congress called to meet
+in New York, and sixteen members had responded to the call; but such
+was the influence of Governor Wright, that these members of the assembly
+were prevailed upon not to send delegates to the congress. But they
+could not be prevented from preparing and sending a response to the
+Massachusetts invitation. They had resolved, they said, to support
+heartily every measure that might be suggested for the support of the
+common rights of the Colonies.
+
+We learn from the letters of Governor Wright, written to the Earl of
+Halifax, that it was as much as he could do (and he was a very active
+as well as a very wise governor) to prevail on the people to maintain at
+least the outward show of loyalty to the King. And he was not successful
+even in this, for he informs another correspondent (Mr. Secretary
+Conway) on the 31st of January, 1766, that the same spirit of "sedition,
+or rather rebellion, which first appeared at Boston," had reached
+Georgia, and that he had been constantly engaged for the space of three
+months in trying to convince the people that they ought to submit to the
+King's authority until they could point out their grievances and apply
+for redress in a constitutional way. Governor Wright also states to
+the same correspondent that he has had much trouble in preserving from
+destruction at the hands of the people the stamp papers that had been
+forwarded for the collection of the tax. He received "incendiary"
+letters; he had to issue proclamations against riots and "tumultuous
+and unlawful assemblies;" and he had also to take measures against the
+Liberty Boys, who began to have private meetings, and who had formed
+themselves into a society to oppose and prevent the distribution of the
+stamp papers.
+
+In short, the good governor was kept in a constant state of alarm lest
+the Liberty Boys should seize some advantage and cause his Majesty the
+King of England to have a moment of grief. The Liberty Boys were so
+active, and made so many threatening demonstrations, that Governor
+Wright was driven to what he describes as extreme measures. He was
+compelled to send the obnoxious stamp papers to a place of safety to
+prevent the people from destroying them; and when he had the papers
+securely hidden, he was compelled to place men on duty day and night to
+protect the precious stamps. He was obliged to send a posse of men to
+protect the stamp distributer by hiding him, and was then moved to send
+him into the country for a season, in order to avoid the resentment of
+the people; and then, after all his trouble, the good governor found
+that the people had determined not to apply for any papers, stamped
+or unstamped, until the King had acted on the petitions sent from the
+Colonies. No wonder that he was moved to call it "a wretched situation."
+It was indeed a wretched situation for one who had no higher ideas of
+duty than to continue to serve the King and oppose the interests of the
+people.
+
+There was something more of an uproar in South Carolina than in Georgia;
+but the truth of history appears to be that the resistance offered to
+the Stamp Act in Georgia was much more serious than that displayed in
+Carolina. Although Governor Wright used all his influence to support the
+act, the people exercised so much vigilance in watching the stamp papers
+and the officer sent to issue them, that none of the papers found their
+way into use.
+
+The Colonies were bordering on a state of revolution, when, through the
+influence of the Earl of Chatham, the Stamp Act was repealed. There
+was great rejoicing among the people, and a general manifestation of a
+renewal of loyalty to the mother country. But the seeds of dissension
+had been sown. The Stamp Act unnecessary and uncalled for, had given the
+people cause to ponder over their real relations to the Crown; and out
+of the discussion that had taken place arose a spirit of independence
+that grew and thrived and spread day by day.
+
+In short, the repeal of the Stamp Act gave the people of the Colonies
+only momentary satisfaction. Their success in securing its repeal
+gave them a new taste for liberty of action, and a new sense of their
+importance as individuals. But King George III. was never satisfied with
+the repeal of the Stamp Act of 1765. He declared that it had wounded
+the Majesty of England. It fretted him, and the irritation that he felt
+extended like a contagion to his cabinet. When the Earl of Chatham died,
+there was no statesman to take his place. The mantle of his office fell
+on Charles Townshend, who was more anxious to please the King than to
+secure good government to the people of the Colonies. He was anxious
+for the British Government to assert with vigor its right to govern the
+Colonies as it saw fit.
+
+Meanwhile the spirit of independence in the Colonies continued to assert
+itself more openly day by day, and the determination grew among them
+not to submit to taxation without representation in Parliament. The
+organization of Sons of Liberty and Liberty Boys grew and spread both
+North and South. One of the most fruitful causes of discontent was the
+fact that Georgia and the other Colonies were compelled to depend upon
+the will of the British Government in all matters. Every act passed by
+a colonial assembly must receive the sanction of the British Parliament
+before it became a law. Petitions were disregarded. Frequently there
+was a delay of two years between the passage of an act by the Colonial
+General Assembly and its ratification. But every measure had to receive
+the approval of the Crown. While the affairs of the country were in this
+peculiar condition, the people became more and more dissatisfied.
+
+It is now known that Governor James Wright, loyal to the King as he
+proved himself to be, was fully sensible of the injustice to which
+the Colonies were compelled to submit. On the 15th of August, 1769, he
+addressed a letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, which was not read until
+fifteen months after it was written. In this letter the governor warned
+the British cabinet that the Colonies would never submit to taxation
+without representation. There was no disaffection, he said, toward the
+King or the royal family, but simply a determination on the part of the
+people to stand on their rights. But the governor's letter lay unread
+for fifteen months, and there was no reply to the numerous petitions
+sent from the Colonies. At last the Americans determined to appeal to
+the pockets instead of to the sentiments of the people of Great Britain.
+They determined to import no goods whatever that could be manufactured
+or produced at home.
+
+This determination, instead of causing the British people to conciliate
+the Americans by securing the repeal of unfriendly laws, turned the
+popular opinion against the Colonies; and this feeling was intensified
+by the Boston Tea Party. A bill was passed by both Houses of the British
+Parliament to close the port of Boston, and the discussion of the
+measure gave an opportunity to some of the statesmen of the mother
+country to show their spite. Another law was passed, limiting and
+cutting down the power of the representative assembly of Massachusetts,
+and providing that town meetings should not be held except on permission
+in writing from the royal governor. Another act was passed, giving the
+governor of the Province the power to send to Great Britain or to other
+Colonies persons indicted for murder or charged with capital crimes
+committed in aiding the government of Massachusetts. These acts,
+intended to humiliate the Colonies, had the effect of inflaming them,
+and the Liberty Boys grew in numbers and determination.
+
+[Illustration: Tondee's Tavern 055]
+
+On the 20th of July, 1774, "The Georgia Gazette," published at Savannah,
+contained an invitation to the people of the Province to meet at
+Tondee's Tavern on the 27th of July to take into consideration the
+unjust laws that had been passed by the British Parliament. The cause
+of Massachusetts was the cause of all. The meeting was held, and stood
+adjourned to the 10th of August, in order to give all the parishes an
+opportunity to be represented by delegates. Governor Wright, loyal to
+the last, issued a proclamation warning the people of the Province to
+avoid attending the meeting; but the proclamation was disregarded, and a
+meeting of the people of the Province was held at Tondee's Tavern on
+the 10th of August, 1774. Resolutions were adopted, declaring that
+his Majesty's subjects in America owed the same allegiance, and were
+entitled to the same rights and privileges, as their fellow-subjects
+in Great Britain; that the act lately passed for blockading the port
+of Boston was contrary to the British constitution; that the act for
+abolishing the charter of Massachusetts Bay tended to the subversion of
+American rights; that the Parliament of Great Britain had not, nor ever
+had, the right to tax his Majesty's American subjects; and that every
+demand for the support of government should be by requisition made to
+the several houses of representatives. The resolutions covered all the
+grievances of the people of the Colonies.
+
+Meanwhile, Governor Wright was not idle. He called a convention of
+Royalists, which met, and signed a protest against the resolutions.
+Copies of this protest were made, and sent into all the parishes, by the
+governor's friends. Under pressure, many timid men who were really in
+sympathy with the Liberty Boys signed the protest. The signatures of
+dead men were used, and other frauds practiced, in order to make the
+demonstration in favor of the King sufficient to overawe those who
+had pledged themselves to American independence. In all this, Governor
+Wright was aided by the fact that the only newspaper in the Province,
+"The Georgia Gazette," was under his control. He was also aided by the
+geographical situation of Georgia, and by his own personal popularity.
+He had made a good governor. He had worked as hard for the prosperity
+and progress of the Province as he now worked to prevent the people from
+joining the movement for independence.
+
+The governor was successful to the extent that he was able to prevent
+Georgia from sending duly accredited representatives to the First
+Continental Congress; and this fact has been taken by some writers of
+history to mean that the spirit of liberty and independence was not as
+earnest and as enthusiastic in Georgia as in the other Provinces. Later,
+when Georgia was overrun by British and Tory influences, and appeared to
+be conquered, ill-natured critics recalled the fact that her people were
+slow to join hands with those who advocated resistance to tyranny.
+
+When the South Carolina delegates to the First Continental Congress
+returned to their homes, bearing with them copies of the Declaration of
+Colonial Rights, the Liberty Boys of Georgia renewed their movement with
+great zeal. Copies of the Declaration were distributed throughout the
+Province. The result was, that the Liberty Boys grew steadily stronger
+in numbers, and more defiant in action. An idea of the situation at this
+time may be gathered from a letter written by Governor Wright to the
+Earl of Dartmouth on the 13th of December, 1774. He declared that the
+spirit of independence, or, as he called it, the spirit of enthusiasm,
+which many were possessed of before, "is raised to such a height of
+frenzy, that God knows what the consequences may be, or what man or
+whose property may escape their resentment."
+
+No doubt the amiable governor misunderstood the situation. What he
+regarded as "frenzy" was merely the eager desire and the determination
+of the Liberty Boys of Georgia to redeem themselves in the eyes of their
+brethren in the other Colonies. They were humiliated by their failure to
+send representatives to the Continental Congress, and they endeavored to
+redeem themselves by increased zeal and enthusiasm.
+
+They arranged to hold a provincial congress in Savannah on the 18th
+of January, 1775. Governor Wright, on hearing of this, determined to
+convene the Provincial General Assembly on the same day, hoping and
+believing that this would prevent a meeting of the Provincial Congress,
+or greatly hamper its action. But the governor was mistaken. The
+General Assembly met in response to the call, and so did the Provincial
+Congress. Governor Wright addressed the members, declaring to them the
+danger of the situation, and imploring them to be prudent and loyal.
+The upper house of the General Assembly made a response agreeable to the
+governor's expectations, but the lower house gave to its address a tone
+of independence that was not at all pleasing to the King's officer. He
+showed his displeasure, and placed a serious obstacle in the way of the
+Liberty Boys by adjourning the General Assembly until the 9th of the
+following May. The Assembly had met on the 18th of January, and was
+adjourned on the 10th of February; so that the Liberty Boys, who made up
+a majority of the lower house, had no time to appoint delegates to the
+Philadelphia congress soon to be held, nor to take any official action
+in behalf of the independence of Georgia.
+
+Governor Wright's plans were certainly very shrewdly laid. His
+adjournment of the General Assembly not only hampered the Provincial
+Congress (or convention) that had met at Savannah simultaneously with
+the legislature, but threw the delegates into confusion and disorder,
+and was the means of causing the convention to adjourn without taking
+such action as the friends of liberty hoped for. All that it did was
+to elect three representatives to the Philadelphia congress. This
+was something, but it was not enough. The Liberty Boys expected
+the Provincial Convention to adopt all the measures and resolutions
+suggested by the Continental Congress. They therefore felt mortified
+when the convention adjourned, and left Georgia still outside the
+continental association.
+
+This event was a serious embarrassment to the other Colonies, and
+aroused the anger of those friends of liberty who were unable to
+understand the peculiar conditions that surrounded the movement for
+independence in Georgia. The friends of liberty in South Carolina were
+so indignant, that they denounced the Georgians "as unworthy the
+rights of freemen, and as inimical to the liberties of their country."
+Throughout the Colonies, the partisans of American independence were
+deeply wounded by the apparent hesitation of the Georgians, while the
+Royalists were delighted.
+
+Though the Provincial Convention remained in session only seven days
+before adjourning, the delegates of St. John's Parish had withdrawn from
+the body. These delegates insisted on an emphatic indorsement of the
+acts of the Continental Congress, and they retired as soon as they
+found there would be some difficulty in bringing some of the hesitating
+members to their way of thinking. They retired, and selected Dr. Lyman
+Hall to represent St. John's in the Philadelphia congress. He took his
+seat in that body, and although he cast no vote, he made his voice heard
+in the discussions.
+
+In spite of all the drawbacks which the Liberty Boys in Georgia had
+experienced, their enthusiasm did not cool. They never ceased their
+efforts, and the independence movement continued to grow. The public
+mind became more and more inflamed with resentment against the tyranny
+of King George and his Parliament, as the people heard of the progress
+of events in the more northern Colonies. By the 10th of May the people
+of Savannah had heard of the shedding of American blood by British
+troops at Lexington and Concord. As the news spread from parish to
+parish, the people became aroused, and the response of public sentiment
+was all that American patriots could expect.
+
+[Illustration: Seisure of Ammunition in Savannah 060]
+
+The first response of the Liberty Boys at Savannah was to seize the
+ammunition stored in the magazine. This event occurred on the night of
+the 11th of May, and was planned and carried out by the members of the
+Council of Safety. About six hundred pounds of powder fell into the
+hands of the Liberty Boys. Some was sent to South Carolina, and the rest
+was hidden in the garrets and cellars of the patriots who had seized it.
+Tradition says that some of this powder was sent to Massachusetts, where
+it was used by the patriots who drove the British before them at the
+battle of Bunker Hill.
+
+Other events occurred that showed the temper of the Liberty Boys. On the
+4th of June, when Governor Wright came to fire salutes in honor of King
+George's birthday, he found the cannon had been spiked, dismounted, and
+rolled to the bottom of the bluff. On the 5th of June the first liberty
+pole in the Colony was set up at Savannah. A young man named Hopkins,
+who spoke contemptuously of the members of the Committee of Public
+Safety was seized by a mob, tarred and feathered, placed in an
+illuminated cart, and paraded up and down the streets of Savannah.
+
+As the days went by, the independence movement in Georgia became more
+enthusiastic, the Liberty Boys more active. The first vessel armed and
+equipped for naval warfare during the Revolution was fitted up by
+the Liberty Boys of Georgia under the authority of the Provincial
+Convention, which had assembled in Savannah on the 4th of July, 1775.
+This event is interesting. The Carolina Committee of Safety had heard
+that a British ship had sailed for Georgia with a cargo of powder
+intended for the Indians and for the use of the Royalists. The
+Carolinians at once resolved to capture the ship and seize the cargo.
+To that end, two barges, manned by forty well-armed men, were embarked
+from Beaufort, and went to the mouth of the Savannah River, where they
+encamped on a point that commanded a full view of Tybee Lighthouse. The
+Provincial Convention, hearing of this expedition, offered to assist the
+officers in every way possible. There was an armed British schooner in
+the river at that time; and the Liberty Boys of Savannah determined to
+join forces with the Carolinians at Tybee, and effect her capture. For
+this purpose a schooner was equipped by the Provincial Convention, and
+placed under command of Captain Bowen and Joseph Habersham. This vessel
+was armed with ten carriage guns and swivels, and carried fifty men. The
+British armed vessel was not inclined to enter into a contest, but,
+when the Georgia schooner appeared, weighed anchor and sailed away. The
+schooner then took position beyond the harbor bar, and waited for the
+ship carrying the cargo of powder. She had not long to wait. On the 10th
+of July, 1775, the powder ship, commanded by Captain Maitland, made her
+appearance. Before entering Tybee Inlet, however, Captain Maitland saw
+the armed schooner. Suspecting that he was about to fall into a trap, he
+brought his vessel round, tacked, and stood out to sea. But he had gone
+too far. The Georgia schooner gave chase, and soon overtook and captured
+the ship. It was a fortunate capture for the Colonies. Five thousand
+pounds of powder were sent to Philadelphia, and nine thousand fell to
+the share of Georgia.
+
+The convention that commissioned the first armed vessel of the
+Revolution did more important work than this. It placed the Province
+of Georgia in political union with her sister Colonies, and gave her
+fellowship with those struggling Provinces. She was welcomed into the
+United Colonies with joyful demonstrations by the Continental Congress.
+By the 15th of April, 1776, the Liberty Boys in Georgia were so strong
+that Governor Wright had taken refuge on one of the King's vessels at
+Tybee; and on that date the patriots took full charge of the government
+of the Province. Archibald Bulloch was the first republican president of
+Georgia.
+
+This is how the Liberty Boys took the Province of Georgia from his
+Majesty the King, and made a free and independent government. Their
+struggle did not end here, but the details of that struggle must be left
+to history to relate.
+
+
+
+
+A GROUP OF CHARACTERS
+
+The Revolutionary War in Georgia developed some very romantic figures,
+which are known to us rather by tradition than by recorded history.
+First among them, on the side of the patriots, was Robert Sallette.
+Neither history nor tradition gives us the place of his birth or the
+date of his death; yet it is known that he played a more important part
+in the struggle in the Colony than any man who had no troops at his
+command. He seems to have slipped mysteriously on the scene at the
+beginning of the war. He fought bravely, even fiercely, to the end,
+and then, having nothing else to do, slipped away as mysteriously as
+he came. "In Liberty County," says history, "there lived during the
+Revolution a man by the name of Robert Sallette, distinguished for
+his opposition to the Tories. It is not known with certainty to what
+particular command he was attached. He appears to have been a sort of
+roving character, doing things in his own way." Here is the mystery of
+romance to begin with. Here is the wanderer,--the character so dear to
+the imagination of youth.
+
+"The Tories," says history further, "stood very much in dread of him;
+and well they might, for never had they a more, formidable foe." Here,
+then, is the hero and the wanderer combined in one person, and
+that person fighting for the holiest cause in which man can take up
+arms,--the rights and liberties of the people. What more could be asked?
+
+Curious as we may be to know something of the personal history of Robert
+Sallette, it is not to be found chronicled in the books. The French
+twist to his name makes it probable that he was a descendant of those
+unfortunate Acadians who, years before, had been stripped of their lands
+and possessions in Nova Scotia by the British, their houses and barns
+burned, and they themselves transported away from their homes. They were
+scattered at various points along the American coast. Some were landed
+at Philadelphia, and some were carried to Louisiana. Four hundred were
+sent to Georgia. The British had many acts of cruelty to answer for in
+those days, but none more infamous than this treatment of the gentle and
+helpless Acadians. It stands in history to-day a stain upon the British
+name.
+
+Another fact that leads to the belief that Robert Sallette was a
+descendant of the unfortunate Acadians was the ferocity with which he
+pursued the British and the Tories. The little that is told about
+him makes it certain that he never gave quarter to the enemies of his
+country.
+
+His name was a terror to the Tories. One of them, a man of considerable
+means, offered a reward of one hundred guineas to any person who would
+bring him the head of Robert Sallette. The Tory had never seen Sallette,
+but his alarm was such that he offered a reward large enough to tempt
+some one to assassinate the daring partisan. When Sallette heard of the
+reward, he disguised himself as a farmer, and provided himself with
+a pumpkin, which he placed in a bag. With the bag swinging across his
+shoulder, he made his way to the house of the Tory. He was invited in,
+and deposited the bag on the floor beside him, the pumpkin striking the
+boards with a thump.
+
+[Illustration: The head of Robert Sallette 066]
+
+"I have brought you the head of Robert Sallette," said he. "I hear that
+you have offered a reward of one hundred guineas for it."
+
+"Where is it?" asked the Tory.
+
+"I have it with me," replied Sallette, shaking the loose end of the bag.
+"Count me out the money and take the head."
+
+The Tory, neither doubting nor suspecting, counted out the money, and
+placed it on the table.
+
+"Now show me the head," said he.
+
+Sallette removed his hat, tapped himself on the forehead, and said,
+"Here is the head of Robert Sallette!"
+
+The Tory was so frightened that he jumped from the room, and Sallette
+pocketed the money and departed.
+
+On one occasion Robert Sallette is known to have spared the lives of two
+Tories, at least for a little while. Once when he and Andrew Walthour
+(for whom Walthourville in Georgia is named) and another man were riding
+along a narrow trail late in the afternoon, they met three other
+riders whom they suspected to be Tories. The plan that Sallette and his
+companions adopted to capture the men was very simple. Andrew Walthour,
+who was riding in front, was to pass the first and second men, Robert
+Sallette to pass the first. As Walthour came to the third man when
+Sallette had come to the second, and their companion to the first, the
+Liberty Boys seized the guns of the three simultaneously. The men had no
+opportunity either to fight or escape.
+
+"Dismount, gentlemen!" said Sallette. Then he addressed himself to the
+leader. "What is your name?"
+
+In reply to this, a fictitious name was given, as Sallette and his
+companions afterwards found out.
+
+"Where is your camp?" asked Sallette.
+
+"We are from over the river," answered the man, meaning the Altamaha.
+
+"Where did you cross?"
+
+"At Beards Ferry." This was where the Whigs and the Liberty Boys were
+most numerous.
+
+"That is not true!" exclaimed Sallette.
+
+Then he turned to the second man, asked the same questions, and received
+the same replies. He turned to the third man, asked the same questions,
+and received the same replies.
+
+"If you do not tell me the truth," exclaimed Sallette to this last man,
+"I'll cut off your head!"
+
+The man persisted, and Sallette was as good as his word. The others
+begged for their lives, and declared that they would guide Sallette
+straight to their camp. This they did; and Sallette, aided by his
+prisoners, captured a large party of Tories.
+
+Once when Robert Sallette and Andrew Walthour were marching with the
+advance guard of the American troops, they suddenly met the advance
+guard of the British. A short but sharp skirmish followed, during which
+a very large man of the British guard was killed. Observing that the
+dead man wore a pair of good boots, Sallette determined to get them.
+While he was pulling them off in the midst of a furious fire from the
+enemy, his companions called out to him to come away or he would surely
+be killed. "I must have the boots!" cried Sallette to his companions. "I
+want them for little John Way!"
+
+Here was fun in the midst of tragedy; for it is said that little John
+Way could have put both his feet and his fists into one of the boots.
+
+One day Sallette dressed himself up as a British officer and accepted
+an invitation to dine with a party of the enemy. Suddenly, in the midst
+of the toasting and drinking, Sallette drew his sword, killed the men
+who sat to the right and left of him, sprang on his horse, and rode off
+unhurt, though he was in such a hurry that he had no time to throw the
+bridle reins over the horse's head.
+
+At the White House, near Sunbury, Major Baker, of the patriot army, with
+thirty men, attacked and defeated a party of Tories under command of
+Captain Goldsmith.
+
+Among the slain was Lieutenant Gray, whose head was almost severed from
+his body by a stroke of Robert Sallette's sword.
+
+On many occasions, when a battle was in progress, Sallette would detach
+himself from the American army, gain the rear of the enemy, and kill
+many men before he was discovered. If this brave man was indeed a
+descendant of the Acadians, he avenged the wrongs of many of his
+countrymen.
+
+Another character who attracted attention during the War of the
+Revolution was Patrick Carr, whose hatred of the Tories made his name
+celebrated among the Liberty Boys of Georgia. Paddy Carr, as he was
+called, lived and died in Jefferson County. He was born in Ireland, but
+came to Georgia before the Revolution. When the independence movement
+began, he threw himself into it with all the ardor of his race. Owing to
+the cruelty of the Tories, he conceived a special hatred against them.
+He showed them no quarter. History gives but a word or two to his
+achievements, but tradition still keeps his name alive in the region
+where he operated. Like Sallette, he was an independent partisan; but,
+unlike Sallette, his operations were among those who could remember well
+enough, but who would not take the trouble to preserve the particulars
+of even the least of his exploits. We know that Patrick Carr lived. We
+know that he became famous where recklessness and daring were common.
+But that is nearly all we know. It is said of him that during the war he
+killed one hundred Tories with his own hands. Once, when praised for his
+bravery, he smiled and shook his head, saying that he would have made
+a very good soldier, but the Lord had given him a heart that was too
+merciful. He no doubt remembered the atrocities of the Tories in the
+section that is now Jefferson, Columbia, Burke, and Wilkes counties. The
+cruelties they committed in that region during the Revolution have no
+parallel in civilized warfare.
+
+Among the adventurous characters of that time, on the side of the
+British, Daniel McGirth stands easily first. The history of his career
+during the war is a strange one. He was born in South Carolina,
+and entered into the struggle against the British with the utmost
+enthusiasm. He was a brave man, a hard fighter, and one of the most
+active of those who took up arms against the King. He was an expert
+woodsman, and was at home in the saddle. He was assigned to duty as a
+scout, and was better equipped for that service, perhaps, than any man
+in the American army. The ease with which he secured information of the
+enemy's movements and plans, and the energy that marked his movements,
+made his services of great value to the patriot cause. This was not
+thoroughly appreciated by some of the officers under whom McGirth acted.
+
+He brought with him into the army a mare which he called "The Gray
+Goose." She is said to have been an elegant animal, and McGirth was
+very proud of her. With this mare under him, he always felt safe
+from pursuit. One of the American officers, who was a good judge of
+horseflesh, and who probably wanted to "cut a dash," as the saying is,
+saw this beautiful mare, and coveted her. Finding that McGirth scorned
+all offers to sell her, the officer adopted various means to obtain her.
+These efforts were resisted by McGirth, mainly on the ground that the
+mare was his own private property, and that she was essential to the
+duties he was called on to perform. Failing to gain his ends in this
+way, the officer continued to worry McGirth in other ways. He no doubt
+did something to rouse the ire of the scout, who was an irritable man,
+and who felt the importance of the service he was rendering to the
+cause. It is not now known how McGirth insulted the officer,--whether
+in a moment of passion he struck him, or whether he merely used rough
+language to him.
+
+Whatever the offense, McGirth was placed under arrest, tried by a
+court-martial, found guilty of violating the articles of war, and
+sentenced to be whipped. He received this punishment, and was placed
+in confinement again, where he was to remain until he received another
+whipping. While thus held, he saw his mare picketed near the camp, and
+he immediately resolved to escape. He was successful in this. Once free,
+he secured The Gray Goose, leaped into the saddle, turned around, and,
+in the face of his pursuers, pronounced threats of vengeance against all
+the Americans for his ill treatment.
+
+There is no doubt that he was illtreated; but if he had not been an
+ignorant man, he would not have pronounced against the cause of liberty
+on account of the treatment he received at the hands of individuals.
+But the savage in his nature was aroused, and he carried out his fierce
+threats to the fullest extent. For the time being, he attached himself
+to another American command; but at the first opportunity he deserted
+to the enemy, and became the scourge and terror of those who opposed the
+British cause. He spared none. His field extended from the Florida line
+to the Savannah River, in what is now Elbert County, and far into South
+Carolina. He appeared when least expected, and carried destruction with
+him. His mare became as noted as her master. In what was then Upper
+Georgia, she was known as "The Bald-faced Pony." On many an occasion
+he owed his life to the fleetness of his mare. But his vengeance was
+never satisfied: it was always active, and thirsting for the blood of
+the American patriot. The whim of the officer to possess McGirth's mare
+was a foolish one at best. It was the cause of great public and private
+suffering.
+
+[Illustration: McGirth and his mare 072]
+
+When South Carolina was rescued from the British, McGirth retreated
+into Georgia, and finally into Florida. When the Spaniards regained
+possession of that territory, he became subject to their laws. For some
+reason or other he was thrown into one of the dungeons of the old fort
+at St. Augustine, where he was confined for five years. When released,
+his health was broken, and it was with great difficulty that he managed
+to return to Sumter District, in South Carolina, where his wife lived.
+
+A very queer and eccentric character in the Revolution was Captain Rory
+Mcintosh, of Mallow. Though Rory was a kinsman of General Lachlan and
+Colonel John Mcintosh, who were among the most active Liberty Boys in
+Georgia, he took up arms for the King, and a very devoted Tory he was.
+His eccentricities would have been called whims if he had not stuck
+to them with such constancy. He was a Highlander and a follower of the
+Stuarts. How and why he became loyal to the new line of British kings,
+history does not state; but his clan had a chief, and he no doubt
+thought that every government ought to have a monarch. When the
+Revolution began, he was over sixty years of age, and was living
+comfortably on his plantation at Mallow; but he volunteered, and fought
+through the war.
+
+A story is told of Rory Mcintosh that once when the Spaniards held
+East Florida, he carried to St Augustine a drove of cattle. He received
+payment in dollars, which he placed in a canvas bag behind him on his
+horse. When near his home, the bag gave way, and a part of the money
+fell out. He secured what was left and rode on, paying no attention to
+that which had fallen from the bag. When in need of money some years
+after, he returned to the place where the dollars had spilled, picked
+up as many as he wanted, and went back home. Whenever he could, he went
+about accompanied by a piper. Rory was a tall, finely formed man,'with
+bristling whiskers and a ruddy complexion: consequently when he appeared
+on parade, he attracted great attention.
+
+[Illustration: Captain Rory McIntosh 074]
+
+In 1778 two expeditions were sent from St. Augustine for the purpose
+of attacking Savannah,--one by sea, and one by land under command of
+Lieutenant Colonel Prevost. This land expedition had been joined by
+Captain Roderick Mcintosh, in the capacity of a volunteer. He attached
+himself particularly to the infantry company commanded by Captain
+Murray. When the British laid siege to Sunbury and the fort, Captain
+Murray's company was in the line near the fort. One morning when Captain
+Rory had had a dram too much, he determined to sally out and summon
+the fort to surrender. His comrades tried to restrain him, but he was
+determined. Finally he strutted out, a drawn claymore in his hand, with
+his trusty slave Jim. He approached the fort and cried out,--
+
+"Surrender, you miscreants! How dare you presume to resist his Majesty's
+arms?"
+
+Colonel Mcintosh, who commanded the fort, saw at once the condition of
+Captain Rory, and forbade the men to fire. Then he threw open the gate,
+and said,--
+
+"Walk in, Mr. Mcintosh, and take possession."
+
+"No," cried Rory, "I'll not trust myself among such vermin. I order you
+to surrender!"
+
+At that moment a rifle was fired by some one in the fort, and the ball
+passed through Captain Rory's face from side to side under the eyes.
+He fell backwards, but immediately recovered, and stood on his feet
+flourishing his claymore. Then he began to walk backward, his face to
+the fort. Several shots were fired at him, and Jim called out,--
+
+"Run, massa, run! dey kill you!"
+
+"Run!" cried Rory scornfully. "You may run, but I belong to a race that
+never runs!"
+
+It was at the siege of Sunbury that Colonel Mcintosh, when summoned by
+Colonel Prevost to surrender the fort, sent back the reply, "Come and
+take it!"
+
+
+
+
+AUNT NANCY HART.
+
+There lived in Georgia, during the Revolutionary struggle, the most
+remarkable woman in some respects that the country has produced. To find
+her match, we shall have to go to the fables that are told about the
+Amazons. The Liberty Boys called her Aunt Nancy Hart. The Indians,
+struck by her wonderful feats in behalf of her country, called her "The
+War Woman;" and there is a creek in Elbert County, where she lived, that
+was named by the Indians "War Woman's Creek."
+
+There are other heroines to whom history has paid more attention, and
+whose deeds have been celebrated in song and story; but not one of them
+was more devoted to the high cause of freedom, or more courageous, or
+depended less on aid from others, than Aunt Nancy Hart. In this last
+respect, the War Woman of Georgia stands alone in history, just as she
+stood alone when the Tories were waging a war of extermination, sparing
+neither women nor children, in the region in which she lived. Invention
+and fable have kindly come to the aid of the most famous of the world's
+heroines, but neither fable nor invention has touched the character or
+the deeds of this heroine of the Revolution. She stands out on the
+pages of history rough, uncouth, hot-tempered, unmanageable, uneducated,
+impolite, ugly, and sharp-tongued; but, as her friends said of her,
+"What a honey of a patriot she was!" She loved the Liberty Boys as well
+as she loved her own children. It has been said that she was cruel; but
+this charge may as well be put out of sight. Before passing upon it,
+we should have to know what the War Woman's eyes had seen, and
+what terrible revelations her ears had heard. Standing for American
+independence in a region that swarmed with Tories, whose murderous deeds
+never have been and never will be fully set forth, Aunt Nancy Hart had
+to defend her own hearthstone and her own children.
+
+The maiden name of this remarkable woman was Morgan, and she was born in
+North Carolina. She married Benjamin Hart, a brother of Colonel Thomas
+Hart of Kentucky. Thomas Hart was the father of the wife of Henry Clay,
+and the uncle of the celebrated Thomas Hart Benton. Aunt Nancy and her
+husband moved to Georgia with the North Carolina emigrants, and settled
+on Broad River, in what is now Elbert County. She was nearly six feet
+high, and very muscular,--the result of hard work. She had red hair,
+and it is said that she was cross-eyed, but this has been denied on
+good authority. It matters little. Her eyes were keen enough to pierce
+through all Tory disguises, and that was enough for her. It is certain
+that her courage and her confidence kept alive the spark of liberty
+in hearts that would otherwise have smothered it, and was largely
+responsible for kindling it into the flame that finally swept the
+British out of that section, and subdued the Tories. When the Whigs and
+patriots who had been her neighbors were compelled to flee before the
+murderous Tories, she refused to go with them, but stood her ground and
+never ceased to speak her sentiments boldly. Nothing but the wholesome
+dread with which she had inspired them prevented the Tories from
+murdering her and her children. When General Elijah Clarke moved the
+women and children of the Broad River region to an asylum in Kentucky,
+and the Liberty Boys had taken refuge in South Carolina, Aunt Nancy Hart
+remained at home, and for a long and dismal period she was unprotected
+save by her own remarkable courage.
+
+At that period the houses were built of logs, and the chimneys were
+built of sticks plastered with clay. They were called "stack chimneys."
+One evening Aunt Nancy and her children were sitting around the fire, on
+which a pot of soap was boiling. Now, a pot of soap must be constantly
+stirred, and for this the strong, muscular arms of Aunt Nancy were
+peculiarly fitted. So she stirred the soap, and, as she stirred, told
+the youngsters the latest news of the war. Presently one of her children
+chanced to discover some one peeping through the crack of the chimney,
+eavesdropping. By a gesture or a nod of the head Aunt Nancy was informed
+of what was going on. She smiled, and grew more spirited in her talk,
+rattling away and laughing as she gave exaggerated accounts of the
+recent defeats of the Tories. As she talked, she stirred the bubbling
+soap, and kept her keen eyes on the crack where the eavesdropper had
+been seen. Suddenly she dashed a ladleful of boiling soap through the
+crack full into the face of the intruder. It was so quickly and deftly
+done, that the eavesdropper had no time to dodge the scalding stuff. He
+received the full benefit of it Blinded and half crazed by the pain,
+he howled and screamed at a tremendous rate. Aunt Nancy went out,
+and, after amusing herself at his expense, bound him fast and held
+him prisoner. The probability is that the next day she H tucked up her
+petticoats, shouldered her gun, and compelled the unlucky Tory to ford
+the river ahead of her; and that, once on the other side, she kept in
+constant communication with the Clarkes and with other partisans of the
+American cause.
+
+[Illustration: Aunt Nancy Hart 079]
+
+Her husband, whom she sometimes jokingly described as "a poor stick,"
+assisted her in her communications. A conch shell was kept at the
+spring, some distance from the house. On this conch shell the children
+were taught to blow the blasts that gave Mr. Hart information. One
+signal was, "The enemy is at hand;" another was, "Keep close;" another,
+"Make tracks for the swamp;" and still another was that he and his
+friends were wanted at the cabin.
+
+At the very darkest hour of the Revolution in Georgia, Aunt Nancy
+performed one of her most remarkable feats,--one that brought into play
+all the courage and devotion of her strong nature, and all the tact and
+audacity that belonged to her character.
+
+Brigadier General Andrew Williamson, with three hundred men, was
+encamped near Augusta. When Charleston fell, this officer, who was
+already a traitor, though his treachery had not been avowed, called his
+officers together, and expressed the opinion that it would be foolish
+to further resist the King. He therefore advised them to return to their
+homes, and there accept the protection which would be offered them. He
+then abandoned his command, which was immediately disbanded. Shortly
+afterwards Colonels Brown and Garrison, two partisans of the King's army
+who had made themselves notorious by their cruelty to Americans, seized
+Augusta. Brown had been tarred and feathered in Augusta just before the
+breaking-out of the Revolution, and he made the patriots of that town
+and of the country roundabout pay dearly for the indignities that
+had been heaped upon him on account of his loyalty to the Crown. He
+confiscated the property of the patriots, and issued an order banishing
+all Whig families beyond the borders of Georgia.
+
+Raiding parties were sent into the region in the neighborhood of Augusta
+to compel the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance to the King.
+One of these parties entered the house of Colonel John Dooly, a gallant
+officer, and murdered him in cold blood in the presence of his wife and
+children. Colonel Dooly was the father of Judge Dooly, who became famous
+in Georgia after the war.
+
+A detachment of this murdering party found its way to Aunt Nancy Hart's
+cabin. There were five Tories in the detachment, and Aunt Nancy received
+them coldly enough. They told her they had come to inquire into the
+truth of a report they had heard to the effect that she had aided a
+well-known rebel to escape from a company of King's men by whom he
+was pursued. With a twinkle of malice in her eyes, Aunt Nancy boldly
+declared that she had aided her Liberty Boy to escape, and then she
+described the affair.
+
+She said that one day she heard the gallop of a horse. Looking out, she
+saw a horseman approaching, and at once knew him to be a Whig flying
+from pursuers. She let down the bars near her cabin, told him to ride
+his horse right through her house, in at the front door and out at the
+back, to take to the swamp, and hide himself the best he could. She then
+put up the bars, entered her house, closed the doors, and went about her
+business. In a little while a party of Tories rode up, and called to her
+with some rudeness. She muffled her head and face in a shawl, opened
+the door slowly, and asked in a feeble voice who it was that wanted to
+pester a sick, lone woman. The Tories said they had been pursuing a man,
+and had traced him near her house. They wanted to know if any one had
+passed that way. "I told 'em," said Aunt Nancy to the listening Tories,
+"that I had seen a man on a sorrel horse turn out of the road into the
+woods a little ways back. So they went back and took to the woods, and
+my Whig boy got off safe and sound."
+
+Naturally this story, boldly told, did not please the five Tories who
+heard it; but something in the War Woman's eye prevented them from
+offering her any personal injury. Instead, they ordered her to give them
+something to eat.
+
+"I never feed King's men if I can help it," she replied. "The scamps
+have fixed me so that I can't feed my own family in a decent manner.
+They have run off with all my pigs and poultry except that old gobbler
+you see in the yard there."
+
+"Well, you shall cook the old gobbler for us," exclaimed one who seemed
+to be the leader of the party. Suiting the action to the word, he raised
+his musket and shot the gobbler. One of his men brought it into the
+house and gave it to Aunt Nancy, with orders to clean and cook it at
+once. This, of course, made that stanch patriot very angry, and she gave
+the Tories a violent tongue lashing.
+
+It is probable that while she was dressing the turkey for the pot, the
+Tories let some hint drop about the outrageous murder of Colonel John
+Dooly, who was a warm friend of Aunt Nancy's. At any rate, she suddenly
+changed her tactics. She ceased to storm and quarrel, the scowl left
+her face, and she soon seemed to be in high good humor. She went about
+getting the meal ready with great good will. She sent her little girl
+to the spring after water, but told her to sound on the conch shell the
+signal to "keep close," so that her husband and his neighbors who were
+with him might know there were Tories in the cabin.
+
+While the daughter was gone after water, one of the Tories volunteered
+to take her place in helping to get everything ready. Aunt Nancy
+accepted his services, and joked with him with great freedom and
+familiarity. Like all women of spirit and independence, Aunt Nancy
+possessed a considerable fund of humor, and it stood her in good stead
+now. She contrived to thoroughly interest the Tories, and it was not
+long before they were in the most jovial frame of mind imaginable. They
+had expected to find a bad-tempered, ill-conditioned woman; and they
+were agreeably surprised when they found, instead, a woman who could
+match their rude jests, and make herself thoroughly entertaining.
+
+The Tories had brought a jug with them, and they were so pleased with
+Aunt Nancy's seeming friendliness that they invited her to drink with
+them. "I'll take one swig with you," said Aunt Nancy, "if it kills every
+cow on the Island," meaning a neck of land at the junction of river and
+creek where the Whig families of the neighborhood pastured their cattle
+and hid them. The Tories laughed and drank, and then they laughed and
+drank again. They kept this up until the old gobbler had been cooked to
+Aunt Nancy's satisfaction; and by the time they were ready to sit down
+to table they were in a very merry mood indeed.
+
+They had stacked their arms within easy reach of where they had been
+sitting and drinking; but Aunt Nancy had moved her table to the middle
+of the floor, so as to be able to walk around it on all sides while
+waiting on the Tories. In helping the men to the turkey and other
+eatables that she had prepared, she frequently came between them and
+their muskets. The Tories had hardly begun to eat before they called for
+water. Aunt Nancy, expecting this, had used up in cooking all that had
+been brought: consequently her daughter had to take the piggin and go
+to the spring after a fresh supply. She went with instructions to signal
+her father, and the neighbors who were with him, to come immediately to
+the cabin. While her daughter was at the spring, Aunt Nancy managed to
+pull off one of the boards that filled the space between the logs of the
+house, and through this crack she slipped two of the muskets. She was
+slipping the third through when her movements caught the eye of one of
+the Tories. Instantly the men sprang to their feet, but Aunt Nancy
+was now in her element. Quick as a flash she clapped the musket to her
+shoulder, and threatened to shoot the first man that approached her. The
+men, knowing her reputation as a fighter, and awed by her appearance,
+hesitated. At last one bolder than the rest began to advance toward her.
+She fired promptly, and at the report of the gun the man fell dead on
+the floor.
+
+Before the others could recover from their consternation, Aunt Nancy
+had seized another musket, and held it in readiness to fire again. Her
+daughter had now returned from the spring with the information that her
+father and his neighbors would soon arrive. Directed by her mother,
+the girl took the remaining musket and carried it out of the house. The
+Tories, seeing that no time was to be lost in recovering their arms,
+proposed to rush upon Aunt Nancy in a body and overpower her. But the
+War Woman was equal to the occasion. She fired again, and brought down
+another Tory. As she did so, the daughter, acting on her orders, handed
+her another musket. Then, taking position in the doorway, she called on
+the men to "surrender their ugly Tory carcasses to a Whig woman."
+
+[Illustration: Aunt Nancy captures the Tories 085]
+
+The Tories agreed to surrender, and wanted to shake hands to make the
+bargain binding; but Aunt Nancy kept her position in the doorway until
+her husband and his friends made their appearance. The Whigs wanted
+to shoot the Tories; but Aunt Nancy, whose blood was up, declared that
+shooting was too good for them. "They've murdered John Dooly," she
+exclaimed; "now let them hang for it!" Thereupon the Tories were taken
+out and hanged. The tree from which they swung was still standing as
+late as 1838, and was often pointed out by old people who had lived
+through the troubled times of the Revolution.
+
+One day Aunt Nancy met a Tory going along the highway. She engaged him
+in conversation, diverted his attention, and suddenly seized his gun and
+wrenched it away from him. She then ordered him to take up the line of
+march for a fort not far distant. Not daring to disobey, the man marched
+before her, as many others had been compelled to do, and she turned him
+over to the commander of the fort.
+
+When Augusta was in the hands of the British, and their raiding parties
+had been driven in by the Americans under Colonel Elijah Clarke, it
+became necessary for that commander to get some positive information
+in regard to the intentions of the British. At this juncture Aunt Nancy
+came to the rescue. She disguised herself as a man, and went boldly into
+the British camp. She remained there for several days, pretending to be
+crazy. In this way she secured a great deal of important information,
+and made haste to carry it to Colonel Clarke.
+
+Aunt Nancy was once left in a fort with several other women and a number
+of small children, her own among the rest. The men had gone out in
+search of supplies. They had not expected an attack, and had left only
+one of their number, a young man, to protect the women and children.
+Suddenly a party of Tories and Indians made its appearance, and
+surrounded the fort, which was nothing more than a stockade. The
+yelling of the savages threw all the women and children into the utmost
+confusion,--all except Aunt Nancy. That wonderful woman, who never knew
+what fear was, only became more energetic in the face of danger. There
+was a small cannon in the fort, but it was not in position to reach
+the enemy with its fire. After trying her best to lift the cannon into
+position, Aunt Nancy remembered the young man who had been left in
+the fort, and looked about for him; but he was not to be seen. A close
+search discovered him hiding under a cowhide. Aunt Nancy pulled him
+out by the heels, and vowed she would make mince-meat of him unless he
+helped her to move the cannon. The fellow knew perfectly well that Aunt
+Nancy was not to be trifled with when her blood was up. He gave her the
+necessary assistance. She aimed the cannon and fired it, and the Tories
+and savages promptly took to their heels.
+
+On another occasion when the river was high, it became necessary for the
+Americans on the Georgia side to know what was going on on the Carolina
+side; but no one could be induced to venture across. Hearing of the
+difficulty, Aunt Nancy promptly undertook to go.
+
+The freshet had swept away all the boats, but to Aunt Nancy this was
+a trifling matter. She found a few logs, tied them together with
+grapevines, and on this raft made the voyage across the river. She
+gathered the necessary information, and made haste to communicate it to
+the Georgia troops.
+
+Aunt Nancy was the mother of eight children,--six sons and two
+daughters. Her eldest daughter, Sally, married a man named Thompson,
+who was as quicktempered as his mother-in-law. After the war, Aunt Nancy
+moved to Brunswick. Sally and her husband followed a year or two later.
+In passing through Burke County, they camped for the night by the
+roadside. The next morning Thompson ordered a white man, who had been
+hired as a teamster, to perform some duty. Thompson's tone was so
+peremptory that the man returned an insolent answer, and refused. In a
+fit of rage, Thompson drew his sword, and severed the man's head from
+his body with one swinging stroke. He then drove the team himself until
+he came to the first house, where he gave information that he had cut
+off a fellow's head at the camp down the road, and that they "had best
+go and bury him." He then drove on, but was overtaken, arrested,
+and lodged in jail at Waynesboro. As soon as Aunt Nancy heard of the
+trouble, she made her appearance in the upcountry again. Within a few
+days after her return, the jail was found open one morning, and
+Thompson was gone. Speaking of this afterwards, Aunt Nancy was heard to
+exclaim,--
+
+"Drat 'em! that's the way with 'em all. When they get into trouble, they
+always send for me!"
+
+Not long after this episode, Mr. Benjamin Hart died. Aunt Nancy mourned
+his loss for a while, and then married a young man. Then, as the saying
+is, she "pulled up stakes," and moved to what is now the State of
+Alabama, on the Tombigbee. There she had the French and the Spaniards
+for neighbors, and she felt at home with neither race. She was bluntly,
+emphatically, and unaffectedly American. To add to her troubles, a big
+rain flooded the river, destroyed her crops, and surrounded her house.
+This, with the French and Spaniards, was too much for her. She returned
+to Georgia, but, finding her old home occupied by others, she settled in
+Edgefield, S.C.
+
+A Methodist society was formed in her neighborhood, and its influence
+became so active that Aunt Nancy's conscience began to trouble her. She
+listened to the preaching of the Word from a distance until she became
+worried about her future state. She went to the meetinghouse, but found
+the door closed against intruders. The deacon and members were holding
+a class meeting. The closed door was no obstacle to Aunt Nancy. She cut
+the fastening and walked in without ceremony. Once in, she found what
+she wanted. She became an enthusiastic Methodist, and is said to have
+fought Satan and sin as manfully as she fought the Tories and the
+British.
+
+When Governor George R. Gilmer of Georgia was in Congress, in 1828-29,
+the members were very anxious to attract the notice of General Jackson,
+who had been elected President. A proposal was made to fill the vacant
+niches in the rotunda with paintings descriptive of the battle of New
+Orleans and the general's other victories. Governor Gilmer offered as an
+amendment a resolution to fill one of the niches with a painting of Aunt
+Nancy Hart wading Broad River, her petticoats held up with one hand,
+a musket in the other, and driving three Tories before her, to deliver
+them up to Colonel Elijah Clarke.
+
+Governor Gilmer's proposition was a more sensible one than he intended
+it to be. Georgia has perpetuated Aunt Nancy's name by calling a county
+after her; but the Republic owes something to her memory.
+
+
+
+
+TWO SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION.
+
+The pen of the historian is not always as impartial as it should be. It
+has its spites and prejudices; and it frequently happens that the men
+who wield the pen with which history is written, have their whims,
+their likes, and their dislikes. It is certain that two of the hardest
+fighters in the War for Independence--two of the most distinguished
+officers that Georgia gave to the cause--have had tardy justice done
+to their valor. The names of these men are General James Jackson and
+General Elijah Clarke. The independence and the individuality of these
+men stand clearly out in all the records that we have of them, and it
+is no doubt true that these qualities made them to some degree unpopular
+with those who inspired the early chroniclers of the Revolution in the
+South. Neither of these officers was capable of currying favor with his
+superiors, or of doing injustice to the humblest of his comrades. They
+were not seekers after the bubble reputation, but had their minds and
+all their energies bent on liberating Georgia and her sister Colonies.
+
+General James Jackson was born in the county of Devon, England. He
+came to this country in 1772, landing at Savannah penniless and almost
+friendless. He began the study of law; but when the Liberty Boys began
+their movement for resisting British oppression, he placed his books
+on their shelves, and gave himself entirely to the cause of the people.
+When only nineteen years old, he was one of the volunteers that fired
+the British armed vessels sent to attack Savannah by water, while Major
+Maitland and Major Grant attacked it by land. The crews of these vessels
+were compelled to escape without their clothes and arms. General Jackson
+served in the lower part of Georgia until the fall of Savannah in 1778,
+when he and his friend John Milledge made their way to the patriot
+troops, commanded by General Moultrie. Such was the condition of these
+men, both of whom afterwards became governors of Georgia, that they
+were compelled to make the greater part of their journey barefoot and in
+rags. Their appearance was so much against them that they were arrested
+as spies by some American soldiers, and would have been hanged but for
+the timely arrival of a gentleman who knew them.
+
+General Jackson was at the siege of Savannah, and, after the disastrous
+result of that affair, returned to South Carolina. The victory of the
+Americans at Blackstock's House, in South Carolina, was almost wholly
+due to the Georgians who were there. Sumter commanded at the beginning
+of the action, but a severe wound compelled him to retire from the
+field. The command then devolved upon the oldest Georgia officer,
+General John Twiggs, who was assisted by Jackson, Clarke, and Chandler.
+In this engagement Tarleton, the famous leader of the British dragoons,
+was defeated for the first time, and he was never able to recover the
+prestige he had lost. Tarleton fled from the field, and Jackson was
+ordered to pursue him. It was owing only to the fleetness of his horse
+that Tarleton escaped.
+
+[Illustration: General James Jackson 093]
+
+At the battle of The Cow-pens, Jackson again distinguished himself.
+"Major Jackson," says General Andrew Pickens, "by his example, and firm,
+active conduct, did much to animate the soldiers and insure the success
+of the day. He ran the utmost risk of his life in seizing the colors of
+the 71st British Regiment, and afterwards introducing Major Mc-Arthur,
+commanding officer of the British Infantry, as a prisoner of war to
+General Morgan." His services brought him to the attention of General
+Greene, and he was sent on a tour of difficult duty through North
+Carolina. He was so successful in this, that the commanding general
+authorized him to raise a partisan legion of infantry and cavalry for
+service in Georgia. By means of his native eloquence, which was said
+to be almost irresistible, he succeeded in raising the legion in a very
+short time. Wherever he addressed the people, there were loud cries of
+"Liberty and Jackson forever!" When his legion had been organized, he
+was appointed lieutenant colonel. His dragoons were clothed and armed by
+themselves, with the exception of their pistols. Their coats were made
+of dressed deerskins, and faced with the little blue that could be
+procured.
+
+Just before the siege of Augusta, Jackson was called upon to employ
+his eloquence in preventing the militia from giving up in despair
+and returning to their homes. These men were utterly worn out. Being
+ignorant men, they could see no ray of hope. They lacked every necessary
+of life. Jackson roused their drooping spirits, restored their hopes,
+and revived their old-time enthusiasm. At the siege of Augusta these men
+fought fiercely. Jackson himself led one of the advance parties. After
+the surrender of the town, he was ordered to level the fortifications,
+and he was appointed commandant. He was afterwards ordered to take
+position midway between Augusta and Savannah. While he held this
+position, a conspiracy was formed in the infantry to kill him in
+his bed. A soldier named Davis, who waited in the commander's tent,
+suspected that something was wrong. So he mingled among the men, and
+applied many harsh epithets to Jackson. Thinking to make Davis useful to
+them, the conspirators told him their plans, which he made haste to lay
+before his superior officer. Shortly afterwards the infantry were drawn
+up in line, and the ringleaders in the conspiracy arrested, tried, and
+executed.
+
+After the war the Legislature gave Davis a horse, saddle, and bridle,
+and five hundred acres of land, as a reward for his fidelity.
+
+Jackson was with General Wayne in his Georgia campaign, and was
+intrusted by him with many hazardous duties. When Savannah surrendered,
+General Wayne issued an order in which he said, "Lieutenant Colonel
+Jackson, in consideration of his severe and fatiguing service in the
+advance, is to receive the key of Savannah, and is allowed to enter the
+western gate."
+
+In 1786, Jackson was made brigadier general, and had command of the
+forces operating against the Indians. Between 1788 and 1806 General
+Jackson held almost every high office within the gift of the people of
+the State,--member of the Legislature, governor when only thirty-one
+years old, member of the first Congress held under the Federal
+Constitution, member of the State Constitutional Convention,
+presidential elector, and United States senator.
+
+With General Jackson in many of his engagements was General Elijah
+Clarke, who in many respects was the most remarkable soldier
+that Georgia contributed to the War for Independence. With fairer
+opportunities than he had, he would have made a great commander. He had
+small knowledge of tactics, but he had what is better,--the skill to
+take advantage of quickly passing events, and the coolness that made him
+complete master of all his resources. He was a man of the most striking
+characteristics, and he came out of the war with many bitter enemies
+among those with whom he came in contact. This feeling was perpetuated
+by the political campaigns in which his son, John Clarke, took part
+after the war. A trace of this is to be seen in the sketch which
+Governor Gilmer gives to Elijah Clarke in his curious book entitled
+"Georgians." It is undoubtedly true that Elijah Clarke was ignorant of
+what is called book knowledge, but he was not much worse off in this
+respect than the famous Confederate General Forrest, who is thought by
+some high military critics to have been the most remarkable commander
+on the Southern side in the civil war. Elijah Clarke, as well as General
+Forrest, had something that served them a better turn than a mere
+knowledge of books. They had a thorough knowledge of men, and a quick
+eye for the situations that follow each other so rapidly in a skirmish
+or battle.
+
+[Illustration: Elijah Clarke 097]
+
+Elijah Clarke was born in North Carolina, but moved to Georgia in 1774.
+He was among the first of the inhabitants of Upper Georgia to take
+up the cause of American independence; and his example, for he was a
+notable man even in private life, did much to solidify and strengthen
+those who leaned to that cause. When the British troops marched from the
+coast into Upper Georgia, Elijah thought the time had come to take
+his gun from the rack over the door, and make at least some show of
+resistance. His courage, and the firmness and decision of his character,
+made him the natural leader of those of his neighbors whose sympathies
+were with the Liberty Boys in other parts of the State, and he soon
+found himself a commander without commission or title. He cared less
+for these things than for the principles of liberty for which he was
+fighting.
+
+For a while Elijah Clarke and his followers fought as partisan rangers,
+but he soon drew around him a compact and disciplined body of men who
+were ready to go wherever he might lead them. He did not confine his
+efforts to his new neighborhood We hear of him with Howe's ill-fated
+expedition against East Florida, where, at Alligator Creek, he was asked
+to perform the impossible feat of storming with a troop of horse a camp
+intrenched behind logs and brushwood. He was no doubt amazed at the
+stupidity of General Howe in issuing such an order, but he attempted to
+carry it out with his usual courage. He did succeed in floundering over
+the logs with his troops, but he came to a ditch that was too wide for
+his horses to leap, and too deep to be ridden through. At this moment he
+and his men were saluted with a heavy fire from the enemy, and they were
+compelled to retire in confusion. In this attempt Elijah Clarke was shot
+through the thigh. Later he was in South Carolina, at Blackstocks, and
+at The Cowpens.
+
+In some quarters an effort has been made to blacken the reputation of
+General Clarke by comparing his treatment of the Tories with the mild
+and humane policy pursued by Francis Marion. There was, indeed, some
+misunderstanding between the two men in regard to the methods that might
+be adopted. The policy of Marion was undoubtedly the correct one, so far
+as South Carolina was concerned; but if the Tories in that Province had
+been guilty of the crimes committed by their brethren in Wilkes and the
+surrounding region, General Marion's policy would not have been very
+different from that of General Clarke. The Tories with whom Clarke was
+familiar were guilty of murder, rapine, pillage, and incendiarism. The
+Tories in South Carolina were kept under by the presence of Marion and
+his men. Clarke went wherever his services were needed; and during his
+absence, the Tories of the Broad River region were free to commit
+every excess. Marion refused to leave the region where he made his name
+famous, and thus kept the Tories in constant fear and dread.
+
+Who shall say that Marion would not have been as ready to exterminate
+the Tories as Clarke was, or that Clarke would not have been as humane
+as Marion, if each of these distinguished patriots had been in the
+other's place?
+
+At the battle of Kettle Creek, in what is now Wilkes County, Elijah
+Clarke distinguished himself by his readiness and skill as a commander.
+The Americans under Colonel Pickens were in pursuit of the British under
+Colonel Boyd. Their line of march was the order of battle, and following
+the vanguard came the right and left wings. The left wing was commanded
+by Elijah Clarke. The center was led by Colonel Pickens, who was in
+command of the expedition. Colonel Boyd, the British commander, appeared
+to be unconscious of pursuit. He had halted on a farm on the north side
+of Kettle Creek. His horses were left to forage on the young cane that
+grew on the edge of the swamp; and his men were slaying cattle and
+parching corn, preparing for a feast after their short rations. The
+British encampment was formed near the creek, on a piece of open ground
+flanked on two sides by a canebrake. Colonel Boyd was in utter ignorance
+of the approach of the Americans, who advanced at once to the attack.
+The British colonel formed his line in the rear of his encampment, and
+there received the assault. The battle was hotly contested for more than
+an hour, and then the Tories retreated through the swamp.
+
+Elijah Clarke, seeing a piece of rising ground on the farther side
+of the creek, on which he suspected the Loyalists would try to form,
+ordered the left wing to follow him, and was about to cross the stream
+when his horse was shot under him. Mounting another, he soon crossed
+the creek, followed by not more than a fourth of his division. There had
+been some mistake in sending the order along the line. Clarke gained the
+hill that had attracted his eye just in time to attack Major Spurgen, a
+brave British officer, who was forming his command. The firing attracted
+the notice of the rest of Clarke's division, and they soon joined their
+leader. Pickens and Dooly also pressed through the swamp, and the battle
+was renewed with great vigor. For a while the result was in doubt,
+but at the end the Americans held the hill. The Tories fled in all
+directions, leaving seventy dead on the field, and seventy-five wounded
+and captured. Of the Americans, nine were slain, and twenty-three
+wounded. To Elijah Clarke must be given the credit for this victory,
+which, coming at the time it did, revived the hopes and courage of the
+Liberty Boys in all parts of the country.
+
+The Tories, on the other hand, were so depressed by it, that many
+of them left that part of the State, and those who remained became
+comparatively quiet. The situation was so encouraging, that many of the
+people of Georgia, who had been driven from their homes by the cruelty
+of the Tories, returned with their families. They were not long left in
+peace, however. The British and the Tories had their active agents among
+the Creeks and Cherokees, urging these tribes to take up arms and attack
+the Americans. In view of this, Clarke was sent to guard the frontier
+forts. Then the Tories again began to pillage and devastate the Broad
+River region. Some of the crimes they committed would have disgraced
+savages. Clarke's house was burned, and his family ordered to leave
+the State. Mrs. Clarke and her two daughters started on their perilous
+journey with nothing but a small pony of little value, and even this was
+taken from them before they had gone very far. This only served to renew
+the activity of Clarke in behalf of the American cause. He defeated
+the Tories wherever he met them; and if he gave them no quarter, it was
+because they had shown no mercy to the Americans. The savage character
+of the warfare waged by the Tories against men, women, and children,
+must ever stand as an explanation and as an excuse for the fierce spirit
+displayed by Clarke and the Americans who lived in the Broad River
+region.
+
+In the battle near Musgrove's Mill, Clarke defeated the British, killing
+sixty-three men, and wounding and capturing one hundred. During the
+battle he was twice severely wounded on the head and neck; and once he
+was surrounded by the enemy, captured, and placed in charge of two men.
+One of these he knocked down with a blow of his fist, and the other
+fled. At one time, acting without orders, he was near taking Augusta,
+and was only prevented by the desire of his men to see their families.
+After this he returned to Wilkes County, where he was compelled to take
+under his protection nearly four hundred women and children who had been
+driven from their homes by the savage Tories. He resolved to carry
+these to a place of safety, and, with a sufficient guard, set out for
+Kentucky. Cornwallis, hearing of this movement, and taking for granted
+that it was a retreat, sent one hundred men under Captain Ferguson to
+cut Clarke off, the supposition being that the great partisan fighter
+would march through South Carolina, but he had re-crossed the mountains
+in the Piedmont region. Hearing of this movement, Clarke detached
+Major Chandler and Captain Johnston with thirty men to take part in
+the operations against Ferguson. Thus it was the pursuit of Clarke that
+brought on the memorable battle of Kings Mountain, which resulted in
+a great victory for the cause of American independence; and although
+Clarke was not there in person, his heroic spirit animated the brave men
+who won the day.
+
+He was the first to teach the militia to stand against the bayonets of
+the British; and at Blackstocks, in South Carolina, at the head of his
+Wilkes riflemen, he charged and drove the British light infantry in an
+open field,--a movement that turned the enemy's right flank, and insured
+the victory of the Americans. At the siege of Augusta, Clarke had
+anticipated the movement of Colonel "Light Horse Harry" Lee, and had
+confined the British garrison to their works for weeks before Colonel
+Lee's arrival.
+
+At the close of the Revolution, Clarke led the movement against the
+Indians. He defeated the Creeks in the battle of Jacks Creek. After
+peace was declared, Clarke, who had been made a general by a grateful
+State, settled on lands that had been reserved to the Indians. For this
+he has been criticised very severely; but it is curious that the policy
+for which he was attacked, shortly afterwards became the policy of the
+whole people. The States and the United States have made treaties
+with the Indians, only to break them. Having personal knowledge of the
+Indians, and having been made the victim of some of their raids, he had
+no respect for them or for their rights. To this view the whole country
+afterwards came, and the red men disappeared before it.
+
+It will be well to bear in mind, that, whatever failings he may have
+had, there was not a more heroic figure in the Revolution than General
+Elijah Clarke.
+
+
+
+
+A WAR OF EXTERMINATION.
+
+[Illustration: A War of Extermination 104]
+
+Some of the barbarous features of the Revolutionary War in Georgia have
+been briefly noted.
+
+History has turned her eyes away from the more horrible details; but
+by reading between the lines, and taking advantage of the hints and
+suggestions, it is not hard to get a tolerably fair idea of the methods
+that were pursued on both sides. Even Colonel Charles C. Jones, jun.,
+whose "History of Georgia" is thus far the most complete that has been
+written, touches lightly on the cruelties practiced in the efforts of
+the British and Tories to wrest Upper Georgia from the control of the
+Americans. There are matters that History cannot deal with and maintain
+her dignity.
+
+There can be no doubt that the British and the Tories began their
+cruelties without considering the results to which their acts would
+lead. It is an easy matter at this late day to see how naturally the
+war, in the region tributary to Augusta, degenerated into a series of
+crimes and barbarities foul enough to cause History to hold her hands
+before her eyes. When Colonel Campbell, assisted by Colonel Brown,
+advanced to attack Augusta, it was the only American post that had
+not surrendered to the King's men, and its capture would complete the
+subjugation of Georgia from a military point of view. The city fell
+without a struggle, and the American forces retreated across the river.
+It was natural that the British, and the Tories who were acting with
+them, should take advantage of this victory to bring the whole region
+above and around Augusta to terms. The sooner this was done, the sooner
+would all Georgia be restored to her relations with his Majesty George
+III. No time was to be lost. Therefore Colonel Campbell, the British
+commander, tarried in Augusta but a few days. He left Colonel Brown
+in charge, and marched in the direction of Wilkes County. Those of the
+inhabitants who had Tory sympathies were to be encouraged; but those who
+were disaffected were to be dealt with summarily, so as to put an end,
+at once and forever, to the disloyalty that had been active in that
+region. This plan was carried out promptly and violently. The severest
+punishment was the portion of those who refused to take the oath of
+allegiance. Plunder and the torch were the portions of those who chanced
+to be away from home, fighting for their country. Their helpless
+wives and children were left homeless, and destitute of provisions.
+Fortunately a great many stanch Liberty Boys had carried their families,
+their household effects, and their cattle, into South Carolina as soon
+as they heard of the fall of Augusta; but many had remained at home, and
+the sufferings of these were severe.
+
+Another explanation of the extreme cruelty with which the war in Upper
+Georgia was waged after the fall of Augusta, was the fact that Colonel
+Brown, who had been left in command by Colonel Campbell, had some old
+scores to settle. At the very beginning of the struggle he had been
+arrested in Augusta by some of the Liberty Boys, tarred and feathered,
+and paraded through the public streets, on account of his outspoken
+loyalty to the King. Still another reason was the fact that Daniel
+McGirth, who had been maltreated by an American officer, was among the
+officers who had accompanied Colonel Brown. McGirth held every American
+responsible for the treatment he had received, and he spared few that
+fell into his hands. Thus, between the anxiety of the British to conquer
+Georgia completely, and the desires of Brown and McGirth to revenge
+themselves, the Americans in Upper Georgia were made the victims of the
+most inhuman barbarities.
+
+The Americans under Elijah Clarke lost no time in retaliating, and
+thus was begun a contest that may be aptly described as a war of
+extermination. Clarke was enabled to defeat the British and the Tories
+wherever they opposed him on anything like equal terms, and this fact
+added to the rigor with which they treated the Americans who were so
+unfortunate as to fall into their hands. Shortly after the affair at
+Musgrove's Mill, in which Clarke defeated the British and the Tories,
+Lord Cornwallis addressed a circular letter to the officers commanding
+the advanced posts. He declared, "The inhabitants of the Provinces who
+have subscribed to and taken part in this revolt shall be punished
+with the utmost rigor; and also those who will not turn out shall be
+imprisoned, and their whole property taken from them or destroyed. I
+have ordered," he goes on to say, "in the most positive manner, that
+every militiaman who has borne arms with us, and afterwards joined the
+enemy, shall be immediately hanged. I desire you will take the most
+vigorous measures to punish the rebels in the district in which you
+command, and that you obey in the strictest manner the directions I have
+given in this letter relative to the inhabitants in this country."
+
+Here was authority broad enough to cover every crime that the British
+and the Tories might see fit to commit, and they stretched it to the
+utmost limit. They burned houses and destroyed property. They insulted
+and inhumanly treated women and children. They hanged the innocent. They
+went about the country practicing every barbarity that their savage and
+bloodthirsty natures could suggest. It was no wonder that the Americans
+retaliated whenever they had the opportunity. It was no wonder that
+Elijah Clarke, naturally independent and irritable, should fail to see
+the justice or necessity of treating the Tories he captured as prisoners
+of war.
+
+The situation of the Americans became so serious that Clarke determined
+to strike a heavy blow. He returned from Carolina to Wilkes County in
+September, 1780, and in two days succeeded in placing in the field
+three hundred and fifty men. With this force, strengthened by eighty men
+recruited in Carolina, he boldly marched on Augusta. The movement was so
+unexpected, that, but for the fact that the advance guard fell in with
+an Indian camp which it was compelled to attack, Colonel Brown would
+have been taken completely by surprise. But the retreating Indians gave
+him notice, and he took refuge with his command in a strong building
+known as the White House. The siege began on the 14th. By daylight on
+the 16th Clarke had succeeded in cutting the garrison off from its water
+supply. The sufferings of the men, especially the wounded, became most
+intense. The Americans could hear their cries for water and for medical
+aid. Brown appears to have been as brave as he was cruel. Though he was
+shot through both thighs, he remained at the head of his men; and his
+great courage sustained the spirits of his followers. Clarke summoned
+him to surrender on the 17th. He not only refused, but warned the
+American commander that the demonstration he was making against the
+King's men would bring destruction to the western part of Georgia.
+
+Meanwhile some of Clarke's men had gone to visit their families, and
+others were more interested in securing plunder than in forwarding
+the cause of independence. Colonel Brown, as soon as he heard of the
+approach of the Americans, had sent several messengers by different
+routes to inform Colonel Cruger of the state of affairs. Cruger, who was
+in Carolina at Ninety-six, promptly set his men in motion, and on the
+morning of the 18th appeared on the bank of the Savannah, opposite
+Augusta. Under the circumstances, Clarke was compelled to retreat. He
+had suffered a loss of sixty, killed and wounded. In retreating, he was
+compelled to leave twenty-nine of his wounded men behind. Among these
+was Captain Ashby, one of the bravest and most humane of the officers
+of the American army. This unfortunate officer and the men with him fell
+into the hands of the enemy. Colonel Brown was so severely wounded that
+he was unable to move about; so he ordered Captain Ashby and twelve of
+the wounded prisoners to be hanged on the staircase of the White House,
+where he might see their sufferings and gloat over their agonies. These
+men were cruelly strangled before Brown's eyes. But their fate was a
+happy one compared with that of their wounded companions. Those men were
+turned over to the red savages, who were the allies of the British. The
+Indians received the prisoners with howls of delight, and began at once
+to torture them in every conceivable way. They formed a circle, and
+marched around the Americans, cutting and slashing them with their
+knives. The end of the unfortunates was most horrible. They were ripped
+with knives, scalped, and then burned. No doubt, Colonel Brown enjoyed
+this scene more thoroughly than he did the tame and commonplace
+spectacle of strangling Captain Ashby and his companions.
+
+Before raising the siege, Elijah Clarke paroled the officers and men
+whom he had captured,--fifty-six men, all told. This fact is mentioned
+to show that the Georgia militia had not then begun those acts of
+retaliation which have attracted the notice of historians. They had
+had, as we know, abundant provocation; but after the horrible crimes
+perpetrated by Brown reached their ears, they threw off all restraint.
+Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and the men who acted
+with Elijah Clarke thought that the best way to preserve the lives of
+themselves and their families was to destroy the Tories as fast as they
+caught them. The fact is chronicled by Colonel Jones, and it is worth
+noting, that the officers and men paroled by Clarke, in utter disregard
+of their obligations, took up their arms as soon as the Americans
+had departed. The probability is that they were driven to this by the
+commands of Brown.
+
+It is well known, that, as soon as Clarke and his men had retreated,
+Colonel Brown sent detachments of troops in all directions, with orders
+to arrest all persons who had taken part in the siege, or who had
+sympathized with the efforts of the Americans to recapture Augusta.
+Under this sweeping order, men of all ages and conditions were dragged
+from their homes and thrown into prison. Those who were suspected of
+taking part in the siege, or of belonging to Clarke's command, were
+seized and hanged out of hand. Old men, no longer able to bear arms,
+were imprisoned for welcoming the return of members of their families
+who had fought on the American side. One instance out of many that
+might be cited was the arrest of the father of Captains Samuel and
+James Alexander. In the seventy-eighth year of his age, this old man
+was arrested at his home, tied to the tail of a cart, and dragged forty
+miles in two days. When caught leaning against the cart to rest his
+feeble limbs, he was whipped by the driver. It was at this time that
+in the region round about Augusta the hopes of the patriots grew very
+faint. The women and children assembled, and begged Elijah Clarke to
+take them out of the country; and in response to the appeals of these
+defenseless ones, he undertook the movement that culminated in the
+glorious victory of Kings Mountain.
+
+[Illustration: Old man whipped at the tail of a cart 111]
+
+The winter of 1780 was the darkest hour of the Revolution in Upper
+Georgia. There was no trade. Farming was at a low ebb. The schoolhouses
+were closed. Many of the patriots had carried off their families.
+Many had gone with Elijah Clarke to Kentucky. The patriots had betaken
+themselves to South Carolina, though the services they rendered there
+have been slurred over by the historians of that State.
+
+When General Greene began his Southern campaign, and gradually rid South
+Carolina of the British and the Tory element, the patriots of Upper
+Georgia ventured to return to their homes. Captain McCall, who was among
+them, says, in his history, that they returned in parties of ten and
+twelve, so as to attract as little attention as possible. They appointed
+Dennis's Mill, on Little River, as a place of meeting. "When these small
+parties entered the settlements where they had formerly lived," says
+Captain McCall, "general devastation was presented to view; their aged
+fathers and their youthful brothers had been murdered; their decrepit
+grandfathers were incarcerated in prisons where most of them had been
+suffered to perish in filth, famine, or disease; and their mothers,
+wives, sisters, and young children had been robbed, insulted, and
+abused, and were found by them in temporary huts more resembling a
+savage camp than a civilized habitation." Though Captain McCall was
+an eyewitness of some of the scenes he describes, the picture he draws
+might seem to be too highly colored were it not supplemented by a great
+mass of evidence. One more instance out of many may be given. In a
+skirmish with the Americans under Colonel Harden, Brown captured several
+prisoners. Among them was a youth only seventeen years old named Rannal
+McKay, the son of a widow who was a refugee from Darien. Being told that
+her son was a prisoner in the hands of Brown, Widow McKay, providing
+herself with some refreshments that she thought might suit the taste of
+the British commander, went to Brown's headquarters, and begged that
+her son might be set free. The cruel wretch accepted the present she
+had brought him, but refused even to let her see her son, and caused the
+sentinels to put her out of the camp by force. Next day young McKay and
+four other prisoners were taken out of the rail pen in which they had
+been confined. By Brown's order they were hanged upon a gallows until
+they were nearly strangled. They were then cut down and turned over to
+the tender mercies of the Indians, by whom they were mutilated, scalped,
+and finally murdered in the most savage manner.
+
+The cruelty of Colonel Brown and the Tories acting under him was so
+unbearable that the patriots of that region felt that their existence
+depended on the capture of Augusta. They decided on an aggressive
+movement when they met again at Dennis's Mill, on Little River.
+
+Colonel Clarke, who was suffering from the results of smallpox, was
+too feeble to lead them. His place was taken for the time by Lieutenant
+Colonel Micajah Williamson; and on the 16th of April, 1781, the
+Americans moved to the vicinity of Augusta. They were there reënforced
+by a detachment from southern Georgia under Colonel Baker, and by a
+number of recruits from Burke County. A few days afterwards they were
+joined by some Carolina militiamen under Colonel Hammond and Major
+Jackson.
+
+With this force, Colonel Williamson took up a position twelve hundred
+yards from the British works, and fortified his camp. The Americans were
+compelled to wait nearly a month for the aid they expected from General
+Greene. The militia, worn out with waiting for the reënforcements, were
+about to withdraw from the camp in despair, when Jackson, that truly
+great Georgian, made them an address full of the most passionate and
+patriotic eloquence, and this appeal changed their purpose. Jackson's
+voice was afterwards heard in the halls of Congress; but we may be sure
+that he was never more in earnest or more truly eloquent than when he
+pleaded with the faint-hearted Americans to stand to their cause and
+their arms. Jackson's address revived their courage; and when, on
+the 15th of May, Elijah Clarke rode into camp, restored to health
+and accompanied by one hundred fresh recruits, the confidence of the
+militiamen was fully renewed.
+
+It was at this time that General Pickens and "Light Horse Harry" Lee
+(the father of General Robert E. Lee) were ordered by General Greene to
+march on Augusta and capture that post When Lee reached the neighborhood
+of Augusta, he learned, from a party of light horse which he had sent on
+ahead to collect prisoners and gain information, that the annual royal
+present intended for the Indians had arrived at Fort Galphin, some
+distance below Augusta. The present comprised blankets, liquor, salt,
+small arms, powder, and ball. There was a great lack of these articles
+in the American camp, and Lee resolved to capture them. The supplies
+were so valuable, that Brown, the British commander, had sent two
+companies from Augusta to garrison Fort Galphin. This was the situation
+when "Light Horse Harry" arrived on the ground. The British in Augusta
+had not yet discovered his approach, and promptness was necessary.
+Leaving Eaton's battalion, the artillery, and the footsore men of the
+legion, to follow more slowly, Lee mounted a detachment of infantry
+behind his dragoons, and made a forced march to Fort Galphin.
+
+This point he reached on the 21st of May, 1781. The weather was
+extremely hot, and for miles the troopers and their horses had been
+unable to find a drop of water: consequently neither the men nor the
+animals were in a condition to make the attack when the command was
+brought to a halt under the pines that skirted the field surrounding
+the fort. The British within the fort were resting quietly, and were
+not aware that an enemy was at hand. A prompt and decisive movement was
+necessary; and when his men and horses had rested a little while, Lee
+dismounted the militiamen he had brought with him, and ordered them to
+make a demonstration against the fort on the side opposite the position
+he had taken. This famous commander reasoned, that, as soon as the
+militiamen appeared before the fort, the garrison would sally from the
+stockade. The militia would retreat, the garrison pursuing, and he would
+seize upon that moment to assault and capture the post left defenseless.
+To carry out this plan, Captain Rudolph (who was supposed to be some
+great general in disguise), with a detachment of picked infantry, was
+held in readiness to rush upon the fort; while the rest of the troops,
+supported by the dragoons, were placed where they could shield the
+militia from the pursuit of the British.
+
+The affair took place just as Lee had foreseen. The garrison sallied out
+to the attack. The militia, before making a show of resistance, began
+a retreat. The garrison gave pursuit. Captain Rudolph dashed across the
+field, and captured the fort without any trouble, The end came, when the
+militia rallied, and the foot soldiers and dragoons closed around the
+soldiers of the garrison. During the engagement the Americans lost one
+man from sunstroke. The enemy lost only three or four men. The rest,
+together with the valuable stores in the stockade, fell into the hands
+of the patriots.
+
+Following this successful affair, which was of more importance than it
+seems now to be, Lee formed a junction with General Pickens; and these
+two then joined their forces with those of Clarke, who commanded the
+Georgia militia, and the siege of Augusta began. The first movement
+was the capture of Fort Grierson, so called in honor of the man who
+commanded its garrison. Grierson, hard pressed, threw open the gates of
+the fort, and endeavored to escape. Thirty of his men were killed, and
+forty-five wounded and captured. Grierson was made a prisoner, but was
+killed by a Georgia rifleman. He was as cruel and vindictive as Brown
+himself. He was a monster who had made himself odious to the followers
+of Clarke. In his history, Captain McCall strongly hints that Grierson
+was shot by one of the sons of the aged Mr. Alexander, who had been made
+prisoner and dragged to Augusta tied to the tail of a cart. A reward
+was offered for information that would lead to the arrest of the man who
+shot Grierson, but the reward was never claimed. The whole army probably
+knew who had fired the fatal shot, and no doubt the commanders knew,
+but their knowledge was not official. No further notice was taken of the
+matter.
+
+The capture of Fort Grierson cheered the hearts of the besiegers, and
+gave them renewed courage. Fort Cornwallis was next invested. This
+stronghold was commanded by Colonel Brown himself, who was as bold as
+he was cruel. He was mean enough to expose to the American fire the aged
+Mr. Alexander and other unfortunate patriots who had long been held as
+prisoners. Captain Samuel Alexander commanded one of the companies close
+to the fort, and could see and recognize his venerable father, who had
+been placed in an exposed position by Brown.
+
+It is not necessary to describe all the events of the siege. Brown held
+out as long as he could, but was finally compelled to surrender. On the
+5th of June, 1781, Brown, with three hundred men, marched out of Fort
+Cornwallis, and that stronghold was immediately taken possession of by
+Captain Rudolph. A strong guard was detailed by the American commanders,
+to protect Brown from the just anger of the Georgia soldiers, under
+Clarke, Williamson, and Jackson. To insure his safety, he was carried
+to the quarters of "Light Horse Harry" Lee. The next day he and a few of
+his officers were paroled and sent down the river in charge of a party
+of infantry instructed to guard him. Ramsay, in his "History of the
+Revolution of South Carolina," says that Brown was recognized at Silver
+Bluff by Mrs. McKay, who thus addressed him: "Colonel Brown, in the late
+day of your prosperity I visited your camp, and on my knees supplicated
+for the life of my son; but you were deaf to my entreaties. You hanged
+him, though a beardless youth, before my face. These eyes have seen him
+scalped by the savages under your immediate command, and for no better
+reason than that his name was McKay. As you are now prisoner to the
+leaders of my country, for the present I lay aside all thoughts of
+revenge; but when you resume your sword, I will go five hundred miles to
+demand satisfaction at the point of it, for the murder of my son." The
+probability is that Mrs. McKay used no such stately language. No doubt
+she walked up to Brown, shook her finger in his face, and exclaimed,
+"You miserable villain! I can't get at you now; but if the day ever
+comes, I'll flay you alive for the murder of my poor boy."
+
+The fall of Augusta was received with rejoicings by the patriots
+everywhere, and the British and the Tories were correspondingly
+depressed. Men who had been overawed by the cruelty of the Tories, now
+came out boldly for the cause of independence, and the forces of the
+Americans were rapidly strengthened. Preparations were made for an
+aggressive campaign in Georgia by the Liberty Boys; and in this purpose
+they had the active aid and sympathy of General Greene, whose skill and
+ability as a commander were not greater than the wisdom he displayed in
+dealing with the people.
+
+In January, 1782, General Greene ordered General Anthony Wayne to take
+charge of the campaign in Georgia. At the same time he wrote a letter
+to Governor Martin that displays better than any document now extant
+the sagacity and conservatism that were the basis of General Greene's
+character and the source of his great success as a commander. "I cannot
+help recommending to your Excellency," he wrote to the governor of
+Georgia, "to open a door for the disaffected in your State to come
+in, with particular exceptions. It is better to save than to destroy,
+especially when we are obliged to expose good men to destroy bad. It
+is always dangerous to push people to a state of desperation; and the
+satisfaction of revenge has but a momentary existence, and is commonly
+succeeded by pity and remorse. The practice of plundering, which, I am
+told, has been too much indulged with you, is very destructive to the
+morals and manners of the people. Habits and dispositions founded
+on this practice soon grow obstinate, and are difficult to restrain;
+indeed, it is the most direct way of undermining all government, and,
+never fails to bring the laws into contempt, for people will not stop at
+the barriers which were first intended to bound them after having tasted
+the sweets of possessing property by the easy mode of plunder. The
+preservation of morals and an encouragement to honest industry should be
+the first objects of government. Plundering is the destruction of both.
+I wish the cause of liberty may never be tarnished with inhumanity, nor
+the morals of people bartered in exchange for wealth." This letter was
+intended to put an end to the war of extermination that the Tories of
+Upper Georgia had begun, and to prevent the patriots from carrying out
+their plans of revenge. The letter did great good. It was turned over
+to the Legislature by the governor, and thus made public; and its
+sentiments were taken to heart by hundreds who had suffered the most
+cruel wrongs at the hands of the Tories. General Greene's letter was
+also made the basis of two proclamations, both issued by the governor
+after conference with General Wayne. One opened the door to disaffected
+Georgians who might desire to return to the ranks of the republicans,
+and the other was addressed to the Hessian troops who had already
+begun to sympathize with the Salzburghers at Ebenezer. Stevens, in his
+"History of Georgia," says that many citizens who had been compelled
+from various reasons to seek protection under the British Government,
+and who had even joined the armies of the enemy, took advantage of the
+proclamation which referred to them, returned to their State allegiance,
+and joined the forces of General Wayne, where they proved their
+sincerity by making the most zealous efforts to merit the pardon and
+protection that had been promised them by the governor.
+
+After a brilliant campaign, lasting from January to July, 1782, General
+Wayne, assisted by Elijah Clarke, James Jackson, and other bold spirits
+who had never suffered the fires of liberty to go out in Georgia,
+cleared the State of the British. Savannah was occupied on the 11th of
+July, the keys having been surrendered to James Jackson. This was the
+end of British rule in Georgia.
+
+
+
+
+A NEGRO PATRIOT.
+
+[Illustration: A Negro Patriot 122]
+
+Along with the emigrants from North Carolina who first settled Wilkes
+County, there came a man named Aycock. He brought with him a mulatto boy
+named Austin. This boy passed as Aycock's slave; but when the conflict
+between the Liberty Boys and the Tories in that part of the country
+became desperate,--when the patriots were fighting for their lives as
+well as for the liberties of their country,--Aycock's neighbors called
+on him to do his part. According to all accounts, Aycock was not much
+of a warrior. His sympathies were with his liberty-loving neighbors;
+but his enthusiasm did not invite him to expose himself to the fire of
+musketry. It is said that he joined the neighbors, and strove to be a
+faithful militiaman, but he was in a state of constant fear. Governor
+Gilmer says of Aycock, that, from the time he was required to fight, he
+saw a terrible Tory constantly pointing a loaded gun at him. His alarm
+finally became so extreme that he offered as his substitute the mulatto
+boy Austin, who had then grown to be a stout and serviceable lad.
+
+Objection was made that Austin was a slave, and could not therefore be
+received as a soldier. At this, Aycock acknowledged that Austin was no
+slave; that, although he was a mulatto, he had been born free. This fact
+was made so clear to the patriots, that they willingly received Austin
+as a soldier, and he was mustered into the service under the name of
+Austin Dabney. He fought under Elijah Clarke, being under the command of
+Colonel John Dooly, who was afterwards so foully murdered by the Tories.
+Of all the brave men that fought under the heroic Clarke, there was none
+braver than Austin Dabney, none that did better service.
+
+He was in the battle of Kettle Creek, and was foremost among those who
+followed Clarke. Toward the close of this the bloodiest battle fought in
+Georgia between the patriots and Tories, Austin Dabney was shot through
+the thigh, and so dangerously wounded that he became a cripple for life.
+He was taken by his comrades to the house of a Mr. Harris, where he was
+carefully nursed until his wound healed. He was not able to do military
+duty after that, but he devoted himself to Harris and his family more
+faithfully than any slave could have done. It may be said of him that
+gratitude became the ruling passion of his heart.
+
+After the Americans had won their independence, and peace with it,
+Austin Dabney became prosperous. Being a quick-witted man, with an
+instinct for business, he accumulated property. He finally moved to
+Madison County, taking with him his benefactor and family, to whose
+wants and desires he continued to minister with as much devotion as he
+displayed at the beginning of his service. It was in Madison County
+that Austin Dabney became noted for his fondness for horse-racing. He
+attended all the races in the neighboring counties. He was the owner of
+some of the finest race horses to be found in the country; and such was
+his popularity, that he always found prominent men to stand for him.
+
+Shortly after he removed to Madison County, he received a pension from
+the United States Government. He sent Harris's oldest son to school,
+and afterwards to college. When the young man graduated from Franklin
+College, now the State University, Austin Dabney supported him while
+he studied law with Hon. Stephen Upson at Lexington, Oglethorpe County.
+When young Harris was undergoing his examination for admission to the
+bar, Austin Dabney stood leaning against the railing that inclosed the
+court, listening to the proceedings with great anxiety. When the young
+man was sworn in, and was shaking hands with the members of the bar,
+Austin, unable to control himself, burst into a flood of tears, happy
+that he had been able to make a gentleman of the son of the man who had
+nursed him so long and patiently while his wound was healing.
+
+When the public lands in Georgia were distributed among the people by
+lottery, the Legislature gave to Austin Dabney a lot of land in Walton
+County. The next year the voters of Madison County were in a condition
+bordering on distraction, being divided into Dabney and anti-Dabney
+parties. Austin had not been permitted to have a chance in the lottery
+with other soldiers of the Revolution. Consequently Stephen Upson, one
+of Georgia's most prominent men at that time, employed his influence
+with such effect that a law was passed giving Dabney a valuable lot.
+One of the members of the Legislature from Madison County voted for
+this law. At the next election the constituents of this member divided
+themselves into two parties, one faction indorsing the vote, and the
+other denouncing it. Those who denounced the vote did it on the ground
+that it was an indignity to white men for a mulatto to be put on an
+equality with them in the distribution of the public land, though, as
+Governor Gilmer bluntly puts it, not one of them had served his country
+so long or so well. Governor Gilmer, from whose writings all facts about
+Austin Dabney are taken, tells a very interesting anecdote about him. In
+order to collect the pension which the United States Government allowed
+on account of his broken thigh, Austin went once a year to Savannah.
+Once when he was on his way to draw what was due him, he fell in with
+Colonel Wiley Pope, his neighbor, who was also journeying to Savannah.
+They were very intimate and social on the road, and until they found
+themselves in the streets of Savannah. When they reached the fashionable
+part of the city, Colonel Pope observed to his companion that he was
+a sensible man, and knew the prejudices that prevented them from
+associating together in the city. Austin Dabney replied that he
+understood it very well, and with that he checked his horse and fell in
+the rear of Colonel Pope after the fashion of a servant following
+his master. Their way led them in front of the house of General James
+Jackson, who was at that time governor of the State. The governor was
+standing in his door at the time. Colonel Pope passed on unrecognized,
+but, chancing to glance around, he saw Governor Jackson run from the
+house into the street to greet Austin Dabney. The governor seized the
+negro's hand, shook it heartily, drew him from his horse, and carried
+him into the house, where he remained a welcome guest during his stay in
+the city. Colonel Pope (so Governor Gilmer says) used to tell this story
+with great glee, but owned that he felt put out when he realized, that,
+whilst he was a stranger at a tavern, Austin Dabney was the honored
+guest of the governor of the State. The explanation was, that Governor
+Jackson had seen Dabney's courage and patriotism tested on the field
+of battle, and he knew that beneath the tawny skin of the mulatto there
+beat the heart of a true man.
+
+Austin Dabney was always popular with those who knew of his services in
+the Revolutionary War. Governor Gilmer says that he was one of the
+best Chroniclers of the stirring events of that period. His memory was
+retentive, his understanding good, and he had a gift of description
+possessed by few. He moved to the land the State had given him, taking
+with him the family of the man who had nursed him. He continued to serve
+them while he lived, faithful to the end, and when he died left them the
+property he had accumulated.
+
+
+
+
+THE YAZOO FRAUD
+
+Some writers on the early history of Georgia have been under the
+impression that the speculation known as the Yazoo Fraud had its
+beginning in the efforts of General Elijah Clarke and his followers to
+settle on the Indian reservation lying west of the Oconee River; but
+this is not the case at all. General Clarke's movement was the result
+of an enterprise which was aimed against the Spaniards; and, though the
+facts have no real connection with the Yazoo speculation, they may
+be briefly told here, especially since Stevens, in his "History of
+Georgia," turns them all topsy-turvy.
+
+Genet was the first envoy sent to represent the wild and revolutionary
+republic of France,--the republic of Robespierre and the Jacobins. He
+represented, as well as any man could, the ideas and purposes of those
+who had wrought such havoc in France. He was meddlesome, wrong-headed,
+unreasonable, and bold with it all. He sailed from France in a
+ship which he commanded himself; and instead of going straight to
+Philadelphia (then the seat of government), where his business called
+him, he landed at Charleston in South Carolina. War was then pending
+between France and Spain; and Genet, after landing in Charleston, found
+ready sympathizers in the French Huguenots of South Carolina, and indeed
+in all those who had fought for American liberty. There were two reasons
+why the fiery appeals of Genet to the people of Carolina to take up
+arms against Spain were received enthusiastically. One was, that the
+Spaniards in Florida had been at constant war with the people of Georgia
+and Carolina, and had committed many crimes and depredations. The other
+was, that the people felt grateful to France for the aid she had given
+the American Colonies in their efforts to shake off the yoke of Great
+Britain.
+
+Genet's plan was to raise in this country an army large enough to seize
+the Spanish possessions in Florida, and to reconquer Louisiana. For
+the reasons stated, Genet found the people enthusiastic in favor of his
+enterprise. The enthusiasm was intense. It crossed the Savannah,
+and found General Elijah Clarke, with his strong nature and active
+sympathies, ready to embrace it. His military prestige in the South
+commended him to Genet as the man to lead the military enterprise
+against the Spanish settlements in the South. Accordingly he was given
+command of the army that was to be raised, and was made a major general
+in the French service with a pay of ten thousand dollars.
+
+Having secured a commander whose courage and resources in the field
+could be depended on, Genet went from Charleston to Philadelphia
+overland, stirring up sympathy for his enterprise and enlisting men. His
+success was greater than he had dreamed of. He found but one thing in
+his way, and that was the firmness and vigilance of George Washington.
+This great man set his face sternly against the project; but such was
+the enthusiasm of the people--artfully stirred by Genet, who was as
+accomplished as he was unscrupulous,--that a French party was formed.
+Genet took advantage of the formation of this party to arouse prejudice
+against Washington; and such was his success, that John Adams, who
+was afterwards President, says that there was a multitude of men in
+Philadelphia ready to drive Washington from the executive chair.
+
+A considerable army was raised, recruits reported to General Clarke from
+the Ohio River to the St. Mary's, and everything was ready for action.
+At that moment the heavy hand of Washington descended on the enterprise.
+The recall of Genet was demanded, the French party went to pieces,
+the project collapsed, and Elijah Clarke was left without resources,
+surrounded by a considerable force of men who had come at his bidding
+to take part in the attack on the Spanish possessions. These men were on
+his hands, expecting the fulfillment of promises that had been made to
+them. What was to be done? It was at this critical period that the eyes
+of General Clarke turned to the Indian reservation west of the Oconee.
+He marched his men to these lands, and took possession. He, and those
+who engaged in the movement for settling the lands, had risked their
+lives for their country on a hundred battlefields. They thought that
+the lands that had been claimed by the King belonged to those who had
+conquered the King's armies. They were right in principle, but wrong
+in action. The lands that had belonged to the King now belonged to
+the people, not as individuals, but as a corporate body,--to the whole
+people represented by the State government. These principles had not
+been made as clear by discussion in General Clarke's day as they have
+been made since. He engaged in no speculation. He boldly settled the
+lands, and was prepared to boldly hold his position. The settlement was
+made in 1794. On the 28th of July, Governor George Matthews issued a
+proclamation forbidding the settlement, and likewise directed one of
+the judges to issue a warrant for the general's arrest. At the Superior
+Court of Wilkes County, Clarke surrendered himself to the judge, who
+referred the case to the county justices. These judges made a decision,
+setting forth the fact that Elijah Clarke had surrendered himself into
+custody; that, being desirous to do speedy justice to the State as well
+as to the party charged, they had proceeded to maturely consider the
+case; and that after examining the laws of the State, and the treaties
+made and laws passed by the United States, they gave it as their
+"decided and unanimous opinion that the said Elijah Clarke be and
+is hereby discharged." Encouraged by this decision, General Clarke
+returned to his settlement with the intention of holding the lands; but
+finally both the Federal and the State governments moved against
+him, and he abandoned the enterprise. The policy that Clarke began in
+settling the Indian lands without regard to the rights of the savage has
+since become the policy of the government. It is not a wholesome
+policy, nor is it authorized by the moral or civil law; but it has been
+unblushingly carried out nevertheless.
+
+The Yazoo Fraud was a far different matter. The very name of it was
+foreign to Georgia. It was borrowed from the Indian name of a small
+stream which empties itself into the Mississippi River. When the
+Colony of Georgia was first settled, the land granted to Oglethorpe was
+described as lying along the Savannah River, extending southward along
+the coast to the Altamaha, and from the head waters of these rivers
+westward to "the South Seas." Afterwards Great Britain changed the line
+which he had established. She carried the boundary line of West Florida,
+a part of her possessions, higher up. The new line started from the
+Mississippi at the mouth of the Yazoo River, and ran due east to the
+Chattahoochee at a point near where the town of West Point now stands.
+As the upper boundary of British West Florida this line came to be known
+as the Yazoo line, and the country above and below it to an indefinite
+extent came to be known as the Yazoo country. No boundary can now be
+fixed to the region then known as the Yazoo country. At the close of
+the Revolutionary War, Great Britain made a treaty which has been
+interpreted as vesting in the United States and in Georgia the right
+and title to these lands, reaching from the Chattahoochee to the Yazoo
+River, and extending on each side of this line to a distance that has
+never been estimated.
+
+The Yazoo Fraud itself had a somewhat vague beginning. From the best
+information that can now be obtained, it may be said that it was set on
+foot in 1789, shortly after the close of the Revolution, by a sharper
+who was famous in that day. He was known as Thomas Washington, but his
+real name was Walsh. Washington, or Walsh, is described as being a very
+extraordinary man. He had fought in the service of Georgia, but he
+had the instinct of a speculator; and when the war was ended, he gave
+himself up to the devices of those who earn their living by their
+wits. He was a man of good address, and his air of candor succeeded in
+deceiving all whom he met. Those who dealt with him always had the worst
+of the bargain.
+
+When Washington, or Walsh, began to operate in Georgia through agents,
+he found the way already prepared for him. The War for Independence
+had barely closed, when certain individuals, most of them men of some
+influence, began to look on our Western possessions with a greedy
+eye. They had an idea of securing these lands and setting up a new
+government,--a sort of Western empire. To further their designs they
+began by forming themselves into an association called the "Combined
+Society," the members of which were bound to secrecy by oaths and other
+solemn pledges. The purpose of the Combined Society became known, and
+the force of public opinion compelled the members to disband. Some of
+them were men of aristocratic pretensions.
+
+Thus Washington, or Walsh, found a great many sympathetic people in
+Georgia. He was too well known in the State to undertake any scheme to
+which his name was attached: so he worked through an agent, a man named
+Sullivan. This man Sullivan had been a captain in the patriot army; but
+he had headed the Philadelphia mob which insulted Congress, and he was
+compelled to flee to the Mississippi to save his neck. When the old
+Congress went out, Sullivan felt free to return. He came to Georgia,
+representing, or pretending to represent, the Virginia Yazoo Company, of
+which the celebrated Patrick Henry was a member, and made application to
+the State Legislature for the purchase of the Western lands. Sullivan's
+description of the Yazoo lands was so glowing that another company
+was formed in Georgia. Some of the members of the new company formerly
+belonged to the Combined Society, but others were men of good standing.
+This company employed active agents; but no corrupt means were used so
+far as is now known, though some members of the General Assembly were
+interested. The efforts of the company were successful. Their act was
+passed, and the sale made. Immediately the people began to oppose the
+scheme, and to demand the repeal of the act The demand grew into a State
+issue, and the new Legislature declared the sale null and void.
+
+[Illustration: The Yazoo Scheme 134]
+
+For a while the land grabbers were quiet; but in 1794 it seemed to the
+most eager of the speculators that the time had come for them to make
+another effort to secure the rich Western lands that belonged to the
+State. They were evidently afraid, that, unless they made haste to get
+hold of the lands, the people's Legislature would divide them out or
+sell them to the Federal Government. So they formed another conspiracy,
+and this time they laid their plans very deep. Acting on the principle
+that every man has his price, they managed, by bribery and other
+underhanded schemes, to win the sympathy and support of some of the
+most prominent men in the State,--men whose names seemed to be far
+above suspicion. Some of the highest judges lent their aid to the land
+grabbers. Members of Congress were concerned in the scheme. Generals
+and other high officers of the militia took part in it. Nothing was left
+undone that was calculated to win the support of men who, up to that
+time, had enjoyed and deserved the confidence and respect of the
+State. The extent of the bribery and corruption that existed would be
+altogether beyond belief if the records were not left to show it. The
+swindlers were both bold and cunning, and in one way or another sought
+to win the support of all the leading men in the State. And they came
+very close to succeeding.
+
+The Legislature held its session in Augusta at that time; and while the
+Yazoo land sale was up for discussion, the agents of the land grabbers
+swarmed around it, coaxing, bribing, and bullying the people's
+representatives. Among these agents was a judge of the Supreme Court of
+the United States, from Pennsylvania, with twenty-five thousand dollars
+in his hands. There was a judge of the United States District Court for
+Georgia, paying shares in the land company for the votes of members. A
+United States senator from Georgia, James Gunn, who had neglected to
+return to his post of duty in Congress, was seen bullying members with a
+loaded whip, to secure their support for the land-sale scheme. A judge
+of the State courts was also present, with other prominent citizens,
+buttonholing the members of the Legislature, offering them shares,
+sub-shares, and half sub-shares to secure their votes. General James
+Jackson, who was then a United States senator from Georgia, was told by
+a prominent judge of the State that he might have any number of acres he
+pleased up to half a million, without the payment of a dollar, if he
+would use his influence in behalf of the corrupt schemes of the land
+grabbers. In reply, General Jackson said he had fought for the people of
+Georgia; that the land belonged to them and to their children; and that,
+should the conspirators succeed, he, for one, would hold the sale to be
+void. Many weak men in the Legislature were intimidated by threats; and
+some who could not be persuaded to vote for the sale, were paid to go
+home, and remain away from the Legislature.
+
+In this way the representatives of the people were persuaded and bribed
+to support the scheme of the land grabbers. In 1795 the bill was passed,
+selling to four companies--the Georgia Company, the Georgia
+Mississippi Company, the Upper Mississippi Company, and the Tennessee
+Company--thirty-five million acres of land for $500,000. Nothing was now
+wanting to complete the fraud but the signature of the governor. If he
+put his name to the bill, it became a law. If he refused to sign it,
+the scheme of the swindlers would fail. General George Matthews was the
+governor at that time, and, though two of his sons had been made members
+of the land-grabbing companies, it was hoped that he would refuse to
+sign the bill. The hope was justified by the fact that he had refused to
+sign a similar bill, and had given some very good reasons for it. It
+was known, too, that he was a man of great courage, and honest in his
+intentions; but the influence brought to bear on him was too great. His
+judgment was weakened by the clamor of the prominent men around him, who
+had become the paid agents of the swindlers. He resisted for some time,
+but finally agreed to sign the bill. The secretary of Governor Matthews,
+a man named Urquhart, tried to prevent the signing of the bill by
+working on the governor's superstitions. He dipped the pen in oil,
+thinking that when Matthews came to write with it, and found that the
+ink refused to flow, he would take it as an omen that the bill should
+not be signed. The governor was startled, when, after several efforts,
+he found the pen would not write; but he was not a man to let so
+trifling a matter stand in his way. He directed his secretary to make
+another pen, and with this he made the land-steal bill a law. By a
+stroke he made the bill a law, and also signed away his own popularity
+and influence. The people of Georgia never trusted him afterwards; and
+he left the State, finding it unpleasant and uncomfortable to live among
+those who had lost their respect for him. Yet no charge of corruption
+was ever made against him.
+
+When the people learned that the Yazoo Fraud had become a law, they rose
+up as one man to denounce it. Those who lived in the neighborhood of
+Augusta determined to put to death the men who had betrayed them. They
+marched to the legislative halls, and were only prevented from carrying
+out their threats by the persuasion of the small minority of the members
+that had refused to be coaxed, bullied, or bribed into voting for the
+Yazoo Fraud. But the indignation of the people continued to grow as
+they learned of the corrupt methods that had been employed to pass the
+measure. Meetings were held in every county; and public opinion
+became so strong that those who had voted for the Yazoo Fraud found it
+dangerous to remain in the State. A senator from Hancock County became
+so alarmed that he fled to South Carolina. He was followed by one of his
+neighbors, found in a lonely cabin at night, and shot to death. Except
+in one or two counties, the men who voted for the Yazoo Fraud were
+compelled to hide themselves until the anger of the people had cooled.
+
+In his "Sketches of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia," Governor
+George R. Gilmer tells a little story that will serve to show the state
+of feeling in Georgia at that time. After the Yazoo Fraud was passed,
+the people of the counties held indignation meetings. A meeting was
+called in Oglethorpe County, and on the morning of the day, a citizen on
+his way to town stopped at the gate of a neighbor to wait until he could
+get ready to go. The man who was getting ready was named Miles Jennings.
+The citizen, waiting, saw Mr. Jennings put a rope in his pocket.
+
+"What is that for?" the citizen asked.
+
+"To hang Musgrove!" replied Mr. Jennings, Musgrove being the name of the
+member of the Legislature.
+
+When the two neighbors arrived at the courthouse, all the people had
+assembled. Mr. Jennings hitched his horse and went into the crowd,
+pulled the rope from his pocket, and, holding it above his head where
+all could see it, cried out,--
+
+"Neighbors! this rope is to hang Musgrove, who sold the people's land
+for a bribe!"
+
+[Illustration: Rope to hang Musgrove 138]
+
+The words of Jennings and the sight of the rope made the people furious.
+Musgrove had been given a hint by Jennings's neighbor, and he had made
+good his escape. But for that, no human power could have saved him.
+
+The whole State was in a condition of excitement that is hard to
+describe. Grand juries made presentments, county and town meetings
+passed resolutions, and petitions were sent from hand to hand, and
+signed by hundreds of people. A State convention, called to alter the
+constitution, had been chosen to meet in May, 1795, but the members had
+been chosen at the same time that the members of the corrupt Legislature
+had been elected; and a majority of them had been "tarred with the same
+stick," as the saying goes. The presentments, resolutions, and petitions
+crowded so fast upon the convention, that it was decided to postpone the
+changing of the constitution to a time when the people were in a better
+humor. The convention referred all the papers it had received to the
+next Legislature, and adjourned in some confusion.
+
+This added to the excitement and anger of the people. They were in doubt
+how to act. Delay would give the land grabbers time to sell the lands
+they had secured through bribery and corruption. But whom could the
+people trust? They had been betrayed by many of their highest judges,
+by one of their United States senators, and by a large majority of their
+Legislature. A great many believed that all the powers of government had
+come to an end.
+
+During the troubled times of the Revolution it had been the custom of
+military officers having the confidence of the people to convene the
+Legislative Assembly when an emergency seemed to call for it. In the
+midst of their doubt and confusion, the people applied to General
+Twiggs, the senior major general, to convene the Legislature in order
+that action might be taken before the swindlers sold the lands they had
+obtained by fraud; but General Twiggs refused to act in a case in which
+he had no clear right and power, so the people remained for the time
+being without a remedy.
+
+From the very beginning of this scheme to defraud the people of the
+State, it had been bitterly opposed by General James Jackson, who was
+representing Georgia in the United States Senate. He denounced it in the
+Senate. He corresponded with the most eminent men in the State, he wrote
+to the newspapers, and in every possible way held up to the scorn and
+contempt of the public the men who were trying to defraud the State of
+its rich Western lands. On the other hand, the conspirators left nothing
+undone to injure the reputation of General Jackson. His character was
+attacked, and his life was several times threatened. As early as the
+spring of 1795, he took occasion in full Senate, and in the presence
+of General James Gunn (the Georgia senator who was representing the
+swindlers), to denounce the scheme as "a speculation of the darkest
+character and of deliberate villany."
+
+By his bold, even violent opposition to the Yazoo sale, General Jackson
+had made himself the leader of the people. Therefore in 1795, while he
+was still senator, many of the people requested him to resign, so that
+he might use his influence and great talents in bringing about the
+repeal of the obnoxious law. He tendered his resignation at once, and
+returned home. He was elected a member of the Legislature, and devoted
+all his time and all his energy to blotting out the odious law. He
+became a member of the committee appointed to investigate the means used
+to pass the law, and under his leadership the whole scandalous affair
+was probed to the bottom.
+
+In electing the new Legislature, the only issue was Yazoo and
+anti-Yazoo. The people were successful in electing men who favored
+the repeal of the law. There was no other business before the General
+Assembly until this matter was disposed of. The body was flooded with
+the petitions and remonstrances that had been sent to the convention.
+The Legislature had met in January, 1795. At once a day was set to
+"consider the state of the Republic." On that day the petitions and
+presentments were considered, and referred to a committee, of which
+General Jackson was appointed chairman. On the 22d of January the
+committee reported not only that the act was unconstitutional, but that
+fraud had been practiced to secure its passage. On these grounds they
+declared that the act was a nullity, and not binding on the people of
+the State.
+
+The bill declaring the sale void was drawn up by General Jackson. It
+passed both Houses by large majorities, and was signed by Governor
+Irwin. The feeling of the Legislature was so strong, that, after the
+Yazoo act had been repealed, it was decided to destroy all the records
+and documents relating to the corruption. By order of the two Houses a
+fire was kindled in the public square of Louisville, which was then the
+capital. The enrolled act that had been secured by fraud was brought out
+by the secretary of state, and by him delivered to the President of the
+Senate for examination. That officer delivered the act to the Speaker
+of the House. The Speaker in turn passed it to the clerk, who read the
+title of the act and the other records, and then, committing them to the
+flames, cried out in a loud voice, "God save the State and preserve her
+rights, and may every attempt to injure them perish as these wicked and
+corrupt acts now do!"
+
+The flames in which the records were burned were kindled by means of
+a sun glass, so that it might be truly said that fire came down from
+heaven to destroy the evidences of corruption. There is a tradition that
+when the officers of the State had met to destroy the records, an old
+man, a stranger to all present, rode through the multitude, and made
+his way to where the officials stood. Lifting up his voice, he declared,
+that, feeble as he was, he had come there to see an act of justice
+performed, but he thought the fire in which the records of corruption
+were to be destroyed should come from heaven. The people watched him in
+silence. He drew from his bosom with trembling hands a sun glass, and in
+this way burned the papers. Then, says tradition, the white-haired old
+man mounted his horse and rode away, and was never seen again.
+
+
+
+
+GEORGE MATTHEWS AND JOHN CLARKE.
+
+[Illustration: George Matthews and John Clarke 143]
+
+In giving the history of the Yazoo Fraud, mention has been made of
+General George Matthews, who was governor at the time, and who was
+compelled to leave the State because he had been persuaded to sign the
+bill. General Matthews was one of the most remarkable characters of his
+time. Governor Gilmer has drawn a very interesting portrait of him.
+It is not a pleasing picture in some respects, but it gives a very
+interesting glimpse of a man who in his day was one of the strongest
+characters in the State.
+
+He was the son of an Irishman named John Matthews, who settled in
+western Virginia in 1737. George Matthews began to fight the Indians at
+an age when most boys are at school. In 1761 the Indians attacked and
+murdered a family not far from his father's home. He heard the guns, and
+thought that a shooting match was going on. With some companions of his
+own age, he rode forward to join in the sport; but the youngsters saw
+the dead bodies of their neighbors lying in the yard where they had been
+left by the murderous savages, and at once turned their horses' heads
+and fled. They were not a moment too soon; for the Indians, who had
+been lying in ambush, rose and fired at the boys. Matthews had a narrow
+escape; for a bullet cut off the wisp of hair (known as a queue) that
+hung dangling from the back of his head. The danger that he had passed
+through, and the sight of his murdered neighbors, roused young Matthews
+to action. He collected a party of men, put himself at the head of them,
+followed and overtook the savages, and killed nine of their number.
+
+In the greatest battle that ever took place between the Virginians and
+the Indians, Matthews commanded a company, and bore a very conspicuous
+part. The battle took place at the junction of the Ohio River with the
+Kanawha, on what was called Point Pleasant. The fight began at sunrise,
+and was kept up all day, with no great success on either side. The
+Indians held their ground, and refused to give way before the most
+stubborn attacks of the Virginians. Near sundown, Matthews, with two
+other captains, made a strategic movement. The three companies were
+withdrawn from the battle. Out of sight of the enemy, they got into the
+bed of a creek. Hidden by the banks of the stream, they marched to the
+rear of the Indians, and from this point made an attack. The movement
+had been so cleverly carried out, that the savages were taken completely
+by surprise, and driven across the Ohio.
+
+Early in the Revolutionary War, General Washington, who knew well the
+value of the training Matthews had received on the frontier, ordered him
+and the regiment which he commanded to join the main army. He took part
+in the battle of the Brandywine; and at the battle of Germantown he
+led his regiment against the British opposing him, drove them back, and
+pushed on to the center of the town, where he captured a regiment of the
+enemy. Shortly after this, while engaged in a skirmish, his courage led
+him too close to the British. He was knocked down, severely wounded by
+a bayonet thrust, and taken prisoner. He was sent to the British prison
+ship in New York Harbor. He was there treated with so much cruelty that
+he appealed to his government for relief. In response to that appeal,
+Thomas Jefferson, who was then governor of Virginia, wrote him a
+personal letter, in which he said, "We know that the ardent spirit and
+hatred of tyranny which brought you into your present situation
+will enable you to bear up against it with the firmness which has
+distinguished you as a soldier, and look forward with pleasure to the
+day when events shall take place against which the wounded spirit of
+your enemies will find no comfort, even from reflections on the most
+refined of the cruelties with which they have glutted themselves."
+
+General Matthews was not exchanged until the close of the war. He then
+joined the Southern army under General Greene, and commanded the Third
+Virginia Regiment. While in the South, he bought a tract of land on
+Broad River, known as the Goose Pond. He settled there with his family
+in 1784. The fame he had won as a soldier made General Matthews at that
+time the principal man in Georgia. He was elected governor in 1786. When
+his term expired, he was sent to Congress. In 1794-95 he was again made
+governor; and it was at this time, that, contrary to all expectations,
+he was prevailed on to sign the Yazoo Act. No charge of corruption was
+ever made against him. No thief or swindler was ever bold enough to try
+to bribe such a high-spirited and fearless man. But excitement in
+the State ran so high, that General Matthews was ruined so far as his
+influence was concerned. He left Georgia, and never afterwards made the
+State his home for any long period.
+
+In 1811 a lot of runaway negroes, ruffians, and lawless men congregated
+in Florida in such numbers that they were able to get control of
+affairs. They formed a government of their own, and then petitioned
+the United States to make Florida one of their territories. President
+Madison appointed General Matthews the agent of the United States to
+negotiate with the "constituted authorities" for the annexation of
+Florida. General Matthews made a treaty with those who were in control
+of Florida; but Spain protested, and the President finally declared that
+the treaty had not been made with the "constituted authorities."
+
+General Matthews was not a learned man (he knew nothing of books),
+and he could not understand the fuss that was made over the term
+"constituted authorities." He became very angry with the President, said
+that that officer had a cowardly fear of Spain and Great Britain, and
+declared that he would go to Washington to "thrash" the President. He
+actually set out on that errand; but the fatigue and exposure which he
+had experienced in Florida, and the high state of excitement under
+which he labored, threw him into a fever while he was on his journey to
+Washington, and he died in Augusta in March, 1812.
+
+Previous to his Florida appointment, General Matthews had been nominated
+to be governor of the Territory of Mississippi by President Adams; but
+the opposition was so great that the President withdrew the nomination.
+When General Matthews heard of this, he promptly set out for
+Philadelphia to call the President to account. He rode to Mr. Adams's
+house, gave a loud knock on the door, and told the servant he wished
+to see the President. The servant said the President was engaged; but
+General Matthews bristled with anger at the bare thought that any man,
+even the President, could be engaged in any business more important
+than talking to George Matthews, late colonel of the Virginia line, and
+governor of the State of Georgia. Therefore he told the servant to go at
+once and tell the President that a gentleman wished to speak to him;
+and he added, that, if the message was not carried at once, the servant
+would find his head taken from his shoulders. General Matthews wore his
+Revolutionary sword and cocked hat, and he succeeded in convincing the
+servant that he was not to be trifled with. He was promptly admitted
+into the presence of Mr. Adams, and, with the touch of Irish brogue he
+had caught from his father, he made himself and his business known. He
+introduced himself, and then said to the President,--
+
+"Now, sir, I understand that you nominated me to the Senate of these
+United States, to be governor of the Territory of Mississippi, and that
+afterwards you took back the nomination. Sir, if you had known me, you
+would not have taken the nomination back. If you did not know me, you
+should not have nominated me to so important an office. Now, sir, unless
+you can satisfy me, your station as President of these United States
+shall not screen you from my vengeance."
+
+Mr. Adams at once made himself agreeable, for he had nothing but good
+will for the stanch Georgia Federalist. The outcome of the meeting was
+that the President promised to appoint the general's son John to be
+supervisor of the revenue, and this promise he carried out.
+
+Governor Gilmer, in his racy reminiscences of the people who settled
+in the Broad River region, draws an interesting portrait of General
+Matthews. He describes him as a short, thick man, with stout legs, on
+which he stood very straight. "He carried his head rather thrown back.
+His features were full and bluff, his hair light red, and his complexion
+fair and florid. He admitted no superior but General Washington. He
+spoke of his services to his country as unsurpassed except by those of
+his great chief. He wore a three-cornered cocked hat, top boots, a shirt
+full ruffled at the bosom and wrists, and sometimes a long sword at
+his side. To listen to his talk about himself, his children, and his
+affairs, one would have thought that he was but a puff of wind. Trade
+or talk of history with him, and he was found to be one of the shrewdest
+of men. Fight with him, and he never failed to act the hero. He was
+unlearned. He spelled 'coffee' k-a-u-g-h-p-h-y. He wrote 'Congress' with
+a K."
+
+When it is considered that he had small opportunity to train himself in
+any direction except rough fighting, General Matthews must be regarded
+as one of the most remarkable men of his time.
+
+Another remarkable man who figured largely in both the military and
+political history of the State was General John Clarke, son of the
+famous Elijah Clarke. John Clarke became a soldier in the Revolutionary
+War when a mere boy. He had followed his father to camp, and remained
+with him. He took part in many skirmishes; but at the battle of Kettle
+Creek, in Wilkes County, he distinguished himself by his coolness and
+courage. He fought through the war. He was made a lieutenant at sixteen
+years of age, and when the war ended he was a major. After the war he
+was made a brigadier, and then a major general of the militia. After
+aiding to run the British out of the State, and subduing the Tories,
+General Clarke turned his attention to the Indians. At the battle
+of Jacks Creek, in Walton County, in 1787, he greatly distinguished
+himself, having charge of one of the wings of the Georgia forces.
+
+It was natural that a man raised in camp, and brought up in the midst of
+the rough and tough elements that are collected together there, should
+possess qualities not calculated to fit him for the polite transactions
+that take place in drawing rooms and parlors. General Clarke's
+self-reliance was extreme. Having commanded men from the time he was
+sixteen, it was natural that his temper and his manners should be
+offensive, to some extent, to those who were not thoughtful enough to
+make due allowance for these things. It thus happened that when peace
+came, John Clarke's methods and practices made him many bitter enemies.
+On the other hand, the sterling qualities of his character made him many
+strong friends.
+
+Coming out of the war with neither trade nor profession, and with only
+the rudiments of an education, John Clarke was compelled to turn his
+attention to politics. With him politics was simply a modified form of
+war. He had never given any quarter to the Tories, and he gave small
+quarter to his political enemies. But he was as faithful to his friends
+in politics as he had been to the cause of American liberty. He was
+uncompromising, whether dealing with friends or enemies, and his temper
+was such that he regarded his opponents as his personal enemies. Of
+his political career, mention will be made in another place. It is
+sufficient to say that a quarrel he had with a judge divided the people
+of the State into two parties, and the contest between them was carried
+on for several years. The prejudices that sprang up in that contest
+lasted for more than a generation, and strong traces of them are to be
+found in estimates of General Clarke's character written long after he
+was dead.
+
+Only a man of the strongest character, and possessing the most
+remarkable qualities, could have made such a marked impression on the
+political history of a commonwealth.
+
+
+
+
+
+AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
+
+[Illustration: After the Revolution 152]
+
+The Revolution came to an end in Georgia when, on the 11th of July,
+1782, Savannah was taken possession of by the American troops under
+General Anthony Wayne. It ended for the whole country when, on the 30th
+of November of the same year, the treaty of peace was signed at Paris
+between the United States and Great Britain. The King of Great Britain
+acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen States, and declared them
+free and sovereign. This was a very happy event for the country, and
+had been long looked forward to by the people, sometimes doubtfully, but
+always hopefully.
+
+But the great victory that had been won found the people of Georgia
+prostrate. The little property that they possessed when the war
+began had either been spent in maintaining the struggle, or well-nigh
+destroyed by the raids of the British and Tories. In the larger
+communities of Savannah and Augusta, the citizens had the resources of
+trade and commerce to fall back on, but in the smaller settlements
+and rural districts the condition of the inhabitants bordered on
+destitution.
+
+At the time that Savannah was surrendered to the American troops, there
+was almost a famine in the land. The soldiers were without shoes, and
+sometimes they were without supplies. The crops were short on account
+of the lack of farmers. The condition of the people was quite as bad as
+that of the troops, especially when the disbanded militia returned to
+their homes. Houses, barns, and fences had been burned; stock and cattle
+had been slaughtered or driven away; and there was a great lack of even
+the necessities of life.
+
+But those whose energy and spirit upheld them through the long struggle
+for independence were not the men to surrender to the hard circumstances
+that surrounded them. They went to work as bravely as they had fought;
+and the sacrifices they made to peace were almost as severe, though
+not so bloody, as those they had made to war. Slowly, but surely and
+steadily, they reclaimed their waste farms. Slowly, but surely and
+steadily, they recovered from the prostration that the war had brought
+on their industries. Slowly, but surely and steadily, the people worked
+their way back to comparative prosperity. There may have been a few
+drones in the towns, but there were no idle hands in the country places.
+
+The men built for their families comfortable log cabins; and these,
+with their clean sanded floors, are still the fashion in some parts of
+Georgia. This done, they went about the business of raising crops, and
+stocking their farms with cattle. The women and children were just as
+busy. In every cabin could be heard the hum of the spinning wheel, and
+the thump of the old hand loom. While the men were engaged in their
+outdoor work, the women spun, wove, and made the comfortable jeans
+clothes that were the fashion; while the girls plaited straw, and made
+hats and bonnets, and in many other ways helped the older people. In
+a little while peddlers from the more northern States began to travel
+through Georgia with their various wares, some with pewter plates and
+spoons, and some with clocks. The peddlers traveled in wagons instead
+of carrying their packs on their backs, and in this way brought a great
+deal of merchandise to the State.
+
+As was natural, the political development of Georgia was much more rapid
+than its industrial progress. In January, 1783, Lyman Hall was elected
+governor. He was distinguished for the patriotic stand he took at the
+very beginning of the controversy between the Colony and the King. The
+Legislature met in Savannah after the evacuation of the town by the
+British; but it was so far from the central and upper portions of the
+State, and there was so much dissatisfaction among the people on this
+account, that in May Augusta was made the capital. In that town the
+General Assembly met July 8, 1783. Measures were at once taken to seize
+land, and confiscate the property of those Royalists who had lived
+in Georgia. This property was sold for the benefit of the public. In
+November of the same year a new cession of land was obtained from the
+Creek nation by treaty. This was divided into the counties of Franklin
+and Washington, and the land distributed in bounties to the soldiers of
+the war.
+
+It is worthy of note that about this time, when the State had hardly
+begun to recover from the effects of the war, the representatives of
+the people began to move in the matter of education. The Constitution
+of 1777 had declared that "schools shall be erected in each county, and
+supported by the general expense of the State." On the 31st of July,
+1783, the Legislature appropriated one thousand acres of land to each
+county for the support of free schools. In 1784, a short time after
+the notification of the treaty of peace, the Legislature passed an
+act appropriating forty thousand acres of land for the endowment of a
+college or university. A year later the charter for this university was
+granted; and the preamble of the act declares it to be the policy of the
+State to foster education in the most liberal way. It so happened that
+some of the provisions that had been made for public education were
+not carried out at once, and the people of the various settlements
+established schools of their own. Many of the best teachers of the
+country came to Georgia from the more northern States; and some of them
+won a reputation that has lasted to this day. Later, more than one
+of these teachers established schools that became famous all over the
+country. In this way the reign of the "old field schoolmaster" began,
+and continued for many years.
+
+[Illustration: Early Cultivation of Cotton 156]
+
+The people had been cultivating cotton on a small scale before 1791; but
+the staple was so difficult to handle, that the planting was limited.
+Those who grew it were compelled to separate the seed from the lint by
+hand, and this was so tedious that few people would grow it. But in
+1793, Eli Whitney, who was living on the plantation of General Greene,
+near Savannah, invented the cotton gin. The machine was a very awkward
+and cumbrous affair compared with the gins of the present day; but in
+that day and time, and for many years after, the Whitney was sufficient
+for the needs of the people. It was one of the most important inventions
+that have ever been made. It gave to the commerce of the world a staple
+commodity that is in universal demand, and it gave to the people of the
+South their most valuable and important crop. But for this timely
+invention, the cultivation of cotton would have been confined to the
+narrowest limits. The gin proved to be practicable, and it came into use
+very quickly. The farmers prospered, and gradually increased the cotton
+crop.
+
+The population also increased very rapidly. The rich lands were
+purchased and settled on by farmers from Virginia and the Carolinas. The
+colony that had been planted by Oglethorpe had never ventured very far
+from the seacoast. A few probably followed the course of the Savannah
+River, and made their homes in that region; but the people brought
+over by Oglethorpe were not of the stuff that pioneers are made of. The
+experience they had undergone in the mother country had tamed them
+to such a degree that they had no desire to brave the future in the
+wilderness. Adventures of that kind were left for the hardy North
+Carolinians and Virginians who first settled what was then known as
+Upper Georgia. After the Revolution, this tide of immigration increased
+very rapidly, and it was still further swelled by the profits that the
+Whitney gin enabled the planters of Georgia to make out of their cotton
+crops.
+
+The settling of Georgia began with the charitable scheme of Oglethorpe.
+The making of Georgia began when the North Carolinians and Virginians
+began to open up the Broad River region to the north of Augusta. It was
+due to the desperate stand taken by these hardy pioneers that Georgia
+continued the struggle for American independence. To Upper Georgia
+came some of the best families from Virginia and North Carolina,--the
+Grattons, the Lewises, the Clarkes, the Strothers, the Crawfords,
+the Reeses, the Harrises, the Andrewses, the Taliaferros (pronounced
+Tollivers), the Campbells, the Barnetts, the Toombses, the Doolys,
+and many other families whose names have figured in the history of
+the country. Here also settled James Jack, the sturdy patriot who
+volunteered to carry the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence to
+Philadelphia. The Congress then in session chose to shut its eyes to
+that declaration, but it was the basis and framework of the Declaration
+afterwards written by Thomas Jefferson.
+
+After the Revolution, when the Cherokees went on the warpath, the
+Virginia settlement was in a state of great alarm. Men, women, and
+children met together, and decided that it would be safer to camp in
+the woods in a body at night rather than run the risk of being burned to
+death in houses that they could not defend. They went into the depths
+of the woods and made an encampment. One night while they were around a
+fire, cooking their supper, suddenly the report of a gun was heard, and
+then there was a cry of "Indians!" The men seized their guns; but they
+hardly knew where to turn, or what to do. Suddenly a lad who had not
+lost his head emptied a bucket of water on the fire. This was the
+thing to do, but no one else had thought of it. The name of the lad
+was Meriwether Lewis. He went into the regular army, became the private
+secretary of President Jefferson, and was selected to head the party
+that explored the Territory of Louisiana, which had been bought from
+France. Meriwether Lewis selected for his companion Captain Clark, an
+old army friend and comrade. Leading the party, Lewis and his friend
+Clark left St. Louis, and pushed westward to the Pacific coast, through
+dangers and obstacles that few men would have cared to meet. The famous
+expedition of Lewis and Clark has now become a part of the history of
+the country. Lewis took possession of the Pacific coast in the name of
+the United States. There was a controversy with Great Britain some years
+afterwards as to the title of Oregon, but that which Lewis and Clark had
+established was finally acknowledged to be the best.
+
+Meriwether Lewis won a name in history because the opportunity came to
+him. His name is mentioned here because he was a representative of the
+men who settled Upper Georgia,--the men who kept the fires of liberty
+alive in the State, and who, after helping to conquer the British and
+the Tories, became the conquerors of the wilderness that lay to the west
+of them. From Wilkes, Burke, Elbert, and the region where Clarke and his
+men had fought, the tide of emigration slowly moved across the State,
+settling Greene, Hancock, Baldwin, Putnam, Morgan, Jasper, Butts,
+Monroe, Coweta, Upson, Pike, Meriwether, Talbot, Harris, and Muscogee
+counties.
+
+Some of the more adventurous crossed the Chattahoochee into Alabama, and
+on into the great Mississippi Valley and beyond. Their descendants live
+in every part of the South; and Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas have had
+Georgians for their governors, and their senators and representatives in
+Congress,--men who were descended from the Virginia and North Carolina
+immigrants. One of the most brilliant of these was Mirabeau B. Lamar,
+scholar, statesman, and soldier, the president of Texas when that
+Territory had declared itself a free and an independent republic.
+
+
+
+
+THE COTTON GIN.
+
+Brief mention has been made of Whitney's invention of the cotton gin.
+The event was of such world-wide importance that the story should be
+told here. Whitney, the inventor of the gin, was born in Massachusetts
+in 1765, in very poor circumstances. While the War of the Revolution was
+going on, he was earning his living by making nails by hand. He was such
+an apt mechanic that he was able to make and save enough money to pay
+his way through Yale College, where he graduated in 1792. In that year
+he engaged himself to come to Georgia as a private tutor in the family
+of a gentleman of Savannah; but when he reached that city, he found that
+the place had been filled.
+
+While in Savannah, Whitney attracted the attention of the widow of
+General Nathanael Greene, who lived at Mulberry Grove, on the river at
+no great distance from the city. Mrs. Greene invited the young man to
+make his home on her plantation. He soon found opportunity to show his
+fine mechanical genius, and Mrs. Greene became more interested in him
+than ever.
+
+The story goes, that soon after the young man had established himself on
+the Mulberry Grove Plantation, several Georgia planters were dining with
+Mrs. Greene. During their conversation the difficulty of removing the
+seed from the cotton fiber was mentioned, and the suggestion was made
+that this might be done by machinery. At this Mrs. Greene mentioned the
+skill and ingenuity of young Whitney, and advised her guests that he
+should be given the problem to solve. This advice was followed. The
+planters had a talk with the young man, and explained to him the
+difficulty which they found in separating the seed from the lint.
+
+At that time one pound of lint cotton was all that a negro woman could
+separate from the seed in a day; and the more cotton the planters
+raised, the deeper they got in debt. The close of the war had found them
+in a state of the utmost poverty, so that they had been compelled to
+mortgage their lands in order to get money on which to begin business.
+Cotton was the only product of the farm for which there was any constant
+demand; but, owing to the labor of separating the lint from the seed,
+it could not be raised at a profit. Thus, in 1791, the number of pounds
+exported from the South to Europe amounted to only about 379 bales of
+500 pounds each.
+
+When the planters went to Whitney with their problem, he was entirely
+ignorant of the whole matter. He knew nothing of cotton or of cotton
+planting; but he at once set himself at work. He made a careful study of
+the cotton plant. He shut himself in a room with some uncleaned cotton,
+and worked at his task during a whole winter. He made his own tools at
+the plantation blacksmith shop; and all day long, and sometimes far into
+the night, he could be heard hammering and sawing away.
+
+In 1793 he called together the planters who had asked him to solve the
+problem, and showed them the machine, which he called a cotton gin. When
+they saw it work, their surprise and delight knew no bounds. They
+knew at once that the problem had been solved by the young genius from
+Massachusetts. Little calculation was needed to show them that the
+cotton gin could clean as much cotton in a day as could be cleaned on
+a plantation during a whole winter. What before had been the work of a
+hundred hands for several months could now be completed in a few days.
+
+[Illustration: Whitney and his Cotton Gin 163]
+
+But it seems to be the fate of the majority of those who make wonderful
+inventions never to enjoy the full benefits of the work of their genius.
+Eli Whitney was not an exception to the general rule. While he was
+working on his cotton gin, rumors of it went abroad; and by the time it
+was completed, public expectation was on tiptoe. When the machine was
+finished, it was shown to only a few people; but the fact, of such
+immense importance to the people of the State, was soon known throughout
+the State, and the planters impatiently waited for the day when they
+would be able to put it in use.
+
+One night the building in which Whitney's cotton gin was concealed
+was broken into, ransacked, and the machine carried off. It was a bold
+robbery, and a very successful one. The inventor made haste to build
+another gin; but before he could get his model completed, and obtain
+a patent right to the invention, the machine had been manufactured at
+various points in the South by other parties, and was in operation on
+several plantations. Whitney formed a partnership with a gentleman who
+had some capital, and went to Connecticut to manufacture his gin; but he
+was compelled to spend all the money he could make, fighting lawsuits.
+His patent had been infringed, and those who sought to rob him of the
+fruits of his labor took a bold stand. The result of all this was, that
+the inventor never received any just compensation for a machine that
+revolutionized the commerce of the country, and added enormously to the
+power and progress of the Republic. Lord Macaulay said that Eli Whitney
+did more to make the United States powerful than Peter the Great did to
+make the Russian Empire dominant. Robert Fulton declared that Arkwright,
+Watt, and Whitney were the three men that did more for mankind than any
+of their contemporaries. This is easy to believe, when we remember that
+while the South shipped 6 bags of cotton to England in 1786, and only
+379 in 1791, ten years after the cotton gin came into use, 82,000
+bales were exported. The very importance of Whitney's invention made
+it immensely profitable for the vicious and the depraved to seize and
+appropriate the inventor's rights. These robberies were upheld by those
+who were anxious to share in the profits; and political demagogues made
+themselves popular by misrepresenting Whitney, and clamoring against
+the law that was intended to protect him. It was only by means of this
+clamor, half political and wholly dishonest, that the plain rights
+of Whitney could be denied and justice postponed. His invention was
+entirely new. It was distinct from every other. It had no connection
+with and no relation to any other invention that had been made. It stood
+alone, and there could be no difficulty whatever in identifying it. And
+yet Whitney had just this difficulty. In his efforts to prove that he
+was the inventor of the cotton gin, and that he was entitled to a share
+of the immense profits that those who used it were reaping, he had to
+travel thousands of miles, and spend thousands of dollars in appearing
+before Legislatures and in courts that denied him justice. The life
+of his patent had nearly expired before any court finally enforced
+his right, and Congress refused to grant him an extension beyond
+the fourteen years that had then nearly expired. Associations and
+combinations had been formed for the purpose of defrauding Whitney, and
+these were represented by the ablest lawyers that could be hired. It is
+no wonder that Whitney, in writing to Robert Fulton, a brother inventor,
+declared that the troubles he had to contend with were the result of a
+lack of desire on the part of mankind to see justice done. The truth is,
+his invention was of such prime importance that the public fought for
+its possession, and justice and honesty were for the moment lost sight
+of. At one time but a few men in Georgia were bold enough to go into
+court and testify to the simplest facts within their knowledge;
+and Whitney himself says, that in one instance he had the greatest
+difficulty in proving that the machine had been used in Georgia,
+although at that very moment three, separate gins were at work within
+fifty yards of the building in which the court sat. They were all so
+near, that the rattle and hum of the machinery could be heard from the
+court-house steps.
+
+In December, 1807, a judge was found to affirm the rights of Whitney
+under his patent. The judge's name was Johnson; and in his decision he
+said, "The whole interior of the Southern States was languishing, and
+its inhabitants emigrating for want of some object to engage their
+attention and employ their industry, when the invention of this machine
+at once opened views to them which set the whole country in active
+motion. From childhood to age it has presented to us a lucrative
+employment. Individuals who were depressed with poverty, and sunk in
+idleness, have suddenly risen to wealth and respectability. Our debts
+have been paid off. Our capital has increased, and our lands have
+trebled themselves in value. We cannot express the weight of the
+obligation which the country owes to this invention. The extent of it
+cannot now be seen."
+
+The language of the learned judge was high-flown; but he was a just
+judge, and he had a faint and glimmering idea of the real importance of
+this remarkable invention. It was a very simple affair. The principle
+came to Whitney in a flash, and he had a model constructed within ten
+days after the despairing planters had gone to him with their problem.
+But it may be doubted whether any other individual, by one simple
+invention, ever did so much for the progress and enrichment of human
+interests, and for the welfare and the comfort of the human race. This
+little machine made the agriculture of the South the strongest and the
+richest in the world, and gave to this section a political power that
+was for years supreme in the nation, and was only surrendered as the
+result of a long and exhausting war. By means of the cotton gin, towns
+and cities have sprung up, and a vast network of railways has been
+built; and yet the most that Whitney received was a royalty on his gin
+in North Carolina, and a donation of fifty thousand dollars from the
+State of South Carolina. In Georgia his right to his invention was
+stolen, and all that he got out of it was a number of costly lawsuits.
+
+After struggling for five years against the overwhelming odds that
+avarice and greed had mustered to aid them, Whitney turned his attention
+in another direction, and made a still more remarkable display of his
+genius. This part of his career does not belong directly to the history
+of Georgia, but it is interesting enough to be briefly recorded here.
+The United States Government was in want of arms, and this want various
+contractors had failed to meet. Through the influence of the secretary
+of the treasury, Whitney was given a contract to make ten thousand
+muskets at $13.40 apiece. He had no capital, no works, no machinery, no
+tools, no skilled workmen, no raw material. In creating a part of these
+and commanding the rest, he called into play an inventive genius, the
+extent of which must always excite wonder and admiration.
+
+Within ten years he created his own works, and invented and made his own
+tools, invented and made his own machinery. More than this, he invented
+and applied a wholly new principle of manufacture,--a principle that
+has done more to advance human industry and increase wealth all over the
+world than any other known effort of the human mind to solve material
+problems. He invented and developed the principle or system of making
+the various parts of a musket or any other complex manufactured
+article, such as the sewing machine, so absolutely uniform as to be
+interchangeable. This principle has been carried out in hundreds of
+thousands of different ways. It has entered into and become a feature of
+a vast range of manufactures. The principle was established by a series
+of inventions as wonderful as any that the human mind ever conceived,
+so that Whitney has been aptly called the Shakespeare of invention. His
+inventions remain practically unchanged. After ninety years of trial,
+they are found to be practically perfect.
+
+It was his peculiar gift to be able to convey into inanimate machinery
+the skill that a human being could acquire only after years of study and
+practice.
+
+It is almost like belittling the greatest of marvels to call it a
+stroke of genius. He made it possible for the most ordinary laborer
+to accomplish a hundred times as much in an hour, and with the most
+exquisite perfection, as a skilled laborer could accomplish in a day.
+
+On these wonderful inventions Whitney took out no patents. He gave them
+all to the public. In this way he revenged himself on those who had
+successfully robbed him of the fruits of his labor and genius in the
+invention of the cotton gin. Perhaps if he had been more justly treated
+in Georgia, he might have set up his works in this State, and this fact
+might have made the South the seat of great manufacturing industries.
+Who knows?
+
+
+
+
+SOME GEORGIA INVENTIONS.
+
+The credit of inventing the steamboat is by general consent given to
+Robert Fulton. Every schoolboy is taught that such is the case, and yet
+the fact is at least very doubtful. There is preserved among the papers
+in the Archives of Georgia a document that indicates, that, while Robert
+Fulton has won the credit for an invention that has revolutionized
+the commerce of the world, the real inventor may have been William
+Longstreet of Augusta, an uncle of General James B. Longstreet, and the
+father of Judge A. B. Longstreet, author of "Georgia Scenes." On the
+26th of September, 1790, William Longstreet sent the following letter to
+Edward Telfair, who was then governor of Georgia:--
+
+ Sir,--I make no doubt but you have heard of my steamboat
+ and as often heard it laughed at. But in this I have only
+ shared the fate of all other projectors, for it has
+ uniformly been the custom of every country to ridicule even
+ the greatest inventions until use has proved their utility.
+
+ My not reducing my scheme to practice has been a little
+ unfortunate for me, I confess, and perhaps for the people in
+ general, but until very lately I did not think that either
+ artists or material could be had in the place sufficient.
+ However, necessity, that grand science of invention, has
+ furnished me with an idea of perfecting my plans almost
+ entirely with wooden materials, and by such workmen as may
+ be got here, and from a thorough confidence of its success,
+ I have presumed to ask your assistance and patronage.
+
+ Should it succeed agreeable to my expectations, I hope I
+ shall discover that source of duty which such favors always
+ merit, and should it not succeed, your reward must lay with
+ other unlucky adventurers.
+
+ For me to mention to you all the advantages arising from
+ such a machine would be tedious, and, indeed, quite
+ unnecessary, Therefore I have taken the liberty to state in
+ this plain and humble manner my wish and opinion, which I
+ hope you will excuse, and I will remain, either with or
+ without approbation,
+
+ Your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant,
+
+ William Longstreet.
+
+There are two features of this letter that ought to attract attention.
+One is that William Longstreet has the name of "steamboat" as pat as if
+the machine were in common use. The second is his allusion to the fact
+that his conception of a boat to be propelled by steam was so well known
+as to be noised abroad.
+
+Credit is sometimes given to John Fitch, who, it is said, invented a
+boat propelled by steam, that carried passengers on the Delaware River
+in 1787. An Englishman named Symington is said to have run a steamboat
+in 1801, while Robert Fulton's success was delayed until 1806. All these
+men have received credit for their efforts to benefit humanity, but
+history is silent in regard to William Longstreet. In one book about
+Georgia the remark is made that "James Longstreet is said to have
+invented the steamboat in 1793," but in this instance neither the name
+nor the date is correct.
+
+In old St. Paul's churchyard in Augusta there is a tombstone which
+bears the inscription, "Sacred to the memory of William Longstreet, who
+departed this life September 1, 1814, aged 54 years, 10 months, and
+26 days." Below this runs the pleasant legend, "All the days of the
+afflicted are evil, but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual
+feast." We are thus left to infer that William Longstreet was a man of a
+merry heart; and that fact is certified to by the cleverness with which
+his son, the author of "Georgia Scenes," has preserved for us some of
+the quaint characters that lived and moved and had their being on the
+borders of Georgia society directly after the Revolution.
+
+[Illustration: William Longstreet and his Steamboat 172]
+
+Being an inventor, a man of ingenious ideas, and somewhat ambitious of
+serving the public in that way, William Long-street certainly had need
+of a merry heart; for, as he himself says, the way of the projector
+is hard. The term itself is used in Georgia to this day to express a
+certain sort of good-natured contempt. Go into the country places and
+ask after some acquaintance who has not prospered in a worldly way, and
+the answer will be, "Oh, he's just a prodjikin around."
+
+It is certain that William Longstreet knew that steam could be used as
+a motive power long before it was so applied; and because he employed
+a good deal of his time in trying to discover the principle, he was
+ridiculed by his neighbors and friends, and the more thoughtless among
+them didn't know whether he was a crank, a half-wit, or a "luny." From
+all accounts, he was a modest, shy, retiring man, though a merry one. He
+had but little money to devote to the experiments he wished to make, and
+in this was not different from the great majority of inventors.
+
+For a long time Longstreet's zeal and enthusiasm attracted the attention
+of a few of his wealthy friends, and these furnished him such money as
+he wanted; but no very long time was needed to convince those who
+were spending their money that the idea of propelling a boat by steam,
+instead of by sails or oars, was ridiculous. Longstreet made many
+experiments, but he had not hit upon the method of applying the
+principle he had in mind: consequently his rich friends closed their
+purses, and left him entirely to his own resources. A newspaper
+publication, in giving some of the facts in regard to Longstreet's
+efforts, says that he and his steamboat were made the subject of a comic
+song:--
+
+ "Can you row the boat ashore,
+ Billy boy, Billy boy?
+ Can you row the boat ashore,
+ Gentle Billy?
+
+ Can you row the boat ashore
+ Without a paddle or an oar,
+ Billy boy?"
+
+Though he had failed many times, Longstreet was not disheartened. He
+continued his experiments, and at last succeeded in making a toy boat,
+which he exhibited to a few friends. His idea at this time, it seems,
+was not to construct a steamboat, but merely to convince some of his
+friends that steam could be used as a motive power. But in this he was
+not very successful. His toy boat did all that he wanted it to do; but
+his friends declared, that while steam might be used to move a small
+boat, it could never be used to move a large one. The experience of a
+new generation showed that there was one wise man in Augusta and a great
+many fools. Nevertheless William Longstreet determined to show that
+a large boat could be moved by a large amount of steam as easily as a
+small boat could be moved by a small volume.
+
+Now, while he was making his experiments; and trying to overcome the
+difficulties that presented themselves, Robert Fulton was living in
+Paris with Joel Barlow. He was in Paris when Napoleon became first
+consul. At that time he was experimenting with his diving boat and
+submarine torpedo. Napoleon was so much interested in this work that
+he gave Fulton ten thousand francs to carry it on. The inventor was
+in France in 1803 when Napoleon organized his army for the invasion of
+England. He was surrounded by influential friends, and he had money at
+his command.
+
+Compared with William Longstreet, Robert Fulton was "in clover."
+Longstreet was compelled to work without money, and in the midst of a
+community whose curiosity had developed into criticism and ridicule.
+Thus it was not until 1806 that he succeeded in completing a steamboat
+that would accommodate twenty or twenty-five persons. He went on board,
+accompanied by such of his friends as he could persuade, and in the
+presence of a curious and doubting crowd the first real steamboat was
+launched on the Savannah River. Some of the friends of those on board,
+feeling anxious for their safety if the "contraption" should explode,
+secured a skiff, and followed the steamboat at a safe distance, ready
+to pick up such of the passengers as might survive when the affair had
+blown to pieces. Longstreet headed the boat down the river, and went in
+that direction for several miles. Then he turned the head of the little
+boat upstream; and, although the current was swift, he carried his
+passengers back to the wharf, and several miles above.
+
+From that hour William Longstreet became a man of some consequence in
+the community. Those who had ridiculed him now sang his praises, and
+those who had doubted that steam could be used as a motive power were
+now convinced. His friends tried hard to get him to go to Washington and
+secure the benefits of a patent for his invention; but he persistently
+refused to take any steps to profit by the results of his genius, or
+indeed to make his invention known. His constant reply to all those who
+tried to persuade him to go to Washington was, that he had carried
+on his experiments simply to prove the truth of his theory to his own
+satisfaction, and to convince those whose respect he coveted that he was
+neither a fool nor a crank.
+
+Some of his friends and admirers were themselves preparing to go to
+Washington in behalf of the inventor, but they had put off their journey
+until the year after the exhibition was made in Augusta, and at
+that time they heard that Robert Fulton had exhibited his steamboat
+"Clermont" on the Hudson River. They then gave up their design, and
+William Longstreet continued to remain in the seclusion that was so
+pleasant to him.
+
+It is a noteworthy fact, that twelve years after William Longstreet made
+his successful experiments on the Savannah River, Georgia enterprise
+built, launched, and managed the first steamship that ever crossed the
+ocean. This great enterprise was organized in Savannah in 1818. The
+Georgia Company contracted to have the ship built in New York; and when
+completed, it was named the "Savannah." The vessel was finished and
+brought to Savannah in April, 1819. In May the steamship left Savannah
+bound for Liverpool. From Liverpool it went to St. Petersburg, and then
+returned to Savannah, having made the voyage in fifty days.
+
+The first sewing machine was invented by Rev. Frank R. Goulding, a
+Georgian who has won fame among the children of the land as the author
+of "The Young Marooners." He invented the sewing machine for the purpose
+of lightening the labors of his wife; and she used it for some years
+before some other genius invented it, or some traveler stole the idea
+and improved on it.
+
+Dr. Crawford W. Long, in 1842, when twenty-seven years of age, performed
+the first painless surgical operation that is known to history. In 1839,
+Velpeau of Paris declared that the attempts to find some agent by which
+to prevent pain in surgical operations was nothing less than chimerical;
+and as late as 1846 Sir Benjamin Brodie said, "Physicians and surgeons
+have been looking in vain, from the days of Hippocrates down to the
+present time, for the means of allaying or preventing bodily pain." And
+yet three years after the declaration of Velpeau, and four years before
+the statement of Sir Benjamin Brodie, the young Georgia physician had
+removed a tumor from the neck of a patient, and that patient had felt no
+pain.
+
+The story is very interesting. Dr. Crawford W. Long was born in
+Danielsville, Madison County, Ga., on the 1st of November, 1815. He
+graduated at the University of Georgia, studied medicine, and graduated
+at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He then
+went to Jefferson, Jackson County, where he opened an office, and
+practiced medicine for many years.
+
+[Illustration: Laughing Gas 177]
+
+In those days the young men living in the country districts, for want
+of something better to amuse them, were in the habit of inhaling
+nitrous-oxide gas, or, as it was then popularly known, "laughing gas."
+The young people would gather together, and some of them would inhale
+the gas until they came under its influence. The result was in most
+cases very amusing. Some would laugh, some would cry, and all in
+various ways would carry out the peculiarities of their characters and
+dispositions. Thus, if a young man had an inward inclination to preach,
+he would, under the influence of "laughing gas," proceed to deliver a
+sermon. As these "laughing-gas" parties were exhilarating to the young
+people who inhaled the gas, and amusing to those who were spectators,
+they became very popular.
+
+But it was not always easy to secure the gas. On one occasion a company
+of young men went to Dr. Long's office and asked him to make them a
+supply of "laughing gas." There was no apparatus in the office suitable
+for making it, but Dr. Long told the young men that the inhalation of
+sulphuric ether would have the same effect. He had become acquainted
+with this property of ether while studying medicine in Philadelphia.
+The young men and their friends were so well pleased with the effects
+of ether inhalation, that "ether parties" became fashionable in that
+section, as well as in other parts of the State. At these ether parties,
+Dr. Long noticed that persons who received injuries while under its
+influence felt no pain. On one occasion a young man received an injury
+to his ankle joint that disabled him for several days, and he told Dr.
+Long that he did not feel the slightest pain until the effects of the
+ether had passed off. Observing these facts, Dr. Long was led to believe
+that surgical operations might be performed without pain.
+
+Dr. Long's theory was formed in 1841, but he waited for some time before
+testing it, in the hope that a case of surgery of some importance--the
+amputation of an arm or a leg--might fall in his practice. On the 30th
+of March, 1842, Dr. Long removed a tumor from the neck of Mr. James
+M. Venable. On the 6th of June, the same year, another small tumor was
+removed from the neck of the same patient, and both operations were
+painless. Mr. Venable inhaled sulphuric ether, and the effect of it was
+to render him insensible to the pain of cutting out the tumors.
+
+Dr. Long had told Mr. Venable that he would charge little or nothing for
+removing the tumors under the influence of ether. The bill rendered
+for both operations amounted to $4.50; but, small as the bill was,
+it represented the discovery and application of ether in surgical
+practice,--one of the greatest boons to mankind. Up to that time no
+patient under the surgeon's knife had ever been able to escape the
+horror and pain of an operation.
+
+Dr. Long did not at once print the facts about his discovery. He wanted
+to make assurance doubly sure. He waited in the hope of having an
+important case of surgery under his charge, such as the amputation of
+a leg or an arm. But these cases, rare at any time, were still rarer at
+that time, especially in the region where Dr. Long practiced. He finally
+satisfied himself, however, of the importance of his discovery, but,
+having waited until 1846, found that at least three persons--Wells,
+Jackson, and Morton--had hit on the same discovery, and had made
+publication of it. Morton patented ether under the name of "Letheon,"
+and in October, 1846, administered it to a patient in the Massachusetts
+General Hospital.
+
+In 1844, Horace Wells, a native of Vermont, discovered that the
+inhalation of nitrous-oxide gas produces anaesthesia. He was a dentist.
+He gave it to his patients, and was able to perform dental operations
+without causing pain. Thus we may see how the case stands. Long produced
+anaesthesia in 1842; that is to say, he caused his patients to inhale
+sulphuric ether in that year, whenever he had a painful operation to
+perform, and in each case the operation was painless.
+
+In 1846, when the surgeons of the Massachusetts General Hospital
+performed painless operations on patients, after administering to them
+Morton's patented "Letheon," which was his name for sulphuric ether,
+there came about a great war of pamphlets, and it ended tragically.
+Long had never made any secret of the substance which he used. He gave
+information of it to all the surgeons and doctors with whom he came in
+contact; and he was not in any way concerned in the conflict that was
+carried on by Jackson, Morton, and Wells. He simply gathered together
+the facts of his discovery, proved that he was the first physician to
+perform painless operations in surgery, and that was the end of it so
+far as he was concerned.
+
+Wells became insane, and committed suicide in New York in 1848. Morton
+died in New York City of congestion of the brain. Jackson ended his days
+in an insane asylum.
+
+In Boston a monument has been erected to the discoverer of anaesthesia.
+The name of Crawford W. Long should stand first upon it, and should be
+followed by the names of Wells, Morton, and Jackson.
+
+[Illustration: Early Progress of the State 181]
+
+
+
+
+THE EARLY PROGRESS OF THE STATE.
+
+After the invention of the cotton gin, the progress of the people
+and the development of the agriculture of the State went forward very
+rapidly. The population began to increase. The movement of families from
+Virginia and North Carolina grew constantly larger. In Virginia, and
+in settled portions of North Carolina, it was found that the soil
+and climate were not favorable to the growth of the cotton plant:
+consequently hundreds of families left their homes in these States, and
+came to Georgia.
+
+When Oglethorpe settled the Colony, the charter under which he acted
+prohibited the introduction and use of negro slaves in the Colony. It
+is hard to say at this late day whether this portion of the charter was
+dictated by feelings of humanity, especially when we remember that
+in those days, and in most of the Colonies, there were many white
+people--men, women, and children--employed and used as slaves. From
+the very first, many of the Georgia colonists were anxious to introduce
+negro slaves, but the trustees firmly refused to allow it. There was a
+strong party in favor of introducing negroes, and those who opposed
+the movement presently found themselves in a very small and unpopular
+minority. By 1748 the excitement over the question had grown so great,
+that those colonists who were opposed to negro slavery were compelled to
+abandon their position. Rev. Mr. Whitefield, the eloquent preacher, had
+already bought and placed negro slaves at his Orphan House at Bethesda,
+near Savannah. The colonists had also treated this part of the charter
+with contempt. They pretended to hire negroes' homes in South Carolina
+for a hundred years, or during life. They paid the "hire" in advance,
+the sum being the full value of the slaves. Finally negroes were
+bought openly from traders in Savannah. Some of them were seized; but
+a majority of the magistrates were in favor of the introduction of
+negroes, and they were able to postpone legal decisions from time to
+time.
+
+Rev. George Whitefield, whose wonderful eloquence has made his name
+famous, and Hon. James Habersham, had great influence with the trustees;
+and it was mainly due to their efforts that the colonists were legally
+allowed to purchase and use negro slaves. Mr. Habersham affirmed that
+the Colony could not prosper without slave labor. Rev. Mr. Whitefield,
+on the other hand, was in favor of negro slavery on the broad ground of
+philanthropy. He boldly declared that it would be of great advantage
+to the African to be brought from his barbarous surroundings and placed
+among civilized Christians. When we remember what has happened, who
+can deny that the remark of the eloquent preacher was not more to the
+purpose, and nearer to the truth, than some of the modern statements
+about American slavery? What really happened (as any one may discover by
+looking into impartial history) was, that thousands of negroes who had
+been captured in battle, and made slaves of in their own country,
+were taken from that dark land and brought into the light of Christian
+civilization. Their condition, mentally and morally, was so improved,
+that, in little more than a century after White-field made his
+statement, the government of the United States ventured to make citizens
+of them. The contrast between their condition and that of the negroes
+who remained in Africa is so startling, that a well-known abolitionist,
+writing twenty years after emancipation, has described slavery as a
+great university, which the negroes entered as barbarians, and came out
+of as Christians and citizens.
+
+The efforts of the Colony to secure a repeal of the act prohibiting
+slavery were successful. The trustees in London concluded that it would
+be better to permit slavery, with such restrictions and limitations as
+might be proper, than to permit the wholesale violations that were then
+going on; and so in 1749 the colonists of Georgia were allowed by law to
+own and use negro slaves.
+
+Thus, when the cotton gin came fairly into use, slavery had been legally
+allowed in Georgia for nearly half a century. The rest of the Colonies
+had long enjoyed that privilege. The cotton gin, therefore, had a
+twofold effect,--it increased the cotton crop and the value of the
+lands, and it also increased the use of negro slaves. The Virginians and
+North Carolinians, who came to Georgia, brought their slaves with them;
+and the Georgians, as their crops became profitable, laid out their
+surplus cash in buying more negroes. The slave trade became very
+prosperous, and both Old England and New England devoted a large amount
+of capital and enterprise to this branch of commerce.
+
+As the population increased, and the cotton crop became more valuable,
+the demand for land became keener. To this fact was due the intense
+excitement kindled by the Yazoo Fraud in 1794. The cotton gin had been
+introduced the year before, and the people were beginning to see and
+appreciate the influence the invention would have on their prosperity.
+Instead of selling land to speculators, they wanted to keep it for
+themselves and children, or at least to get something like its real
+value.
+
+The cotton gin had increased not only the demand for negro slaves, but
+also the demand for land; and indirectly it was the cause of the various
+troubles the State had with the Indians after the close of the War for
+Independence. The troubles with the Indians also led finally to serious
+misunderstandings between the United States Government and that of
+Georgia. In May, 1796, a treaty was made between the United States and
+the Creeks. This treaty created some indignation among the people, and
+was denounced as an interference by the General Government with State
+affairs. The lands which the Indians ceded to the United States were a
+part of the Territory of Georgia, and the transaction gave rise to much
+discussion and considerable bad feeling.
+
+In ten years, from 1790 to 1800, the population in Georgia had increased
+more than eighty thousand. During the next ten years the increase in the
+population was more than ninety thousand. This increase meant a still
+greater demand for farm lands. Westward the Territory of Georgia
+extended to the Mississippi River. The agitation which began over this
+rich possession when the Yazoo Fraud was attempted, was kept up until
+1800, when Georgia appointed four of her most prominent citizens to
+meet with commissioners appointed by the United States; and settle all
+questions that had arisen. The result was, that Georgia ceded to the
+General Government all her lands belonging to the State, south of
+Tennessee and west of the Chattahoochee River. These lands were to be
+sold, and out of the proceeds the State was to receive $1,250,-000. It
+was also provided that the United States, at its own expense, should
+extinguish the Indian titles to the lands held by the Creeks between
+the forks of the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers, and that in like manner the
+General Government should extinguish the Indian title to all the other
+lands within the State of Georgia. Under this agreement, and the Indian
+treaty based upon it, nearly all of the lands lying between the Oconee
+and Ocmulgee rivers were opened up for occupation and cultivation.
+
+All the Territory of Georgia was looked upon by the people as a public
+domain, belonging to the State for distribution among the citizens. The
+lands east of the Oconee were divided among the people under the plan
+known as the "Head Right System." By this system every citizen was
+allowed to choose, and survey to suit himself, a body of unoccupied
+land. This done, he received a title called a "head right land warrant,"
+which was issued to him when he paid a small fee and a nominal price
+for the land. If no one had previously appropriated the same land, the
+warrant was his title. But much confusion arose in the distribution of
+titles, and serious disputes grew out of it. The poorer sections of land
+were neglected, and only the most fertile sections surveyed.
+
+When the lands west of the Oconee were acquired, the clumsy Head Right
+System was given up for what is known as the "Land Lottery System." "All
+free white males, twenty-one years of age or older, every married man
+with children under age, widows with children, and all families of
+orphan minors," were allowed to draw in the lottery. Lists of these
+persons were made out in each count, and sent to the governor. The
+lottery was drawn under the management of five responsible persons. The
+tickets to be drawn were marked with the numbers of the land lots, and
+these were put into boxes with numerous blanks. Those who were fortunate
+enough to draw numbered tickets were entitled to plats and grants of
+their lots, signed by the governor.
+
+The lots were not all of the same size. Some contained 202 1/2 acres,
+others 490 acres. Twelve months after the drawing was completed, the
+fortunate person was required to pay into the State treasury four
+dollars for every hundred acres contained in his lot.
+
+Many of those who had the good fortune to draw prizes in the
+land-lottery scheme paid the necessary amount of money, and received
+titles to their land lots; but many others neglected to pay in the
+money, and thus forfeited their titles.
+
+It has been said that the land hunger of the people at this time was
+both selfish and sordid; but if we come to look at the matter closely,
+selfishness is behind much of the material progress that the world has
+made. The selfishness of individuals is not more conspicuous than the
+selfishness of communities, commonwealths, and nations. In history we
+find the rumseller, the land grabber, and the speculator following
+hard upon the heels of the missionary. The selfishness of nations is
+frequently given the name of "patriotism," and rightly so, since it is a
+movement for the good of all.
+
+When Georgia had fairly begun to recover from the disastrous results of
+the War for Independence, the troubles that resulted in the War of 1812
+began to make themselves felt. France and England were at war; and the
+United States Government tried to remain neutral, giving aid to neither
+the one nor the other. But this was not pleasing to either of these
+great powers. Both were interested in the trade and commerce of this
+country, and both issued orders affecting American affairs. The United
+States resented the interference, and protested against it Great
+Britain, with an arrogance made bitter by the remembrance of her
+humiliating defeat at the hands of a few feeble Colonies, replied to the
+American protest, declaring that American ships would still be searched,
+and American sailors impressed into the service of the British, wherever
+found on the high seas. In 1807 a British man-of-war fired on an
+American merchant vessel as it was leaving harbor. Three men were
+killed, eighteen wounded, and four sailors seized. This outrage inflamed
+the whole country, and in December of that year Congress passed a law
+preventing American vessels from leaving their ports to trade with
+foreign nations. This law was deeply resented by the New England States,
+and they held at Hartford, Conn., the first secession convention that
+ever met in this country.
+
+[Illustration: British Impressement of Americans 188]
+
+Georgia was foremost among the States to denounce and resist the
+aggressive acts of Great Britain. In 1808 the Legislature sent an
+address to the President of the United States, approving the measures he
+had taken, and declared that the people of Georgia were strong in their
+independence, and proud of their government, and that they would never
+wish to see the lives and property of their brethren exposed to the
+insult and rapacity of a foreign power; but if the war should come, they
+would, in proportion to their number and resources, give zealous aid to
+the government of their choice.
+
+The British, meanwhile, made arrangements to force a cotton trade with
+Georgia and South Carolina, and for the purpose fitted out a number
+of vessels of from ten to fifteen guns each. These vessels were to
+be employed in opening the ports of Georgia and Carolina. A war brig
+anchored at Tybee, and two of its officers went to Savannah. When they
+had made known their purpose, they were peremptorily ordered away. They
+returned to their vessel and put to sea; but as they were leaving, they
+fired at a pilot boat in the harbor, and committed other outrages.
+
+This incident and others aroused the indignation of the people. The
+Legislature passed resolutions, addressed to the President of the
+United States, declaring that all hope of a peaceful termination of
+the difficulty had been lost, that the duty of the United States was to
+maintain its sovereign rights against the despots of Europe, and that
+the citizens of Georgia would ever be found in readiness to assert the
+rights and support the dignity of the country whenever called on by the
+General Government. By the time the treaty of peace was made, the day
+before Christmas in 1814, the war spirit in Georgia had been roused
+to the highest pitch by the numerous outrages committed by the Indian
+allies of the British.
+
+But the story of the Indian troubles belongs to a chapter by itself.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CREEKS AND THE CREEK WAR
+
+[Illustration: The Creek War 191]
+
+If all the stories of the troubles of the early settlers of Georgia with
+the Indians could be written out, they would fill a very large book. All
+the whites with whom the red men came in contact in Georgia were not as
+just, as generous, and as unselfish as James Edward Oglethorpe. On the
+other hand, not all the Indians with whom the whites had dealings were
+as wise and as honest as old Tomochichi. Consequently misunderstandings
+arose, and prejudices grew and developed. This was greatly helped by
+dishonest traders and speculators, who were keen to take advantage of
+the ignorance of the Indians.
+
+The controlling influence among the Indians in Georgia was the Creek
+Confederacy (or nation); and this, in turn, was practically controlled
+by the Muscogees.
+
+North of the Creeks, Broad River being the dividing line, lived the
+Cherokees, a nation even more warlike than the Creeks. The impression
+made upon the Indians by Oglethorpe and some of his more prudent
+successors, made them the strong friends of the British. Of course, the
+red men were unable to appreciate the merits of the quarrel between
+the Georgia settlers and King George: but, even if matters had been
+different, they would probably have remained on friendly terms with the
+Royalists; for Governor Wright, who was a wise as well as a good man,
+took great pains, when the Liberty Boys began their agitations against
+the Crown, to conciliate the Indians, and to show them that the King was
+their friend. What was known as "the royal presents" were promptly
+sent from England, and promptly delivered to and distributed among the
+Indians. The governor sent for the chiefs, and had conferences with
+them; so that when the Revolution began, the Upper and the Lower Creeks,
+and the Cherokees as well, were the firm friends of the British.
+During the Revolution, as we have already seen, they made constant and
+unprovoked attacks on the patriots, burning their houses, carrying off
+their cattle, and murdering their helpless women and children. These
+raids were continued even after the Americans had compelled Great
+Britain to recognize their independence, and hundreds of incidents
+might be given to show the ferocity with which the savages attacked the
+whites. In many cases the settlements were compelled to build stockades,
+in which the people took shelter, for safety as well as defense,
+whenever there was an alarm.
+
+On one occasion shortly after the close of the war, the Indians attacked
+the family of a man named William Tyner, who was living in what is known
+as Elbert County. Tyner himself was absent, and his family was entirely
+without protection. Mrs. Tyner was killed, the brains of her youngest
+child were dashed out against a tree, and another child was scalped and
+left for dead. A young boy named Noah, the son of Mr. Tyner, escaped in
+the general confusion, and hid himself in a hollow tree. This tree was
+for many years known as "Noah's Ark." Mary and Tamar, two daughters,
+were suffered to live; but the Indians carried them off to the Coweta
+towns on the Chattahoochee. These children remained with the Indians
+several years. John Manack, an Indian trader, saw them there, and
+purchased Mary. He then brought her to Elbert County, and afterwards
+made her his wife. He returned to the Indian nation shortly afterwards,
+and tried to purchase Tamar; but, as she was useful to the Indians in
+bringing wood and fuel for their fires, they refused to sell her. When
+Manack went away, an old Indian woman, who was fond of Tamar, learned
+that the Indians, suspecting the girl was preparing to escape, had
+decided to burn her at the stake. The old woman helped her to escape
+by providing her with provisions and a canoe. She also gave Tamar
+directions how to go down the Chattahoochee. By day the fleeing girl hid
+herself in the thick swamps along the banks of the river, and by
+night she floated down the river in her canoe. She finally reached
+Apalachicola Bay, took passage on a vessel, and shortly afterwards
+arrived at Savannah. Here she was assisted to her home in Elbert County
+by the citizens. She married a man named Hunt, and no doubt many of her
+descendants are still living in Georgia.
+
+There was once an Indian village in Troup County, on the west bank of
+the Chattahoochee, where the Indians who lived on the Alabama side of
+the river were in the habit of meeting before and after their raids upon
+the white settlements. Before the raids they would meet there to arrange
+their programme; and afterwards they would assemble at the village to
+count the scalps they had taken, dispose of their prisoners, and divide
+the spoils. On one occasion, after a very destructive raid into the
+white settlements, the Indians returned to this village, and began to
+celebrate the success with which they had been able to creep upon the
+settlements at dead of night, murder the unsuspecting whites, burn their
+dwellings, and drive off their horses and cattle. This time, however,
+the Indians had been followed by a few hundred men, under the leadership
+of General David Adams, who was at that time a major in the militia,
+and a scout. Major Adams had taken part in the closing scenes of
+the Revolution when quite a young man. When the Creeks renewed their
+depredations after the war, Major Adams, both as a scout and as a
+leader, fought the Indians with such success as to win distinction.
+
+He followed the Indians on this occasion with a few hundred men, who had
+volunteered to accompany him. His pursuit was not active. The men under
+him were not seasoned soldiers; and even if they had been, the force
+of Indians was too large to justify an attack. Major Adams followed the
+Indians in the hope that he and his men would find an opportunity to
+surprise them. The Indians marched straight for the village on the west
+bank of the Chattahoochee, about eight miles beyond the point where La
+Grange now stands. At this village, which was the central point of the
+Lower Creek nation at that time, there were many Indians--men, women,
+and children--awaiting the return of the raiders. It was in the late
+afternoon when they reached the village, and as the sun went down they
+began the celebration of their victories; and in this they were joined
+by the Indians, who had been waiting for their return.
+
+Major Adams had halted his command a few miles from the river, where he
+waited until night fell. He then advanced silently to the banks of the
+stream, which was not so wide that he and his men could not see the
+Indians dancing around their fires, and hear their whoops and yells. On
+one bank stood the men whose families and friends had been murdered; on
+the opposite shore, and almost within a stone's throw, the red murderers
+danced and howled in savage delight.
+
+For half the night, at least, the orgies were kept up by the Indians;
+but at last they grew weary of the song and dance. Their fires slowly
+died out, and there came a moment when the whites, who were watching and
+waiting, could hear nothing but the murmur of the flowing water, as it
+rippled over the shoals or lapped the bank. The time had come to strike
+a blow, if a blow was to be struck. It was characteristic of Major
+Adams, that, instead of sending one of his little party to find out the
+position of the village and its surroundings, so as to be able to make a
+swift, sudden, and an effective attack, he himself proposed to go.
+
+[Illustration: Major Adams scouting and Indian camp 197]
+
+It was a hazardous undertaking, and required a bold heart to undertake
+it. Major Adams knew there was a ford near the point where his men lay.
+The trail led into the river; but, once in the river, it was lost. He
+had to find the ford for himself, and it proved to be a very narrow and
+difficult one. It led in a direct line across the river nearly halfway,
+and then turned down the stream in an oblique direction. A part of the
+ford was over a slippery shoal. At some points the water was knee-deep,
+at others it was chin-deep.
+
+With great difficulty Major Adams reached the opposite bank in safety.
+The paths leading from the ford into the swamp that lay between the
+Indian village and the river were so numerous that the stout-hearted
+scout hardly knew which one to take. He chose one almost at random, and,
+after following it through the thick underbrush, he found that it had
+led him some distance below the village. He followed the margin of
+the swamp back again, and soon found himself in the outskirts of the
+village. There he paused to listen. A dog somewhere in the settlement
+barked uneasily and sleepily.
+
+Pushing forward, but moving with the utmost caution, Major Adams soon
+found himself in the center of the village. In every hut the Indians
+were sleeping; and, in addition to these, the ground seemed to be
+covered with warriors, who lay stretched out and snoring, their rifles
+and tomahawks within easy reach. The brave Georgian went through the
+village from one end to the other. Once a huge Indian, near whom he
+was passing, raised himself on his elbow, grasped his gun, and looked
+carefully in every direction. Having satisfied himself, he lay down,
+and was soon snoring again. Fortunately, Major Adams had seen the Indian
+stir, and sank to the ground near a group of sleeping warriors, where he
+remained until he was sure the savage was asleep.
+
+He had examined every point of attack and defense in the village, and
+was returning to the river, when he saw a pony tethered to a sapling.
+Thinking that the little animal would be able to find the ford without
+trouble, and could thus be used as a safe guide, Major Adams resolved
+to capture it. He approached the pony with that intention, but not until
+too late did he discover that it had a bell hung on its neck. The pony,
+frightened at the sight of a white man, broke the rope by which he was
+tied, and went scampering through the village, arousing and alarming
+warriors, squaws, children, and dogs with the jingling bell.
+
+At the sound of the bell, Major Adams knew that there would be a
+tremendous uproar in the village, and he made an instant rush toward
+the river, but soon found himself entangled in the briers and thick
+underbrush of the swamp. It was fortunate that he missed the path
+leading to the ford; for a party of Indians ran in that direction,
+either to catch the pony, or to find out whether they were about to be
+attacked. Some of them passed within a few feet of the spot where Major
+Adams stood.
+
+In a short time the Indians returned to the village, and it was not long
+before everything was as quiet and as peaceful as before the uproar.
+Major Adams, instead of hunting for the path, made his way directly
+to the river, slipped into the water, and swam straight across to the
+opposite bank. He soon found his men, and told them of his adventure
+and of the plans he had matured. Up to this moment he had been second in
+command. A colonel of militia was with the party, and it was his right
+to be the leader of the expedition; but now the men declared that they
+would cross the river under the leadership of no one but Adams. It was
+Adams or nobody; and the militia colonel, as gracefully as he could,
+yielded to the demand.
+
+Major Adams led the volunteers safely across the treacherous ford and
+into the Indian town. The surprise was complete. Scarcely a warrior
+escaped. The women and children were spared as far as possible, but the
+village was burned to the ground. In retreating from that point, which
+was the center of the famous Muscogee nation, Major Adams made long
+marches during the day, and camped without fires at night, and in this
+way brought his command out of the Indian country without the loss of a
+man.
+
+But Adams's excursion to the center of the Muscogee (or Creek) nation
+did not settle matters. The troubles continued. The temper of the people
+was not improved by the efforts of the United States Government to take
+affairs into its own hands. In some instances the agents of the General
+Government sought to stir up active strife between the people of the
+State and the Indians, and it was their habit to belittle the State
+government by speaking of it contemptuously before the Indians. In many
+instances the United States stepped in between the agents of the State
+and the Indians, and prevented settlements and treaties that would have
+been of lasting benefit to both the whites and the Indians. This was not
+due to any purpose or desire of the General Government to trample on the
+rights of the State, but grew altogether out of the folly of the agents,
+who wanted to put on airs and advertise their importance.
+
+In 1796 there was a treaty of peace arranged between the Creek nation
+and the United States. Three commissioners represented the General
+Government, and Georgia also had three present; but the business was
+conducted without regard to the wishes of the Georgia commissioners,
+and, as the commissioners thought, without regard to the interests of
+the State. Seagrove was the name of the agent representing the General
+Government at that time, and his attitude toward Georgia was not
+calculated to give the Indians any respect for the commonwealth. After
+the treaty was signed, General James Jackson, on the part of Georgia,
+made an eloquent speech, in which he showed that the Creeks had not
+faithfully observed the treaties they had made with the State. He
+exhibited two schedules of property which they had stolen, amounting in
+value to $110,000, and demanded its restoration. When General Jackson
+had concluded, one of the prominent chiefs of the Creeks remarked that
+he could fill more paper than Jackson showed with a list of outrages of
+the Georgians upon his people. There was something more than a grain of
+truth in this; but on that very account the Indians and the Georgians
+should have been allowed to settle their difficulties in their own way,
+without the interference of the United States.
+
+The result of the treaty at Coleraine, in 1796, was, that the Georgia
+agents were offended with Seagrove (the Indian agent for the United
+States), offended with the Indians, and displeased with the United
+States commissioners. To these last the Georgians presented a protest
+in which the Federal commissioners were accused of disregarding the
+interests of Georgia. Charges were brought against Seagrove, who, it was
+claimed, had influenced the Creeks not to cede the lands as far as the
+Ocmulgee. A bitter controversy grew out of this. It was, in fact, very
+nearly the beginning of the discussion that has continued from that day
+to this, in some shape or other, over the rights of the States and the
+power of the General Government. Pickett, in his "History of Alabama
+and Georgia," says that General Jackson, and Seagrove the Indian agent,
+became enemies, and afterwards fought a duel.
+
+Other treaties were made with the Creeks up to 1806, but all these were
+violated when the Indians became the allies of the British during the
+War of 1812. It is only fair to the Indians to say that the leader in
+whom they placed the greatest confidence was a man who for many years
+nourished hot resentment against the United States, and especially
+against Georgia. This man was General Alexander McGillivray, who became
+famous as an opponent of the Americans and the Georgians in all their
+efforts to come to a just, fair, and peaceable understanding with the
+Creeks.
+
+As has been stated, when the War of 1812 began, the Creeks became the
+allies of the British, and the attacks they made on the unprotected
+settlements were so numerous and so serious as to call for some action
+on the part of the General Government. In September, 1813, Congress
+called for a levy of Georgia troops, and, the State authorities ordered
+3,600 men to assemble at Camp Hope, near Fort Hawkins, on the Ocmulgee
+River. The ruins of Fort Hawkins may be seen to this day on the
+Ocmulgee, in the city of Macon.
+
+The men who assembled at Camp Hope were volunteers, and all eager for
+service. The command of this force fell to General John Floyd, who made
+haste to take charge, and endeavored to make arrangements for taking the
+field at once. He found his men assembled according to orders, and all
+anxious to be led against the hostile Indians. But the little army could
+not march. The Federal Government had failed to supply the necessary
+funds. What is called "red tape" stood in the way of prompt action. A
+dispute arose. Federal officials placed the blame on the contractors
+who were to furnish supplies, and the contractors placed it on the
+officials, who had failed to furnish the necessary money. While this
+dispute was raging, General Floyd, who was a brave and gallant spirit,
+applied to the State Legislature, then in session, for a loan of
+$20,000. The request was granted, and he was able to equip his troops,
+procure supplies, and march into the country of the Creeks, by the
+middle or latter part of November.
+
+Meanwhile the hostile Creeks had already challenged Georgia and begun
+their attack. On the 30th of August, seven hundred and twenty-five
+Creek Indians attacked Fort Mims on the Chattahoochee. The attack was as
+sudden as it was unexpected. It was made at twelve o'clock in the day,
+and the inmates of the fort were taken entirely by surprise. The savages
+massacred nearly three hundred men, women, and children in the most
+cruel manner. This horrible outrage spread consternation on the
+frontier, and aroused indignation in all parts of the country. Hundreds
+of frontier settlers fled from their homes, and sought safety in the
+more thickly settled regions.
+
+It was owing to this massacre that the troops commanded by General Floyd
+were called out. This active and energetic leader began his campaign
+by building a line of forts and blockhouses from the Ocmulgee to the
+Alabama River, and in this way completely protected the northern part of
+the State from invasion by the Creeks. General Floyd accomplished this
+work in spite of the failure of the United States officials to supply
+with provisions and transportation the troops they had called out.
+
+He completed his line of defense by building Fort Mitchell. Leaving a
+sufficient garrison in this fort, General Floyd placed himself at the
+head of nine hundred and fifty men, and marched on Autossee, one of the
+most populous towns of the Creek nation, situated on the left bank of
+the Tallapoosa River, and near the town of Tallassee, which was nearly
+as large. The distance from Fort Mitchell to Autossee was sixty miles,
+and General Floyd made it by forced night marches, resting his troops
+during the day. He was accompanied on this expedition by General William
+Mcintosh, the famous Indian chief, who led four hundred friendly Creeks.
+
+Arriving at Autossee and Tallassee at daybreak on the 29th of November,
+1813, General Floyd arranged and ordered a simultaneous attack on both
+towns. By nine o'clock the Indians had been defeated and driven from the
+towns, and their houses burned. Four hundred houses were burned, with
+all the provisions and stock. Two hundred Indians were killed, including
+the kings of both towns. The pipe which the old chief of Tallassee had
+smoked at a treaty forty years before, was taken and presented to the
+governor, who placed it in the executive office of the State Capitol.
+Eleven whites were killed, and fifty-four wounded; among them, General
+Floyd himself, who had received a ball in the knee early in the fight.
+He refused to have his wound dressed, and continued on horseback,
+directing his troops, until after the battle was over. He never entirely
+recovered from the effects of this wound. After the towns had been
+entirely destroyed, the troops returned to Fort Mitchell, having marched
+a hundred and twenty miles in bitter cold weather, and fought a severe
+engagement on five days' provisions.
+
+In January, 1814, General Floyd heard that the Upper Creeks had
+collected in great force at the Indian town of Hothlewaulee. By that
+time his wound had so far healed that he was able to ride a horse,
+and he determined to make an attack on the town. For this purpose he
+detached from the troops at Fort Mitchell a force of fifteen hundred
+men. The weather was cold, and the winter rains had so obstructed the
+roads that the troops found the march a weary and a difficult one; but
+they pressed on, nevertheless, cheered by the energy and enthusiasm of
+their gallant leader. They marched to within fifteen or twenty miles of
+the town, and there encamped. Between midnight and day a large body
+of Indians, led by the warrior Weather-ford and Colonel Woodbine, an
+English officer, attacked General Floyd's camp. His troops were taken by
+surprise, but they were not demoralized. They had been fighting for six
+months, and were seasoned to all the dangers of Indian warfare. Above
+all, they had a leader who possessed in a wonderful degree a genius for
+war.
+
+No sooner had the alarm been sounded than General Floyd rallied his
+little army, formed it in a square, the baggage in the center, and held
+the savages at bay until daylight. There was no faltering in any part
+of the line or on any side of the square. The dauntless courage of Floyd
+himself seemed to control every man, down to the humblest private. When
+day dawned, a charge was sounded, and Floyd's troops drove the Indians
+before them at the point of the bayonet. Within a quarter of an hour
+after the charge was made, the battle was won. The loss of the Indians
+was never discovered, as they had an opportunity to carry off their
+killed and wounded up to the moment the charge was sounded. Seventeen
+Georgians were killed, and a hundred and thirty-two wounded. Floyd's
+camp was known as Camp Defiance, but in the official report the fight is
+called the battle of Chalibbee. The attack was made on Floyd in order
+to prevent a junction between his troops and those of General Andrew
+Jackson, who was fighting the Indians in the lower part of Alabama. The
+result of the fight made a junction unnecessary; and shortly afterwards
+the term for which Floyd's Georgia troops had enlisted expired, and they
+were discharged.
+
+In 1814, when peace was declared between the United States and Great
+Britain, the Creeks remained quiet for some time.
+
+
+
+
+TWO FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS.
+
+Among the Indian leaders who made Georgia the scene of their operations,
+the most celebrated were General Alexander McGillivray and General
+William Mcintosh. If these men had been born and brought up among the
+whites, both of them would have won lasting renown. They possessed the
+energy and the genius: all they lacked was the opportunity to direct
+their gifts into channels that would have benefited humanity.
+
+Alexander McGillivray was one of the most remarkable men of his time,
+whether we regard him as a leader of the Indians or simply as an
+individual. His father, Lachlan McGillivray, being a lad of adventurous
+turn, ran away from a home in Scotland where he enjoyed all the
+advantages and comforts that wealth could give him, took passage on
+a ship bound for South Carolina, and shortly afterwards landed at
+Charleston. Wandering about in that city, and enjoying the sights that
+were new to his experience, he soon found himself in the suburbs of the
+city. There he found the headquarters of the Indian traders, who came to
+Charleston with their pack horses to carry merchandise of all kinds to
+the red men. One of these traders persuaded young McGillivray to go with
+him. His Scotch eye and mind were quick to appreciate the possibilities
+of this new business, and in a few years he became one of the most
+enterprising and prosperous of the Indian traders. He pushed his trade
+farther than any of his predecessors had ever dared to go. He went,
+indeed, to the neighborhood of Fort Toulouse. A few miles above that
+fort, where Wetumpka, Ala., now stands, he met Sehoy Marchand, a
+beautiful girl of about sixteen years. This girl was the daughter of
+Captain Marchand, who had commanded at Fort Toulouse, but who had been
+killed by his own soldiers in August, 1722. The soldiers rose against
+the officers of the garrison on account of the failure of France to
+forward money and supplies to the troops in her American settlement.
+The girl's mother was a Creek woman of the tribe of The Wind, the most
+powerful and influential family in the Creek nation. The young Scotchman
+fell in love with the dark-haired maiden, and she fell in love with the
+blue-eyed Scotchman, with his fair skin and red hair. Lachlan
+McGillivray built him a trading house on the Coosa, not far away, and
+soon married Sehoy, and carried her home. He became very wealthy. He
+owned two plantations on the Savannah River, which were well stocked
+with negroes, and stores filled with merchandise in both Savannah and
+Augusta. When Lachlan McGillivray's son Alexander reached the age of
+fourteen, he was carried to Savannah and placed at school, and in a few
+years was made a clerk in a counting-house at Savannah.
+
+But the humdrum business of buying, selling, and adding up long rows of
+tiresome figures, did not please him, and so he neglected his duties to
+read books, mainly histories. His father, taking the advice of friends,
+placed young Alexander under the tutorship of a clergyman in Charleston,
+where the lad learned Latin and Greek, and in that way became well
+grounded in what our dear old grandfathers called polite literature. But
+one day word came to the young man that the chiefs of the Creek nation,
+who were getting into trouble with the people of Georgia, were waiting
+for the moment when he, as a descendant of the tribe of The Wind, should
+return and take charge of the affairs of the nation. So he departed
+suddenly from Charleston, and turned his horse's head toward the
+wilderness.
+
+[Illustration: McGillavray joins the Indians 208]
+
+On his way to the Creek nation, he fell in with Leclerc Mil-fort, an
+adventurous Frenchman, who afterwards wrote a book of travels, and
+was made a general of brigade by Napoleon. Milfort married one of
+McGillivray's sisters, was made Tustenug-gee (or grand war chief), and
+was the right-hand man of his powerful brother-in-law. The first that
+was heard of McGillivray after he left Charleston, he was presiding at
+a grand national council of the Creeks at the town of Coweta on the
+Chattahoochee. When Alexander arrived among the Creeks, Colonel Tait of
+the British army was stationed on the Coosa, and he used all his tact
+and influence to prevail upon the young man to take the side of the
+English in the war that was then going on between the Colonies and
+the mother country. To this end Colonel Tait pursued McGillivray with
+attentions, loaded him with favors, and finally caused him to be given
+the rank and pay of a colonel in the army. The result was that the great
+chief was throughout the war devoted to the cause of the British.
+This would have been natural in any event, for his father was a stanch
+Royalist. During the war, McGillivray frequently acted in concert with
+the notorious Daniel McGirth, sometimes leading his Indians in person;
+but his main dependence was on his brother-in-law Milfort, who was
+possessed of the most daring spirit. McGillivray preferred to plan and
+engage in intrigue, which gave the remarkable powers of his mind full
+play.
+
+There is no doubt that the authorities of Georgia made a great mistake,
+after the war, in neglecting to win the friendship of McGillivray. Such
+a course would have prevented much suffering and bloodshed. The father
+of the great chief, Lachlan McGillivray, was living in Savannah at the
+close of the Revolution; and when the British were compelled to evacuate
+the city, he scraped together an immense amount of money and other
+valuables, and sailed for Scotland. He abandoned his plantations and
+negroes, in the hope that his wife and three children might be permitted
+to inherit them; but the Georgians confiscated the whole of the valuable
+estate, and thus the Creek leader had another reason for entertaining a
+bitter prejudice against the Whigs.
+
+The result was, that until the day of his death, which occurred in
+1792, he succeeded in baffling all the efforts of the Federal and State
+authorities to come to an understanding with the Creek nation. He was
+perhaps the most accomplished diplomat in the country,--a veritable
+Talleyrand, able to cope with the most distinguished statesmen among the
+Americans. Such of his letters as have been preserved do not suffer by
+comparison with the writings of even the greatest of the Americans. The
+most of these depended on a stately and scholarly diction to attract
+attention. McGillivray paid little regard to diction; but his letters
+possess the distinction of style, and in this particular but one
+American writer can be compared to him,--Benjamin Franklin. There is,
+in fact, a modern touch and flavor about McGillivray's letters that
+even the writings of Franklin do not possess. He wrote thus to
+Andrew Pickens, who had addressed him on behalf of the United States
+Government:--
+
+"When we found that the American independence was confirmed by the
+peace, we expected that the new government would soon have taken some
+steps to make up the differences that subsisted between them and the
+Indians during the war, to have taken them under their protection
+and confirmed to them their hunting grounds. Such a course would have
+reconciled the minds of the Indians, and secured the States their
+friendship, as they considered your people their natural allies. The
+Georgians, whose particular interest it was to conciliate the friendship
+of this nation, have acted in all respects to the contrary. I am sorry
+to observe that violence and prejudice have taken the place of good
+policy and reason in all their proceedings with us. They attempted to
+avail themselves of our supposed distressed situation. Their talks to us
+breathed nothing but vengeance, and, being entirely possessed with the
+idea that we were wholly at their mercy, they never once reflected that
+colonies of a powerful monarch were nearly surrounding us, to whom, in
+any extremity, we might apply for succor and protection, and who, to
+answer some ends of their policy, might grant it to us. However, we yet
+deferred any such proceeding, still expecting that we could bring them
+to a true sense of their interest; but still finding no alteration
+in their conduct towards us, we sought the protection of Spain, and
+treaties of friendship and alliance were mutually entered into; they
+guaranteeing our hunting grounds and territory, and granting us a free
+trade in the ports of the Floridas.
+
+"How the boundary and limits between the Spaniards and the States will
+be determined, a little time will show, as I believe that matter is
+now on foot. However, we know our limits and the extent of our hunting
+grounds. As a free nation, we have applied, as we had a right to do,
+for protection, and obtained it. We shall pay no attention to any
+limits that may prejudice our claims, that were drawn by an American
+and confirmed by a British negotiator. Yet, notwithstanding we have
+been obliged to adopt these measures for our preservation, and from real
+necessity, we sincerely wish to have it in our power to be on the same
+footing with the States as before the late unhappy war, to effect which
+is entirely in your power. We want nothing from you but justice. We want
+our hunting grounds preserved from encroachments. They have been ours
+from the beginning of time, and I trust that, with the assistance of our
+friends, we shall be able to maintain them against every attempt to take
+them from us."
+
+Undoubtedly McGillivray was unscrupulous, and the probability is that
+he was mercenary; but such charges may be brought against some of the
+ablest men who have figured in history. When all is said, the fact
+remains that Alexander McGillivray was one of the most accomplished and
+ingenious of the politicians of his time. If he had been on the side of
+the whites, and had managed their interests with the skill and ability
+which he displayed in behalf of the Creeks, history would have written
+him down as a great statesman. It was only by an accidental suit at law
+that some of his most characteristic letters were brought to light; but
+those that have been rescued from oblivion show that in wielding the
+pen he was more than a match for the many able men who corresponded with
+him.
+
+In September, 1789, Washington sent General Andrew Pickens, with three
+other commissioners, to treat with McGillivray. They found the great
+chief at Rock Landing, on the Oconee, with two thousand Creek warriors,
+where he had been encamped more than a week. The Indian camp was on the
+western bank of the river. The commissioners pitched their tents on the
+eastern bank. They were received by McGillivray with great courtesy.
+Everything progressed favorably, so much so that the commissioners read
+to the assembled chiefs a copy of the treaty which they had drawn up.
+This treaty was all in favor of the whites. The Indians were offered
+no equivalent for the terms proposed. It is worthy of note that Andrew
+Pickens wholly dissented from the terms of the proposed treaty. He knew
+that the Indians would have to be paid for the valuable land which the
+Georgians were then cultivating in the neighborhood of the Oconee, and
+the commissioners had been advised by the Federal authorities to pay
+for these lands. McGillivray broke up his encampment and retired to
+the Ocmulgee, nor could he be induced at that time to renew the
+negotiations.
+
+President Washington was urged by the Georgia delegation in Congress to
+declare war against the Creeks, and this indeed was his first impulse;
+but when he found, from a careful estimate, that the expenses of such
+a war would amount to fifteen millions of dollars, he prudently gave
+up the idea. He took the matter in hand in a more conservative way. He
+appointed Colonel Marinus Willett a secret agent to visit Mc-Gillivray,
+and urge him to visit President Washington in New York. In this Colonel
+Willett was entirely successful. Accompanied by McGillivray and a number
+of the leading men of the Creeks, Willett set out on his return journey.
+At Guilford Court House, McGillivray attracted great attention on
+account of a very pathetic incident that occurred there some years
+before. A man named Brown had been killed by the Creeks, and his wife
+and children captured and made slaves. Their unfortunate condition came
+to the notice of Alexander McGillivray, and, as he had done in the case
+of many other captive white women and children, he paid their ransom and
+redeemed them from slavery. He maintained them at his house for over a
+year, and finally assisted them to return to their friends. Mrs. Brown,
+hearing that McGillivray had arrived, went to see him. At that moment
+he was in the courthouse, the center of a large assembly of ladies
+and gentlemen who had gathered to pay their respects. But this was no
+obstacle to Mrs. Brown. She rushed through the assembly, and, in a flood
+of tears, expressed her gratitude to him for saving her life and the
+lives of her children. She also expressed her strong admiration for his
+character.
+
+In due course, McGillivray arrived in New York, where he was treated
+with great consideration. He had long private conferences with
+Washington and other officials of the government, and was finally
+induced to make a treaty which was satisfactory to the United States,
+and would have been satisfactory to Georgia if it had been carried out,
+but in fact the terms of it were never fulfilled. While in New York,
+McGillivray made a secret treaty with Washington, a fact that was not
+discovered for many years. It provided, that after two years from date
+(August, 1790) the commerce of the Creek nation should be carried on
+through the ports of the United States, and in the mean time through
+the present channels; that a number of chiefs of the Creeks and of the
+Seminole nation should be paid one hundred dollars a year each, and
+be furnished with handsome medals; that the United States should feed,
+clothe, and educate Creek youth at the North, not exceeding five at one
+time; and that Alexander McGillivray should be constituted agent of the
+United States, with the rank of brigadier general, and the pay of twelve
+hundred dollars a year. In 1792, McGillivray was a British colonel, an
+American brigadier general, an agent of the United States, and an
+agent of Spain. This extraordinary man died in Pensacola on the 17th of
+February, having been seized with a fatal illness while returning from
+one of his plantations on Little River in Putnam or Baldwin.
+
+Another famous Creek was General William Mcintosh, a half-breed. His
+father was Captain William Mcintosh, and his mother was an Indian
+of unmixed blood. He was not so brilliant a man intellectually as
+McGillivray; but he had a native force of character, and an inborn sense
+of justice, that McGillivray seems to have been a stranger to. History
+tells us little enough of Mcintosh, but that little is all to his
+credit. Almost from the days of Oglethorpe, there were two parties in
+the Creek nation, and the issue on which they divided was the
+treatment that should be accorded to the whites. The party division was
+geographical as well as political. The Upper Creeks, living upon the
+Alabama, Coosa, and Tallapoosa rivers, were not present at the Coweta
+town when James Oglethorpe treated with the Lower Creeks in August,
+1730. At that time they were under the influence of the French, and
+afterwards they sought the protection of the Spaniards. They refused to
+recognize any of the treaties made by the Lower Creeks with the English,
+and the great body of them remained to the end the bitter enemies of
+the Georgians. On the other hand, the majority of the Lower Creeks
+were friendly with the English from the days of Oglethorpe; and that
+friendship continued, with but few interruptions, down to the days of
+Governor Troup.
+
+Now, McGillivray, in his day and time, represented the Upper Creeks
+of the Tallapoosa country and their policy, while William Mcintosh
+represented the Lower Creeks of the Coweta country and their policy. The
+division in the Creek nation was so serious, that, when the Upper Creeks
+took sides with the British in the War of 1812, they found themselves
+opposed in the field by a large party of Lower Creeks under the command
+of Mcintosh. Thus, at the battle of Autossee, William Mcintosh led a
+large band of Lower Creeks against those who were making war on the
+whites. He made himself so conspicuous in that affair, that General
+Floyd mentions him in the official report of the battle.
+
+The treaty at Indian Spring, and the results that followed, cannot be
+clearly understood unless we bear in mind the political differences that
+existed between the Upper and the Lower Creeks. The Creek chiefs and the
+commissioners met at Indian Spring on the 15th of February, 1825. The
+chiefs and warriors of the Upper Creeks declared that no treaty could
+be made for a cession of lands, and on the night of the 11th they went
+home. On the 12th a treaty was signed with the Mcintosh party. Colonel
+John A. Crowell, agent for the Creek Indians, sent a letter to the
+secretary of war, in which he declared that the treaty was in direct
+opposition to the letter and spirit of the instructions to the
+commissioners; but the treaty was sent to Washington, and was ratified
+on the 3d of March, 1825. When the Indians of the Upper Creeks and their
+party learned that the treaty had been ratified, they became very much
+excited. Mcintosh and his party went to Milledgeville, and told the
+governor that they expected violent treatment at the hands of the
+Upper Creeks. They begged the protection of the State and of the United
+States, and this was promised them.
+
+Out of this treaty grew a very serious conflict between the Federal and
+State governments. After a good deal of discussion, the President asked
+Congress to reconsider the treaty of Indian Spring, and presented a
+new one as a substitute, which was ratified and proclaimed; but popular
+indignation ran so high in Georgia, that Governor Troup felt justified
+in paying no attention to this new treaty. He proceeded to carry out the
+terms of the Indian Spring treaty. Charges were brought against Crowell,
+the Indian agent. The governor informed T. P. Andrews, the special
+agent, that he would hold no further correspondence with him. The
+conduct of General Gaines had been such that Governor Troup requested
+the Federal Government to recall, arrest, and punish him. In 1826 the
+State Legislature declared that the attempt to repeal the treaty of
+Indian Spring by the substitution of another treaty was illegal and
+unconstitutional. In September, 1826, Governor Troup ordered the
+districts ceded by the treaty of Indian Spring to be surveyed. When the
+Indians complained of this, the secretary of war wrote to Governor Troup
+that the President felt himself compelled to employ all the means under
+his control to maintain the faith of the nation by carrying the treaty
+into effect, meaning the treaty made at Washington, and intended to be
+a substitute for the Indian Spring treaty. In his reply, Governor Troup
+declared that he would feel it to be his duty to resist to the utmost
+any military attack which the President of the United States should
+think proper to make upon the Territory, the people, or the sovereignty
+of Georgia. "From the first decisive act of hostility," he wrote to the
+secretary of war, "you will be considered and treated as a public
+enemy. You have referred me, as the rule of my conduct, to the treaty
+of Washington. In turn I refer you to the treaty of prior date and prior
+ratification, concluded at the Indian Spring."
+
+The President issued orders that the surveyors appointed by the State
+be prosecuted. Governor Troup thereupon ordered the proper officers, in
+every instance of complaint made of the arrest of any surveyor, to take
+all necessary and legal measures to effect their liberation, and to
+bring to justice all the parties concerned in such arrests, as violators
+of the peace and personal security of the State. He also ordered
+the major generals of the militia to hold the various regiments and
+battalions in readiness to repel any hostile invasion of the State. But
+no acts of violence were committed. The surveyors were not arrested, the
+surveys were made, and the lands ceded by the treaty of Indian Spring
+were divided by lottery in 1827.
+
+The Upper Creeks, who had always been unfriendly to the Georgians,
+were so angry at the signing of the treaty of Indian Spring, that they
+determined to assassinate General William Mcintosh. They had never
+forgiven him for leading his party of Lower Creeks against them in the
+campaign that was made necessary by the terrible massacre of Fort Mims,
+and they now determined to rid themselves of him at once and forever.
+
+We have seen that General Mcintosh, and his party of Lower Creeks,
+suspecting that an attack would be made on them by the powerful tribes
+on the Tallapoosa, went to Milledgeville to beg the governor to protect
+them. Protection was promised, but never given. Meanwhile the Upper
+Creeks held a secret council, and selected a hundred and seventy of the
+boldest warriors in the nation to murder Mcintosh. They marched in the
+most cautious way. They reached the neighborhood of Mcintosh's home,
+and concealed themselves, to wait for night to fall. About sundown, or
+a little before, the Indians saw from their hiding place two persons
+riding along a trail. One was Mcintosh, and the other a man named
+Hawkins, who had married one of Mcintosh's daughters. It would have been
+an easy matter for the savages to have killed Mcintosh at this time; but
+they had made up their minds to kill him upon his own premises, so that
+his blood might stain the land that had been granted him by the State.
+While still in sight of the men who had been sent to slay him, Mcintosh
+bade Hawkins good evening, wheeled his horse, and rode back on the trail
+toward his home. Although he was now alone, the Indians would not kill
+him. They had fixed up a different plan, and they carried it out.
+
+Before dark the Indians gathered together a supply of "fat lightwood,"
+as the resinous pine was called. This they split into convenient length,
+and made up into three bundles to be carried on the backs of their
+warriors. They remained hidden within half a mile of Mcintosh's house
+till three o'clock in the morning, and then silently and swiftly marched
+to the place. They had taken along with them a man named James Hutton to
+act as interpreter, the reason for this being that Mcintosh was in the
+habit of entertaining travelers.
+
+It was to be Hutton's duty to assure such as might be found there that
+they would not be disturbed in any manner. Guests of Mcintosh were
+commonly lodged in an outhouse in the yard; and Hutton, accompanied by
+two Indians, went to this building to see who might be sleeping there.
+They found a peddler in one bed, and Chilly, a son of General Mcintosh,
+in another.
+
+Young Mcintosh, as if instinctively understanding the nature of the
+visit, sprang from the bed and leaped out at a window. He was fired upon
+by the Indians, but was not touched, and succeeded in making his escape.
+The peddler was nearly scared out of his wits; but his pack of goods
+was removed to a place of safety, and the house in which he had been
+sleeping was soon in flames.
+
+[Illustration: Indian Attack 220]
+
+Meanwhile most of the Indians had surrounded Mcintosh's house, and
+torches of the fat pine were used to set it on fire. The red men danced
+around the burning building, yelling, and crying out, "Mcintosh, we have
+come, we have come! We told you if you sold the land to the Georgians
+we would come. Now we have come!" At the first alarm Mcintosh had
+barricaded his front door. He stood near it; and when it was broken
+down, he fired upon his assailants. At that moment, one of his firmest
+friends, Toma Tustenuggee, who had thrown himself upon the party at the
+door, fell on the threshold, riddled with bullets. General Mcintosh then
+retreated to the second story with four guns, which he continued to fire
+from the windows.
+
+The flames drove him from the second story to the first floor again. He
+fought bravely to the end, but was soon compelled to expose himself to
+the fire of his enemies. He fell to the floor, pierced by many bullets,
+and was dragged into the yard by his heels. He breathed defiance to
+the last, and was finally stabbed to death. After this savage deed, the
+Indians plundered the houses, killed such cattle as they could find,
+and committed other outrages. A small party of the Indians had followed
+Hawkins the evening before. His house was surrounded about daybreak the
+next morning, and he was ordered to come out. He refused, and defended
+himself the best he could; but he was finally taken prisoner and tied,
+until the fate of Mcintosh was known. Then he was murdered, and his body
+thrown into the river near where he lived. The Indians marched back
+to the Tallapoosa country with the scalps of these unfortunate men.
+Mcintosh's scalp was suspended from a pole in the public square of
+Ocfuskee, and young and old danced around it with shouts of joy.
+
+General Mcintosh was a cousin of Governor Troup, being the son of
+Governor Troup's uncle, Captain William Mcintosh, who was frequently on
+the Chattahoochee before the breaking-out of the Revolution.
+
+
+
+
+REMOVAL OF THE CHEROKEES.
+
+When Georgia had begun to recover its breath, after the difficulties
+with the Creeks, the people had time to discover that they had a much
+more serious problem to deal with in the Cherokee nation, which occupied
+all the northwestern portion of the State. Those who mingled thrift with
+their benevolence, and had the courage to think about the future of
+the whites as well as the future of the savages, thought that both
+ends would be attained by making a permanent settlement for the Indians
+beyond the Mississippi River. Those whose benevolence was a mixture of
+sentimentality and romantic misinformation thought the Indians ought
+to be left where contact with the whites would tend to civilize
+and Christianize them. Consequently there were two parties to the
+discussion, and a good deal of practical selfishness at the bottom of it
+all. There used to be an old song running in this wise,--
+
+ "All I want in this creation,
+ Is a pretty little wife and a big plantation
+ Away up yonder in the Cherokee nation,"--
+
+and this song no doubt represented the real feeling behind the whole
+matter. The big plantation was what was really wanted. At the same time
+it should not be forgotten that it was for the benefit of the Indians as
+well as the whites that they should be settled in a section where they
+would remain undisturbed. This policy has been proven by time to be the
+true one.
+
+Travelers and romancers have done no end of harm by exalting the Indian
+character, covering up its faults, and exaggerating its merits. Romance
+has made great heroes of the Indians; but in the whole history of the
+red men, so far as it has been faithfully chronicled, the names of the
+Indians of unmixed blood who are worth remembering can be counted on the
+fingers of two hands.
+
+Sequoia, or George Guess, who invented the Cherokee alphabet, was the
+grandson of a white man. This invention, however, was a very remarkable
+achievement, and it is worthy of a word here. Sequoia was altogether
+illiterate. He could neither write nor speak English, but he saw that
+the whites could talk with each other by means of pieces of paper. So
+he set himself to work to examine his own language. He found that sixty
+monosyllables could be so combined as to represent every word in
+the Cherokee language, and for each of these syllables he formed a
+character. Many of these characters were taken from an English spelling
+book which he managed to get hold of. Some are Greek characters, and
+others are letters of the English alphabet turned upside down; but
+each character in the Cherokee alphabet stands for a monosyllable. It
+happened, too, from the structure of the Cherokee language or dialect,
+that the syllabic alphabet is also in the nature of a grammar; so that
+those who know the language by ear, and master the alphabet, can at once
+read and write. Owing to the extreme simplicity of this system, it can
+be acquired in a few days. Some have learned it even in one day. Thus
+it happened that the Cherokees, who were at the beginning of one year
+ignorant and illiterate, had become in the course of a few months able
+to read and write their own language. They accomplished this without
+going to school, and without expense of time or money.
+
+This curious and useful invention is dwelt on here because it stands
+alone. The Indian grandson of a white man remains to-day the only man,
+in the long history of the aborigines, who has done anything for the
+real and lasting benefit of his race.
+
+When the people of Georgia insisted on the removal of that nation to the
+Far West, the Cherokees were neither better nor worse than the rest of
+the Indians. Some of the half-breeds had indeed begun to put on the airs
+of civilization, and many of them had put off their barbarian garbs; but
+from time to time they gave evidence that contact with the whites had
+only whetted their savage appetites for cruelty. The Indian in Cooper's
+novels and the Indian in real life are two different creatures. They
+were tall and straight because they refused to do manual labor. The
+drudgery was left to the women, who hoed the corn when at home, and
+carried the burdens when the warriors were moving about. They cultivated
+the passion of revenge. Those who know them best have declared in
+a thousand ways that they never found in the red men any solid
+substantial, or agreeable quality. They were brave, but so is a bulldog.
+
+There is no wonder that Georgia wanted to get rid of them as neighbors.
+The people showed their anxiety in this matter when, in 1802, they
+conveyed to the United States Government all the valuable lands that now
+form the States of Alabama and Mississippi; the consideration being that
+the General Government would secure from the Indians, and open up to
+settlement, the lands which they then held in the State. In 1808 the
+Cherokees asked the United States to allow them to examine the public
+land west of the Mississippi, and, if pleased, to settle on it.
+Permission was given, and the Cherokees sent a party to explore
+the lands. The country suited them so well that many of the Indians
+emigrated at once. The General Government thus had an opportunity to
+carry out the contract of 1802, but failed to do so. It had another
+opportunity in 1814, when the conquered Creeks sued for peace. The
+General Government had the right to demand of them the cession of the
+land they occupied in Georgia. Instead, it took land in Alabama, which
+it sold for its own benefit.
+
+And so the matter went on from year to year, and the people waited
+patiently; for they had become aware, from costly experience, that one
+of the prices they have to pay for popular government is the occasional
+rule of the political demagogue.
+
+In 1827, when the people of Georgia began to grow restive under the
+failure of the government to carry out its contracts, the Cherokees
+had declared themselves to be an independent state. They had their own
+printed constitution and code of laws. So that here in the limits of
+Georgia there were three governments going on at one and the same
+time. The United States prohibited any person from settling on Indian
+territory, or trading with any Indian, without a special license from
+the proper authority. In addition to this, the State of Georgia had
+found it necessary to extend her criminal courts over the Cherokee
+territory, in order to protect her own citizens.
+
+The half-breeds among the Cherokees were very shrewd and unscrupulous.
+They had caused some of their tribe to take possession of lands ceded
+to Georgia by the Creeks, and in this way sought to add confusion to the
+discussion that was then going on. The Indians took possession by force.
+They were armed and painted, and led by Chief Ridge. Fourteen or fifteen
+houses were burned by these savages, and the white women and children
+were left exposed to the weather, the ground being covered with snow.
+
+The great trouble with the Cherokees then and afterwards was, that the
+government of their nation had fallen into the hands of half-breeds,
+whose education only gave them fresh opportunities to gain wealth
+and power at the expense of the rest of the tribe. They owned trading
+houses, big plantations, numbers of slaves, had charge of the ferries,
+and controlled all the traffic between the whites and the Indians. As
+these half-breeds became wealthier, the rest of the tribe became poorer.
+They had forsaken their primitive habits and customs, and taken up those
+of the most depraved whites who lived among them. It is worthy of note
+that the most progressive spirits among the Cherokees were in favor
+of emigration beyond the Mississippi. The leaders of this party were
+natives of unmixed blood, who saw that the control of the corrupt
+half-breeds was carrying the nation to ruin. Several of these leaders
+were waylaid and shot down by the agents of those whose policy they were
+opposing. The alarm in some sections was very great. The citizens met,
+and adopted resolutions requesting the government to station troops at
+suitable points, for the protection of the lives and property of the
+whites and friendly Indians.
+
+Under an act of the Legislature, a body of militia had been organized,
+under the name of the "Georgia Guard." It was the duty of the Guard to
+protect the citizens of Georgia and the friendly Cherokees. John Howard
+Payne, the famous author of "Home, Sweet Home," was arrested by this
+Guard. The poet was traveling among the Cherokees for information, and
+was no doubt ignorant of the state of feeling then existing. He was
+finally suspected by the vigilant Georgia Guard of writing improper
+papers. He had been seen making notes, and when he was arrested his
+papers were searched. The commander of the Georgia Guard, Colonel
+William N. Bishop, reported to the governor that he had examined some
+of Mr. Payne's papers, and found some very improper and indiscreet
+statements about the President, the government, and the State
+authorities, and many bitter remarks concerning Cherokee matters.
+Evidently, Colonel Bishop was of the opinion, that, while a politician
+or a newspaper editor might be allowed to indulge in improper and
+indiscreet statements about Presidents and other public men, a poet
+had no such rights. But the colonel finally discharged Mr. Payne from
+custody, and the very foolish proceeding was condemned by a resolution
+of the General Assembly.
+
+In 1835 two parties had developed in the Cherokee nation. One was in
+favor of removal to the Western lands, and the other was opposed
+to removal. John Ridge headed the removal party, and John Ross the
+opposition. In February of that year these men went to Washington at
+the head of deputations, and entered into negotiations with the General
+Government. After a great deal of talk, excitement, confusion, and
+trouble, the Cherokee people finally concluded to hold a meeting at Red
+Clay in October, 1835. There was a good deal of angry feeling between
+those of the Cherokees who were in favor of a treaty of removal and
+those who were opposed to it. Major Ridge, John Ridge, and David Vann
+were impeached for holding opinions contrary to those held by the
+Cherokee authorities. On the other hand, many of those in favor of
+removal met, and passed resolutions, in which they declared that their
+people could not prosper in the midst of a white population, and that,
+while they loved the lands of their fathers, and would leave the place
+of their birth with regret, they considered that it would be better to
+become exiles than to submit to the laws of the State.
+
+At the Red Clay meeting, arrangements were made for discussing with the
+United States authorities the terms of a treaty of removal. The Ross
+party was still violently opposed to removal. John Ross, the leader of
+this party, was only one fourth Indian, the other three fourths
+being Scotch and American. Ross was very shrewd and thrifty, and had
+accumulated a great deal of property, with the prospect of accumulating
+more. He had many sympathizers and admirers in all parts of the country.
+It seems to have been thought a wonderful thing in that day, that a man
+one quarter Indian should be able to read and write English, and make
+political speeches. When everything had been arranged for the final
+treaty, and while negotiations were going forward, Ross and his party
+put an end to them, and went to Washington, where they hoped to delay
+matters. But the Ridge party met the United States commissioners at New
+Echota on the 21st of December, 1835, according to appointment, and on
+the 29th the treaty was concluded. On May 23, 1836, it was ratified.
+
+By the terms of this treaty, the Cherokees, in consideration of the sum
+of five million dollars, relinquished all claims to lands east of the
+Mississippi. In addition to the money to be paid, they were to receive
+seven million acres of land west of the Mississippi. Should this
+territory be found to be insufficient, the United States, in
+consideration of five hundred thousand dollars, was to convey to them
+an additional body of land. The land thus granted was not to be included
+within the limits of any State at any future time. The Cherokees were
+guaranteed protection against domestic strife and foreign enemies, and
+it was provided that the tribe should be entitled to a delegate in the
+House of Representatives whenever Congress passed a law to that effect.
+The United States authorities were to remove the Cherokees to their new
+homes, and to provide for their support for one year after they were
+settled. There were other provisions, all in favor of the Cherokees. The
+Indians were to be removed within two years after the ratification of
+the treaty.
+
+Ross, and other leaders opposed to removal, had gone to Washington.
+While there they were informed, by Major Ridge and others, of the treaty
+at New Echota. Ross refused to make any reply to the communication, but
+tried to make a new treaty. He was told that he could not be received to
+make a new treaty. The attitude of the Ross party, together with certain
+threats that had been made by their followers, led many citizens
+of Georgia to believe that the Indians opposed to removal would, in
+accordance with their character and history, revenge themselves by
+making night attacks on the unprotected people. Consequently those most
+likely to be the victims of such attacks petitioned the governor for
+arms, ammunition, and troops; and these petitions were granted. A
+battalion of militia was raised, and placed at Lashley's Ferry on the
+Coosa River, with orders to keep the Cherokees in check, and also to
+prevent the Creeks from coming into Georgia. Many of the Cherokees were
+disarmed; and five hundred muskets, with ammunition, were sent into
+Cherokee County, for the use of the people in the event of any hostile
+movement on the part of the Indians.
+
+The State of Georgia was to take possession of the territory ceded by
+the treaty on the twenty-fourth day of May, 1838, and the military were
+got in readiness for removing the Indians. General Scott, of the United
+States army, called on the governor of Georgia for two regiments, and to
+this call there was a prompt response. By the 18th of May enough men had
+arrived at New Echota, where the troops were to assemble, to organize a
+regiment; and on the morning of the 24th the troops took up the line of
+march for the purpose of collecting the Indians. This continued until
+the 3d of June, when the troops and the Indians started for Ross's
+Landing on the Tennessee River. About fifteen hundred Indians had been
+collected by the Georgia troops, and these troops were then dismissed
+from the service of the United States.
+
+The rest of the work was done by the regular army, which, being
+divided into small detachments, went about the Cherokee country, making
+prisoners of family after family, and carrying them to the camps. The
+most careful arrangements had been made to prevent cruelty or disorder,
+and there has never been any complaint as to the manner in which the
+troops performed their duty. Nearly the whole nation had been gathered
+into camps by the end of June. At that time some of the Indians began
+their march to the West; but the great body of the tribe, fourteen
+thousand in number, did not begin their westward journey until
+September, owing to the hot weather. Every arrangement that could be
+suggested was made for the comfort of the Indians in their march; but
+from May, when the removal began, to the time when the last company had
+completed its journey, more than four thousand persons died.
+
+One year afterwards, on the 22d of June, 1839, Major Ridge, John Ridge,
+and Elias Boudinot, all of whom had taken an active part in negotiating
+the treaty of removal, were assassinated.
+
+Since their removal the Cherokees have prospered to a greater extent
+than any other Indian tribe. They have a government of their own,
+flourishing schools, and books and newspapers printed in their own
+language. It is the only tribe of American Indians that has shown any
+desire or ability to share in the benefits of civilization.
+
+
+
+
+THE BEGINNING OF PARTIES IN GEORGIA.
+
+The first serious political division in Georgia after the Revolution had
+a very curious beginning. There is always, of course, a division among
+the people on great public questions as they arise. But the War of the
+Revolution had so solidified public sentiment that nothing occurred to
+jar it until the Yazoo Fraud created some division. Even then public
+sentiment was so overwhelmingly opposed to the sale of the lands to
+the speculators, that the few who favored it were not numerous nor
+respectable enough to be called a party.
+
+On the 24th of February, 1806, Mr. Josiah Glass, having come all the way
+from North Carolina in search of a Mr. Robert Clary, went to the town of
+Sparta with a warrant which he requested Judge Charles Tait to indorse.
+This Judge Tait did in due form. The warrant was for negro stealing,
+and was directed against Mr. Robert Clary. Mr. Clary was arrested by
+Mr. Josiah Glass in Washington County, and was carried to Greene County
+Superior Court. On the first day of the court, Mr. Josiah Glass wrote
+a letter to Judge Tait, and requested him to attend, and take the
+examination of a man then in his custody, who would make confessions
+highly interesting to the State and the United States. Judge Tait,
+accompanied by Squire Oliver Skinner, attended that night, and took
+a part of the confessions of Mr. Robert Clary, and completed them the
+following night. Then he gave Mr. Josiah Glass a certified copy of the
+same to take with him to North Carolina, to which State he was taking
+Mr. Robert Clary, on a warrant charging him with negro stealing.
+
+Now, it seems that the warrant against Clary was merely intended as
+a scheme to get him to North Carolina to testify against a man named
+Collins. History has suppressed the confessions made by Mr. Robert
+Clary; but it is certain that they contained a most offensive charge
+against General John Clarke, whose patriotic services in behalf of the
+people during the Revolution gave him great fame and popularity. No
+sooner did John Clarke hear of this affair than he proceeded to act with
+his usual promptness. When he learned the particulars about the taking
+of the affidavit at night, he at once jumped to the conclusion that
+he had been made the victim of a conspiracy. There had been some
+disagreement between him and Hon. William H. Crawford; and as Judge
+Tait had been the partner of Mr. Crawford, and was his firm friend,--for
+Crawford was a man great enough to command and deserve friends,--General
+Clarke suspected that Clary and Glass had been made tools of to damage
+his reputation. General Clarke acted at once. He presented a memorial to
+the Legislature, making certain charges against Judge Tait with respect
+to the taking of the "dark-lantern affidavits," as they were called by
+his friends. The Legislature found, as it ought to have done, that the
+charges made in the memorial of General Clarke were unsupported by fact
+or evidence. In the very nature of things, it could not be shown that
+an honorable judge of the Superior Court of Georgia, in certifying to an
+affidavit containing the confession of a mere adventurer, was engaged
+in a conspiracy; but the question with which General Clarke had to
+deal was, how did the offensive and malicious matter, contained in
+an affidavit taken by a judge and one witness at night, become public
+property? If General Clarke had been a more thoroughgoing politician, he
+would have found a better way to confound his enemies than that which he
+adopted; but he was deeply wounded by a foul charge made at night, and
+put in circulation by means of nods and winks and whispers. His first
+recourse was to the Legislature, consequently it had the effect of
+strengthening both his friends and his enemies. His friends were
+indignant at the action of the Legislature. His enemies professed to
+be astonished that arrogance should fly so high as to bring before the
+Legislature unfounded charges against a judge of the superior courts.
+
+The legislative record is not as full as it might be. There was
+something behind the Clary business that does not appear on the records
+of the House and Senate. General Clarke wrote a pamphlet entitled "A
+Legacy for My Children," in which, according to Judge Garnett Andrews
+(see "Reminiscences of an Old Georgia Lawyer"), the matter of his
+memorial to the Legislature is differently stated. According to Judge
+Andrews, who bases his authority on General Clarke's pamphlet and on the
+testimony of those who were familiar with the facts, Clary was arrested
+and carried before Judge Tait on a charge of stealing horses. Clary
+charged General Clarke with complicity. Mr. Crawford was the prosecuting
+attorney. General Clarke accused Judge Tait and Mr. Crawford with
+instigating Clary to make the charge.
+
+The truth seems to be, that Clary, knowing the differences that existed
+between these distinguished men, sought to help his own case by making
+the charge against General Clarke, and that the latter was quite ready
+to believe that his two opponents had originated the charges for the
+purpose of doing him a mortal injury. Feeling assured of the justice
+of his cause, he appealed to the Legislature. This failing, he took the
+matter into his own hands. He challenged Mr. Crawford, shot him through
+the wrist, and then challenged him again. A little later, cantering
+along a street in Milledgeville on his fine sorrel horse, General Clarke
+saw Judge Tait before him in a sulky. He spurred his horse forward, and
+laid his whip across the judge's shoulders two or three times.
+
+[Illustration: General Clarke whips Judge Tait 237]
+
+These events created great excitement throughout the State. There had
+already been controversy and division caused by the duel between Mr.
+Crawford and Van Allen, a cousin of President Van Buren, and at that
+time attorney-general of the State. Van Allen was killed; and there was
+a great controversy in Georgia, in consequence, as to who was right
+and who was wrong. This excitement became furious in the course of the
+contest between Clarke and Crawford. Crawford was fortunately lifted out
+of it by being made a United States senator in 1807. His distinguished
+career afterwards is well known. He was minister to France, secretary of
+the treasury, Vice-President of the United States, and would have been
+elected President but for reports circulated throughout the country that
+he had been stricken down with a fatal illness. But the contest between
+the Clarke and Crawford parties continued to rage. Whatever issue the
+Clarke men were favorable to, the Crawford men opposed. Whatever scheme
+the Clarke men suggested, the Crawford men fought. There was nothing
+polite about the contest. People who wore gloves pulled them off.
+In cold weather the voters were warm, and in hot weather they were
+steaming. The contest went on before elections, and was kept up with
+just as much energy after elections. No vote could settle it, and no
+success could quiet it. It was in the nature of a political squabble,
+covering the whole State, dividing districts, counties, cities, towns,
+villages, settlements, beats, crossroads groceries, and families. It
+was a knock-down-and-drag-out fight, in which hair pulling, gouging, and
+biting were allowed.
+
+While Crawford was advancing step by step in national politics, his
+party in Georgia took up George M. Troup, one of the most brilliant and
+aggressive men in the State. The contest had been going on for twenty
+years when Troup came upon the scene, in 1830, as a candidate
+for governor. He had been a member of the State Legislature, a
+representative in Congress, and a United States senator: therefore in
+1820, when he was nominated for governor by the Crawford party, he was
+ripe in experience. He was forty years old, and full of the fire and
+energy that marked his whole career. The Crawford party now became the
+Troup party, and the contests that followed were the most exciting
+that ever took place in the State before, or that have ever taken place
+since.
+
+At that time the General Assembly elected the governor, the people
+selecting members favorable to the candidates they preferred. As the
+result of the first campaign between the Clarke and Troup parties,
+General John Clarke was elected by a majority of thirteen legislative
+votes. When Governor Clarke's term expired, he was again opposed by
+Troup, and was again elected, but this time by a majority of only two
+legislative votes. In 1823, Matthew Talbot represented the Clarke party,
+but was defeated by Troup. In 1825, General Clarke again entered the
+contest. The election was no longer in the hands of the Legislature, but
+was by popular vote. Governor Troup's treatment of the Indian question,
+and the firm stand he had taken in favor of the rights of the State, had
+materially increased his influence, and he was elected over Clarke by a
+majority of 683 votes.
+
+Curious to relate, the old Clarke party became the Union party, and
+in 1840 was the Democratic party. The Crawford party became the States
+Rights party, and in 1840 was the Whig party. Such was the evolution of
+parties in Georgia.
+
+
+
+
+A QUEER CASE.
+
+[Illustration: A Queer Case 241]
+
+A very queer, not to say mysterious case, was brought to trial in Jones
+County in 1837, at the April term of the Superior Court. It has had no
+parallel in Georgia before or since, and had none in any other country,
+so far as the present writer is aware, until the celebrated Tichborne
+case was brought to trial in England a few years ago. The Bunkley case
+created quite as much excitement, and caused quite as much division in
+public opinion in Georgia, as the Tichborne case did in England.
+
+Jesse L. Bunkley belonged to a good family in Jones County, and when
+he came of age would have fallen heir to an estate worth forty thousand
+dollars. An effort was made to give him all the advantages of education,
+but these he refused to accept. He was a wild boy, and was fonder
+of wild company than of his books. He went to school for a while in
+Eatonton, but got into some scrape there and ran away. He was afterwards
+sent to Franklin College, now the State University, where he entered the
+grammar school. Such discipline as they had in those days was irksome to
+young Bunkley, and he soon grew tired of it. He left the college, and,
+after roving about for a while, returned to his home in Jones County.
+In his twentieth year, 1825, being well supplied with money, he left his
+home for the purpose of traveling. He went to the Southwest, and in that
+year wrote to his mother from New Orleans.
+
+No other letter was received from him during that year or the next, and
+in 1827 word was brought to Jones County that Jesse Bunkley was dead.
+The rumor, for it seems to have been nothing more, was regarded by the
+family as true. At any rate, no attempt was made to investigate it.
+Jesse was the black sheep of the family; he had been away from home a
+good deal; his conduct when at home had not been such as to commend
+him to the affections of his people; and his mother had married a third
+husband, a man named Lowther: consequently the vague news of the young
+man's death was probably received with a feeling of relief. There was
+always a probability that such a wild and dissipated youngster would
+come to some bad end; but with his death that probability ceased to
+be even a possibility, and so, no doubt with a sigh of relief, young
+Bunkley's people put aside the memory of him. He was dead and buried.
+Those who survived him were more than willing to take the care and
+trouble of managing the estate which young Bunkley would have inherited
+had he returned and claimed it.
+
+But in 1833, Major Smith of Jones County received a letter purporting to
+be from Jesse L. Bunkley, and it related to matters that both Smith and
+Bunkley were familiar with. In December, 1833, Mrs. Lowther, his mother,
+received a letter from a person claiming to be her son Jesse. The letter
+was dated at the New Orleans prison. It appears from this letter that
+the family of Bunkley had already taken steps to disown the person who
+had written to Major Smith, and who claimed to be Jesse Bunkley. The
+letter to Mrs. Lowther was very awkwardly written. It was misspelled,
+and bore no marks of punctuation; and yet it is just such a letter
+as might be written by a man who took no interest in his books when a
+schoolboy, and had had no occasion to look into them or to handle a pen.
+He said in this letter that he wrote to convince his mother that he was
+her own child, though it appeared that she wished to disown him. This,
+he declared in his awkward way, he knew no reason for, unless it was on
+account of his past folly. He then went on to relate some facts about
+the family and his own school days. The mother did not answer this
+letter, because, as she said afterwards on the witness stand, she did
+not consider that it was from her son. She was satisfied, she said, that
+the letter was not in her son's handwriting.
+
+The person claiming to be Jesse L. Bunkley reached Jones County some
+time afterwards. His case, in the nature of things, excited great public
+interest. Hundreds of people who had known Jesse recognized him in this
+claimant. On the other hand, hundreds who had also known Bunkley when
+a boy failed to recognize him in the claimant. Meanwhile those who had
+charge of the Bunkley property took prompt action. They went before the
+grand jury, and had the claimant indicted for cheating and swindling;
+and thus began the celebrated case of the State against Elijah Barber,
+alias Jesse L. Bunkley.
+
+The claimant came to Jones County in 1836, was indicted in that year,
+and his case was brought to trial in the Superior Court in April, 1837.
+A great deal of time was taken up in the investigation. More than one
+hundred and thirty witnesses were examined. Ninety-eight, the majority
+of these being disinterested persons, declared that they believed
+the claimant to be an impostor. More than forty disinterested persons
+declared under oath that they believed the claimant to be Jesse L.
+Bunkley, and the majority of these last witnesses had known Bunkley long
+and intimately.
+
+The efforts of the prosecution were directed to showing that the man
+claiming to be Jesse Bunkley was in reality Elijah Barber, who in
+1824-25 was a wagoner who hauled lumber from Grace's Mill near Macon,
+who was also known in Upson County, and who had served in the Florida
+war. Some of the witnesses who had never known Bunkley recognized the
+claimant as a man who had called himself Barber. Some of the witnesses
+who had known Jesse from his boyhood testified that they recognized the
+claimant as Bunkley on sight. Bunkley had various scars on his face,
+neck, and body. The claimant exhibited all these to the jury. One of the
+witnesses remembered that Bunkley bore the marks of a snake bite on one
+of his legs. The claimant immediately showed these marks. Hundreds of
+questions had been put to the claimant to test his memory. A great many
+he answered correctly, a great many others he failed to answer; but his
+replies to all vital questions were wonderfully clear and satisfactory.
+The jury was out but a short time before it returned, bringing in a
+verdict of guilty; and the claimant was sentenced to the penitentiary,
+where he served out his term.
+
+[Illustration: The Bunkley Trial 245]
+
+This verdict and sentence settled the case in law, but it remained as
+unsettled as ever in the public mind. The writer of this has heard it
+discussed on more than one occasion among old ladies and gentlemen who
+knew Bunkley, and who saw the claimant; and, without exception, they
+declared that the verdict of the jury was cruelly unjust.
+
+And yet, if any wrong was done, Bunkley himself was to blame for it.
+Being a young man of fortune and of the fairest prospects, he owed it to
+himself, his family, his friends, and to society at large, to become
+a good citizen, so that his ample means might be properly employed.
+Instead of that, he became a rowdy and a rioter, spending his days and
+his nights in evil company and in dissipation. If the claimant in this
+mysterious case was really Jesse Bunkley, it may be said of him that his
+sins had found him out.
+
+
+
+
+GEORGIA WIT AND HUMOR.
+
+The wit and humor of Georgia stand by themselves. They have no
+counterpart in any other section of the country. Many attempts have been
+made to imitate them, but there is always something lacking. The flavor,
+the "bouquet," the aroma, is gone. The sun, the soil, the air, and
+even the spring water, seem to have something to do with it. Just what,
+nobody knows. Wit and humor are elusive,--they are unsubstantial. On the
+other hand, the Georgia watermelon is something solid. It may be handled
+and felt. It may be "thumped" and "plugged" and tested. Those who know
+what a watermelon is and should be, know that there is none to compare
+with the melons that are grown in Georgia, no matter what the variety.
+The same may be said of the wit and humor that belong to Georgia. An old
+man--Uncle Tom Norris he was called, on account of his gray hairs--was
+once heard to say (speaking professionally), "Let me clap a drop of
+the low-wines to my tongue, and I'll tell you what branch the fire was
+kindled on." He was a distiller, and knew his business. One need not
+be an expert to say the same of Georgia humor. It is almost possible to
+tell the very militia district in which it originated. It carries not
+only the flavor, but the color.
+
+For a hundred years Georgia has remained the most democratic part of the
+country. The sons of the richest men were put in the fields to work
+side by side with the negroes, and were thus taught to understand the
+importance of individual effort that leads to personal independence.
+It thus happened that there was a cordial, and even an affectionate,
+understanding between the slaves and their owners, that perhaps had no
+parallel elsewhere. The poorer whites had no reason to hold their heads
+down because they had to work for their living. The richest slave owners
+did not feel themselves above those who had few negroes or none. When
+a man called his neighbor "Colonel," or "Judge," it was to show his
+respect, nothing more. For the rest, the humblest held their heads as
+high as the richest, and were as quick, perhaps quicker, in a quarrel.
+
+The Virginians and North Carolinians who settled in the Broad River
+region intermarried, and spread out over middle Georgia. Those who were
+not akin were bound to each other by ties of long acquaintanceship; but
+the homogeneousness of the people, complete and thorough as it was, was
+not marked by any monotony. On the contrary, character and individuality
+ran riot, appearing in such strange and attractive shapes as to puzzle
+and bewilder even those who were familiar with the queer manifestations.
+Every settlement had its peculiarities, and every neighborhood boasted
+of its humorist,--its clown, whose pranks and jests were limited by
+no license. Out of this has grown a literature which, in some of its
+characteristics, is not matched elsewhere on the globe; but that which
+has been preserved by printing is not comparable, either in volume or
+merit, with the great body of humor that has perished because of the
+lack of some one industrious enough to chronicle it.
+
+One of the most perfect types of the Georgia humorist was the late John
+M. Dooly. Judge Dooly was a remarkable man in other respects, but it is
+his wonderful fund of humor that has made his name famous in Georgia and
+throughout the country. It has been told in these pages how Colonel John
+Dooly was dragged from his bed by the Tories and murdered. This Colonel
+Dooly was the father of John M., who was hid under the bed when the
+Tories dragged his father out and murdered him. It might be supposed
+that such an event would have a tendency to give a boy a very serious
+view of life. Judge Dooly's views were no doubt serious enough; but they
+were overwhelmed and overpowered by a temperament which found cause for
+laughter in almost every person and passing event, and was the cause of
+innocent mirth in others.
+
+Judge Dooly was born in what he called the "Dark Corner" of Lincoln
+County, which had not then been cut off from Wilkes. After the murder of
+his father, the family was left in poverty. When he went to Washington,
+the county seat of Wilkes County, to read law with Mr. Matthews, the
+clothes he wore were in such a condition that he was compelled to
+confine himself to the office in the daytime. He was very poor and
+very bright. Old people who knew him when a boy, described him to Judge
+Garnett Andrews as "a sallow, piney-woods-looking lad." "Piney-woods
+people" was the local name for the tackies, the clay eaters, the
+no-accounts, that had settled about on the poorer lands in that section
+of Georgia, and given themselves over to thriftlessness for good and
+all. But young Dooly had that within him which made him superior to the
+conditions and limitations of poverty. Apart from his remarkable gift of
+humor, he had a native brilliancy of mind that gave him an easy mastery
+over the principles of law that he found in the books. He was admitted
+to the bar in 1798, and was immediately successful as a lawyer. His
+education had been limited to that which he found in the "old field
+schools," and in that day they were not of the best; but such a mind as
+his needed only the rudiments, the rest came as by instinct.
+
+[Illustration: Judge Dooly 250]
+
+Judge Dooly was not a student while practicing at the bar. He had
+thoroughly mastered the principles, the groundwork, of the law; and his
+mind, as logical as it was brilliant, fitted these principles to every
+case he had charge of. His love of humor, and his fondness for the
+society of those who preferred fun and frolic, placed many temptations
+in his way, and some of these he did not always resist; but the faults
+he had were the faults of the time in which he lived, the faults of the
+society in which he was brought up and by which he was surrounded. Judge
+Dooly has been described by a contemporary as having a large head,
+with a bold, high forehead, heavy eyebrows, prominent nose, a small
+compressed mouth, and large, vivid, sparkling eyes, which, when the
+spirit of humor had possession of him, illuminated his countenance as if
+an electric battery were in play.
+
+On one occasion, Judge Dooly had been challenged by Judge Tait,--the
+same Judge Tait who had made himself so obnoxious to General John
+Clarke. Judge Tait had a wooden leg; and Judge Dooly, in replying to the
+challenge, referred to this fact, and said he did not think they could
+fight on equal terms. He hoped his refusal would not be interpreted as a
+reflection on the misfortunes of Judge Tait. This reply made Judge Tait
+more indignant than ever. He wrote a severe reply, suggesting to Judge
+Dooly that his refusal to fight was the result of cowardice rather than
+a desire not to shed the blood of an unfortunate cripple. In answer to
+this insinuation, Judge Dooly declared boldly that he was ready to fight
+his adversary on anything like equal terms. He announced that he would
+meet Judge Tait anywhere, on any day, and exchange a shot with him,
+provided he (Judge Dooly) was allowed to stand on the field of honor
+with one leg in a bee-gum! The bee-gums of that day were made of
+sections of hollow trees. Naturally this remarkable proposition made
+Judge Tait madder than ever, and he wrote to Judge Dooly that he
+intended to publish him as a coward. Judge Dooly calmly informed Judge
+Tait by letter that he had no sort of objection to the publication,
+provided it was at Tait's expense. He declared, that, for his part, he
+would rather fill a dozen newspapers than one coffin. These unexpected
+strokes of humor disarmed the anger of Judge Tait, and set the whole
+State in a roar. They did more: they cleared the political atmosphere,
+and took the edge off of party rancor, which was at that time very
+fierce and keen.
+
+Once, when dining at a public table, Dooly said something or did
+something to irritate Major Freeman Walker. The latter, remarking that
+he had borne with the liberties taken by Judge Dooly quite long enough,
+said he proposed to resent them then and there. The attack on his
+feelings had been made in public, and he proposed to resent it in
+public. Seizing a chair, he advanced on Judge Dooly. The judge seized a
+carving knife, and braced himself for defense. Several gentlemen caught
+hold of the judge to prevent him from using the knife, while only one
+held Major Walker. Surveying the scene, Judge Dooly calmly remarked,
+"Gentlemen, one of you will be sufficient to prevent me from doing any
+mischief. The rest of you had better hold Walker." The explosion that
+this remark created put even Major Walker in good humor, and he and the
+judge settled their differences in the most amiable and rational manner.
+
+When the Legislature passed severe laws against gaming, Judge Dooly
+enforced them rigidly. Some of the gamblers were brought to trial and
+fined, and others were only saved from arrest by the fact that they kept
+out of the way when court was in session.
+
+But one night in Washington, Wilkes County, after the judge had been
+holding court all the week and had closed the term, he went to his room
+in the hotel and made all preparations to retire. He had barely settled
+himself in bed, when he heard a noise in an adjoining room, and soon
+discovered that a game of faro was going on. The noise disturbed him so,
+that he dressed himself, went to the room, and told the players, that,
+having tried all legal methods to break them up, and failed, he was
+now determined to try another plan. He thereupon seated himself at the
+table, and before the night was spent broke the bank. He then told the
+gamblers to clear out, and be more careful in future how they interfered
+with the court.
+
+Once when sitting up late at night, trying a very complicated case, the
+sheriff voluntarily placed on the bench beside the judge a small pitcher
+half filled with toddy. When he had finished the toddy, the judge called
+to the officer, "Mr. Sheriff, fetch in some more water out of the same
+spring." A murder case was once tried before him. The point in the case
+was whether the prisoner had shot in self-defense. There was a good deal
+said by the lawyers about the right to shoot. The jury, intending to
+justify the prisoner, brought in this verdict: "The prisoner has a right
+to shoot." When this verdict was read to the court, the judge held up
+his hands in pretended alarm, and cried out, "Mr. Sheriff, don't let him
+shoot this way!"
+
+A story is told of Judge Dooly and Tom Peter Carnes, another rare
+humorist, that fairly illustrates the statement made in the beginning
+of this chapter in regard to the plain and democratic character of the
+people who settled Middle Georgia. Dooly and his friend Carnes were
+traveling to court, having gone without breakfast in order to be up and
+on their way at an early hour. At last they reached the place where they
+were to get breakfast, and called for it with some show of impatience.
+The lady of the house, however, was in no hurry. She said that they
+should have breakfast the moment Charles came. So she called for
+Charles, blew the horn for Charles, and finally sent for Charles. When
+Charles put in an appearance, the two travelers found that he was a big
+negro, so black and fat that he fairly glistened when the sun shone on
+him. Naturally Dooly and Carnes were surprised. They were still more
+surprised when the negro's mistress said in a coaxing tone, "Now,
+Charles, I do wish you would sit down and let the gentlemen eat, as they
+are in a hurry to go to court." Charles didn't like so much company;
+but he finally sat down to the table, on which there was a big bowl of
+clabber, three "hunks" of corn bread, and three pewter spoons. "Now,
+Charles," said the woman, "do eat, and then the gentlemen will begin."
+Making the best of the situation, and somewhat enjoying the humor of it,
+Dooly and Carnes sat down at the table and began to eat. Carnes shook
+his big spoon at the negro, and cried out, "Now, Charles, you must
+spoony on your own side;" and he kept on warning him, "Spoony on your
+own side, Charles, spoony on your own side." The two lawyers ate until
+Charles's spoon began to make raids on their side of the bowl, and then
+they abandoned the feast to him and went on their way.
+
+A landlord of a hotel, having heard some of the lawyers, among them
+Judge Dooly, bragging about the toothsomeness of a baked pig they had
+tasted, probably at Milledgeville during the session of the Legislature,
+concluded that he would surprise and please them by having something in
+that line himself.
+
+He was either ignorant or ill-advised; for, instead of baking a suckling
+pig, he roasted a half-grown pig, stuffed him, put an apple in his
+mouth, and stood him upon his stumps in a dish. In those days the seat
+of honor at the head of the hotel table was reserved for the judge of
+the court At the head of the table Mr. Pig was placed, facing Judge
+Dooly's seat. The judge and the lawyers came in, sat down, and ate
+dinner in comparative silence. They were overawed by Mr. Pig. Though
+the carving knife lay handy, and the landlord and his wife were watching
+with impatience and uneasiness to see what the lawyers would say when
+they had tasted this particular roast pig, no one dared to touch it. At
+supper Mr. Pig was still standing defiantly in his place. He presided at
+every meal during the day following. On the morning of the second day,
+when Judge Dooly came to the table, Mr. Pig was in his old position.
+Thereupon the judge bowed to him gravely. "Good-morning, sir!" he said.
+"I am afraid you have lost your appetite, seeing you have not eaten that
+apple yet. I presume you are tired attending court.--Mr. Sheriff, you
+may discharge him on his own recognizance, until court in course, seeing
+we shall have no further use for him at this session, and return him the
+thanks of the court for his prompt and faithful attendance."
+
+[Illustration: The Roast Pig 255]
+
+Judge Dooly was a member of the Clarke party; but on one occasion,
+when he was a candidate for reëlection to the judgeship of the northern
+circuit, some of the Clarke men declared that Governor Troup's warlike
+message was an evidence that he was mad. Judge Dooly made the comment,
+"If he is mad, I wish the same mad dog that bit him would bite me." This
+happy remark came to the ears of the Troup men in the Legislature, and
+it so pleased them that they put an end to all opposition to the judge
+in the election.
+
+Judge Dooly was one of the most charitable of men. He once refused to
+give alms to an unfortunate woman in Savannah, and the refusal haunted
+him all his life He declared that it taught him never to let Satan cheat
+him out of another opportunity to help the unfortunate; that he had
+determined to err on the safe side ever after.
+
+Just before he died, a friend called to ask after his condition. His
+reply was that he had a bad cold without any cough to suit it. And so,
+humor bubbling from his lips to the last, there passed away, on the 26th
+of May, 1827, the rarest humorist that Georgia, the especial mother
+of humorists, has ever produced. Judge Dooly had a humor that was as
+illuminating as it was enlivening. It stirred to laughter or it moved to
+tears, according as this wonderful man chose to direct it.
+
+A great deal of the humor that originated in Georgia has been printed
+in books. We find it in Judge Long-street's "Georgia Scenes," in Major
+Jones's "Travels," in Colonel Richard Malcolm Johnston's "Stories
+of Georgia Life," and in other volumes that have attracted public
+attention. But the best of it has been lost. It originated when the
+lawyers were riding about on horseback or in buggies from court to
+court, and tradition has only preserved a small part of it.
+
+
+
+
+SLAVERY AND SECESSION.
+
+The dispute over slavery, which had been going on for many years, grew
+furious in 1850; and its fury increased until, in 1860-61, it culminated
+in the secession of the Southern States from the Union. Some of those
+who have written the history of the secession movement contend that
+slavery had little or nothing to do with the matter; that the South
+seceded because the North had refused to grant her people their rights
+guaranteed under the Constitution. This is true as far as it goes; but
+the fact remains, that secession and the war grew out of the efforts of
+the abolitionists of the North, and those who sympathized with them, to
+keep slavery out of the Territories, and to prevent the new States then
+forming from becoming slave States. There is no doubt that these efforts
+were illegal and unconstitutional; and yet, in the minds of those who
+made them, constitutionality was not a sufficient excuse for slavery,
+which, whatever might be its political status, was morally wrong: that
+is to say, they believed that such a wrong as slavery could not be
+justified by paper constitutions and the like. Some of the more extreme
+abolitionists of the North were just as ready to secede from the Union
+that recognized slavery as the Southerners were to break up a Union
+whose constitutional guaranties meant nothing.
+
+It must be borne in mind that the antislavery movement began in the
+South. While slavery was in full blast both North and South, Thomas
+Jefferson, the greatest political leader the South has ever produced,
+was at the head of an emancipation movement, and in all parts of the
+South there were men whose minds revolted at the possibilities that
+swarmed about human slavery. Georgia was the only one of the Original
+Thirteen Colonies in which slavery was prohibited, and we have seen
+how this prohibition was repealed at the demand of the planters. Seven
+Northern States, finding slavery unprofitable, abolished the system,
+and a majority of the slaves were sold to the Southern States. But the
+emancipation movement went on in the South. There were more than fifty
+thousand free negroes in Virginia in 1856, and there were a great many
+in Georgia. A number of planters in Georgia, the most prominent among
+them being Alfred Cuthbert, emancipated their slaves, and arranged to
+send them to Liberia.
+
+Nevertheless the invention of the cotton gin did more to strengthen
+the cause of slavery than all other events combined. It became more
+profitable than ever to own slaves; and in this way, and on this
+account, all the cotton-growing States became interested in the system.
+They had the excuse not only that slavery was profitable, but
+that self-interest combined with feelings of humanity to make it a
+patriarchal institution. And such, in fact, it was. It is to the glory
+of the American character and name, that never before in the history of
+the world was human slavery marked by such mildness, such humanity, as
+that which characterized it in the United States.
+
+But all such considerations as these, as well as the moral objections
+to slavery of any sort, humane or cruel, were lost sight of in the great
+controversy that grew so furious in 1850. In that controversy some of
+Georgia's ablest men took part,--men who were famous as statesmen all
+over the country. There were Alexander H. Stephens, who afterwards
+became the Vice-President of the Confederacy; Robert Toombs, whose fiery
+and impetuous character and wonderful eloquence made him a man of mark;
+Howell Cobb, who was speaker of the House of Representatives; Herschel
+V. Johnson, who was a candidate for Vice-President on the ticket with
+Stephen A. Douglas in 1860; Benjamin H. Hill, who was just then coming
+into prominence; and Joseph E. Brown, whose influence on the political
+history of the State has been more marked than that of any other
+individual.
+
+The controversy growing out of the slavery question became so warm that
+it led to the breaking-up of parties in 1850. Stephens and Toombs,
+who had been Whigs, united with Howell Cobb, who was a Democrat. Other
+Southern Whigs united under the name of the American party. At the North
+the Whigs either joined the Republican party or united with the American
+party. The spirit of disunion was rampant in all parts of the South.
+In Georgia the Legislature had called a State convention, and a great
+effort was made by some of the politicians to commit the State to
+secession. Both Toombs and Stephens were strong Union men, and they
+opposed the spirit and purpose of the call for the convention.
+The speeches that Toombs had made in Congress were garbled by the
+newspapers, and he was made to appear as favoring immediate secession.
+He made short work of that scheme, however. He returned to Georgia in
+the fall of 1850, and immediately began one of the most extraordinary
+campaigns that has ever taken place in the State. He was in the prime
+of life. His fiery energy, his boldness, his independence, and his
+dauntless courage, were in full flower. He took issue with what seemed
+to be the unanimous sentiment of the State. He declared that the call
+for the convention had dishonored the State. He sent out a ringing
+address to the people, urging the South to stand by the Constitution and
+the laws in good faith.
+
+By the time the convention was held, the efforts of Toombs, supplemented
+by those of Stephens and other conservative men, had turned the tide of
+disunion. Whigs united with Democrats. When the returns of the election
+were made known, it was found that a large majority of the members
+were for the Union. "With no memory of past differences," said Toombs,
+"careless of the future, I am ready to unite with any portion or all of
+my countrymen in defense of the integrity of the Republic." So it was
+that the convention met, and adopted what is known in our political
+history as "The Georgia Platform." This platform said that Georgia held
+the American Union secondary in importance to the rights and principles
+it was bound to perpetuate; that, as the Thirteen Colonies found union
+impossible without compromise, the thirty-one of that day would yield
+somewhat in the conflict of opinion and policy, to preserve the Union;
+that Georgia had maturely considered the action of Congress in adopting
+the compromise measures, and, while she did not wholly approve that
+action, would abide by it as a permanent adjustment of this sectional
+controversy; that the State would in future resist, even to the
+disruption of the Union, any act prohibiting slavery in the Territories,
+or a refusal to admit a slave State into the Union.
+
+Thus the Union was saved in 1850 by the very man who had been charged
+with trying to break it up. The eyes of the whole South were turned to
+Georgia during that campaign; and when the people, under the leadership
+of Toombs, Stephens, and Howell Cobb, voted to save the Union, the tide
+of disunion was turned everywhere. The Georgia platform was made the
+platform of the constitutional Union party in the Southern States. In
+Mississippi, Henry S. Foote, the Union candidate, defeated Jefferson
+Davis for governor. The action of Georgia strengthened the Union
+sentiment in all parts of the country.
+
+For a while the situation was secure and satisfactory; but, in the
+nature of things, this could not last. The politicians were busy while
+the people were asleep. The Know-nothing party sprang up in a night,
+and divided the people again; and in Congress the slavery discussion was
+renewed with extreme bitterness over the bills to admit the Territories
+of Kansas and Nebraska as States. This controversy was even more
+exciting than that which resulted in the Compromise Laws of 1850.
+Following close upon this agitation came John Brown's raid into
+Virginia, and his attack on Harpers Ferry. In ordinary times this raid
+would have been regarded with contempt by the Southern people. It was
+a ridiculous affair,--the act of a man who had worked himself up into
+a frenzy of folly. If the people themselves had not been influenced by
+passion cunningly played on by the smaller politicians in both sections,
+poor old John Brown would not have been regarded as a murderer by the
+South nor as a martyr by the North. He would have been an object of pity
+to the sensible men of both sections.
+
+But the state of public opinion was such at that time, that this
+ridiculous venture of a crazy old man was a tremendous shock to the
+South. It contributed more largely than any other event to alarm the
+people of this section, and to turn their minds to secession as a relief
+from, and a remedy for, such attacks upon the peace and good order of
+society. It was a great stimulant to those who had long been in favor of
+disunion, as well as to those at the North who were ready to get rid of
+slavery by violence. Following this raid, public opinion both North and
+South became so violently agitated, that the voices of conservative men
+could not be heard above the storm. It was the hour of the agitator and
+the extremist, and they made the most of it. The Democratic Convention,
+to nominate a candidate for President and Vice-President, met in
+Charleston on the 23d of April, 1860, and remained in session until the
+second day of May. The confused state of public opinion was shown by the
+turbulent division in that convention.
+
+At a moment when the wise men of the Democratic party, or of any party,
+ought to have taken hold of affairs and made their influence felt, they
+seemed to be unequal to the occasion. The members of the convention
+could not agree, and the body adjourned to meet in Baltimore. But the
+division continued and grew wider. The differences could not be settled.
+One faction nominated Douglas and Johnson, and the other nominated
+Breckinridge and Lane. The result was the election of Lincoln and Hamlin
+as the candidates of the Republican party.
+
+[Illustration: Georgia Politics 264]
+
+In Georgia three of the ablest men still stood for the Union,--Alexander
+H. Stephens, Herschel V. Johnson, and Benjamin H. Hill. But they were
+unable to stem the tide. The vote of the State for members of the
+convention that passed the ordinance of secession showed a majority
+of only thirteen thousand for disunion; but Toombs, Thomas R. R. Cobb,
+Howell Cobb, and others seized the advantage that events gave them, and,
+in a whirlwind of passion, swept aside all the arguments and appeals
+of the more conservative men. But, of all those who were in favor of
+secession, Toombs was at that time the most powerful and influential.
+He so managed matters in Congress as to make the secession of Georgia
+follow the inevitable failure of measures that he proposed in that body.
+
+With the people of the South, and indeed with the people of the whole
+country, divided between three parties, the election of a Republican
+candidate was a foregone conclusion. Following this came secession, with
+all the terrible disasters of a war in which the South could not have
+hoped to succeed if reason and common sense had ruled. If the South
+had fought for her constitutional rights in the Union and under the
+old flag, the result might have been different. She would have had
+the active sympathy and support of that large and influential body
+of Northern men who were sincerely anxious to see the terms of the
+Constitution faithfully carried out. But disunion was more than these
+constitutional Democrats could stand. Daniel Webster had solidified
+their love for the Union, and no consideration of party could affect it.
+
+The course of the South, considering all that was involved, should have
+been conservative; but it was not. It is perfectly well known now that
+Abraham Lincoln was willing to sacrifice the abolition party on the
+altar of the Union. He was prompt to announce his policy in this
+respect. But secession came, and with it came the doom of slavery. That
+all was ordered by Providence, it would be foolish to deny; and yet it
+is impossible not to regret the great sacrifice of blood and treasure
+that was demanded by the unhappy war that followed secession.
+
+
+
+
+THE FARMER BOY OF GADDISTOWN.
+
+In 1857, when Bob Toombs was looking after his large landed possessions
+in Texas, and bringing the squatters to terms, he received a letter
+from one of his political friends, announcing that the Democratic State
+Convention had adjourned after nominating Joseph E. Brown as a candidate
+for governor. Toombs was traveling with a party of friends, and to one
+of them he read the letter. Then in a dazed way he asked, "Who is Joe
+Brown?" His friend knew no more about Joe Brown than Senator Toombs did,
+and all the way home the travelers were puzzling themselves with the
+question, "Who is Joe Brown?" They were destined to find out; for the
+convention that nominated Joe Brown for governor brought to the front
+in Georgia politics one of the most remarkable men the State has ever
+known.
+
+Shortly after his return to Georgia from Texas, Toombs was compelled to
+meet Joe Brown to consult in regard to the details of the campaign in
+which both were interested. It must have been an interesting meeting. It
+was as if Prince Charlie and Cromwell had met to arrange a campaign.
+It was a meeting between Puritan and Cavalier. Toombs was full-blooded,
+hotheaded, impetuous, imperious. Joe Brown was pale, angular, awkward,
+cold, and determined. It was as if in a new land the old issues had been
+buried. Toombs was a man of the people, but in his own way, and it was
+a princely and a dashing way. Brown was a man of the people, but in
+the people's way; and it was a cold, calculating, determined, and
+common-sense way. Howell Cobb had written to Toombs to go to the aid of
+Brown, expressing a fear that the nominee, being a new and an untried
+man, would not be able to hold his own against Ben Hill, who was the
+candidate of the American or Know-nothing party for governor. So the
+dashing and gallant senator sought out the new and unknown Democratic
+candidate for governor, and had a conference with him. Toombs found the
+young man strangely cold and placid, and yet full of the determination
+that martyrs are made of. He found that Joe Brown had already mapped
+out and arranged the plans for his campaign, and the more experienced
+politicians saw nothing to change in them. They were marked by
+shrewdness and sagacity, and covered every detail of party organization.
+This was satisfactory; but how could the young man sustain himself on
+the stump against such a speaker as Ben Hill, who, although a young
+man, was a speaker of great force and power? Toombs thought it would be
+better to meet Hill himself, and he started out with that purpose;
+but when he heard Joe Brown make two or three speeches, and saw the
+tremendous effect he produced on the minds of the audiences that
+assembled to hear him, the older campaigner went home, satisfied that
+young Brown needed no instruction and no coaching in the difficult art
+of influencing the people and winning their votes.
+
+The personal history and career of Joseph E. Brown should be studied by
+every ambitious boy in the land, especially by those who imagine they
+cannot succeed because they lack opportunities that money and friends
+would obtain for them. From 1857 to the close of the war, and after,
+the political history of Joe Brown is the history of the State; but that
+history, attractive as it is, is not so interesting as his struggle
+to make a name for himself in the world. Joseph E. Brown was born in
+Pickens County, South Carolina, and was the eldest of eleven children.
+His family was English. His grandfather fought manfully against the
+British and Tories in the Revolutionary War. His father fought under
+Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812, and was at the battle of New
+Orleans on the 8th of January, 1815.
+
+Joe Brown was born in 1821. His parents were not so well off as to be
+able to send the lad continuously to school as he grew up. He had to
+"take his chances." He was compelled to work in the fields in season,
+and was permitted to go to school only when there was nothing for him
+to do on the little farm. He did farm labor from the time he was eight
+until he reached the age of nineteen, and the schooling he had received
+was only of the most haphazard kind.
+
+Before he was grown, his father moved from South Carolina into Georgia,
+settling in Union County, near a little valley named Gaddistown. Up to
+this time, though young Brown was nineteen years of age, he had learned
+nothing but reading, writing, and arithmetic, and very little of
+these. He was now compelled to work harder than ever. Settling in a new
+country, and on new land that had to be cleared before it would yield a
+crop, the Browns had as much as they could do to get the farm in order
+in time for the planting season; and in this severe work, Joseph E.,
+being the eldest son, was the chief reliance of the family. He had a
+pair of small steers with which he plowed; and when he wasn't plowing
+on the farm, he was hauling wood and butter and vegetables to the small
+market at Dahlonega, and taking back in truck and trade some necessary
+article for the family. In this way he learned the lessons of patience,
+self-control, and tireless industry that all boys ought to learn,
+because they are not only the basis of content and happiness, but of all
+success.
+
+When Joe Brown was twenty years old, his father allowed him to seek an
+education. All he could do for the industrious and ambitious boy was
+to give him his blessing and the yoke of steers with which he had been
+plowing. With these young Brown returned to South Carolina and entered
+an academy in Anderson district He gave the steers for eight months'
+board, and went into debt for the tuition fee. In the fall of 1841 he
+returned to Georgia and taught school for three months, and with the
+money he received for this he paid for the schooling he had gone in debt
+for. He returned to the Carolina academy in 1842, and went into debt not
+only for his schooling, but for his board. His patience and his untiring
+industry enabled him to make such rapid progress that within two years
+he had fitted himself to enter an advanced class in college. But the
+lack of means prevented him from entering college. Instead he returned
+to Georgia and opened a school at Canton, Cherokee County. He opened
+this school with six pupils, and the number rapidly increased to sixty,
+so that he was able in a short time to settle the debts he had made
+in Carolina. He taught school all day, and at night and on Saturdays
+devoted himself to the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1845,
+and was at once successful. He made no pretense of oratory; but his
+simple and unpretending style, his homely and direct way of putting
+a case, and his faculty of applying the test of common sense to all
+questions, were as successful with juries as they afterwards proved to
+be with the people; and before the people he was irresistible.
+
+[Illustration: Joe Brown and his Steers 270]
+
+But he was not yet through with his studies. A friend advanced him
+the money necessary to enter the Law School of Yale; and there, from
+October, 1845, to June, 1846, when he graduated, he took the lead in all
+his classes, and had time to attend lectures in other departments of
+the college. He returned home, began active practice, and was soon
+prosperous. He became a State senator, and was afterwards made a judge
+of the superior courts.
+
+When the Democratic Convention met in Milledgeville in 1857, for the
+purpose of nominating a candidate for governor, it had so many popular
+candidates to choose from, and these candidates had so many and such
+strong friends, that the members found it impossible to agree on a
+man. A great many ballots were taken, and there was a good deal of
+"log-rolling" and "buttonholing," as the politicians call it, on behalf
+of the various candidates by their special friends. But all this did no
+good. There was a deadlock. No one of the candidates was able to obtain
+a two-thirds majority, which, according to Democratic law, was the
+number necessary to a nomination. Twenty-one ballots had been taken with
+no result, and the convention had been in session three days. Finally
+it was decided to appoint a special committee made up of three delegates
+from each congressional district. It was the duty of this committee to
+name a candidate on whom the convention could agree. When this committee
+retired, it was proposed that a ballot be taken, each committeeman
+writing the name of the candidate of his choice on a slip of paper, and
+depositing the slip in a hat. This was done; but before the ballots were
+counted, Judge Linton Stephens, a brother of Alexander H., stated that
+such a formality was not necessary. He thereupon moved that Judge Joseph
+E. Brown of Cherokee be selected as the compromise man, and that his
+name be reported to the convention. This was agreed to unanimously, and
+Joseph E. Brown was nominated; and yet, if the written ballots had
+been counted, it would have been found that Alfred H. Colquitt, who
+afterwards became so distinguished in Georgia, had been nominated by
+the committee. He received a majority of one of the written ballots
+when they were afterwards counted through curiosity. Twenty-three years
+later, Colquitt, who was then governor, made Joseph E. Brown a United
+States senator under circumstances that aroused strong opposition, and
+immediately afterwards Brown aided Colquitt to a reelection in one of
+the bitterest contests the State has ever witnessed.
+
+The unexpected nomination of Brown by the convention of 1857 introduced
+into State politics the most potent element that it had ever known. The
+nomination, surprising as it was, was not half so surprising as some
+of the results that have followed it. At the moment the convention
+nominated him, Joe Brown was tying wheat in one of his fields near
+Canton, in Cherokee County. He was then judge of the Blue Ridge Circuit;
+and on the day that his name was placed before the Democratic Convention
+at Milledgeville, he had returned home. After dinner he went out into
+his farm to see how his men were getting on. He had four men cutting
+wheat with cradles, and he found the binders very much behind. About
+half-past two o'clock he pulled off his coat and ordered the binders to
+keep up with him. It was on the 15th of June, 1857. The weather was very
+warm, but he kept at work all the afternoon. About sundown he went home,
+and was preparing to bathe, when a neighbor, who had been to Marietta
+and heard the news, rode to his house and told him about the nomination,
+which had been made at three o'clock that afternoon. Telling about the
+incident afterwards, Joe Brown, with a twinkle in his eye, said that he
+had heard that a good many men were anxious to buy that wheat field,
+so as to have an opportunity to tie wheat in it while a nominating
+convention was in session.
+
+The great majority of the people of the State were as much puzzled about
+Joe Brown as Toombs was. Either they had not heard of him before, or
+they had forgotten him. In those days a man who made a reputation in the
+Cherokee country was not known to the rest of the State for a long time.
+The means of communication were slow and uncertain. But the whole State
+found him out just as Toombs did. He was prompt to begin the campaign.
+Toombs had already left the Whig party, and was acting with the
+Democrats. Stephens had left the Whigs, but had not become a Democrat.
+He was an Independent. He was, as he expressed it, "toting his own
+skillet." Ben Hill was Joe Brown's opponent, and these two met in debate
+before the people on two or three occasions. It was thought at first
+that Mr. Hill had the advantage of the tall and ungainly candidate from
+Cherokee, but the end of the contest showed that the advantage was all
+the other way. Mr. Hill was a man of very marked ability. He was one
+of the few good speakers who could write well, and one of the few
+fine writers who could speak well. He had courage, he had wit, he had
+learning, he had eloquence; he had everything, in fact, to attract
+popular approval and entice a popular following; but somehow, and until
+the very latest years of his life, he fell far short of being a popular
+idol. He was showy and effective before a mixed crowd, he never failed
+to attract applause, and it was supposed that Brown was making a losing
+campaign; but the campaign was going just the other way. Hill, in
+the course of his discussion, said hundreds of things that the
+people applauded; while Brown said hundreds of things that the people
+remembered, and carried home with them, and thought over. Joe Brown was
+not only a man of the people, but a man of the country people; and
+he pleased the city people who had formerly lived in the country. The
+result of the campaign was that Know-nothingism was buried out of sight
+in Georgia. Joe Brown was elected by more than ten thousand majority,
+and the Democratic majority in the Legislature was overwhelming.
+
+Although he was only thirty-six years old when he became governor, the
+people began to call him "Old Judg_ment_." This was due no less to his
+peculiar gift of hard common sense than to his peculiar pronunciation.
+His speech and his ways were "countrified," and they remained so all
+the days of his life. His voice was not musical, and he had a peculiar
+drawling intonation, which, if it had been a little more nasal, would
+have been an exact reproduction of the tone and manner of the Down-east
+Yankee. He shared these peculiarities with hundreds of the descendants
+of the Puritans who settled in the mountains of East Tennessee and North
+Georgia. He had no wish for the luxuries of life; and though he lived
+comfortably, he never, even when by close economy he had accumulated one
+of the largest fortunes in Georgia, cared to live finely. He was a plain
+man at first and a plain man at last, always temperate, industrious, and
+economical.
+
+His term of office in the governor's chair was for two years, and at
+the end of that time he had almost entirely remolded and refashioned his
+party. He had stamped his own personality and character upon it, and it
+became in truth and in fact the party of the people,--the common people.
+In his management of State affairs he had introduced the plain business
+methods suggested by common sense; he dispensed with all unnecessary
+officials; he shook off all the hangers-on; he uprooted all personal
+schemes: so that when the time came to nominate a man to succeed him, it
+was found that the people had no other choice. His party thought of no
+other name.
+
+The year of Joe Brown's second nomination, as we have seen, was the year
+that witnessed John Brown's ridiculous raid into Virginia. The people of
+the South, however, thought it was a very serious matter, and the people
+of Georgia were not different from those of the rest of the South. Some
+very wise men allowed themselves to be led away by their passions. Even
+Joe Brown, as Alexander Stephens once said, "tucked his judgment under
+the bed" for the time being. Back of the indignation created by the John
+Brown raid was the unconfessed and half-formed fear that the Northern
+abolitionists would send their agents to the South and organize a negro
+insurrection. Many of the Southern people remembered the horrors of San
+Domingo, and there was a vague and an undefined but constant dread that
+such a rising of the blacks would take place in the South. But there
+never was any such danger in Georgia. The relations between the slaves
+and their masters were too friendly and familiar to make such an
+uprising possible. The abolitionists did send agents to the South to
+stir the negroes to rebellion, and some of them came to Georgia, but
+in every instance their mission became known to the whites through the
+friendliness of the blacks. There was always some negro ready to tell
+his master's family when the abolition agents made their appearance.
+Still the people resented to the utmost the spirit that moved certain
+so-called philanthropists of the North to endeavor to secure the freedom
+of the negroes by means of the torch and midnight murder.
+
+Consequently in 1859, when Joe Brown was nominated for governor the
+second time, the people were greatly stirred. Sectional feeling ran
+high. In that year began the active movement that led to secession and
+the civil war. If all our statesmen had been as wise as Mr. Stephens
+and Mr. Hill, war would have been averted. Slavery itself, in the very
+nature of things, was doomed. It had accomplished its providential
+mission. It had civilized and christianized millions of savages who had
+been redeemed from slavery in their own land. It had justified its own
+ends, and would have passed away in good time, no matter what compromise
+may have been made.
+
+Mr. Stephens and Mr. Hill were opposed to secession. They were for
+fighting, if there must be a fight, in the Union, and this was the true
+policy. For a while the people of Georgia were earnestly in favor
+of this; but the efforts of the abolitionists to stir the negroes to
+insurrection, and the inflammatory appeals of some of the leading
+men, led them to oppose a policy which was at once just, wise, and
+considerate. Even Joseph E. Brown, cool, calculating, placid, and not
+easily-swayed by emotion, became a disunionist, demonstrating once again
+that beneath the somber and calm exterior of the Puritan is to be
+found a nature as combative and as unyielding as that which marks the
+Cavalier.
+
+Joe Brown was reelected in 1859, and did everything in his power as
+governor to hasten the event of secession. The National Democratic
+Convention met in Charleston, and the meeting showed that the
+differences between the Democrats could not be settled; and it so
+happened, that, while the South was opposed by the solid and rapidly
+growing Republican party, the people of the South were divided among
+themselves. What is most remarkable, the people of the South, after
+making the election of the Republican candidate certain by dividing
+among themselves, seemed to be amazed at the result. In some instances
+county meetings were held in Georgia, and resolutions sent to the
+Legislature declaring the election of Lincoln and Hamlin "a violation of
+national comity." Nothing could show more clearly that the minds of the
+voters were upset.
+
+On Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union, and the event
+was made the occasion for great rejoicing by the secession element in
+Georgia. Bonfires were kindled, guns were fired, and people seemed to
+be wild with enthusiasm. Georgia did not secede until Jan. 19, 1861; but
+Governor Brown did not wait for that event. He committed the first overt
+act of the war. He seized Fort Pulaski, on the Savannah, Jan. 3, 1861.
+
+On the 22d of January, ten cases of muskets belonging to a firm in Macon
+were seized by the New York police after they had been placed on board a
+vessel. Governor Brown sent a telegram to Governor Morgan, demanding
+the release of these arms. Governor Morgan hesitated some time before he
+made any response. Meanwhile, Governor Brown waited three days, and then
+ordered the seizure of every ship in the harbor of Savannah belonging to
+citizens of New York. Two brigs, two barks, and a schooner were seized
+and held by the State troops. When this seizure was made known, Governor
+Brown received official notification that the arms had been released. He
+therefore ordered the release of the vessels. But when the agents of the
+Macon firm made an effort to get the arms, they were refused. Promptly
+Governor Brown seized other vessels, and caused them to be advertised
+for sale.
+
+This was merely the beginning of those greater events that cast a shadow
+over the whole country. The farmer boy of Gaddistown was reelected
+governor in 1861, and continued to hold the office until 1865.
+
+
+
+
+GEORGIA IN THE WAR.
+
+[Illustration: Georgia in the War 279]
+
+When the Southern Confederacy was organized at Montgomery, Ala., there
+was great enthusiasm all over the South, especially in Georgia; and this
+feeling kept up until the State had given to the Confederate armies
+a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers, twenty thousand more than its
+voting population. By reason of the fame and number of its public men,
+Georgia had a controlling influence in the organization of the new
+government. Howell Cobb was president of the convention of the seceded
+States that met in Montgomery on the fourth day of February, 1861;
+and it is well known that the convention itself was in favor of making
+Robert Toombs president of the provisional government that was there
+formed. Mr. Toombs, however, expressly forbade the use of his name.
+The Georgia delegates then concluded to support Jefferson Davis of
+Mississippi for president, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia for
+vice-president.
+
+Only a few men doubted that the South would conquer the North, and
+among these was Herschel V. Johnson. There was an idea abroad, that one
+Southerner could whip a dozen Northerners. Nobody knows how this idea
+got out, nor why the absurdity of it was not plain to all; but the
+newspapers were full of it, and the speech makers insisted on it so
+roundly that the people began to believe it. One orator declared that he
+could take one company of "Southrons," arm them with popguns, and run a
+regiment of Yankees out of the country. Another stated that he would
+be willing to drink all the blood that would be shed as the result
+of secession. It is said that both of these orators were asked for an
+explanation by their constituents after the war was over. The first
+said that the reason he didn't run the Yankees out of the country with
+popguns was because they wouldn't fight that way. The second one, who
+had promised to drink all the blood, said that exposure in camp had
+interfered with his digestion, and his appetite wasn't as good as it
+ought to be.
+
+At this time and afterwards there was an overwhelming sentiment in favor
+of the Union in some parts of North Georgia. The people of that section
+had few slaves, and the arguments in favor of the protection of slavery
+in the Territories did not appeal to them: consequently they were
+opposed to secession. There was but one thing that prevented serious
+trouble between these Union men and the State government, and that
+was the fact that Joe Brown was governor. He knew the North Georgians
+thoroughly, and he knew precisely how to deal with them. General
+Harrison W. Riley, a leading citizen of Lumpkin County, declared that
+he intended to seize the mint at Dahlonega, and hold it for the United
+States. This threat was telegraphed to Governor Brown by some of the
+secession leaders in that part of the State, and they appealed to him to
+send troops to Dahlonega at once, and seize the mint by force. But the
+governor knew Riley and the people of North Georgia too well to make any
+show of force. He knew that any such demonstration would excite sympathy
+for Riley, and inflame the Union sentiment there.. So Governor Brown
+wrote to some of Riley's friends, telling them what he had heard, and
+saying that he had known General Riley too long, and had too high an
+opinion of his good sense and patriotism, to believe the report. At the
+same time the governor informed the superintendent of the mint that the
+State of Georgia now held that institution. The superintendent said he
+was willing to act under the orders of the governor.
+
+At Jasper, the county seat of Pickens County, the feeling of loyalty to
+the Union was very strong. The delegate from that county to the State
+convention had refused to sign his name to the ordinance of secession.
+Soon after the State had seceded, the citizens of Jasper planted a pole,
+and raised on it a United States flag, and kept it floating there for
+several weeks in open defiance of the Confederate and State authorities.
+This was an event to be delicately handled. The slightest mistake would
+have created a state of feeling in North Georgia that would have given
+no end of trouble during the whole war. But the Union flag floating in
+Pickens County irritated the rest of the State; and hundreds of appeals
+were made to Governor Brown to send troops to Jasper, and have the flag
+taken down by force. To these appeals he made but one response, and then
+turned a deaf ear to all criticism. "Let the flag float there," he said.
+"It floated over our fathers, and we all love the flag now. We have only
+been compelled to lay it aside by the injustice that has been practiced
+under its folds. If the people of Pickens desire to hang it out and keep
+it there, let them do so. I shall send no troops to interfere with it."
+
+While this wise management on the part of Governor Brown did not change
+the sentiments of the Union men of North Georgia, it prevented any
+serious outbreak, and kept them soothed and quieted throughout the war.
+Matters were managed differently in East Tennessee; and the result
+was, that the Union men of that section went into the business of
+bushwhacking, and created a great deal of trouble. While Governor Brown
+exercised authority without regard for precedent, the time and the
+occasion being without precedent, he was very wise and very prudent in
+meeting such emergencies as those that arose in North Georgia.
+
+By the time the election for governor came on, Joe Brown had aroused a
+good deal of opposition. He had had a controversy with the Confederate
+authorities because the latter had enrolled troops from Georgia without
+first making a requisition on the governor. He had seized several
+cargoes of salt which the speculators had been holding for higher
+prices. There was at that early day, and all during the war, a salt
+famine in the South. The farmers found it difficult to save their meat,
+owing to the scarcity of salt. It is a curious fact, that, when the
+famine was at its height, a pound of salt was worth a pound of silver.
+Foreseeing this famine, a great many shrewd business men had laid in
+large stocks of salt, storing it about in large warehouses in different
+parts of the State. They were about to realize immense fortunes out of
+the sufferings of the people, when Governor Brown stepped in and seized
+all the salt the State authorities could lay hands on, and prohibited
+the shipment of the article out of the State. The Legislature afterwards
+came to the support of the governor; but if the matter had been
+discussed in the Legislature in advance of the action of the executive,
+the speculators would have had timely notice, and the State authorities
+would have found no salt to seize.
+
+[Illustration: The Salt Famine 284]
+
+This salt famine was almost as serious as any result of the war, and
+it hung over the State until the close of the contest. In thousands of
+instances the planters who had been prodigal of salt before the war, dug
+up the dirt floors of their smokehouses, and managed to extract a small
+supply of the costly article. The Legislature was compelled to
+organize a salt bureau, and for that purpose half a million dollars was
+appropriated. The State, in self-defense, took into its own hands the
+monopoly of manufacturing salt and of distributing it to the people.
+
+The next difficulty with which the people of Georgia had to contend was
+the Conscription Act. This act passed the Confederate Congress in April,
+1862. It had been recommended by Mr. Davis in a special message, and
+Congress promptly passed it. Nobody in Georgia could understand why
+such a law had been recommended, or why it had passed. It was the most
+ruinous blunder of the Confederate Government during the war. If such a
+law was necessary, it showed that the Confederacy had fallen to pieces.
+If it was not necessary, its enactment was a stupendous piece of
+folly; and such it turned out to be. Under the last call for troops
+for Confederate service, Governor Brown had no difficulty in furnishing
+eighteen regiments. He could have gone on furnish ing troops as long as
+there was any fighting material left in the State; but as soon as the
+Conscript Act went into operation, the ardor of the people sensibly
+cooled. The foolish law not only affected the people at home, but hurt
+the army in the field. It was a reflection on the patriotism of the
+whole Southern population. The law was the occasion of a controversy
+between Governor Brown and President Davis, in which Brown, in the
+nature of things, had a decided advantage; for the Conscript Act wiped
+out the whole theory of State rights, on which the people of the South
+depended to justify secession. But Georgia did not stand in the way of
+the law. It was enforced, and the terms of its enforcement did the work
+of disorganization more thoroughly than the hard times and the actual
+war were doing it.
+
+In March, 1863, the governor issued a proclamation convening the
+Legislature in special session to discuss the subject of bread. This was
+a very important subject at that time. In his message, the governor said
+that the time had come for the farmers to raise bread instead of cotton.
+He also laid before the Legislature' the reports of the distribution of
+the fund of two and a half millions of dollars for the support of the
+indigent families of soldiers. These reports showed what havoc the war
+had created among the people of a State which, not much more than two
+years before, was one of the most prosperous in the country. The fund
+had been distributed among more than eighty-four thousand people.
+Of this number, about forty-six thousand were children, twenty-four
+thousand were kinswomen of poor living soldiers, eight thousand were
+orphans, four thousand were widows of dead soldiers, and five hundred
+were soldiers disabled in service. Governor Brown, out of his own barn,
+gave the people of Cherokee County four thousand dollars' worth of corn.
+These events show the straits to which the people had been reduced by
+two years of actual war.
+
+It should be borne in mind, however, that the people had to fight the
+Union army in front, and the speculators and extortioners in the
+rear. Governor Brown tried hard to make the lives of this latter class
+entirely miserable, and he succeeded in a way that delighted the people.
+Wherever he could get his hands on a speculator or extortioner, he shook
+him up. He made many seizures, and confiscated the hoards of a great
+many men who had influence with some of the newspapers; and in this way
+life in the State was made almost as exciting as the experience of the
+soldiers at the front.
+
+In 1863, Governor Brown wanted to retire from office. The strain on
+his health and strength had been very severe, and he felt that he was
+breaking down. He wanted to make Toombs, who was then a general in the
+army, his successor. But Brown's friends insisted that he should make
+the race. The public opinion of Georgia and of the whole South
+insisted on it. So he became a candidate for a fourth term. He had two
+opponents,--Joshua Hill, who had been a strong Union man; and Timothy
+Furlow, who was an ardent secessionist and a strong supporter of the
+Confederate administration; but Governor Brown was elected by a large
+majority over both candidates.
+
+The war went steadily on, and during the year 1864 Georgia became the
+battle ground,--the strategic point. This fact the Union commanders
+realized very early, and began their movements accordingly. Virginia
+was merely the gateway to the Confederacy, but Georgia was very near
+the center of its vitality. This was shown by the fact that when Atlanta
+fell, and Sherman began his destructive march to the sea, it was known
+on all sides that the Confederate Government was doomed. This movement,
+strange to say, was hastened by the Confederate authorities. General
+Joseph E. Johnston, one of the greatest commanders of the war, was
+removed at a critical moment, when his well-disciplined army had reached
+Atlanta. He was ordered from Richmond to turn his army over to the
+command of General Hood, and within a very few days the fate of
+the Confederacy had been decided. Hood at once ordered an attack on
+Sherman's lines. He was repulsed, and then compelled to evacuate the
+city. General Sherman detached General Thomas from his main army to
+follow Hood on his march toward the Tennessee, and moved across the
+State to Savannah. Within a very few months thereafter the war was
+brought to a close. Colonel I. W. Avery, in his "History of Georgia,"
+says that on the thirty-first day of December, 1864, one dollar in gold
+was worth forty-nine dollars in Confederate money. The private soldier
+received eleven dollars of this money for a month's service. He could
+buy a pound of meat with his month's pay. He could buy a drink of
+whisky, and have one dollar left over. With four months' pay he could
+buy a bushel of wheat. General Toombs once humorously declared that
+a negro pressman worked all day printing money, and then until nine
+o'clock at night to pay himself off. There was a grain of truth in this
+humor,--just enough to picture the situation as by a charcoal sketch.
+
+
+
+
+A DARING ADVENTURE.
+
+On the 12th day of April, 1862, the anniversary of the firing on Fort
+Sumter by the Confederates, a passenger train pulled out of the old car
+shed in Atlanta. It was a "mixed" train, being composed of three freight
+cars, a baggage car, and the passenger coaches. The train started
+from Atlanta at an early hour, arrived at Marietta about daylight,
+and stopped at Big Shanty, about seven miles north of Marietta,
+for breakfast. At Marietta, early as the hour was, quite a crowd of
+passengers were waiting to take the train. This excited no remark. There
+was a good deal of travel and traffic on the State Road at that time,
+for it was the key to the Confederacy--the one artery that connected the
+army at the front with its source of supplies.
+
+The conductor of the train was Captain William A. Fuller, of Atlanta.
+Captain Fuller's title was not one of courtesy. He was a captain in the
+Confederate Army, on detached service. The engineer in charge of the
+locomotive was Jeff Cain. Mr. Antony Murphy, an employee of the road,
+was also on the train. At Big Shanty the passengers were allowed
+twenty minutes for breakfast, but the train men were in the habit of
+dispatching their meal a little quicker than this, so as to see that
+everything about the locomotive was shipshape when the conductor tapped
+the bell. Captain Fuller, sitting at a table near a window, had a
+full view of the train. He had hardly begun to eat before he saw the
+locomotive (the now famous "General") and the three freight cars pull
+out, and heard the gong sound as the cord snapped. He rose instantly and
+rushed from the breakfast room, followed by Engineer Cain and Antony
+Murphy. He saw the "General" going at full speed up the road with
+three freight cars attached. Without hesitation Captain Fuller started
+after the flying train on foot, followed by Cain and Murphy. Hundreds of
+soldiers were idling about the station. They had no idea what was taking
+place. They thought either that the locomotive had been carried up the
+track to take on or leave a freight car, or that some practical joker
+was playing a prank. They showed their enjoyment of the situation by
+laughing and cheering loudly when Captain Fuller, followed by Engineer
+Cain and Mr. Murphy, started after the "General "on foot.
+
+[Illustration: Capture of the Locomotive 289]
+
+The locomotive had been captured, and had the plan of its captors been
+successful, a paralyzing, perhaps a fatal, blow would have been struck
+at the Confederacy. The way the capture had come about was this: Early
+in 1862 the Federal commanders planned an advance on Chattanooga; but
+the fact that stood in their way was, that at various points along the
+line of railroad leading from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Confederate troops
+had been posted: consequently the moment an advance on Chattanooga was
+made, soldiers and war supplies could be hurried forward to the relief
+of the city. It was General Mitchell of the Federal army who planned the
+advance; and it was J. J. Andrews, an active spy in the Union service,
+who planned a raid by means of which it was intended to burn the bridges
+on the road north of Marietta, cut the telegraph wires, and thus destroy
+for a time the lines of transportation and communication between Atlanta
+and Chattanooga, and make the capture of the last-named point an easy
+matter. Andrews suggested to General Mitchell that a party of bold men
+could make their way to a station on the Western and Atlantic Railway
+(called the State Road because it was owned by the State), capture a
+locomotive, and then steam towards Chattanooga, burning the bridges and
+cutting the telegraph lines as they went along. Although there seemed
+to be small chance for the success of such a daring adventure, General
+Mitchell gave his consent to it, agreeing to pay Andrews sixty thousand
+dollars if he succeeded. To aid him, Andrews was allowed to select a
+number of young men who had already made a reputation in the Federal
+army for intelligence and bravery.
+
+There were twenty-four men in this small expedition when it started for
+Chattanooga. They were under the command of Andrews, who was a tall,
+handsome man with a long black beard. He was cold, impassive, and had
+the air of one who is born to command. He was bold as a lion, and never
+once lost his coolness, his firmness, or his decision. He and his men
+pretended to be Kentuckians who had become disgusted with the Lincoln
+government and were making their way South, where they might find more
+congenial company than that of the ardent Union men who were their
+neighbors at home. This story was plausible on the face of it, for many
+Southern sympathizers had fled from Tennessee and Kentucky when the
+Federals began to take possession of those sections.
+
+Andrews and his men tramped southward more than a hundred miles before
+they reached Chattanooga. Before going into that city, they divided into
+smaller squads, and all but two succeeded in eluding guards, sentinels,
+and patrols, and passing into the town. They left Chattanooga on a train
+bound for Atlanta, buying tickets for Marietta. They reached Marietta in
+safety, and went to different hotels for the night. They had arranged
+to meet again at four o'clock the next morning and take the north-bound
+train. Two of the men were not called by the clerk of the hotel at which
+they stopped: consequently they overslept, and their companions had to
+go on without them when the train arrived. They had learned that Big
+Shanty had no telegraph office, and that it was a breakfast station. At
+that point Andrews determined to capture the locomotive. It was not long
+before the brakeman put his head in at the door of the car and yelled
+out, "Big Shanty! Twenty minutes for breakfast!"
+
+Andrews and his men looked out of the windows of the car as the train
+drew up at the station, and the sight they saw was not calculated to
+make them feel certain of success. Opposite the station was a field
+covered with the tents of soldiers, and in and around the station
+thousands of soldiers were loitering and standing about. When the train
+stopped, Andrews, the leader, and Knight, an engineer who had come with
+the party, rose and left the coach on the side opposite the depot, and
+went to the locomotive, which they found empty. They also saw that the
+track was clear. Andrews and Knight then walked back until they came to
+the last of the three box cars. Andrews told his engineer to uncouple
+the baggage car from the box car, and then wait for him. Knight did as
+he was told, while Andrews walked leisurely back to the passenger coach,
+opened the door, and said quietly, "Now is our time, boys! Come on!"
+
+The men rose at once and went out of the coach. Knight, as soon as he
+saw them coming, climbed into the locomotive, cut the bell rope, and
+stood with his hand on the throttle, waiting for the word. Andrews stood
+near the locomotive, and motioned with his hand for the men to get into
+the box cars, the doors of which were slid back. All the men were now in
+the box cars except Andrews, Knight, and another engineer named Brown,
+who ran forward and climbed into the locomotive. While this was going
+on, a sentinel stood within half a dozen yards of the train, but he
+had no idea what was occurring. Andrews gave the signal to go ahead.
+Instantly Knight pulled the throttle valve open, and the locomotive
+started forward with a jerk. It went puffing and snorting out of Big
+Shanty without let or hindrance.
+
+But the train had not gone very far before the speed of the locomotive
+began to slacken. The fire in the furnace refused to burn, and the
+steam was low. While the engineer was trying to discover what was wrong,
+Andrews ordered the men to cut the telegraph wire and tear up a rail
+from the track. By the time the rail had been torn up and the wire
+cut, the engineer had discovered that the dampers of the fire box were
+closed. With these open, the boiler began to make steam again, and
+the locomotive was soon rattling over the rails once more. It was
+the intention of Andrews to run the captured train on the time of the
+regular passenger train, so that he would have only one train to meet
+and pass before reaching the Resaca River, where he intended to burn the
+bridge. This done, it would have been an easy matter to burn the bridges
+over the Chickamauga. This crooked stream winds about the valleys so
+unexpectedly, and in such curious fashion, that the railroad crosses it
+eleven times within a few miles. These eleven bridges Andrews intended
+to burn as he went along, and then he would not fear pursuit. His
+success seemed to be certain.
+
+The captured locomotive, an old-fashioned machine with a big heavy
+smokestack, went clanking and clattering along the road, and reeling
+and rumbling through the towns, dragging after it the three box cars
+containing the men whom Andrews had brought with him. After passing
+a station, the locomotive would be stopped and the wire cut. When the
+train reached Cassville, wood and water were running low, and a stop was
+made to get a fresh supply. The doors of the box cars were closed, and
+the men inside could not be seen. The station agent at this place was
+very inquisitive. He wanted to know why so small and insignificant a
+freight train was running on the time of the morning passenger train.
+Andrews promptly told the agent that the train was not a freight, but an
+express, and that it was carrying three cars of gunpowder to Beauregard.
+The agent believed the story, and furnished Andrews with a train
+schedule.
+
+[Illustration: Tearing up the Rails 295]
+
+From Cassville the distance to Kingston was seven miles, and at that
+point a freight train was to be passed. When Andrews reached the place,
+he found that the freight had not arrived. He therefore switched his
+train into a siding to wait for the freight train, and repeated his
+powder story for the benefit of the inquisitive. When the freight
+arrived, he saw that it carried a red flag. This meant another train
+was on the road. After another long half hour's wait, the second freight
+train came in sight, and Andrews was dismayed to see another red flag
+displayed. The railroad men said another train was following. The men
+on the captured train were compelled to wait more than an hour. To those
+shut up in the box cars this was a very trying time. They had no means
+of knowing what had happened, or what was about to happen, until Knight,
+the engineer, found an opportunity to saunter by and tell them what the
+trouble was. At the end of an hour the long wait was over. The freight
+trains had passed, and the captured locomotive, dragging the box cars,
+went swiftly out of Kingston. A short distance beyond, the usual stop
+was made, and the wires cut An attempt was made to tear up the track by
+some of the men, while others loaded the box cars with railroad ties.
+While engaged in this work, the men heard the screaming whistle of
+a locomotive in full pursuit. They were more than amazed: they were
+paralyzed. If a pursuing locomotive had sprung out of the ground at
+their feet with a full head of steam on, they could not have been more
+astonished. They had just passed three freight trains headed in the
+opposite direction, and now here was a pursuing locomotive coming
+after them at full speed, and with a full head of steam on. Making one
+spasmodic effort, they broke the rail they were trying to tear up.
+
+Reaching Adairsville, Andrews and his men found that the passenger train
+had not arrived. But it was no time for waiting. They resolved to take
+every chance. The engineer had orders to send the locomotive along at
+full speed. He was very willing to do this. Calhoun was nine miles away,
+and if that station could be reached before the passenger train left,
+all would be well; if not, there was danger of a collision. But Andrews
+took all the chances. The throttle of the locomotive was pulled wide
+open, and the train started so suddenly and so swiftly that the men in
+the box cars were thrown from their feet. The distance to Calhoun was
+nine miles, and the train bearing Andrews and his men made it in seven
+minutes and a half,--pretty swift traveling, when it is remembered that
+the track was full of short curves, and not in the best condition.
+
+As the locomotive neared Calhoun, Engineer Knight gave several loud
+blasts on the whistle; and it was well he did so, for the passenger
+train had just begun to pull out of Calhoun on its way to Adairsville.
+If the whistle had been blown a moment later than it was, the passenger
+train would have been under full headway, and the signal would not have
+been heard; but the passenger train had just begun to move, and was
+going slowly. The whistle was heard, and the engineer backed his train
+to Calhoun again. But when Andrews and his men arrived, they found a new
+difficulty in the way. The passenger train was such a long one that the
+rear end blocked the track. Andrews tried to get the conductor to move
+on to Adairsville and there meet the upbound passenger train; but that
+official was too badly scared by the danger he had just escaped to take
+any more chances, and he refused to budge until the other train should
+arrive. This would be fatal to the plans of Andrews, and that bold
+adventurer made up his mind that the time had come for force to be used.
+The conductor was finally persuaded to allow Andrews to go ahead with
+his powder train. He ran a little more than a mile beyond Calhoun,
+stopped his train, ordered the wire cut and another rail torn up. While
+they were busily engaged in this work, they were both amazed and alarmed
+to see a locomotive approaching from the direction of Calhoun. They had
+only bent the rail, and were compelled to leave it and get out of the
+way of their pursuers.
+
+Andrews and his men were bold and intrepid, even reckless; but the man
+who had charge of the pursuit had all these qualities and more. Captain
+Fuller was possessed of an energy and a determination that allowed
+nothing to stand in their way.
+
+We have seen how Captain Fuller sprang from the breakfast table at Big
+Shanty, and went running after the flying locomotive. Engineer Jeff Cain
+and Mr. Murphy followed after. The soldiers loitering about the station
+laughed and cheered at the queer spectacle of a conductor giving chase
+on foot to his locomotive which, with a part of his train, was running
+away under a full head of steam. All of Captain Fuller's energies were
+aroused to their highest pitch, and he easily distanced his companions.
+He ran fully three miles, and then came upon a squad of section hands
+who had been engaged in repairing the track. They were now very much
+excited. The captured locomotive had stopped with them long enough for
+the men on the box cars to seize all their tools and cut the telegraph
+wire, being careful to take away about fifty feet, so that the wire
+could not be promptly joined. From the demoralized section hands Captain
+Fuller learned of the number of men on the locomotive, and was given
+reason to suspect that they were Federals in disguise. The section hands
+had what was then called a pole car, a small affair which they pushed
+with poles from point to point. It had been derailed to make way for the
+up passenger train. Conductor Fuller had it lifted upon the track,
+and then debated with himself as to whether he should go back for his
+engineer, Jeff Cain, who, with Mr. Antony Murphy, had been left far
+behind. Concluding that it would be well to have his engineer with
+him, Captain Fuller pressed some of the section hands into service, and
+pushed down the road the way he had come, going more than a mile before
+he met Cain and Murphy. Once on the old hand car, Captain Fuller turned
+and again began the pursuit as energetically as before, although he knew
+that valuable time had been lost. Something of their leader's energy
+and dauntless spirit was imparted to the men with him, and they made
+tolerable speed with the pole car; but, suddenly, while they were poling
+along at a great rate, the car tumbled from the track. They had now come
+to the place where the would-be bridge burners had torn up the first
+rail. The pursuers were not hurt by the fall. They jumped to their feet,
+pushed the car over the obstruction, and were soon on their way again,
+going even more rapidly than before. In this way the pursuit led by
+Captain Fuller came to Etowah Station. Here he found the old "Yonah," a
+locomotive belonging to the Mark A. Cooper Iron Works. The "Yonah" was
+a superannuated engine, but Captain Fuller pressed it and its crew into
+his service. The rickety old "Yonah" seemed to enter into the spirit of
+the pursuit, for the distance to Kingston--thirteen miles--was made in
+twelve minutes.
+
+As Andrews and his men had been delayed at Kingston for more than an
+hour waiting for the freight trains to allow him to pass, the pursuers,
+led by Captain Fuller, arrived at Kingston only ten minutes after the
+raiders left. The tracks were crowded with these freight trains when the
+"Yonah" arrived, and Captain Fuller saw at a glance that the locomotive
+would be of no further service in the chase. He leaped from the engine,
+and ran about two miles to the north angle of the Rome railway, where
+he knew he would find the locomotive of the Rome road standing at this
+hour. He pressed the engine and crew into service, and again took up the
+pursuit of the fleeing raiders.
+
+Andrews and his men, in the meantime, had stopped and loaded their box
+cars with old cross-ties and discarded rails These they began to throw
+out of the rear end of their hindmost car as a measure of safety. They
+did not suspect pursuit at this time, but they took the precaution
+to obstruct the track in this manner. Six miles north of Kingston the
+raiders stopped and tore up several rails. Captain Fuller rode on the
+pilot of his engine, and removed such of the obstructions as were not
+knocked off by the cowcatcher.
+
+When Captain Fuller reached the point where the rails had been removed,
+his locomotive was useless. But his blood was now up. He abandoned the
+engine, and ran on foot towards Adairsville, where he knew he would find
+a through freight train. In fact he met it after he had run about three
+miles, flagged it down, reversed it, and carried it back to Adairsville.
+There, taking the engine, tender forward, with its crew, he renewed the
+pursuit. The locomotive was run at an extraordinary rate of speed;
+but Captain Fuller felt it to be his duty to ride on the bumper of
+the tender, a precarious position even when there is no danger of
+obstructions. Beyond Calhoun, Andrews and his men stopped to cut the
+telegraph wire and tear up more rails. They had pried a rail above the
+stringers when they heard the pursuing locomotive, and saw it rounding
+a curve half a mile away. They scrambled into their cars in a hurry,
+leaving the rail bent but not removed. Captain Fuller saw the bent rail,
+but he had also seen the game, and he allowed his engine to be driven
+over it under a full head of steam.
+
+From this point the chase was the most thrilling and reckless of which
+there is any record. Andrews resorted to his old trick of dropping
+cross-ties, but he soon saw that this would not do. Then he uncoupled
+one of his box cars. Captain Fuller picked it up, and pushed it ahead.
+Andrews uncoupled another. This was served the same way, and at Resaca
+the cars were run on a siding. The "General," commanded by Andrews,
+was now forward, with one car, while the "Texas," commanded by Captain
+Fuller, and driven by Peter Bracken, was running tender forward, with
+Fuller standing on the brake board, or bumper. The locomotives were
+about evenly matched. Both had five-foot ten-inch drivers, and both were
+running under all the pressure their boilers could carry.
+
+All thought of danger was lost sight of. The pursued had no time to
+hatch any scheme calculated to delay pursuit. The pursuers forgot to
+look for obstructions. On one side it was capture or die; on the other
+it was escape at all hazards. The people of the towns and villages
+through which the road passes knew not what to make of the spectacle.
+Before they could recover from the surprise of seeing a locomotive with
+one box car dash wildly past the station, they were struck dumb with
+amazement by the sight of another locomotive thundering by, tender
+forward, a tall man standing on the bumper and clinging to the brake
+rod.
+
+They were going at a terrific rate of speed, but Peter Bracken, the
+brave engineer of the "Texas," knew his locomotive so well, and handled
+her with such a nice eye for her weak as well as her strong points,
+that the pursuers gradually shortened the distance between them and the
+raiders. The "General" was a good locomotive in its day and time, but
+it was in unfamiliar hands. Any locomotive engineer will tell you that a
+man must be thoroughly acquainted with his machine, and somewhat in
+love with it to boot, to get the best speed out of it, when speed is
+necessary.
+
+The raiders were pushed so closely that they soon found it necessary to
+abandon their engine and car. Three miles north of Ringgold, they slowed
+down a little, and, seizing a favorable opportunity, tumbled out, and
+fled through the woods in all directions. It might be supposed that
+Captain Fuller would be satisfied with recapturing his locomotive, which
+was in all respects a remarkable achievement. But he had other views. He
+knew that there would be no safety for the road with the bridge burners
+at large, and so he made up his mind to be satisfied with nothing less
+than their capture. In passing through Ringgold, three miles back, he
+had noticed a company of militia drilling in an old field. So he sent
+word to the commanding officer by his engineer, Peter Bracken (who, with
+his fireman, took the two locomotives back to Ringgold), to mount his
+men as promptly as possible, and join in the chase of the fugitives.
+This message dispatched, Captain Fuller and two of his men, Fleming Cox
+and Alonzo Martin, ran into the woods after the fleeing raiders.
+Jeff Cain, the engineer of the "General," had been left with the Rome
+locomotive. Mr. Antony Murphy remained in the chase until the "General"
+was recaptured, and returned to Ringgold with the two locomotives.
+
+All the raiders were caught and imprisoned. Andrews was known to be a
+spy, and he, with seven of his men who could establish no connection
+with the Federal army in any branch of the service, was hanged.
+Six escaped, and made their way to the Federal lines. The rest were
+regularly exchanged.
+
+Perhaps those that were hanged deserved a better fate. They were brave
+to recklessness, and were engaged in the boldest adventure of the war.
+Their scheme was most skillfully planned, and courageously undertaken,
+and if it had succeeded,--if the bridges had been burned and the door
+of the Confederate granaries closed,--the result would have been what
+it was when Sherman, with a large army, and at the sacrifice of many
+men and much treasure, closed the State Road to the Confederates in
+Virginia.
+
+Andrews and his men came near accomplishing, by one bold stroke, pretty
+much all that Sherman accomplished in crippling the Confederates. It was
+only by the merest chance that they had such a man as Captain Fuller to
+oppose them. If they had arrived at Marietta the day before or the day
+after, the probability is that they would have succeeded in their daring
+venture. Captain Fuller was more than the equal of Andrews in all those
+qualities that sustain men in moments of great emergency, and greatly
+his superior in those moral acquirements that lead men to take risks and
+make sacrifices on behalf of their convictions, and in the line of their
+duty.
+
+
+
+
+THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD.
+
+The people of the State had not recovered from the chaos and confusion
+into which they had been thrown by Sherman's march to the sea, when the
+news came that Lee had surrendered in Virginia, and General Joseph E.
+Johnston (who had been restored to his command) in North Carolina. Thus
+a sudden and violent end had been put to all hopes of establishing a
+separate government. General Sherman, who was as relentless in war as
+he was pacific and gentle when the war was over, had, in coming to terms
+with General Johnston, advanced the theory that the South never had
+dissolved the Union, and that the States were restored to their old
+places the moment they laid down their arms. This theory was not only
+consistent with the views of the Union men of the North, but with
+the nature and character of the Republic itself. But in the short
+and common-sense cut that Sherman had made to a solution, he left the
+politicians out in the cold, and they cried out against it as a hideous
+and ruthless piece of assumption on the part of a military man to
+attempt to have any opinions after the war was over. Any settlement that
+left the politicians out in the cold was not to be tolerated. Some of
+these gentlemen had a very big and black crow to pick with the South.
+Some of them, in the course of the long debate over slavery, had had
+their feelings hurt by Southern men; and although these wrangles had
+been purely personal and individual, the politicians felt that the whole
+South ought to be humiliated still further.
+
+The politicians would have been entirely harmless if the life of
+President Lincoln had been spared. During the war, Mr. Lincoln was
+greatly misunderstood even at the North; but it is now the general
+verdict of history, that, take him for all in all, he was beyond all
+comparison the greatest man of his time, the one man who, above all
+others, was best fitted to bring the people of the two sections together
+again, and to make the Union a more perfect Union than ever before. But
+unfortunately Mr. Lincoln fell by the hands of an assassin, and never
+had an opportunity to carry out the great policy of pacification which
+could only have been sustained at that time by his great influence, by
+his patience, that was supreme, and by his wisdom, that has proved to be
+almost infallible in working out the salvation of the Union. After Lee's
+surrender, the interests of the South could have sustained no severer
+blow than the death of Lincoln. His successor, Andrew Johnson, was a
+well-meaning man, but a very narrow-minded one in some respects, and a
+very weak one in others. It is but justice to him to say that he did his
+best to carry out Lincoln's policy of pacification, and his failure was
+no greater than that of any other leading politician of his time would
+have been.
+
+It would be impossible to describe the condition of the people at this
+time. There was no civil law in operation, and the military government
+that had been established was not far-reaching enough to restrain
+violence of any sort. The negroes had been set free, and were supported
+by means of a "freedmen's bureau." They were free, and yet they wanted
+some practical evidence of it. To obtain this, they left the plantations
+on which they had been born, and went tramping about the country in the
+most restless and uneasy manner.
+
+[Illustration: The Negroes Freed 306]
+
+A great many of them believed that freedom meant idleness, such as they
+had seen white folks indulge in. The country negroes flocked to the
+towns and cities in great numbers, and the freedmen's bureau, active
+as its agents were, had a great deal more than it could attend to. Such
+peace and order as existed was not maintained by any authority, but grew
+naturally out of the awe that had come over both whites and blacks at
+finding their condition and their relations so changed. The whites could
+hardly believe that slavery no longer existed. The negroes had grave
+doubts as to whether they were really free. To make matters worse, a
+great many small politicians, under pretense of protecting the negroes,
+but really to secure their votes, began a crusade against the South in
+Congress, the like of which can hardly be found paralleled outside of
+our own history. The people of the South found out long ago that the
+politicians of the hour did not represent the intentions and desires of
+the people of the North; and there is much comfort and consolation to
+be got out of that fact, even at this late day. But at that time the
+bitterest dose of reconstruction was the belief that the best opinion of
+the North sustained the ruinous policy that had been put in operation.
+
+The leading men of the State were all disfranchised,--deprived of
+the privilege of voting, a privilege that was freely conferred on the
+negroes. A newspaper editor in Macon was imprisoned, and his paper
+suppressed, for declaring, in regard to taking the amnesty oath, that
+he had to "fortify himself for the occasion with a good deal of Dutch
+courage." The wife of General Toombs was ordered by an assistant
+commissioner of the freedmen's bureau to vacate her home with only two
+weeks' provisions, the grounds of the order being that the premises were
+"abandoned property," and, as such, were to be seized, and applied
+to the uses of the freedmen's bureau. The superior officer of this
+assistant commissioner, being a humane and kindly man, revoked the
+order.
+
+These were the days when the carpet-bagger and the scalawag
+flourished,--the camp followers of the Northern army, who wanted money
+and office; and the native-born Southerner, who wanted office and money.
+There is no doubt that the indignities heaped on the people led to acts
+of retaliation that nothing else could excuse; but they were driven
+to desperation. It seemed, in that hour, that their liberties had been
+entirely withdrawn. Governor Brown, who had formerly been so popular,
+was denounced because he advised Georgians to accept the situation. He,
+with other wise men, thought it was a waste of time and opportunity to
+discuss constitutional questions at a moment when the people were living
+under bayonet rule. Joe Brown's plan was to accept the situation, and
+then get rid of it as quickly as possible. Ben Hill's plan was to
+fight it to the last. There was a fierce controversy between these
+two leaders; and such strong expressions were used on both sides, that
+General Pope made them the subject of a curious letter to his commander
+in chief, General Grant.
+
+General Pope seemed to be afraid that war was about to break out again,
+and he assumed charge of everything. He removed and appointed mayors of
+cities, solicitors, and sheriffs. He closed the State University because
+a student made a speech which was in effect a defense of civil law.
+After a while the general said he would reopen the institution if the
+press of the State would say nothing about the affair. In 1867, General
+Pope ordered an election to be held for delegates to a State convention.
+The polls were kept open five days, and voters were allowed to vote
+in any precinct in any county upon their making oath that they were
+entitled to vote. The convention met, but, in the nature of things,
+could not be a representative body. Thousands of the best and most
+representative men of the State were not allowed to vote, and thousands
+of other good men refused to take part in an election held under the
+order of a military commander: consequently, when the convention met,
+its membership was made up of the political rag-tag-and-bobtail of
+that day. There were a few good men in the body, but they had little
+influence over the ignorant negroes and vicious whites who had taken
+advantage of their first and last opportunity to hold office.
+
+The authority of this convention was not recognized by the State
+government, and this contest gave rise to a fresh conflict between the
+State officials and the military dictators who had been placed over
+them. The convention needed money to pay its expenses, and passed an
+ordinance directing the treasurer of the State to pay forty thousand
+dollars for this purpose to the disbursing officer of the convention.
+General Pope issued an order to the treasurer to pay this amount. The
+treasurer declined to pay out the money, for the simple reason that
+he was forbidden by law to pay out money except on an order or warrant
+drawn by the governor, and sanctioned by the comptroller general.
+
+About this time General Meade was appointed to rule in Georgia in place
+of General Pope, and he found this matter unsettled when he took charge.
+So he wrote to Governor Jenkins, and requested him to draw his warrant
+on the treasury for forty thousand dollars. The governor could find no
+authority in law for paying over this sum, and he therefore refused.
+But civil government was not of much importance to the military at that
+time; so, when he had received the governor's letter, General Meade drew
+a sheet of paper before him, called for pen and ink, and issued
+"General Order No. 8," in which the announcement is made that "the
+following-named officers are _detailed for duty_ in the district of
+Georgia: Brevet Brigadier General Thomas H. Ruger, Colonel 33d Infantry,
+_to be Governor of the State of Georgia_; Brevet Captain Charles F.
+Rockwell, Ordnance Corps U. S. Army, _to be Treasurer of the State of
+Georgia_."
+
+In this way the rag-tag-and-bobtail convention got its money, but it
+got also the hatred and contempt of the people; and the Republican
+party,--the party that had been molded and made by the wise policy of
+Lincoln,--by indorsing these foolish measures of reconstruction, and
+putting its influence behind the outrages that were committed in the
+name of "loyalty," aroused prejudices in the minds of the Southern
+people that have not died away to this day. Some of the more vicious
+of the politicians of that epoch organized what was known as "The Union
+League." It was a secret political society, and had branches in every
+county of the State. Through the medium of this secret organization,
+the basest deception was practiced on the ignorant negroes. They
+were solemnly told that their old masters were making arrangements to
+reënslave them, and all sorts of incendiary suggestions were made to
+them. It was by means of this secret society that the negroes were made
+to believe that they would be entitled to forty acres and a mule for
+voting for the candidates of the carpet-baggers.
+
+The effect of all this was to keep the blacks in a constant state of
+turmoil. They were too uneasy to settle down to work, and too suspicious
+to enter into contracts with the whites: so they went wandering about
+the State from town to town and from county to county, committing all
+sorts of crimes. As the civil system had been entirely overthrown by the
+military, there was neither law nor order; and this condition was very
+seriously aggravated by the incendiary teachings of The Union League.
+The people, therefore, in some parts of the South, offset this secret
+society with another, which was called the "Ku Klux Klan." This
+organization was intended to prevent violence and to restore order
+in communities; but the spirit of it was very frequently violated
+by lawless persons, who, acting in the name of the "Klan," subjected
+defenseless negroes to cruel treatment.
+
+There is no darker period in the history of the State than that of
+reconstruction. The tax payers were robbed in the most reckless way,
+and the rights of citizens were entirely disregarded. Even when the
+Republican Congress, responsive to the voice of conservative Northern
+opinion, turned its back on the carpet-bag government of Georgia,
+these men made a tremendous effort to extend their rule unlawfully. The
+carpet-bag Legislature was in session three hundred and twenty-eight
+days, and cost the State nearly one million dollars; whereas the cost of
+legislation from 1853 to 1862, nine years, was not nine hundred thousand
+dollars. In one year the State Road took in a million dollars and a
+half; and of this immense sum, only forty-five thousand dollars was paid
+into the treasury. Added to this, the road had been run into debt to the
+amount of six hundred thousand dollars, and it had been run down to
+such an extent that five hundred thousand was needed to place it in good
+condition.
+
+During this trying period, Joseph E. Brown, who had been so popular
+with the people, was under a cloud. He had advised accepting the
+reconstruction measures in the first instance, so that they might be
+carried out by men who had the confidence and the esteem of the State;
+but this wise proposition brought upon his head only reproaches and
+abuse. The public mind was in such a state of frenzied uneasiness, the
+result of carpetbag robbery and recklessness, that the people would
+listen to no remedy except passionate defiance and denunciation. When
+the name of Brown was mentioned only as a handle of abuse, Benjamin H.
+Hill became the leader and the idol of the people. When, in 1870, Hill
+issued an address declaring that the reconstruction must be accepted by
+the people, he was at once made the object of the most violent attacks.
+But Brown was right in 1864, and Hill was right in 1870, and the people
+were wrong. They paid dearly for their blindness in the wrongs imposed
+on them by men who were neither Republicans nor reconstructionists at
+heart, but public plunderers.
+
+In 1871 the carpet-bag government began to totter. The governor left the
+State, and staid away so long that the State treasurer, a man of stern
+integrity, refused to pay warrants that were not signed by a resident
+governor. Finally the governor returned, but almost immediately
+resigned. In a short time the real representatives of the people took
+charge of affairs, and since that time the State has been in a highly
+prosperous condition.
+
+
+
+
+"THE NEW SOUTH"
+
+When the people of Georgia had once more gained control of their State
+government, the political tempest that had been raging slowly quieted
+down. A pot that has been boiling furiously doesn't grow cool in a
+moment, but it ceases almost instantly to boil; and though it may cool
+slowly, it cools surely. There was not an end of prejudice and unreason
+the moment the people had disposed of those who were plundering them,
+but prejudice began to lose its force as soon as men had the opportunity
+to engage in calm discussion, and to look forward hopefully to the
+future. In the midst of bayonet and carpet-bag rule, the State could
+not make any real progress. It is only during a time of peace and
+contentment that the industrial forces of a community begin to display
+their real energy.
+
+No State in the South had suffered so severely as Georgia during the
+war. She placed in the field more than a hundred and twenty thousand
+soldiers,--twenty thousand more than her voting population at the
+beginning of the war. The taxable wealth of the State in 1867 was more
+than four hundred and eighty-one millions less than it was in 1861,--a
+loss of more than three fourths. After the reconstruction period,
+all the State had to show, in return for the treasure that had been
+squandered by the carpet-bag politicians, was a few poorly equipped
+railroads that had been built on the State's credit. In some instances
+railroad bonds were indorsed when there was no road to show for them;
+in others, bonds were issued in behalf of the same road under different
+names; so that the people lost by fraud as much or more than the amount
+of improvement that had been made. The "developers" who had connected
+themselves with the bayonet administration were much more interested in
+"developing" their own private interests than they were in developing
+the resources of the State.
+
+But when the bayonet administration had been driven out, not less
+by Northern opinion, which had become disgusted with the reckless
+dishonesty that was practiced under the name of republicanism, than by
+the energetic opposition of all good citizens of the State, there came a
+welcome end to the bitter controversy that had been going on. The fierce
+rancor and prejudice that had been aroused gradually died out; so that
+in 1872, shortly after the State had been rescued from misrule, Horace
+Greeley, the great abolition editor, received in Georgia a majority of
+more than seventy-one thousand votes over the straight-out Democratic
+candidate. This, more than any other event, showed the improving temper
+of the people, and their willingness to make compromises and concessions
+for the purpose of restoring the Union and burying the spirit of
+sectionalism.
+
+With this improved temper there came an improvement in the material
+conditions of the State. Free negro labor was a problem which the
+planters had to meet. For a time it presented many difficulties. It
+was hard to make and enforce contracts with the negroes, who had been
+demoralized and made suspicious by The Union League and by the harsh and
+unjustifiable acts of men who acted under the name, but not under the
+authority, of the Ku Klux Klan. But gradually all these difficulties
+were overcome. The negroes settled down to work, and with them a good
+many white men who had been left adrift by the fortunes of war and the
+prostration of industries. This vast change was not brought about in a
+day or a month, or even in a year, but was the gradual outgrowth of a
+bitter feeling,--the slow awakening to the fact that matters were not as
+bad on a better acquaintance as they had seemed. There was, of course,
+the negro problem; but the wiser men soon saw that this problem, such
+as it was, would settle itself sooner or later. The result was that
+everybody began to take a day off from politics occasionally, and devote
+themselves to the upbuilding of the resources of the State.
+
+At first, and for several years, the negro problem seemed to be a very
+serious matter indeed. All the statesmen, all the politicians, all the
+historians, and all the newspaper editors, discussed it morning, noon,
+and night for a long time. Some wanted it settled one way, and some
+another. At the North the men who had indorsed and approved the bayonet
+governments of the South thought that laws ought to be passed giving the
+negroes social equality with the whites. Finally a compromise was made
+with what is called the "Civil Rights Law," which was intended to give
+the negroes the same privileges at the hotels, theaters, and other
+public places, that the whites had. The Northern politicians pretended
+to believe that the efforts they were making were for the benefit of the
+negroes, though no doubt the majority of them knew better. Of course,
+the Southern people resisted the pressure thus brought to bear by
+the Northern sectionalists, and the result was what might have been
+expected. The condition of the negro was made more uncomfortable
+than ever, and the color line was more closely drawn. To show how
+shortsighted the politicians were and are, it is only necessary to call
+attention to one fact, and it is this: that while the Civil Rights Law
+has kept negroes out of public places both North and South, they ride
+on the street cars side by side with the white people, and it frequently
+happens that an old negro woman who comes into a crowded car is given
+a seat by some Southerner who has tender recollections of his negro
+"mammy."
+
+[Illustration: Streetcar in the South 318]
+
+It is worthy of note, that while the politicians on both sides were
+fighting the shadows that the "negro problem" called up, the problem was
+solving itself in the only way that such vast problems can be settled
+in the order of Providence,--by the irresistible elements of time and
+experience. A great deal of misery, suffering, and discontent would have
+been spared to both races, if, after the war, the conservative men of
+the North had either insisted on the policy that Abraham Lincoln
+had mapped out, or had said to the pestiferous politicians who were
+responsible for carpet-bag rule, "Hands off!" No doubt some injustice
+would have been done to individuals if the North had permitted the
+negroes to work out their political salvation alone, but the race itself
+would be in a better condition every way than it is today; for outside
+interference has worked untold damage and hardship to the negro. It has
+given him false ideas of the power and purpose of government, and it
+has blinded his eyes to the necessity of individual effort. It is by
+individual effort alone that the negro race must work out its destiny.
+This is the history of the white race, and it must be the history of all
+races that move forward.
+
+When Georgia, with the rest of the Southern States, had passed safely
+through the reconstruction period, the people, as has been seen, found
+themselves facing new conditions and new possibilities. Slavery had been
+abolished utterly and forever; and wise men breathed freer when they
+saw that a great obstacle to progress and development had been
+abolished with it. Instinctively everybody felt that here was cause for
+congratulation. A few public men, bolder than the rest, looking out on
+the prospect, thanked God that slavery was no more. They expected to be
+attacked for such utterances, but they were applauded; and it was soon
+discovered, much to the surprise of everybody, that the best sentiment
+of the South was heartily glad that slavery was out of the way. Thus,
+with new conditions, new prospects, and new hopes,--with a new fortune,
+in fact,--it was natural that some lively prophet should lift up his
+voice and cry, "Behold the New South!"
+
+And it was and is the new South,--the old South made new by events;
+the old South with new channels, in which its Anglo-Saxon energies may
+display themselves; the old South with new possibilities of greatness,
+that would never have offered themselves while slavery lasted. After
+these hopes, and in pursuit of these prospects, Georgia has led the way.
+Hundreds of miles of new railroads have been built in her borders since
+the dark days of reconstruction, hundreds of new factories have been
+built, immense marble beds and granite quarries have been put in
+operation, new towns have sprung into existence, and in thousands of new
+directions employment has been given to labor and capital. In short, the
+industrial progress the State has made since 1870 is more than double
+that of the previous fifty years.
+
+It was natural, that, out of the new conditions, new men should arise;
+and, as if in response to the needs of the hour and the demands of the
+people, there arose a man who, with no selfish ends to serve and no
+selfish ambition to satisfy, was able to touch the hearts of the people
+of both sections, and to subdue the spirit of sectionalism that was
+still rampant long after the carpetbag governments in the South had been
+overthrown by the force of public opinion. That man was Henry Woodfin
+Grady. He took up his public work in earnest in 1876, though he had been
+preparing for it since the day that he could read a school history. In
+that year he became one of the editors of the "Atlanta Constitution,"
+and at once turned his attention to the situation in which his State
+had been left by the war, and by the rapacity of those who had come into
+power by means of the bayonet. Whether he used his tongue or pen, the
+public soon found out that he had control of that mysterious power which
+moves men. Whether he wrote or whether he spoke, he had the gift and
+the inspiration of eloquence; and from first to last he could never be
+induced to use this great gift for his personal advancement, nor could
+he be induced to accept a political office. With a mind entirely sincere
+and unselfish, he addressed himself to the work of restoring unity
+between the North and South, and to putting an end to the sectional
+strife which the politicians were skillfully using to further their own
+schemes. He was asked to be a United States senator, and refused; he was
+asked to be a congressman, and refused. For the rest, he could have had
+any office within the gift of the people of Georgia; but he felt that
+he could serve the State and the South more perfectly in the way that he
+had himself mapped out. He felt that the time had come for some one to
+say a bold and manly word in behalf of the American Union in the ear of
+the South, and to say a bold and manly word in behalf of the South in
+the ear of the North. He began this work, and carried it on as a private
+citizen; and the result was, that, though he died before he had reached
+the prime of his life, he had won a name and a popularity in all parts
+of the country, both North and South, that no other private citizen had
+ever before succeeded in winning.
+
+It was Henry Grady that gave the apt name of "The New South" to the
+spirit that his tireless energy and enthusiasm had called from the dark
+depths of reconstruction. Of this spirit, and the movement that sprang
+from it, he was the prophet, the pioneer, the promoter. He saw the South
+poor in the midst of the most abundant resources that Providence ever
+blessed a people with, and he turned aside from politics to point them
+out. He saw the people going about in deep despair, and he gave them the
+cue of hope, and touched them with his own enthusiasm. He saw the mighty
+industrial forces lying dormant, and his touch awoke them to life.
+He saw great enterprises languishing, and he called the attention of
+capital to them. Looking farther afield, he saw the people of two great
+sections forgetting patriotism and duty, and reviving the prejudices and
+issues that had led to the war, and that had continued throughout
+the war; and he went about among them, speaking words of peace and
+union,--appealing to the spirit of patriotism which held the Northern
+and Southern people together when they were building the Republic, when
+they stood side by side amid the sufferings of Valley Forge, and when
+they saw the army of a mighty monarch surrender to the valor of American
+soldiers at Yorktown. With the enthusiasm of a missionary and the
+impetuous zeal of an evangelist, he went about rebuking the politicians,
+and preaching in behalf of peace, union, and genuine patriotism.
+
+Such was the mission of Henry W. Grady, and the work that he did will
+live after him. "The New South" will cease to be hew, but the people
+will never cease to owe him a debt of gratitude for the work that he did
+in urging forward the industrial progress of this region, and in making
+peace between the sections. He was the builder, the peacemaker.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Stories Of Georgia, by Joel Chandler Harris
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF GEORGIA ***
+
+***** This file should be named 24728-8.txt or 24728-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+ http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/2/24728/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+ the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+ you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
+ owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+ has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+ Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
+ must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+ prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+ returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+ sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+ address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+ the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+ you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+ does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+ License. You must require such a user to return or
+ destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+ and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+ Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+ money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+ electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+ of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+ distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+ Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+ Chief Executive and Director
+ gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+ http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/24728-8.zip b/24728-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f917c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-8.zip
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h.zip b/24728-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..464e2a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h.zip
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/24728-h.htm b/24728-h/24728-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6353d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/24728-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,8745 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+ PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+ <head>
+ <title>
+ Stories of Georgia, by Joel Chandler Harris
+ </title>
+ <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+ body { margin:5%; text-align:justify}
+ P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+ H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+ hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+ .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+ blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+ .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+ .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+ .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;}
+ div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+ div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+ .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+ .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+ .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+ margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+ text-align: right;}
+ pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+ </head>
+ <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories Of Georgia, by Joel Chandler Harris
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Stories Of Georgia
+ 1896
+
+Author: Joel Chandler Harris
+
+Release Date: March 2, 2008 [EBook #24728]
+Last Updated: February 4, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF GEORGIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+ <p>
+ <br /><br />
+ </p>
+ <h1>
+ STORIES OF GEORGIA
+ </h1>
+ <h2>
+ By Joel Chandler Harris
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <h4>
+ Copyright, 1896, by American Book Company
+ </h4>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img alt="titlepage (27K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <hr />
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <big><b>STORIES OF GEORGIA.</b></big> </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> A SEARCH FOR TREASURE. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> OGLETHORPE AND HIS GENTLE COLONY </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> THE EMPRESS OF GEORGIA </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> THE LIBERTY BOYS. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> A GROUP OF CHARACTERS </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> AUNT NANCY HART. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> TWO SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> A WAR OF EXTERMINATION. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> A NEGRO PATRIOT. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> THE YAZOO FRAUD </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> GEORGE MATTHEWS AND JOHN CLARKE. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> AFTER THE REVOLUTION. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> THE COTTON GIN. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> SOME GEORGIA INVENTIONS. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> THE EARLY PROGRESS OF THE STATE. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> THE CREEKS AND THE CREEK WAR </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> TWO FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> REMOVAL OF THE CHEROKEES. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> THE BEGINNING OF PARTIES IN GEORGIA. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> A QUEER CASE. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> GEORGIA WIT AND HUMOR. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> SLAVERY AND SECESSION. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> THE FARMER BOY OF GADDISTOWN. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> GEORGIA IN THE WAR. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> A DARING ADVENTURE. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD. </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0029"> "THE NEW SOUTH" </a>
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <hr />
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <big><b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b></big>
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0001"> De Soto </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0002"> Indian Queen </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0003"> Oglethorpe </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0004"> Mary Musgrove </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0005"> Empress Mary </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0006"> The Liberty Boys </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0007"> Tondee's Tavern </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0008"> Seisure of Ammunition in Savannah </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0009"> The Head of Robert Sallette </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0010"> Mcgirth and his Mare </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0011"> Captain Rory Mcintosh </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0012"> Aunt Nancy Hart </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0013"> Aunt Nancy Captures the Tories </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0014"> General James Jackson </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0015"> Elijah Clarke </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0016"> A War of Extermination </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0017"> Old Man Whipped at the Tail of a Cart </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0018"> A Negro Patriot </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0019"> The Yazoo Scheme </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0020"> Rope to Hang Musgrove </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0021"> George Matthews and John Clarke </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0022"> After the Revolution </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0023"> Early Cultivation of Cotton </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0024"> Whitney and his Cotton Gin </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0025"> William Longstreet and his Steamboat </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0026"> Laughing Gas </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0027"> Early Progress of the State </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0028"> British Impressement of Americans </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0029"> The Creek War </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0030"> Major Adams Scouting and Indian Camp </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0031"> Mcgillavray Joins the Indians </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0032"> Indian Attack </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0033"> General Clarke Whips Judge Tait </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0034"> A Queer Case </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0035"> The Bunkley Trial </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0036"> Judge Dooly </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0037"> The Roast Pig </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0038"> Georgia Politics </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0039"> Joe Brown and his Steers </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0040"> Georgia in the War </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0041"> The Salt Famine </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0042"> Capture of the Locomotive </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0043"> Tearing up the Rails </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0044"> The Negroes Freed </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#linkimage-0045"> Streetcar in the South </a>
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <hr />
+ <p>
+ <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ PREFACE.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ In preparing the pages that follow, the writer has had in view the
+ desirability of familiarizing the youth of Georgia with the salient facts
+ of the State's history in a way that shall make the further study of that
+ history a delight instead of a task. The ground has been gone over before
+ by various writers, but the narratives that are here retold, and the
+ characterizations that are here attempted, have not been brought together
+ heretofore. They lie wide apart in volumes that are little known and out
+ of print.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The stories and the characterizations have been grouped together so as to
+ form a series of connecting links in the rise and progress of Georgia; yet
+ it must not be forgotten that these links are themselves connected with
+ facts and events in the State's development that are quite as interesting,
+ and of as far-reaching importance, as those that have been narrated here.
+ Some such suggestion as this, it is hoped, will cross the minds of young
+ students, and lead them to investigate for themselves the interesting
+ intervals that lie between.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is unfortunately true that there is no history of Georgia in which the
+ dry bones of facts have been clothed with the flesh and blood of popular
+ narrative. Colonel Charles C. Jones saw what was needed, and entered upon
+ the task of writing the history of the State with characteristic
+ enthusiasm. He had not proceeded far, however, when the fact dawned upon
+ his mind that such a work as he contemplated must be for the most part a
+ labor of love. He felt the influence of cold neglect from every source
+ that might have been expected to afford him aid and encouragement. He was
+ almost compelled to confine himself to a bare recital of facts, for he had
+ reason to know that, at the end of his task, public inappreciation was
+ awaiting him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And yet it seems to the present writer that every person interested in the
+ growth and development of the republic should turn with eager attention to
+ a narrative embodying the events that have marked the progress of Georgia.
+ It was in this State that some of the most surprising and spectacular
+ scenes of the Revolution took place. In one corner of Georgia those who
+ were fighting for the independence of the republic made their last
+ desperate stand; and if they had surrendered to the odds that faced them,
+ the battle of King's Mountain would never have been fought, Greene's
+ southern campaign would have been crippled, and the struggle for liberty
+ in the south would have ended in smoke.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is to illustrate the larger events that these stories have been
+ written; and while some of them may seem far away from this point of view,
+ they all have one common purpose and tend to one common end.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h1>
+ STORIES OF GEORGIA.
+ </h1>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ A SEARCH FOR TREASURE.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/014.jpg" alt="De Soto 014 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ So far as written records tell us, Hernando de Soto and his companions in
+ arms were the first white men to enter and explore the territory now known
+ on the map as the State of Georgia. Tradition has small voice in the
+ matter, but such as it has tells another story. There are hints that other
+ white men ventured into this territory before De Soto and his men beheld
+ it. General Oglethorpe, when he came to Georgia with his gentle colony,
+ which had been tamed and sobered by misfortune and ill luck, was firmly of
+ the opinion that Sir Walter Raleigh, the famous soldier, sailor, and
+ scholar, had been there before him. So believing, the founder of the
+ Georgian Colony carried with him Sir Walter's diary. He was confirmed in
+ his opinion by a tradition, among the Indians of the Yamacraw tribe, that
+ Raleigh had landed where Savannah now stands. There are also traditions in
+ regard to the visits of other white men to Georgia. These traditions may
+ be true, or they may be the results of dreams, but it is certain that De
+ Soto and his picked company of Spaniards were the first to march through
+ the territory that is now Georgia. The De Soto expedition was made up of
+ the flower of Spanish chivalry,&mdash;men Used to war, and fond of
+ adventure. Some of them were soldiers, anxious to win fame by feats of
+ arms in a new land; some were missionaries, professing an anxiety for the
+ souls of such heathen as they might encounter, but even these men were not
+ unfamiliar with the use of the sword; some were physicians, as ready to
+ kill as to heal; some were botanists, who knew as much about the rapier
+ and the poniard as they did about the stamens, pistils, and petals of the
+ flowers; and some were reporters, men selected to write the history of the
+ expedition. As it turned out, these reporters were entirely faithful to
+ their trust They told all that happened with a fidelity that leaves
+ nothing to be desired. The record they have left shows that the expedition
+ was bent on finding gold and other treasures.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 30th of May, 1539, De Soto's expedition landed at Tampa Bay, Fla.,
+ and his men pitched their tents on the beach. The army was not a large
+ one; but it was made up of chosen men, who were used to the dangers of
+ war, and who, as stated before, were fond of adventure. There was but one
+ gray head in the expedition: therefore, though the army was a small one,
+ it was the most enthusiastic and warlike array that had ever been seen in
+ the New World. The soldiers wore rich armor, and the cavalry rode gayly
+ caparisoned horses. The army was accompanied by slaves and mules to bear
+ the burdens. It had artillery and other weapons of war; handcuffs, neck
+ collars, and chains for prisoners; crucibles for refining gold;
+ bloodhounds, greyhounds, and a drove of hogs.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For nearly a year the little army of De Soto wandered about in Florida,
+ ransacking the burying grounds of the Indians in search of treasures, and
+ committing such other depredations as were common to the civilization of
+ that age. When inquiries were made for gold, the Indians always pointed
+ toward the north; and, following these hints, the expedition pursued its
+ way through Florida, wandering about in the swamps and slashes, but always
+ held together by the enthusiasm of the men and their hopes of securing
+ rich spoils.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 3d of March, 1540, De Soto's army left Anhayca, which is said to
+ have been near the site of Tallahassee, and marched northward. Before
+ leaving the Spaniards seized from the Indians a large supply of maize (now
+ commonly known as corn), and appropriated whatever else struck their
+ fancy. They had spent some time with the Indians at this town of Anhayca,
+ and had sent out parties that committed depredations wherever an Indian
+ settlement could be found. They made slaves of many Indians, treating them
+ with more severity than they treated their beasts of burden. It is no
+ wonder, therefore, that the Indians, discovering the greed of the
+ Spaniards for gold, should have spread rumors that large quantities of the
+ yellow metal were to be found farther north.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Reports came to the Spaniards of a wonderful Indian queen who reigned at a
+ place called Yupaha, a settlement as large as a city. One day an Indian
+ boy, who had been brought to camp with other prisoners, told the Spaniards
+ a good deal about this great Indian queen. He said that she ruled not only
+ her own people, but all the neighboring chiefs, and as far as the Indian
+ settlements extended. The boy told the Spaniards that all the Indians paid
+ tribute to this great queen, and sent her fine presents of clothing and
+ gold. De Soto and his men cared nothing about fine clothing. They were
+ greedy only for gold and precious stones. They asked the Indian boy many
+ questions, and he answered them all. He told how the gold was taken from
+ the earth, and how it was melted and refined. His description was so exact
+ that the Spaniards no longer had any doubt. Their spirits rose mightily,
+ and, after robbing and plundering the Indians who had fed and sheltered
+ them during the winter months, they broke up their camp and moved
+ northward.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Four days after leaving Tallahassee, the Spaniards came to a deep river,
+ which Colonel C. C. Jones, jun., in his "History of Georgia," says was the
+ Ocklockonnee, very close to the southwest boundary of Georgia. Two days
+ later they came to an Indian village from which the inhabitants fled, but
+ a little later a squad of five soldiers was set upon by the Indians hiding
+ near the encampment. One of the Spaniards was killed, while three others
+ were badly wounded. De Soto left this Indian village on the 11th of March,
+ and presently came to a piece of country which the Spanish historian
+ describes as a desert. But it was not a desert then, and it is not a
+ desert now. It was really a pine barren, such as may be seen to this day
+ in what is called the wire-grass region of southern Georgia. In these
+ barrens the soil is sandy and the land level, stretching away for miles.
+ De Soto and his men saw the primeval pines; but these have long since
+ disappeared, and their places are taken by pines of a smaller growth. On
+ the 21st of March, the Spaniards came to the Ocmulgee River, near which
+ they found an Indian town called Toalli.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There will always be a dispute about the route followed by De Soto in his
+ march. This dispute is interesting, but not important. Some say that the
+ expedition moved parallel with the coast until the Savannah River was
+ reached, at a point twenty-five miles below Augusta; but it is just as
+ probable that the route, after reaching the Ocmulgee, was along the banks
+ of that stream and in a northwesterly direction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Toalli the Indians had summer and winter houses to live in, and they
+ had storehouses for their maize. The women wore blankets or shawls made of
+ the fiber of silk grass, and the blankets were dyed vermilion or black.
+ Thenceforward the Indians whom the Spaniards met with were of a higher
+ order of intelligence, and of a more industrious turn, than those left
+ behind in Florida and along the southern boundary of Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As De Soto marched along, he seized Indians and made guides of them, or
+ made prisoners and held them until he was furnished with guides and
+ interpreters. He also announced to the Indians that he was the Child of
+ the Sun, who had been sent to seek out the greatest Prince and Princess.
+ This made a great impression on the Indians, many of whom were sun
+ worshipers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Many times during the march the Spaniards were on the point of starvation,
+ and the account of their sufferings as set forth in the history of the
+ expedition is intended to be quite pathetic. We need not pause to shed any
+ tears over these things, for the sufferings the Spaniards endured were
+ nothing compared to the sufferings they inflicted on the Indians. They
+ murdered and robbed right and left, and no doubt the Indians regarded them
+ as demons rather than Christians. More than once when the Spaniards were
+ wandering aimlessly about in the wilderness, they were found by the
+ Indians and saved from starvation. In turn the simple-minded natives were
+ treated with a harshness that would be beyond belief if the sickening
+ details were not piously set forth by the Spanish historian of the
+ expedition.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/020.jpg" alt="Indian Queen 020 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ About the 28th of April the expedition reached the neighborhood of
+ Cutifachiqui, having been told by three Indians whom they had taken, that
+ the queen of that province knew of the approach of the Spaniards, and was
+ awaiting them at her chief town just across the river. As De Soto came to
+ the shore of the stream, four canoes started from the opposite side. One
+ of them contained a kinswoman of the queen, who had been selected to
+ invite the Spaniards to enter the town. Shortly afterwards the queen came
+ forth from the town, seated on a palanquin or litter, which was borne by
+ the principal men. Coming to the water side, the queen entered a canoe,
+ over the stern of which was stretched an awning to shelter her from the
+ sun.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Under this awning she reclined on cushions; and thus, in company with her
+ chiefs, and attended by many of her people in canoes, she crossed the
+ river to meet De Soto. She landed, and gave the Spaniard a gracious
+ welcome. As an offering of peace and good will, she took from her neck a
+ long string of pearls, and gave the gems to De Soto. She also gave him
+ many shawls and finely dressed deerskins. The Spaniard acknowledged the
+ beautiful gifts by taking from his hand a gold ring set with a ruby, and
+ placing it upon one of the queen's fingers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The old historian pretends that De Soto and his men were very much
+ impressed by the dignity and courtesy of the Indian queen. She was the
+ first woman ruler they had met in their wanderings. She was tall, finely
+ formed, and had great beauty of countenance. She was both gracious and
+ graceful. All this is set down in the most pompous way by the Spanish
+ chroniclers; but the truth seems to be that De Soto and his men cared
+ nothing for the courtesy and hospitality of the queen, and that they were
+ not moved by her beauty and kindness. The Spaniards crossed the river in
+ canoes furnished by the queen's people, and found themselves surrounded by
+ the most hospitable Indians they had yet seen. They were supplied with
+ everything the land afforded, and rested in comfortable wigwams under the
+ shade of mulberry trees. The soldiers were so delighted with the
+ situation, that they were anxious to form a settlement there; but De Soto
+ refused to forget the only object of the expedition, which was to search
+ for gold and other treasures. His determination had the desired effect His
+ men recovered their energies. While enjoying the hospitality of the queen,
+ they found out the burial places of her people, and gathered from the
+ graves, according to the statement of the Spanish historian, "three
+ hundred and fifty weight of pearls, and figures of babies and birds, made
+ from iridescent shells."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The mother of the queen lived not far from the town where the Spaniards
+ were quartered, and, as she was said to be the owner of many fine pearls,
+ De Soto expressed a desire to see her. Upon hearing this, the queen sent
+ twelve of her principal men to beg her mother to come to see the white
+ strangers and the wonderful animals they had brought with them; but the
+ mother of the queen was very shrewd. She rebuked the messengers, and sent
+ them back with some sharp words for her daughter; and though De Soto did
+ his best to capture the woman, he was never able to carry out his purpose.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He then turned his attention to a temple that stood on the side of a
+ deserted settlement which had formerly been the chief town of the queen's
+ people. This temple, as described by the Spanish chronicler, was more than
+ one hundred steps long by forty broad, the walls high in proportion, and
+ the roof elevated so as to allow the water to run off. On the roof were
+ various shells arranged in artistic order, and the shells were connected
+ by strings of pearls. These pearls extended from the top of the roof to
+ the bottom in long festoons, and the sun shining on them produced a very
+ brilliant effect. At the door of the temple were twelve giant-like statues
+ made of wood. These figures were so ferocious in their appearance, that
+ the Spaniards hesitated for some time before they could persuade
+ themselves to enter the temple. The statues were armed with clubs, maces,
+ copper axes, and pikes ornamented with copper at both ends. In the middle
+ of the temple were three rows of chests, placed one upon another in the
+ form of pyramids. Each pyramid consisted of five or six chests, the
+ largest at the bottom, and the smallest at the top. These chests, the
+ Spanish chroniclers say, were filled with pearls, the largest containing
+ the finest pearls, and the smallest only seed pearls.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is just as well to believe a little of this as to believe a great deal.
+ It was an easy matter for the survivors of the expedition to exaggerate
+ these things, and they probably took great liberties with the facts; but
+ there is no doubt that the Indians possessed many pearls. Mussels like
+ those from which they took the gems are still to be found in the small
+ streams and creeks of Georgia, and an enterprising boy might even now be
+ able to find a seed pearl if he sought for it patiently.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is not to be doubted that rich stores of pearls were found. Some were
+ distributed to the officers and men; but the bulk of them, strange to say,
+ were left undisturbed, to await the return of the Spaniards another day.
+ De Soto was still intent on searching for gold, and he would hear of
+ nothing else. He would neither settle among the queen's people for a
+ season, nor return to Tampa with the great store of pearls discovered.
+ Being a resolute man and of few words, he had his way, and made
+ preparations to journey farther north to the province called Chiaha, which
+ was governed by a great Indian king. The conduct of the Spaniards had been
+ so cruel during their stay at Cutifachiqui, that the queen had come to
+ regard them with fear and hatred, and she refused to supply them with
+ guides and burden bearers. De Soto thereupon placed her under guard; and
+ when he took up his march for Chiaha, the queen who had received him with
+ so much grace, dignity, and hospitality, was compelled to accompany him on
+ foot, escorted by her female attendants. The old Spanish chronicler is
+ moved to remark that "it was not so good usage as she deserved for the
+ good will she shewed and the good entertainment that she had made him."
+ This was the return the Spanish leader made to the queen who had received
+ and entertained his army,&mdash;to seize her, place her under guard, and
+ compel her to accompany his expedition on foot.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ One reason why De Soto made the queen his prisoner and carried her with
+ the expedition was to use her influence in controlling the Indians along
+ his line of march. The result was all that he could have expected. In all
+ the towns through which the Spaniards passed, the queen commanded the
+ Indians to carry the burdens of the army; and thus they went for a hundred
+ leagues, the Indians obeying the queen without question. After a march of
+ seven days, De Soto arrived at the province of Chelaque, which was the
+ country of the Cherokees. Here the soldiers added to their stores of
+ provisions, and renewed their march; and on May 15 they arrived in the
+ province of Xualla, the chief town of which is supposed to have been
+ situated in the Nacoochee valley. Inclining his course westwardly from the
+ Nacoochee valley, De Soto set out for Guaxule, which marked the limit of
+ the queen's dominion, and which has been identified as Old Town, in Murray
+ County. On this march the queen made her escape, taking with her a cane
+ box filled with large pearls of great value. This box had been borne by
+ one of the queen's attendants up to the moment when she disappeared from
+ the Spanish camp. De Soto made every effort to recapture the queen. No
+ doubt the bloodhounds, which formed a part of the expedition, were called
+ in to aid in the search; but it was all to no purpose. The queen hid
+ herself as easily as a young partridge hides, and neither men nor dogs
+ could find her. De Soto went on his way, deploring the loss of the
+ valuable pearls.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From Nacoochee to Murray County the march was fatiguing. The route lay
+ over mountains as well as valleys. One of the foot soldiers, Juan Terron
+ (his folly has caused history to preserve his name), grew so weary on this
+ march, that he drew from his wallet a linen bag containing six pounds of
+ pearls. Calling to a cavalryman, Juan Terron offered him the bag of pearls
+ if he would carry them. The cavalryman refused the offer, and told his
+ comrade to keep them. But Juan Terron would not have it so. He untied the
+ bag, whirled it around his head, and scattered the pearls in all
+ directions. This done, he replaced the empty bag in his wallet, and
+ marched on, leaving his companions amazed at his folly. Thirty of the
+ pearls were recovered by the soldiers. The gems were of great size, and
+ perfect in every particular; and it was estimated that the six pounds of
+ pearls would have fetched six thousand ducats in Spain (over twelve
+ thousand dollars). The folly of the foot soldier gave rise to a saying in
+ the army, that is no doubt current in Spain to this day,&mdash;"There are
+ no pearls for Juan Terron," which means that a fool makes no profits.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Continuing their march, the Spaniards came to the town of Chiaha,&mdash;a
+ site that is now occupied by the flourishing city of Rome. De Soto
+ remained at Chiaha a month, sending out exploring expeditions in search of
+ the much-coveted gold. They found traces of the precious metal, but
+ nothing more. On the 1st of July, 1540, De Soto left Chiaha, going down
+ the valley of the Coosa. His expedition was organized by the spirit of
+ greed. It spread desolation wherever it went, and it ended in disaster and
+ despair. De Soto himself found a grave in the waters of the Mississippi,
+ and the survivors who made their way back home were broken in health and
+ spirits.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ An attempt has been made to throw a halo of romance over this march of the
+ Spaniards through the wilderness of the New World, but there is nothing
+ romantic or inspiring about it. It was simply a search for riches, in
+ which hundreds of lives were most cruelly sacrificed, and thousands of
+ homes destroyed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ OGLETHORPE AND HIS GENTLE COLONY
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ General James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of the Colony of Georgia, was
+ among the few really good and great men that history tells us of. We need
+ to keep a close eye on the antics of history. She places the laurels of
+ fame in the hands of butchers, plunderers, and adventurers, and even
+ assassins share her favors; so that, if we are going to enjoy the feast
+ that history offers us, we must not inquire too closely into the
+ characters of the men whom she makes heroes of. We find, when we come to
+ look into the matter, that but few of those who figured as the great men
+ of the world have been entirely unselfish; and unselfishness is the test
+ of a man who is really good and great. Judged by this test, General
+ Oglethorpe stands among the greatest men known to history.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He had served in the army with distinction, as his father had before him.
+ He was on the staff of the great soldier Eugene of Savoy, and under that
+ commander made himself conspicuous by his fidelity and fearlessness. A
+ story is told of him that is interesting, if not characteristic. While
+ serving under Eugene, he one day found himself sitting at table with a
+ prince of Würtemberg. He was a beardless youngster, and the prince thought
+ to have some sport with him. Taking up a glass of wine, the prince gave it
+ a fillip, so that a little flew in Oglethorpe's face. The young
+ Englishman, looking straight at the prince, and smiling, said, "My prince,
+ that is only a part of the joke as the English know it: I will show you
+ the whole of it." With that he threw a glassful of wine in the prince's
+ face. An old general who sat by laughed dryly, and remarked, "He did well,
+ my prince: you began it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0003" id="linkimage-0003">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figleft" style="width:32%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/028.jpg" alt="Oglethorpe 028 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ Born in 1689, Oglethorpe entered the English army when twenty-one years of
+ age. In 1714 he became captain lieutenant of the first troop of the
+ queen's guards. He shortly afterwards joined Eugene on the continent, and
+ remained with that soldier until the peace of 1718. On the death of his
+ brother, he succeeded to the family estate in England. In 1722 he was
+ elected to Parliament from Haslemere, county of Surrey, and this borough
+ he represented continuously for thirty-two years. His parliamentary career
+ was marked by wise prudence and consistency; and his sympathies were
+ warmly enlisted for the relief of unfortunate soldiers, and in securing
+ reform in the conduct of prisons. In this way Oglethorpe became a
+ philanthropist, and, without intending it, attracted the attention of all
+ England. Pope, the poet, eulogizes his "strong benevolence of soul."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In that day and time, men were imprisoned for debt in England. The law was
+ brutal, and those who executed it were cruel. There was no discrimination
+ between fraud and misfortune. The man who was unable to pay his debts was
+ judged to be as criminal as the man who, though able, refused to pay. Both
+ were thrown into the same prison, and subjected to the same hardships. In
+ "Little Dorrit," Charles Dickens has told something of those unfortunates
+ who were thrown into prison for debt.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There was apparently nothing too atrocious to be sanctioned by the
+ commercial ambition of the English. It armed creditors with the power to
+ impose the most cruel burdens upon their debtors, and it sanctioned the
+ slave trade. Many crimes have been committed to promote the commercial
+ supremacy of Great Britain, and on that blind policy was based the law
+ which suffered innocent debtors to be deprived of their liberty and thrown
+ into prison.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This condition of affairs Oglethorpe set himself to reform; and while thus
+ engaged, he became impressed with the idea that many of the unfortunates,
+ guilty of no crime, and of respectable connections, might benefit
+ themselves, relieve England of the shame of their imprisonment, and
+ confirm and extend the dominion of the mother country in the New World, by
+ being freed from the claims of those to whom they owed money, on condition
+ that they would consent to become colonists in America. To this class were
+ to be added recruits from those who, through lack of work and of means,
+ were likely to be imprisoned on account of their misfortunes. Oglethorpe
+ was also of the opinion that men of means, enterprise, and ambition could
+ be enlisted in the cause; and in this he was not mistaken.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He had no hope whatever of personal gain or private benefit. The plan that
+ he had conceived was entirely for the benefit of the unfortunate, based on
+ broad and high ideas of benevolence; and so thoroughly was this
+ understood, that Oglethorpe had no difficulty whatever in securing the aid
+ of men of wealth and influence. A charter or grant from the government was
+ applied for, in order that the scheme might have the sanction and
+ authority of the government. Accordingly a charter was granted, and the
+ men most prominent in the scheme of benevolence were incorporated under
+ the name of "The Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in
+ America." Georgia in America, was, under the terms of the charter, a
+ pretty large slice of America. It embraced all that part of the continent
+ lying between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers, and extending westerly
+ from the heads of these rivers in direct lines to the South Seas; so that
+ the original territory of Georgia extended from ocean to ocean.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In aid of this enterprise, Oglethorpe not only contributed largely from
+ his private means, and solicited contributions from his wealthy friends,
+ but wrote a tract in which he used arguments that were practical as well
+ as ingenious.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 17th of November, 1732, all arrangements having been completed, the
+ "Anne" set sail for the Colony of Georgia, accompanied by Oglethorpe, who
+ furnished his own cabin, and laid in provisions not only for himself, but
+ for his fellow-passengers. On the 13th of January, 1733, the "Anne"
+ anchored in Charleston harbor. From Charleston the vessel sailed to Port
+ Royal; and the colonists were soon quartered in the barracks of
+ Beaufort-town, which had been prepared for their reception. Oglethorpe
+ left the colonists at Beaufort, and, in company with Colonel William Bull,
+ proceeded to the Savannah River. He went up this stream as far as Yamacraw
+ Bluff, which he selected as the site of the settlement he was about to
+ make. He marked out the town, and named it Savannah. The site was a
+ beautiful one in Oglethorpe's day, and it is still more beautiful now. The
+ little settlement that the founder of the Colony marked out has grown into
+ a flourishing city, and art has added its advantages to those of nature to
+ make Savannah one of the most beautiful cities in the United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Close by the site which Oglethorpe chose for his colony was an Indian
+ village occupied by the Yamacraws,&mdash;a small tribe, of which
+ Tomochichi was chief. At this point, too, was a trading post, which had
+ been established by a white man named John Musgrove. This man had married
+ a half-breed woman whose Indian name was Coosaponakesee, but who was known
+ as Mary Musgrove. In order to insure the friendly reception of his little
+ colony and its future safety, Oglethorpe went to the village and had a
+ talk with Tomochichi. Mary Musgrove not only acted as interpreter, but
+ used her influence, which was very great, in favor of her husband's
+ countrymen. This was fortunate, for the Indians were very uneasy when they
+ learned that a colony of whites was to be established near their village,
+ and some of them even threatened to use force to prevent it; but
+ Oglethorpe's friendly attitude, and Mary Musgrove's influence, at last
+ persuaded them to give their consent. They made an agreement to cede the
+ necessary land, and promised to receive the colonists in a friendly
+ manner. Oglethorpe returned to Beaufort when he had concluded this treaty,
+ and the Sunday following his return was celebrated as a day of
+ thanksgiving. After religious services there was a barbecue, which,
+ history tells us, consisted of four fat hogs, turkeys, fowls English beef,
+ a hogshead of punch, a hogshead of beer, and a quantity of wine.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0004" id="linkimage-0004">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figright" style="width:33%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/032.jpg" alt="Mary Musgrove 032 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ On the 30th of January, 1733, the immigrants set sail from Beaufort, and
+ on the afternoon of the next day they arrived at Yamacraw Bluff. On the
+ site of the town that had already been marked off, they pitched four tents
+ large enough to accommodate all the people. Oglethorpe, after posting his
+ sentinels, slept on the ground under the shelter of the tall pines, near
+ the central watch fire. As a soldier should, he slept soundly. He had
+ planted the new Colony, and thus far all had gone well with him and with
+ those whose interests he had charge of.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To bring these colonists across the ocean, and place them in a position
+ where they might begin life anew, was not a very difficult undertaking;
+ but to plant a colony amongst savages already suspicious of the whites,
+ and to succeed in obtaining their respect, friendship, and aid, was
+ something that required wisdom, courage, prudence, and large experience.
+ This Oglethorpe did; and it is to his credit, that, during the time he had
+ charge of the Colony, he never in any shape or form took advantage of the
+ ignorance of the Indians. His method of dealing with them was very simple.
+ He conciliated them by showing them that the whites could be just, fair,
+ and honorable in their dealings; and thus, in the very beginning, he won
+ the friendship of those whose enmity to the little Colony would have
+ proved ruinous.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Providence favored Oglethorpe in this matter. He had to deal with an
+ Indian chief full of years, wisdom, and experience. This was Tomochichi,
+ who was at the head of the Yamacraws. From this kindly Indian the Georgia
+ Colony received untold benefits. He remained the steadfast friend of the
+ settlers, and used his influence in their behalf in every possible way,
+ and on all occasions. Although he was a very old man, he was strong and
+ active, and of commanding presence. He possessed remarkable intelligence;
+ and this, added to his experience, made him one of the most remarkable of
+ the Indians whose names have been preserved in history. There was
+ something of a mystery about him that adds to the interest which his
+ active friendship for the whites has given to his name. He belonged to the
+ tribe of Lower Creeks; but for some reason or other, he, with a number of
+ his tribemen, had been banished. The cause of his exile has never been
+ made known; but at this late day it may be guessed that he became
+ disgusted with the factional disputes among the Creeks, and sought in
+ another part of the territory the peace and repose to which his years of
+ service had entitled him; and that when he had taken this step, the
+ factions which he had opposed succeeded in having him banished. Some such
+ theory as this is necessary to account for the tributes that were paid to
+ his character and influence by the Creek chiefs who assembled at Savannah
+ to make a treaty with Oglethorpe. Tomochichi was ninety-one years old when
+ the Georgia Colony was founded, and he had gathered about him a number of
+ disaffected Creeks and Yemassees, known as the tribe of the Yamacraws.
+ When the Creeks came to Savannah to meet Oglethorpe, the greatest of their
+ chiefs said that he was related to Tomochichi, who was a good man, and had
+ been a great warrior.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, with Oglethorpe to direct it, and with Tomochichi as its friend, the
+ little Georgia Colony was founded, and, as we shall see, thrived and
+ flourished.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ THE EMPRESS OF GEORGIA
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ When Oglethorpe landed at Yamacraw Bluff, he was greatly aided in his
+ efforts to conciliate the Indians by the wife of John Musgrove, a
+ half-breed woman whose Indian name was Coosaponakesee. She was known by
+ the colonists as Mary Musgrove, and her friendship for the whites was
+ timely and fortunate. She was Oglethorpe's interpreter in his first
+ interview with Tomochichi. She was very friendly and accommodating, giving
+ aid to Oglethorpe and his colony in every possible way. Finding that she
+ had great influence, and could be made very useful to the colonists,
+ Oglethorpe employed her as interpreter, and paid her yearly one hundred
+ pounds sterling, which in that day was equal to a great deal more than
+ five hundred dollars; but Mary Musgrove earned all that was paid her, and
+ more. She used all her influence in behalf of the whites. She aided in
+ concluding treaties, and also in securing warriors from the Creek nation
+ in the war that occurred between the colonists and the Spaniards who
+ occupied Florida.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General Oglethorpe had a sincere friendship for Mary Musgrove, and his
+ influence over her was such that she never refused a request he made. If
+ Oglethorpe had remained in Georgia, it is probable that the curious
+ episode in which Mary took a leading part would never have occurred.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Oglethorpe left Georgia on the 23d of July, 1743, and never returned. John
+ Musgrove died shortly afterwards, and Mary married a man named Matthews,
+ who also died. She then married a man named Thomas Bosomworth, who had
+ been chaplain to Oglethorpe's regiment. In 1743, before Oglethorpe's
+ departure, Bosomworth had been commissioned to perform all religious and
+ ecclesiastical affairs in Georgia. Previous to that he had accepted a
+ grant of lands, and had taken up his abode in the Colony. He appears to
+ have been a pompous and an ambitious person, with just enough learning to
+ make him dangerous.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Before Mary Musgrove married Bosomworth she had never ceased to labor for
+ the good of the Colony. No sacrifice was too great for her to make in
+ behalf of her white friends. It is true, she had not been fully paid for
+ her services; but she had faith in the good intentions of the government,
+ and was content. In 1744, a year after Oglethorpe's departure from the
+ Colony, Mary married Bosomworth, and after that her conduct was such as to
+ keep the whites in constant fear of massacre and extermination.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1745, Thomas Bosomworth went to England and informed the trustees of
+ the Georgia Company that he intended to give up his residence in the
+ Georgia Colony. The next year he returned to Georgia, and violated the
+ regulations of the trustees by introducing six negro slaves on the
+ plantation of his wife near the Altamaha River. This action was at once
+ resented; and President Stephens, who had succeeded Oglethorpe in the
+ management of the Colony's affairs, was ordered to have the negro slaves
+ removed from the territory of Georgia. This was done, and from that time
+ forth Bosomworth and his wife began to plot against the peace and good
+ order of the Georgia Colony. He used the influence of his wife to
+ conciliate the Indians, and secure their sympathy and support. While this
+ was going on, he was busy in preparing a claim against the government of
+ the Colony for the services rendered and losses sustained by his wife,
+ which he valued at five hundred pounds sterling. In her name he also
+ claimed possession of the islands of Ossabaw, St. Catharine, and Sapelo,
+ and of a tract of land near Savannah which in former treaties had been
+ reserved to the Indians.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Bosomworth was shrewd enough not to act alone. In some mysterious way, not
+ clearly told in history, he secured the sympathy and support of Major
+ William Horton, commander of Oglethorpe's regiment stationed at Frederica,
+ and other officers. Colonel Heron, who succeeded Major Horton as commander
+ of the regiment in 1747, was likewise gained over to the cause of the
+ Bosomworths. By the connivance of this officer, a body of Indians, with
+ Malatche at their head, marched to Frederica for a conference. At this
+ conference Malatche made a speech in which he told of the services which
+ his sister Mary had rendered the colonists, and requested that a messenger
+ be sent to England to tell the King that he, Malatche, was emperor of all
+ the Creeks. He declared, also, that Mary, his sister, was confided in by
+ the whole Creek nation, and that the nation had decided to abide by her
+ will and desire.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Bosomworth saw the necessity of pushing the matter forward, and so he
+ suggested to Malatche the importance of having himself crowned as emperor
+ by those who were with him. Accordingly a paper was drawn up giving to
+ Malatche full authority as emperor. This done, Bosomworth was quick to
+ procure from the Creek emperor a deed of conveyance to Thomas and Mary
+ Bosomworth of the islands of Ossabaw, Sapelo, and St. Catharine.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Matters went on peaceably for a while; but Bosomworth was active and
+ energetic, and his wife appears to have been entirely under his control.
+ He bought on credit a great number of cattle from planters in South
+ Carolina, and these he placed on the islands that had been given him by
+ Malatche. When his debts fell due, he was unable to pay them. Rather than
+ surrender the property for which he was unable to pay, he suggested to his
+ wife that she take the title of an independent empress. It is doubtful if
+ she knew what an empress was; but she had an idea, that, if she claimed to
+ be one, she would be able to buy some red calico at the nearest store, as
+ well as an extra bottle of rum. So she fell eagerly into the Rev. Mr.
+ Bosom-worth's plans. She sent word to the Creeks that she had suddenly
+ become a genuine empress, and called a meeting of the big men of the
+ nation. The big men assembled; and Mary made a speech, in which she
+ insisted that she was the Empress of Georgia. She must have been a pretty
+ good talker; for the Indians became very much excited, and pledged
+ themselves to stand by her to the last drop of their blood.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Having thus obtained the support of the Indians, Mary set out for
+ Savannah, accompanied by a large body of them. She sent before her a
+ messenger to inform the president of the Province that she had become
+ empress over the whole territory belonging to the Upper and Lower Creeks;
+ that she was on her way to demand the instant surrender of all the lands
+ that had belonged to Doth nations; and that, if there should be any
+ serious opposition to her demands, the settlement would be attacked and
+ destroyed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0005" id="linkimage-0005">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/039.jpg" alt="Empress Mary 039 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ It was a dark hour for the colonists, who were vastly outnumbered by the
+ Indians. The president and council were disturbed by the bold threats made
+ by Mary Bosomworth. Their first plan was to meet the Indians peaceably,
+ and, by gentle measures, find an opportunity to seize Mary Bosomworth and
+ ship her to England. In the town of Savannah there were only one hundred
+ and seventy men able to bear arms. The president of the Province sent a
+ messenger to Mary, while she and her followers were still several miles
+ distant, warning her to give up her wild scheme. Mary sent back a message
+ expressing her contempt for the Colony and its officials. Thereupon the
+ president of the Province determined to put the best possible face on the
+ matter, and receive Mary and her savage followers boldly. Accordingly the
+ militia was ordered under arms; and as the Indians entered the town, they
+ were stopped by Colonel Noble Jones, who, at the head of a company of
+ horse, demanded to know whether they came with friendly or hostile
+ intentions. He received no satisfactory answer to his demand, whereupon he
+ informed the Indians that they must ground their arms, as he had orders
+ not to permit an armed man among them to set foot within the town. The
+ Indians submitted to the unexpected demand, but with great reluctance.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Having grounded their arms, the Indians were allowed to enter the town.
+ They marched in regular order, headed by Thomas Bosomworth, who, decked
+ out in full canonical robes, with Mary by his side, was followed by the
+ various chiefs according to their rank. The army of Indians made a
+ formidable appearance as they marched into the town, and the inhabitants
+ were terror-stricken at the sight. They marched to the parade ground,
+ where they found the militia drawn up to receive them. Here they were
+ saluted with fifteen guns, and then conducted to the president's house.
+ When the Indians were assembled there, Thomas and Mary Bosomworth were
+ ordered to withdraw. Then the president and council asked the Indian
+ chiefs in a friendly manner why they visited the town in so large a body,
+ not having been sent for by any person in lawful authority. The Indians
+ replied that Mary, their empress, was to speak for them, and that they
+ would abide by what she said. They had heard that she was to be made a
+ prisoner and sent across the great waters, and they wanted to know why
+ they were to lose their queen. They said they intended no harm to the
+ whites, and begged that their arms might be restored to them. Then, after
+ talking with Bosomworth and his wife, they would return and settle all
+ public affairs. Their arms were restored to them, but orders were given
+ that on no account should any ammunition be issued until the true purpose
+ of their visit was made known.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Indians then had a conference with Mary Bosomworth, and on the
+ following day began to conduct themselves riotously, running up and down
+ the streets like madmen. As all the men were obliged to perform guard
+ duty, the women were compelled to remain alone in their houses. They were
+ in a constant state of terror and alarm, expecting every moment to be set
+ upon and killed by the unruly savages. While the confusion was at its
+ worst, a rumor was circulated that the Indians had cut off the head of the
+ president of the council. The report was false; but the colonists were in
+ such a state of excitement, that they could scarcely be restrained from
+ firing on the Indians. The situation was very critical. Great prudence was
+ necessary in order to prevent bloodshed, and save the town from
+ destruction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At this crisis orders were given to the militia to lay hold of Thomas
+ Bosomworth, and place him in close confinement. When this order was
+ carried out, Mary became frantic, and made threats of vengeance against
+ the whole Colony. She cursed General Oglethorpe, declared that his
+ treaties were fraudulent, and ordered the colonists to depart from her
+ territory. She raved furiously, and claimed control over the entire earth.
+ But while engaged in cutting up these extraordinary capers, she kept an
+ eye on the leading men among the Indians, who she knew could be easily
+ bribed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The president of the Province, finding that nothing could be done with the
+ Indians while they remained under the influence of their so-called
+ empress, caused Mary to be privately arrested, and placed her under guard
+ with her husband. When this was done, quiet was at once restored. The
+ Indians ceased to be boisterous. When the time seemed to be ripe, the
+ president of the Province employed men acquainted with the Creek language
+ to entertain the chiefs and their warriors in the friendliest way. A feast
+ was prepared; and in the midst of it the chiefs were told that Bosomworth
+ had become involved in debt, and was anxious to secure not only all the
+ lands of the Creeks, but also a large share of the bounty paid to them by
+ the King of England, so that he might be able to pay his creditors in
+ Carolina. He was also told that the King's presents were intended only for
+ the Indians; that the lands near the town were reserved for them for their
+ encampments; that the sea islands were reserved for them to hunt upon when
+ they should come to bathe in the salt waters; and that neither Mary nor
+ her husband had any right to these lands, which were the common property
+ of the Creek nations.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For the moment this policy was successful. Even Malatche, Mary's brother,
+ seemed to be satisfied; and many of the chiefs declared that they were
+ convinced that Bosomworth had deceived them, and that they would trust him
+ no more. But Malatche, at his own request, had another talk with Thomas
+ and Mary Bosomworth, and was again won over to support their wild
+ pretensions; so that, when the Indians were gathered together to receive
+ their shares of the royal bounty, Malatche stood up in the midst of them,
+ and delivered a most violent speech in favor of the claims of Mary as the
+ Empress of Georgia. He declared that she had three thousand warriors at
+ her command, and that every man of them would take up arms in her defense.
+ At the conclusion of his speech, Malatche drew forth a paper and presented
+ it to the president of the council This paper was merely the sum and
+ substance of Malatche's speech; and it was so clearly the production of
+ Bosomworth, that the effect was far different from what the Indians had
+ expected. The astonishment of the president and council was so apparent,
+ that Malatche begged to have the paper again, so that he might deliver it
+ to the person from whom he had received it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was important that another conference should be had with the Indians.
+ Accordingly they were called together again; and the president of the
+ Province made an address, recalling to their minds the fact that when
+ General Oglethorpe and his colony landed in Georgia, they found Mary, then
+ the wife of John Musgrove, living in a hut at Yamacraw; that at that time
+ she was comparatively poor and friendless, being neglected and despised by
+ the Creeks, and going about in rags; that General Oglethorpe, finding that
+ she could speak both the English and the Creek tongues, employed her as an
+ interpreter, gave her rich clothes, and made her a woman of some
+ consequence; that she was respected by the colonists until she married
+ Thomas Bosomworth, but from that time forth they no longer had any
+ confidence in her; that she had no lands of her own; and that General
+ Oglethorpe had no treaty with her, but dealt with the old and wise leaders
+ of the Creeks, who voluntarily surrendered their waste lands to the
+ whites. The president then went on to show that Mary's claims had been
+ invented by Thomas Bosomworth as an easy means of paying a debt of four
+ hundred pounds which he owed in South Carolina for cattle, and that his
+ quarrel with the colonists was due to the fact that they had refused to
+ give him a third part of the royal bounty which belonged by right to the
+ Indians.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At this point the Creek chiefs begged the president to stop. They had
+ heard enough to convince them, they said, and now they wanted to smoke the
+ pipe of peace. Apparently this was a happy ending to a very serious
+ dispute. But at the very moment when everything was serene, Mary
+ Bosomworth made her appearance amongst those who were patching up their
+ differences. She had escaped from her guards, and, having secured a supply
+ of rum, now made her appearance drunk and furious. She filled the air with
+ threats. The president told her, that, unless she ceased her efforts to
+ poison the minds of the Indians, he would again order her into close
+ confinement. Thereupon Mary turned to Malatche and told him what the
+ president had said. In a rage, Malatche seized his arms, and, calling to
+ the rest of the Indians to do the same, dared the whites to touch the
+ empress. The uproar was great. Every Indian had his tomahawk in his hand,
+ and the council expected nothing less than instant death.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At this moment, Captain Noble Jones, who commanded the guard, ordered the
+ Indians to deliver up their arms. The savages were overawed by the
+ coolness and courage of this intrepid officer. They yielded up their arms,
+ and Mary was shut in a private room, and a guard set over her. There she
+ was securely kept, and while the Indians remained she had no further
+ communication with them. Her husband was then sent for, and the president
+ and council tried to reason with him; but he remained obstinate, declaring
+ that he would stand up for his wife's rights to the last. Finding
+ Bosomworth unreasonable, the council caused him to be seized and confined.
+ This done, the authorities then set about persuading the Indians to leave
+ the town peaceably and return to their own settlements. This the savages
+ did after a while, leaving Savannah in small parties until all were gone.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Finding himself no longer supported by the Indians, Thomas Bosomworth at
+ last repented of his folly. He wrote to the president and council,
+ apologizing for his wanton conduct. He acknowledged the title of his wife
+ to be groundless, and relinquished all claim to the lands of the Province.
+ Though his offense had been serious, the colonists pardoned him, and thus
+ ended the career of Coosaponakesee as Empress of Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And yet, after all, the Rev. Thomas Bosomworth had his way. Mary seems to
+ have lived long; and her husband pressed her claims in London, so that,
+ when Henry Ellis was made governor of the Province, he was authorized, in
+ 1759, to sell the islands of Ossabaw and Sapelo, as well as other Indian
+ lands near Savannah, and out of the moneys received to settle the demands
+ of the Bosomworths, and to give them a title to the Island of St.
+ Catharine, which they had settled and improved. Mary Bosomworth was given
+ four hundred and fifty pounds for goods she had expended in the King's
+ service, and it was provided also that she should be allowed sixteen
+ hundred and fifty pounds for her services as agent. In addition, she was
+ given two thousand pounds, the sum for which Ossabaw and Sapelo sold at
+ auction. A grant of St. Catharine Island was also made to Mary Bosomworth;
+ so that it may be considered that she was richly rewarded for the many
+ good turns she did the colonists in her better days, before her mind had
+ been poisoned by the Rev. Mr. Bosomworth.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ THE LIBERTY BOYS.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0006" id="linkimage-0006">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/048.jpg" alt="The Liberty Boys 048 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ In 1765, what is known as the Stamp Act was passed by the Parliament of
+ Great Britain, in spite of all the protests made by the agents of the
+ Colonies. The people of the Colonies felt that taxation without
+ representation was an exercise of power not to be tolerated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Stamp Act itself was a very small matter; but many of the American
+ Colonies had been setting up claims of independence in various matters. As
+ Benjamin Franklin said, the British nation was provoked by these claims of
+ independence, and all parties proposed by this piece of legislation to
+ settle the question once for all. While the agents of the Colonies, and
+ among them Franklin, protested against the Stamp Act, none of them
+ supposed that it would be met by armed resistance; and yet the terms of
+ the act were insolent and sweeping. It was provided that if the stamps
+ were not used, "marriages would be null and void, notes of hand valueless,
+ ships at sea prizes to the first captors, suits at law impossible,
+ transfers of real estate invalid, inheritances irreclaimable." In spite of
+ these sweeping terms, Benjamin Franklin did not doubt that the act would
+ be carried into effect, and other patriotic Americans thought that the
+ colonists should submit. Even James Otis of Boston, who was afterwards
+ among the first to advocate the calling of an American congress to
+ deliberate upon the propriety of the acts of Great Britain, was of this
+ opinion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Georgia authorities regarded the stamp duty as just as any that could
+ be generally imposed on the Colonies, though the manner of imposing it
+ greatly inspired alarm. But while the other Colonies were hesitating, a
+ voice was heard in Virginia. Patrick Henry, speaking for the Virginians,
+ made an eloquent protest against the law, and his boldness kindled into
+ flames the spirit of opposition that had been smoldering in all the
+ Colonies. The Sons of Liberty were organized North and South. In Georgia
+ they were known as "Liberty Boys." "Liberty, property, and no stamps!" was
+ the cry, and it was a cry that stirred the country from one end to the
+ other.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The congress suggested by James Otis of Boston assembled on Monday, the
+ 7th of October, 1765, Georgia had no delegates in the congress, but was
+ represented by a messenger who was sent to obtain a copy of the
+ proceedings. Such representation was not because the Colony of Georgia
+ failed to sympathize with the purpose for which the congress was called,
+ but was entirely due to the influence and popularity of Governor Wright,
+ the royal governor, who was not only a good man personally, but wise,
+ prudent, and far-seeing. Owing to his exertions, Georgia was not
+ represented in the person of delegates. The speaker of the Georgia House
+ of Assembly had indeed called a convention of the members for the purpose
+ of selecting delegates to the Colonial Congress called to meet in New
+ York, and sixteen members had responded to the call; but such was the
+ influence of Governor Wright, that these members of the assembly were
+ prevailed upon not to send delegates to the congress. But they could not
+ be prevented from preparing and sending a response to the Massachusetts
+ invitation. They had resolved, they said, to support heartily every
+ measure that might be suggested for the support of the common rights of
+ the Colonies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We learn from the letters of Governor Wright, written to the Earl of
+ Halifax, that it was as much as he could do (and he was a very active as
+ well as a very wise governor) to prevail on the people to maintain at
+ least the outward show of loyalty to the King. And he was not successful
+ even in this, for he informs another correspondent (Mr. Secretary Conway)
+ on the 31st of January, 1766, that the same spirit of "sedition, or rather
+ rebellion, which first appeared at Boston," had reached Georgia, and that
+ he had been constantly engaged for the space of three months in trying to
+ convince the people that they ought to submit to the King's authority
+ until they could point out their grievances and apply for redress in a
+ constitutional way. Governor Wright also states to the same correspondent
+ that he has had much trouble in preserving from destruction at the hands
+ of the people the stamp papers that had been forwarded for the collection
+ of the tax. He received "incendiary" letters; he had to issue
+ proclamations against riots and "tumultuous and unlawful assemblies;" and
+ he had also to take measures against the Liberty Boys, who began to have
+ private meetings, and who had formed themselves into a society to oppose
+ and prevent the distribution of the stamp papers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In short, the good governor was kept in a constant state of alarm lest the
+ Liberty Boys should seize some advantage and cause his Majesty the King of
+ England to have a moment of grief. The Liberty Boys were so active, and
+ made so many threatening demonstrations, that Governor Wright was driven
+ to what he describes as extreme measures. He was compelled to send the
+ obnoxious stamp papers to a place of safety to prevent the people from
+ destroying them; and when he had the papers securely hidden, he was
+ compelled to place men on duty day and night to protect the precious
+ stamps. He was obliged to send a posse of men to protect the stamp
+ distributer by hiding him, and was then moved to send him into the country
+ for a season, in order to avoid the resentment of the people; and then,
+ after all his trouble, the good governor found that the people had
+ determined not to apply for any papers, stamped or unstamped, until the
+ King had acted on the petitions sent from the Colonies. No wonder that he
+ was moved to call it "a wretched situation." It was indeed a wretched
+ situation for one who had no higher ideas of duty than to continue to
+ serve the King and oppose the interests of the people.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There was something more of an uproar in South Carolina than in Georgia;
+ but the truth of history appears to be that the resistance offered to the
+ Stamp Act in Georgia was much more serious than that displayed in
+ Carolina. Although Governor Wright used all his influence to support the
+ act, the people exercised so much vigilance in watching the stamp papers
+ and the officer sent to issue them, that none of the papers found their
+ way into use.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Colonies were bordering on a state of revolution, when, through the
+ influence of the Earl of Chatham, the Stamp Act was repealed. There was
+ great rejoicing among the people, and a general manifestation of a renewal
+ of loyalty to the mother country. But the seeds of dissension had been
+ sown. The Stamp Act unnecessary and uncalled for, had given the people
+ cause to ponder over their real relations to the Crown; and out of the
+ discussion that had taken place arose a spirit of independence that grew
+ and thrived and spread day by day.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In short, the repeal of the Stamp Act gave the people of the Colonies only
+ momentary satisfaction. Their success in securing its repeal gave them a
+ new taste for liberty of action, and a new sense of their importance as
+ individuals. But King George III. was never satisfied with the repeal of
+ the Stamp Act of 1765. He declared that it had wounded the Majesty of
+ England. It fretted him, and the irritation that he felt extended like a
+ contagion to his cabinet. When the Earl of Chatham died, there was no
+ statesman to take his place. The mantle of his office fell on Charles
+ Townshend, who was more anxious to please the King than to secure good
+ government to the people of the Colonies. He was anxious for the British
+ Government to assert with vigor its right to govern the Colonies as it saw
+ fit.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile the spirit of independence in the Colonies continued to assert
+ itself more openly day by day, and the determination grew among them not
+ to submit to taxation without representation in Parliament. The
+ organization of Sons of Liberty and Liberty Boys grew and spread both
+ North and South. One of the most fruitful causes of discontent was the
+ fact that Georgia and the other Colonies were compelled to depend upon the
+ will of the British Government in all matters. Every act passed by a
+ colonial assembly must receive the sanction of the British Parliament
+ before it became a law. Petitions were disregarded. Frequently there was a
+ delay of two years between the passage of an act by the Colonial General
+ Assembly and its ratification. But every measure had to receive the
+ approval of the Crown. While the affairs of the country were in this
+ peculiar condition, the people became more and more dissatisfied.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is now known that Governor James Wright, loyal to the King as he proved
+ himself to be, was fully sensible of the injustice to which the Colonies
+ were compelled to submit. On the 15th of August, 1769, he addressed a
+ letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, which was not read until fifteen
+ months after it was written. In this letter the governor warned the
+ British cabinet that the Colonies would never submit to taxation without
+ representation. There was no disaffection, he said, toward the King or the
+ royal family, but simply a determination on the part of the people to
+ stand on their rights. But the governor's letter lay unread for fifteen
+ months, and there was no reply to the numerous petitions sent from the
+ Colonies. At last the Americans determined to appeal to the pockets
+ instead of to the sentiments of the people of Great Britain. They
+ determined to import no goods whatever that could be manufactured or
+ produced at home.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This determination, instead of causing the British people to conciliate
+ the Americans by securing the repeal of unfriendly laws, turned the
+ popular opinion against the Colonies; and this feeling was intensified by
+ the Boston Tea Party. A bill was passed by both Houses of the British
+ Parliament to close the port of Boston, and the discussion of the measure
+ gave an opportunity to some of the statesmen of the mother country to show
+ their spite. Another law was passed, limiting and cutting down the power
+ of the representative assembly of Massachusetts, and providing that town
+ meetings should not be held except on permission in writing from the royal
+ governor. Another act was passed, giving the governor of the Province the
+ power to send to Great Britain or to other Colonies persons indicted for
+ murder or charged with capital crimes committed in aiding the government
+ of Massachusetts. These acts, intended to humiliate the Colonies, had the
+ effect of inflaming them, and the Liberty Boys grew in numbers and
+ determination.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0007" id="linkimage-0007">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figleft" style="width:32%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/055.jpg" alt="Tondee's Tavern 055 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ On the 20th of July, 1774, "The Georgia Gazette," published at Savannah,
+ contained an invitation to the people of the Province to meet at Tondee's
+ Tavern on the 27th of July to take into consideration the unjust laws that
+ had been passed by the British Parliament. The cause of Massachusetts was
+ the cause of all. The meeting was held, and stood adjourned to the 10th of
+ August, in order to give all the parishes an opportunity to be represented
+ by delegates. Governor Wright, loyal to the last, issued a proclamation
+ warning the people of the Province to avoid attending the meeting; but the
+ proclamation was disregarded, and a meeting of the people of the Province
+ was held at Tondee's Tavern on the 10th of August, 1774. Resolutions were
+ adopted, declaring that his Majesty's subjects in America owed the same
+ allegiance, and were entitled to the same rights and privileges, as their
+ fellow-subjects in Great Britain; that the act lately passed for
+ blockading the port of Boston was contrary to the British constitution;
+ that the act for abolishing the charter of Massachusetts Bay tended to the
+ subversion of American rights; that the Parliament of Great Britain had
+ not, nor ever had, the right to tax his Majesty's American subjects; and
+ that every demand for the support of government should be by requisition
+ made to the several houses of representatives. The resolutions covered all
+ the grievances of the people of the Colonies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile, Governor Wright was not idle. He called a convention of
+ Royalists, which met, and signed a protest against the resolutions. Copies
+ of this protest were made, and sent into all the parishes, by the
+ governor's friends. Under pressure, many timid men who were really in
+ sympathy with the Liberty Boys signed the protest. The signatures of dead
+ men were used, and other frauds practiced, in order to make the
+ demonstration in favor of the King sufficient to overawe those who had
+ pledged themselves to American independence. In all this, Governor Wright
+ was aided by the fact that the only newspaper in the Province, "The
+ Georgia Gazette," was under his control. He was also aided by the
+ geographical situation of Georgia, and by his own personal popularity. He
+ had made a good governor. He had worked as hard for the prosperity and
+ progress of the Province as he now worked to prevent the people from
+ joining the movement for independence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The governor was successful to the extent that he was able to prevent
+ Georgia from sending duly accredited representatives to the First
+ Continental Congress; and this fact has been taken by some writers of
+ history to mean that the spirit of liberty and independence was not as
+ earnest and as enthusiastic in Georgia as in the other Provinces. Later,
+ when Georgia was overrun by British and Tory influences, and appeared to
+ be conquered, ill-natured critics recalled the fact that her people were
+ slow to join hands with those who advocated resistance to tyranny.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the South Carolina delegates to the First Continental Congress
+ returned to their homes, bearing with them copies of the Declaration of
+ Colonial Rights, the Liberty Boys of Georgia renewed their movement with
+ great zeal. Copies of the Declaration were distributed throughout the
+ Province. The result was, that the Liberty Boys grew steadily stronger in
+ numbers, and more defiant in action. An idea of the situation at this time
+ may be gathered from a letter written by Governor Wright to the Earl of
+ Dartmouth on the 13th of December, 1774. He declared that the spirit of
+ independence, or, as he called it, the spirit of enthusiasm, which many
+ were possessed of before, "is raised to such a height of frenzy, that God
+ knows what the consequences may be, or what man or whose property may
+ escape their resentment."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ No doubt the amiable governor misunderstood the situation. What he
+ regarded as "frenzy" was merely the eager desire and the determination of
+ the Liberty Boys of Georgia to redeem themselves in the eyes of their
+ brethren in the other Colonies. They were humiliated by their failure to
+ send representatives to the Continental Congress, and they endeavored to
+ redeem themselves by increased zeal and enthusiasm.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They arranged to hold a provincial congress in Savannah on the 18th of
+ January, 1775. Governor Wright, on hearing of this, determined to convene
+ the Provincial General Assembly on the same day, hoping and believing that
+ this would prevent a meeting of the Provincial Congress, or greatly hamper
+ its action. But the governor was mistaken. The General Assembly met in
+ response to the call, and so did the Provincial Congress. Governor Wright
+ addressed the members, declaring to them the danger of the situation, and
+ imploring them to be prudent and loyal. The upper house of the General
+ Assembly made a response agreeable to the governor's expectations, but the
+ lower house gave to its address a tone of independence that was not at all
+ pleasing to the King's officer. He showed his displeasure, and placed a
+ serious obstacle in the way of the Liberty Boys by adjourning the General
+ Assembly until the 9th of the following May. The Assembly had met on the
+ 18th of January, and was adjourned on the 10th of February; so that the
+ Liberty Boys, who made up a majority of the lower house, had no time to
+ appoint delegates to the Philadelphia congress soon to be held, nor to
+ take any official action in behalf of the independence of Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor Wright's plans were certainly very shrewdly laid. His adjournment
+ of the General Assembly not only hampered the Provincial Congress (or
+ convention) that had met at Savannah simultaneously with the legislature,
+ but threw the delegates into confusion and disorder, and was the means of
+ causing the convention to adjourn without taking such action as the
+ friends of liberty hoped for. All that it did was to elect three
+ representatives to the Philadelphia congress. This was something, but it
+ was not enough. The Liberty Boys expected the Provincial Convention to
+ adopt all the measures and resolutions suggested by the Continental
+ Congress. They therefore felt mortified when the convention adjourned, and
+ left Georgia still outside the continental association.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This event was a serious embarrassment to the other Colonies, and aroused
+ the anger of those friends of liberty who were unable to understand the
+ peculiar conditions that surrounded the movement for independence in
+ Georgia. The friends of liberty in South Carolina were so indignant, that
+ they denounced the Georgians "as unworthy the rights of freemen, and as
+ inimical to the liberties of their country." Throughout the Colonies, the
+ partisans of American independence were deeply wounded by the apparent
+ hesitation of the Georgians, while the Royalists were delighted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Though the Provincial Convention remained in session only seven days
+ before adjourning, the delegates of St. John's Parish had withdrawn from
+ the body. These delegates insisted on an emphatic indorsement of the acts
+ of the Continental Congress, and they retired as soon as they found there
+ would be some difficulty in bringing some of the hesitating members to
+ their way of thinking. They retired, and selected Dr. Lyman Hall to
+ represent St. John's in the Philadelphia congress. He took his seat in
+ that body, and although he cast no vote, he made his voice heard in the
+ discussions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In spite of all the drawbacks which the Liberty Boys in Georgia had
+ experienced, their enthusiasm did not cool. They never ceased their
+ efforts, and the independence movement continued to grow. The public mind
+ became more and more inflamed with resentment against the tyranny of King
+ George and his Parliament, as the people heard of the progress of events
+ in the more northern Colonies. By the 10th of May the people of Savannah
+ had heard of the shedding of American blood by British troops at Lexington
+ and Concord. As the news spread from parish to parish, the people became
+ aroused, and the response of public sentiment was all that American
+ patriots could expect.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0008" id="linkimage-0008">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figright" style="width:32%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/060.jpg"
+ alt="Seisure of Ammunition in Savannah 060 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ The first response of the Liberty Boys at Savannah was to seize the
+ ammunition stored in the magazine. This event occurred on the night of the
+ 11th of May, and was planned and carried out by the members of the Council
+ of Safety. About six hundred pounds of powder fell into the hands of the
+ Liberty Boys. Some was sent to South Carolina, and the rest was hidden in
+ the garrets and cellars of the patriots who had seized it. Tradition says
+ that some of this powder was sent to Massachusetts, where it was used by
+ the patriots who drove the British before them at the battle of Bunker
+ Hill.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Other events occurred that showed the temper of the Liberty Boys. On the
+ 4th of June, when Governor Wright came to fire salutes in honor of King
+ George's birthday, he found the cannon had been spiked, dismounted, and
+ rolled to the bottom of the bluff. On the 5th of June the first liberty
+ pole in the Colony was set up at Savannah. A young man named Hopkins, who
+ spoke contemptuously of the members of the Committee of Public Safety was
+ seized by a mob, tarred and feathered, placed in an illuminated cart, and
+ paraded up and down the streets of Savannah.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As the days went by, the independence movement in Georgia became more
+ enthusiastic, the Liberty Boys more active. The first vessel armed and
+ equipped for naval warfare during the Revolution was fitted up by the
+ Liberty Boys of Georgia under the authority of the Provincial Convention,
+ which had assembled in Savannah on the 4th of July, 1775. This event is
+ interesting. The Carolina Committee of Safety had heard that a British
+ ship had sailed for Georgia with a cargo of powder intended for the
+ Indians and for the use of the Royalists. The Carolinians at once resolved
+ to capture the ship and seize the cargo. To that end, two barges, manned
+ by forty well-armed men, were embarked from Beaufort, and went to the
+ mouth of the Savannah River, where they encamped on a point that commanded
+ a full view of Tybee Lighthouse. The Provincial Convention, hearing of
+ this expedition, offered to assist the officers in every way possible.
+ There was an armed British schooner in the river at that time; and the
+ Liberty Boys of Savannah determined to join forces with the Carolinians at
+ Tybee, and effect her capture. For this purpose a schooner was equipped by
+ the Provincial Convention, and placed under command of Captain Bowen and
+ Joseph Habersham. This vessel was armed with ten carriage guns and
+ swivels, and carried fifty men. The British armed vessel was not inclined
+ to enter into a contest, but, when the Georgia schooner appeared, weighed
+ anchor and sailed away. The schooner then took position beyond the harbor
+ bar, and waited for the ship carrying the cargo of powder. She had not
+ long to wait. On the 10th of July, 1775, the powder ship, commanded by
+ Captain Maitland, made her appearance. Before entering Tybee Inlet,
+ however, Captain Maitland saw the armed schooner. Suspecting that he was
+ about to fall into a trap, he brought his vessel round, tacked, and stood
+ out to sea. But he had gone too far. The Georgia schooner gave chase, and
+ soon overtook and captured the ship. It was a fortunate capture for the
+ Colonies. Five thousand pounds of powder were sent to Philadelphia, and
+ nine thousand fell to the share of Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The convention that commissioned the first armed vessel of the Revolution
+ did more important work than this. It placed the Province of Georgia in
+ political union with her sister Colonies, and gave her fellowship with
+ those struggling Provinces. She was welcomed into the United Colonies with
+ joyful demonstrations by the Continental Congress. By the 15th of April,
+ 1776, the Liberty Boys in Georgia were so strong that Governor Wright had
+ taken refuge on one of the King's vessels at Tybee; and on that date the
+ patriots took full charge of the government of the Province. Archibald
+ Bulloch was the first republican president of Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This is how the Liberty Boys took the Province of Georgia from his Majesty
+ the King, and made a free and independent government. Their struggle did
+ not end here, but the details of that struggle must be left to history to
+ relate.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ A GROUP OF CHARACTERS
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ The Revolutionary War in Georgia developed some very romantic figures,
+ which are known to us rather by tradition than by recorded history. First
+ among them, on the side of the patriots, was Robert Sallette. Neither
+ history nor tradition gives us the place of his birth or the date of his
+ death; yet it is known that he played a more important part in the
+ struggle in the Colony than any man who had no troops at his command. He
+ seems to have slipped mysteriously on the scene at the beginning of the
+ war. He fought bravely, even fiercely, to the end, and then, having
+ nothing else to do, slipped away as mysteriously as he came. "In Liberty
+ County," says history, "there lived during the Revolution a man by the
+ name of Robert Sallette, distinguished for his opposition to the Tories.
+ It is not known with certainty to what particular command he was attached.
+ He appears to have been a sort of roving character, doing things in his
+ own way." Here is the mystery of romance to begin with. Here is the
+ wanderer,&mdash;the character so dear to the imagination of youth.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The Tories," says history further, "stood very much in dread of him; and
+ well they might, for never had they a more, formidable foe." Here, then,
+ is the hero and the wanderer combined in one person, and that person
+ fighting for the holiest cause in which man can take up arms,&mdash;the
+ rights and liberties of the people. What more could be asked?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Curious as we may be to know something of the personal history of Robert
+ Sallette, it is not to be found chronicled in the books. The French twist
+ to his name makes it probable that he was a descendant of those
+ unfortunate Acadians who, years before, had been stripped of their lands
+ and possessions in Nova Scotia by the British, their houses and barns
+ burned, and they themselves transported away from their homes. They were
+ scattered at various points along the American coast. Some were landed at
+ Philadelphia, and some were carried to Louisiana. Four hundred were sent
+ to Georgia. The British had many acts of cruelty to answer for in those
+ days, but none more infamous than this treatment of the gentle and
+ helpless Acadians. It stands in history to-day a stain upon the British
+ name.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Another fact that leads to the belief that Robert Sallette was a
+ descendant of the unfortunate Acadians was the ferocity with which he
+ pursued the British and the Tories. The little that is told about him
+ makes it certain that he never gave quarter to the enemies of his country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ His name was a terror to the Tories. One of them, a man of considerable
+ means, offered a reward of one hundred guineas to any person who would
+ bring him the head of Robert Sallette. The Tory had never seen Sallette,
+ but his alarm was such that he offered a reward large enough to tempt some
+ one to assassinate the daring partisan. When Sallette heard of the reward,
+ he disguised himself as a farmer, and provided himself with a pumpkin,
+ which he placed in a bag. With the bag swinging across his shoulder, he
+ made his way to the house of the Tory. He was invited in, and deposited
+ the bag on the floor beside him, the pumpkin striking the boards with a
+ thump.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0009" id="linkimage-0009">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figleft" style="width:32%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/066.jpg"
+ alt="The Head of Robert Sallette 066 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ "I have brought you the head of Robert Sallette," said he. "I hear that
+ you have offered a reward of one hundred guineas for it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Where is it?" asked the Tory.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have it with me," replied Sallette, shaking the loose end of the bag.
+ "Count me out the money and take the head."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Tory, neither doubting nor suspecting, counted out the money, and
+ placed it on the table.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now show me the head," said he.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Sallette removed his hat, tapped himself on the forehead, and said, "Here
+ is the head of Robert Sallette!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Tory was so frightened that he jumped from the room, and Sallette
+ pocketed the money and departed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On one occasion Robert Sallette is known to have spared the lives of two
+ Tories, at least for a little while. Once when he and Andrew Walthour (for
+ whom Walthourville in Georgia is named) and another man were riding along
+ a narrow trail late in the afternoon, they met three other riders whom
+ they suspected to be Tories. The plan that Sallette and his companions
+ adopted to capture the men was very simple. Andrew Walthour, who was
+ riding in front, was to pass the first and second men, Robert Sallette to
+ pass the first. As Walthour came to the third man when Sallette had come
+ to the second, and their companion to the first, the Liberty Boys seized
+ the guns of the three simultaneously. The men had no opportunity either to
+ fight or escape.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Dismount, gentlemen!" said Sallette. Then he addressed himself to the
+ leader. "What is your name?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In reply to this, a fictitious name was given, as Sallette and his
+ companions afterwards found out.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Where is your camp?" asked Sallette.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We are from over the river," answered the man, meaning the Altamaha.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Where did you cross?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "At Beards Ferry." This was where the Whigs and the Liberty Boys were most
+ numerous.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That is not true!" exclaimed Sallette.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Then he turned to the second man, asked the same questions, and received
+ the same replies. He turned to the third man, asked the same questions,
+ and received the same replies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If you do not tell me the truth," exclaimed Sallette to this last man,
+ "I'll cut off your head!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The man persisted, and Sallette was as good as his word. The others begged
+ for their lives, and declared that they would guide Sallette straight to
+ their camp. This they did; and Sallette, aided by his prisoners, captured
+ a large party of Tories.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Once when Robert Sallette and Andrew Walthour were marching with the
+ advance guard of the American troops, they suddenly met the advance guard
+ of the British. A short but sharp skirmish followed, during which a very
+ large man of the British guard was killed. Observing that the dead man
+ wore a pair of good boots, Sallette determined to get them. While he was
+ pulling them off in the midst of a furious fire from the enemy, his
+ companions called out to him to come away or he would surely be killed. "I
+ must have the boots!" cried Sallette to his companions. "I want them for
+ little John Way!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Here was fun in the midst of tragedy; for it is said that little John Way
+ could have put both his feet and his fists into one of the boots.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ One day Sallette dressed himself up as a British officer and accepted an
+ invitation to dine with a party of the enemy. Suddenly, in the midst of
+ the toasting and drinking, Sallette drew his sword, killed the men who sat
+ to the right and left of him, sprang on his horse, and rode off unhurt,
+ though he was in such a hurry that he had no time to throw the bridle
+ reins over the horse's head.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the White House, near Sunbury, Major Baker, of the patriot army, with
+ thirty men, attacked and defeated a party of Tories under command of
+ Captain Goldsmith.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Among the slain was Lieutenant Gray, whose head was almost severed from
+ his body by a stroke of Robert Sallette's sword.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On many occasions, when a battle was in progress, Sallette would detach
+ himself from the American army, gain the rear of the enemy, and kill many
+ men before he was discovered. If this brave man was indeed a descendant of
+ the Acadians, he avenged the wrongs of many of his countrymen.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Another character who attracted attention during the War of the Revolution
+ was Patrick Carr, whose hatred of the Tories made his name celebrated
+ among the Liberty Boys of Georgia. Paddy Carr, as he was called, lived and
+ died in Jefferson County. He was born in Ireland, but came to Georgia
+ before the Revolution. When the independence movement began, he threw
+ himself into it with all the ardor of his race. Owing to the cruelty of
+ the Tories, he conceived a special hatred against them. He showed them no
+ quarter. History gives but a word or two to his achievements, but
+ tradition still keeps his name alive in the region where he operated. Like
+ Sallette, he was an independent partisan; but, unlike Sallette, his
+ operations were among those who could remember well enough, but who would
+ not take the trouble to preserve the particulars of even the least of his
+ exploits. We know that Patrick Carr lived. We know that he became famous
+ where recklessness and daring were common. But that is nearly all we know.
+ It is said of him that during the war he killed one hundred Tories with
+ his own hands. Once, when praised for his bravery, he smiled and shook his
+ head, saying that he would have made a very good soldier, but the Lord had
+ given him a heart that was too merciful. He no doubt remembered the
+ atrocities of the Tories in the section that is now Jefferson, Columbia,
+ Burke, and Wilkes counties. The cruelties they committed in that region
+ during the Revolution have no parallel in civilized warfare.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Among the adventurous characters of that time, on the side of the British,
+ Daniel McGirth stands easily first. The history of his career during the
+ war is a strange one. He was born in South Carolina, and entered into the
+ struggle against the British with the utmost enthusiasm. He was a brave
+ man, a hard fighter, and one of the most active of those who took up arms
+ against the King. He was an expert woodsman, and was at home in the
+ saddle. He was assigned to duty as a scout, and was better equipped for
+ that service, perhaps, than any man in the American army. The ease with
+ which he secured information of the enemy's movements and plans, and the
+ energy that marked his movements, made his services of great value to the
+ patriot cause. This was not thoroughly appreciated by some of the officers
+ under whom McGirth acted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He brought with him into the army a mare which he called "The Gray Goose."
+ She is said to have been an elegant animal, and McGirth was very proud of
+ her. With this mare under him, he always felt safe from pursuit. One of
+ the American officers, who was a good judge of horseflesh, and who
+ probably wanted to "cut a dash," as the saying is, saw this beautiful
+ mare, and coveted her. Finding that McGirth scorned all offers to sell
+ her, the officer adopted various means to obtain her. These efforts were
+ resisted by McGirth, mainly on the ground that the mare was his own
+ private property, and that she was essential to the duties he was called
+ on to perform. Failing to gain his ends in this way, the officer continued
+ to worry McGirth in other ways. He no doubt did something to rouse the ire
+ of the scout, who was an irritable man, and who felt the importance of the
+ service he was rendering to the cause. It is not now known how McGirth
+ insulted the officer,&mdash;whether in a moment of passion he struck him,
+ or whether he merely used rough language to him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Whatever the offense, McGirth was placed under arrest, tried by a
+ court-martial, found guilty of violating the articles of war, and
+ sentenced to be whipped. He received this punishment, and was placed in
+ confinement again, where he was to remain until he received another
+ whipping. While thus held, he saw his mare picketed near the camp, and he
+ immediately resolved to escape. He was successful in this. Once free, he
+ secured The Gray Goose, leaped into the saddle, turned around, and, in the
+ face of his pursuers, pronounced threats of vengeance against all the
+ Americans for his ill treatment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There is no doubt that he was illtreated; but if he had not been an
+ ignorant man, he would not have pronounced against the cause of liberty on
+ account of the treatment he received at the hands of individuals. But the
+ savage in his nature was aroused, and he carried out his fierce threats to
+ the fullest extent. For the time being, he attached himself to another
+ American command; but at the first opportunity he deserted to the enemy,
+ and became the scourge and terror of those who opposed the British cause.
+ He spared none. His field extended from the Florida line to the Savannah
+ River, in what is now Elbert County, and far into South Carolina. He
+ appeared when least expected, and carried destruction with him. His mare
+ became as noted as her master. In what was then Upper Georgia, she was
+ known as "The Bald-faced Pony." On many an occasion he owed his life to
+ the fleetness of his mare. But his vengeance was never satisfied: it was
+ always active, and thirsting for the blood of the American patriot. The
+ whim of the officer to possess McGirth's mare was a foolish one at best.
+ It was the cause of great public and private suffering.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0010" id="linkimage-0010">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figright" style="width:32%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/072.jpg" alt="Mcgirth and his Mare 072 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ When South Carolina was rescued from the British, McGirth retreated into
+ Georgia, and finally into Florida. When the Spaniards regained possession
+ of that territory, he became subject to their laws. For some reason or
+ other he was thrown into one of the dungeons of the old fort at St.
+ Augustine, where he was confined for five years. When released, his health
+ was broken, and it was with great difficulty that he managed to return to
+ Sumter District, in South Carolina, where his wife lived.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A very queer and eccentric character in the Revolution was Captain Rory
+ Mcintosh, of Mallow. Though Rory was a kinsman of General Lachlan and
+ Colonel John Mcintosh, who were among the most active Liberty Boys in
+ Georgia, he took up arms for the King, and a very devoted Tory he was. His
+ eccentricities would have been called whims if he had not stuck to them
+ with such constancy. He was a Highlander and a follower of the Stuarts.
+ How and why he became loyal to the new line of British kings, history does
+ not state; but his clan had a chief, and he no doubt thought that every
+ government ought to have a monarch. When the Revolution began, he was over
+ sixty years of age, and was living comfortably on his plantation at
+ Mallow; but he volunteered, and fought through the war.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A story is told of Rory Mcintosh that once when the Spaniards held East
+ Florida, he carried to St Augustine a drove of cattle. He received payment
+ in dollars, which he placed in a canvas bag behind him on his horse. When
+ near his home, the bag gave way, and a part of the money fell out. He
+ secured what was left and rode on, paying no attention to that which had
+ fallen from the bag. When in need of money some years after, he returned
+ to the place where the dollars had spilled, picked up as many as he
+ wanted, and went back home. Whenever he could, he went about accompanied
+ by a piper. Rory was a tall, finely formed man,'with bristling whiskers
+ and a ruddy complexion: consequently when he appeared on parade, he
+ attracted great attention.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0011" id="linkimage-0011">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figleft" style="width:33%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/074.jpg" alt="Captain Rory Mcintosh 074 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ In 1778 two expeditions were sent from St. Augustine for the purpose of
+ attacking Savannah,&mdash;one by sea, and one by land under command of
+ Lieutenant Colonel Prevost. This land expedition had been joined by
+ Captain Roderick Mcintosh, in the capacity of a volunteer. He attached
+ himself particularly to the infantry company commanded by Captain Murray.
+ When the British laid siege to Sunbury and the fort, Captain Murray's
+ company was in the line near the fort. One morning when Captain Rory had
+ had a dram too much, he determined to sally out and summon the fort to
+ surrender. His comrades tried to restrain him, but he was determined.
+ Finally he strutted out, a drawn claymore in his hand, with his trusty
+ slave Jim. He approached the fort and cried out,&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Surrender, you miscreants! How dare you presume to resist his Majesty's
+ arms?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Colonel Mcintosh, who commanded the fort, saw at once the condition of
+ Captain Rory, and forbade the men to fire. Then he threw open the gate,
+ and said,&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Walk in, Mr. Mcintosh, and take possession."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No," cried Rory, "I'll not trust myself among such vermin. I order you to
+ surrender!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At that moment a rifle was fired by some one in the fort, and the ball
+ passed through Captain Rory's face from side to side under the eyes. He
+ fell backwards, but immediately recovered, and stood on his feet
+ flourishing his claymore. Then he began to walk backward, his face to the
+ fort. Several shots were fired at him, and Jim called out,&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Run, massa, run! dey kill you!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Run!" cried Rory scornfully. "You may run, but I belong to a race that
+ never runs!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was at the siege of Sunbury that Colonel Mcintosh, when summoned by
+ Colonel Prevost to surrender the fort, sent back the reply, "Come and take
+ it!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ AUNT NANCY HART.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ There lived in Georgia, during the Revolutionary struggle, the most
+ remarkable woman in some respects that the country has produced. To find
+ her match, we shall have to go to the fables that are told about the
+ Amazons. The Liberty Boys called her Aunt Nancy Hart. The Indians, struck
+ by her wonderful feats in behalf of her country, called her "The War
+ Woman;" and there is a creek in Elbert County, where she lived, that was
+ named by the Indians "War Woman's Creek."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There are other heroines to whom history has paid more attention, and
+ whose deeds have been celebrated in song and story; but not one of them
+ was more devoted to the high cause of freedom, or more courageous, or
+ depended less on aid from others, than Aunt Nancy Hart. In this last
+ respect, the War Woman of Georgia stands alone in history, just as she
+ stood alone when the Tories were waging a war of extermination, sparing
+ neither women nor children, in the region in which she lived. Invention
+ and fable have kindly come to the aid of the most famous of the world's
+ heroines, but neither fable nor invention has touched the character or the
+ deeds of this heroine of the Revolution. She stands out on the pages of
+ history rough, uncouth, hot-tempered, unmanageable, uneducated, impolite,
+ ugly, and sharp-tongued; but, as her friends said of her, "What a honey of
+ a patriot she was!" She loved the Liberty Boys as well as she loved her
+ own children. It has been said that she was cruel; but this charge may as
+ well be put out of sight. Before passing upon it, we should have to know
+ what the War Woman's eyes had seen, and what terrible revelations her ears
+ had heard. Standing for American independence in a region that swarmed
+ with Tories, whose murderous deeds never have been and never will be fully
+ set forth, Aunt Nancy Hart had to defend her own hearthstone and her own
+ children.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The maiden name of this remarkable woman was Morgan, and she was born in
+ North Carolina. She married Benjamin Hart, a brother of Colonel Thomas
+ Hart of Kentucky. Thomas Hart was the father of the wife of Henry Clay,
+ and the uncle of the celebrated Thomas Hart Benton. Aunt Nancy and her
+ husband moved to Georgia with the North Carolina emigrants, and settled on
+ Broad River, in what is now Elbert County. She was nearly six feet high,
+ and very muscular,&mdash;the result of hard work. She had red hair, and it
+ is said that she was cross-eyed, but this has been denied on good
+ authority. It matters little. Her eyes were keen enough to pierce through
+ all Tory disguises, and that was enough for her. It is certain that her
+ courage and her confidence kept alive the spark of liberty in hearts that
+ would otherwise have smothered it, and was largely responsible for
+ kindling it into the flame that finally swept the British out of that
+ section, and subdued the Tories. When the Whigs and patriots who had been
+ her neighbors were compelled to flee before the murderous Tories, she
+ refused to go with them, but stood her ground and never ceased to speak
+ her sentiments boldly. Nothing but the wholesome dread with which she had
+ inspired them prevented the Tories from murdering her and her children.
+ When General Elijah Clarke moved the women and children of the Broad River
+ region to an asylum in Kentucky, and the Liberty Boys had taken refuge in
+ South Carolina, Aunt Nancy Hart remained at home, and for a long and
+ dismal period she was unprotected save by her own remarkable courage.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At that period the houses were built of logs, and the chimneys were built
+ of sticks plastered with clay. They were called "stack chimneys." One
+ evening Aunt Nancy and her children were sitting around the fire, on which
+ a pot of soap was boiling. Now, a pot of soap must be constantly stirred,
+ and for this the strong, muscular arms of Aunt Nancy were peculiarly
+ fitted. So she stirred the soap, and, as she stirred, told the youngsters
+ the latest news of the war. Presently one of her children chanced to
+ discover some one peeping through the crack of the chimney, eavesdropping.
+ By a gesture or a nod of the head Aunt Nancy was informed of what was
+ going on. She smiled, and grew more spirited in her talk, rattling away
+ and laughing as she gave exaggerated accounts of the recent defeats of the
+ Tories. As she talked, she stirred the bubbling soap, and kept her keen
+ eyes on the crack where the eavesdropper had been seen. Suddenly she
+ dashed a ladleful of boiling soap through the crack full into the face of
+ the intruder. It was so quickly and deftly done, that the eavesdropper had
+ no time to dodge the scalding stuff. He received the full benefit of it
+ Blinded and half crazed by the pain, he howled and screamed at a
+ tremendous rate. Aunt Nancy went out, and, after amusing herself at his
+ expense, bound him fast and held him prisoner. The probability is that the
+ next day she H tucked up her petticoats, shouldered her gun, and compelled
+ the unlucky Tory to ford the river ahead of her; and that, once on the
+ other side, she kept in constant communication with the Clarkes and with
+ other partisans of the American cause.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0012" id="linkimage-0012">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figright" style="width:25%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/079.jpg" alt="Aunt Nancy Hart 079 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ Her husband, whom she sometimes jokingly described as "a poor stick,"
+ assisted her in her communications. A conch shell was kept at the spring,
+ some distance from the house. On this conch shell the children were taught
+ to blow the blasts that gave Mr. Hart information. One signal was, "The
+ enemy is at hand;" another was, "Keep close;" another, "Make tracks for
+ the swamp;" and still another was that he and his friends were wanted at
+ the cabin.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the very darkest hour of the Revolution in Georgia, Aunt Nancy
+ performed one of her most remarkable feats,&mdash;one that brought into
+ play all the courage and devotion of her strong nature, and all the tact
+ and audacity that belonged to her character.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Brigadier General Andrew Williamson, with three hundred men, was encamped
+ near Augusta. When Charleston fell, this officer, who was already a
+ traitor, though his treachery had not been avowed, called his officers
+ together, and expressed the opinion that it would be foolish to further
+ resist the King. He therefore advised them to return to their homes, and
+ there accept the protection which would be offered them. He then abandoned
+ his command, which was immediately disbanded. Shortly afterwards Colonels
+ Brown and Garrison, two partisans of the King's army who had made
+ themselves notorious by their cruelty to Americans, seized Augusta. Brown
+ had been tarred and feathered in Augusta just before the breaking-out of
+ the Revolution, and he made the patriots of that town and of the country
+ roundabout pay dearly for the indignities that had been heaped upon him on
+ account of his loyalty to the Crown. He confiscated the property of the
+ patriots, and issued an order banishing all Whig families beyond the
+ borders of Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Raiding parties were sent into the region in the neighborhood of Augusta
+ to compel the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance to the King. One
+ of these parties entered the house of Colonel John Dooly, a gallant
+ officer, and murdered him in cold blood in the presence of his wife and
+ children. Colonel Dooly was the father of Judge Dooly, who became famous
+ in Georgia after the war.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A detachment of this murdering party found its way to Aunt Nancy Hart's
+ cabin. There were five Tories in the detachment, and Aunt Nancy received
+ them coldly enough. They told her they had come to inquire into the truth
+ of a report they had heard to the effect that she had aided a well-known
+ rebel to escape from a company of King's men by whom he was pursued. With
+ a twinkle of malice in her eyes, Aunt Nancy boldly declared that she had
+ aided her Liberty Boy to escape, and then she described the affair.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ She said that one day she heard the gallop of a horse. Looking out, she
+ saw a horseman approaching, and at once knew him to be a Whig flying from
+ pursuers. She let down the bars near her cabin, told him to ride his horse
+ right through her house, in at the front door and out at the back, to take
+ to the swamp, and hide himself the best he could. She then put up the
+ bars, entered her house, closed the doors, and went about her business. In
+ a little while a party of Tories rode up, and called to her with some
+ rudeness. She muffled her head and face in a shawl, opened the door
+ slowly, and asked in a feeble voice who it was that wanted to pester a
+ sick, lone woman. The Tories said they had been pursuing a man, and had
+ traced him near her house. They wanted to know if any one had passed that
+ way. "I told 'em," said Aunt Nancy to the listening Tories, "that I had
+ seen a man on a sorrel horse turn out of the road into the woods a little
+ ways back. So they went back and took to the woods, and my Whig boy got
+ off safe and sound."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Naturally this story, boldly told, did not please the five Tories who
+ heard it; but something in the War Woman's eye prevented them from
+ offering her any personal injury. Instead, they ordered her to give them
+ something to eat.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I never feed King's men if I can help it," she replied. "The scamps have
+ fixed me so that I can't feed my own family in a decent manner. They have
+ run off with all my pigs and poultry except that old gobbler you see in
+ the yard there."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Well, you shall cook the old gobbler for us," exclaimed one who seemed to
+ be the leader of the party. Suiting the action to the word, he raised his
+ musket and shot the gobbler. One of his men brought it into the house and
+ gave it to Aunt Nancy, with orders to clean and cook it at once. This, of
+ course, made that stanch patriot very angry, and she gave the Tories a
+ violent tongue lashing.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is probable that while she was dressing the turkey for the pot, the
+ Tories let some hint drop about the outrageous murder of Colonel John
+ Dooly, who was a warm friend of Aunt Nancy's. At any rate, she suddenly
+ changed her tactics. She ceased to storm and quarrel, the scowl left her
+ face, and she soon seemed to be in high good humor. She went about getting
+ the meal ready with great good will. She sent her little girl to the
+ spring after water, but told her to sound on the conch shell the signal to
+ "keep close," so that her husband and his neighbors who were with him
+ might know there were Tories in the cabin.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While the daughter was gone after water, one of the Tories volunteered to
+ take her place in helping to get everything ready. Aunt Nancy accepted his
+ services, and joked with him with great freedom and familiarity. Like all
+ women of spirit and independence, Aunt Nancy possessed a considerable fund
+ of humor, and it stood her in good stead now. She contrived to thoroughly
+ interest the Tories, and it was not long before they were in the most
+ jovial frame of mind imaginable. They had expected to find a bad-tempered,
+ ill-conditioned woman; and they were agreeably surprised when they found,
+ instead, a woman who could match their rude jests, and make herself
+ thoroughly entertaining.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Tories had brought a jug with them, and they were so pleased with Aunt
+ Nancy's seeming friendliness that they invited her to drink with them.
+ "I'll take one swig with you," said Aunt Nancy, "if it kills every cow on
+ the Island," meaning a neck of land at the junction of river and creek
+ where the Whig families of the neighborhood pastured their cattle and hid
+ them. The Tories laughed and drank, and then they laughed and drank again.
+ They kept this up until the old gobbler had been cooked to Aunt Nancy's
+ satisfaction; and by the time they were ready to sit down to table they
+ were in a very merry mood indeed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They had stacked their arms within easy reach of where they had been
+ sitting and drinking; but Aunt Nancy had moved her table to the middle of
+ the floor, so as to be able to walk around it on all sides while waiting
+ on the Tories. In helping the men to the turkey and other eatables that
+ she had prepared, she frequently came between them and their muskets. The
+ Tories had hardly begun to eat before they called for water. Aunt Nancy,
+ expecting this, had used up in cooking all that had been brought:
+ consequently her daughter had to take the piggin and go to the spring
+ after a fresh supply. She went with instructions to signal her father, and
+ the neighbors who were with him, to come immediately to the cabin. While
+ her daughter was at the spring, Aunt Nancy managed to pull off one of the
+ boards that filled the space between the logs of the house, and through
+ this crack she slipped two of the muskets. She was slipping the third
+ through when her movements caught the eye of one of the Tories. Instantly
+ the men sprang to their feet, but Aunt Nancy was now in her element. Quick
+ as a flash she clapped the musket to her shoulder, and threatened to shoot
+ the first man that approached her. The men, knowing her reputation as a
+ fighter, and awed by her appearance, hesitated. At last one bolder than
+ the rest began to advance toward her. She fired promptly, and at the
+ report of the gun the man fell dead on the floor.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Before the others could recover from their consternation, Aunt Nancy had
+ seized another musket, and held it in readiness to fire again. Her
+ daughter had now returned from the spring with the information that her
+ father and his neighbors would soon arrive. Directed by her mother, the
+ girl took the remaining musket and carried it out of the house. The
+ Tories, seeing that no time was to be lost in recovering their arms,
+ proposed to rush upon Aunt Nancy in a body and overpower her. But the War
+ Woman was equal to the occasion. She fired again, and brought down another
+ Tory. As she did so, the daughter, acting on her orders, handed her
+ another musket. Then, taking position in the doorway, she called on the
+ men to "surrender their ugly Tory carcasses to a Whig woman."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0013" id="linkimage-0013">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/085.jpg" alt="Aunt Nancy Captures the Tories 085 "
+ width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ The Tories agreed to surrender, and wanted to shake hands to make the
+ bargain binding; but Aunt Nancy kept her position in the doorway until her
+ husband and his friends made their appearance. The Whigs wanted to shoot
+ the Tories; but Aunt Nancy, whose blood was up, declared that shooting was
+ too good for them. "They've murdered John Dooly," she exclaimed; "now let
+ them hang for it!" Thereupon the Tories were taken out and hanged. The
+ tree from which they swung was still standing as late as 1838, and was
+ often pointed out by old people who had lived through the troubled times
+ of the Revolution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ One day Aunt Nancy met a Tory going along the highway. She engaged him in
+ conversation, diverted his attention, and suddenly seized his gun and
+ wrenched it away from him. She then ordered him to take up the line of
+ march for a fort not far distant. Not daring to disobey, the man marched
+ before her, as many others had been compelled to do, and she turned him
+ over to the commander of the fort.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When Augusta was in the hands of the British, and their raiding parties
+ had been driven in by the Americans under Colonel Elijah Clarke, it became
+ necessary for that commander to get some positive information in regard to
+ the intentions of the British. At this juncture Aunt Nancy came to the
+ rescue. She disguised herself as a man, and went boldly into the British
+ camp. She remained there for several days, pretending to be crazy. In this
+ way she secured a great deal of important information, and made haste to
+ carry it to Colonel Clarke.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Aunt Nancy was once left in a fort with several other women and a number
+ of small children, her own among the rest. The men had gone out in search
+ of supplies. They had not expected an attack, and had left only one of
+ their number, a young man, to protect the women and children. Suddenly a
+ party of Tories and Indians made its appearance, and surrounded the fort,
+ which was nothing more than a stockade. The yelling of the savages threw
+ all the women and children into the utmost confusion,&mdash;all except
+ Aunt Nancy. That wonderful woman, who never knew what fear was, only
+ became more energetic in the face of danger. There was a small cannon in
+ the fort, but it was not in position to reach the enemy with its fire.
+ After trying her best to lift the cannon into position, Aunt Nancy
+ remembered the young man who had been left in the fort, and looked about
+ for him; but he was not to be seen. A close search discovered him hiding
+ under a cowhide. Aunt Nancy pulled him out by the heels, and vowed she
+ would make mince-meat of him unless he helped her to move the cannon. The
+ fellow knew perfectly well that Aunt Nancy was not to be trifled with when
+ her blood was up. He gave her the necessary assistance. She aimed the
+ cannon and fired it, and the Tories and savages promptly took to their
+ heels.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On another occasion when the river was high, it became necessary for the
+ Americans on the Georgia side to know what was going on on the Carolina
+ side; but no one could be induced to venture across. Hearing of the
+ difficulty, Aunt Nancy promptly undertook to go.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The freshet had swept away all the boats, but to Aunt Nancy this was a
+ trifling matter. She found a few logs, tied them together with grapevines,
+ and on this raft made the voyage across the river. She gathered the
+ necessary information, and made haste to communicate it to the Georgia
+ troops.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Aunt Nancy was the mother of eight children,&mdash;six sons and two
+ daughters. Her eldest daughter, Sally, married a man named Thompson, who
+ was as quicktempered as his mother-in-law. After the war, Aunt Nancy moved
+ to Brunswick. Sally and her husband followed a year or two later. In
+ passing through Burke County, they camped for the night by the roadside.
+ The next morning Thompson ordered a white man, who had been hired as a
+ teamster, to perform some duty. Thompson's tone was so peremptory that the
+ man returned an insolent answer, and refused. In a fit of rage, Thompson
+ drew his sword, and severed the man's head from his body with one swinging
+ stroke. He then drove the team himself until he came to the first house,
+ where he gave information that he had cut off a fellow's head at the camp
+ down the road, and that they "had best go and bury him." He then drove on,
+ but was overtaken, arrested, and lodged in jail at Waynesboro. As soon as
+ Aunt Nancy heard of the trouble, she made her appearance in the upcountry
+ again. Within a few days after her return, the jail was found open one
+ morning, and Thompson was gone. Speaking of this afterwards, Aunt Nancy
+ was heard to exclaim,&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Drat 'em! that's the way with 'em all. When they get into trouble, they
+ always send for me!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Not long after this episode, Mr. Benjamin Hart died. Aunt Nancy mourned
+ his loss for a while, and then married a young man. Then, as the saying
+ is, she "pulled up stakes," and moved to what is now the State of Alabama,
+ on the Tombigbee. There she had the French and the Spaniards for
+ neighbors, and she felt at home with neither race. She was bluntly,
+ emphatically, and unaffectedly American. To add to her troubles, a big
+ rain flooded the river, destroyed her crops, and surrounded her house.
+ This, with the French and Spaniards, was too much for her. She returned to
+ Georgia, but, finding her old home occupied by others, she settled in
+ Edgefield, S.C.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A Methodist society was formed in her neighborhood, and its influence
+ became so active that Aunt Nancy's conscience began to trouble her. She
+ listened to the preaching of the Word from a distance until she became
+ worried about her future state. She went to the meetinghouse, but found
+ the door closed against intruders. The deacon and members were holding a
+ class meeting. The closed door was no obstacle to Aunt Nancy. She cut the
+ fastening and walked in without ceremony. Once in, she found what she
+ wanted. She became an enthusiastic Methodist, and is said to have fought
+ Satan and sin as manfully as she fought the Tories and the British.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When Governor George R. Gilmer of Georgia was in Congress, in 1828-29, the
+ members were very anxious to attract the notice of General Jackson, who
+ had been elected President. A proposal was made to fill the vacant niches
+ in the rotunda with paintings descriptive of the battle of New Orleans and
+ the general's other victories. Governor Gilmer offered as an amendment a
+ resolution to fill one of the niches with a painting of Aunt Nancy Hart
+ wading Broad River, her petticoats held up with one hand, a musket in the
+ other, and driving three Tories before her, to deliver them up to Colonel
+ Elijah Clarke.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor Gilmer's proposition was a more sensible one than he intended it
+ to be. Georgia has perpetuated Aunt Nancy's name by calling a county after
+ her; but the Republic owes something to her memory.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ TWO SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ The pen of the historian is not always as impartial as it should be. It
+ has its spites and prejudices; and it frequently happens that the men who
+ wield the pen with which history is written, have their whims, their
+ likes, and their dislikes. It is certain that two of the hardest fighters
+ in the War for Independence&mdash;two of the most distinguished officers
+ that Georgia gave to the cause&mdash;have had tardy justice done to their
+ valor. The names of these men are General James Jackson and General Elijah
+ Clarke. The independence and the individuality of these men stand clearly
+ out in all the records that we have of them, and it is no doubt true that
+ these qualities made them to some degree unpopular with those who inspired
+ the early chroniclers of the Revolution in the South. Neither of these
+ officers was capable of currying favor with his superiors, or of doing
+ injustice to the humblest of his comrades. They were not seekers after the
+ bubble reputation, but had their minds and all their energies bent on
+ liberating Georgia and her sister Colonies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General James Jackson was born in the county of Devon, England. He came to
+ this country in 1772, landing at Savannah penniless and almost friendless.
+ He began the study of law; but when the Liberty Boys began their movement
+ for resisting British oppression, he placed his books on their shelves,
+ and gave himself entirely to the cause of the people. When only nineteen
+ years old, he was one of the volunteers that fired the British armed
+ vessels sent to attack Savannah by water, while Major Maitland and Major
+ Grant attacked it by land. The crews of these vessels were compelled to
+ escape without their clothes and arms. General Jackson served in the lower
+ part of Georgia until the fall of Savannah in 1778, when he and his friend
+ John Milledge made their way to the patriot troops, commanded by General
+ Moultrie. Such was the condition of these men, both of whom afterwards
+ became governors of Georgia, that they were compelled to make the greater
+ part of their journey barefoot and in rags. Their appearance was so much
+ against them that they were arrested as spies by some American soldiers,
+ and would have been hanged but for the timely arrival of a gentleman who
+ knew them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General Jackson was at the siege of Savannah, and, after the disastrous
+ result of that affair, returned to South Carolina. The victory of the
+ Americans at Blackstock's House, in South Carolina, was almost wholly due
+ to the Georgians who were there. Sumter commanded at the beginning of the
+ action, but a severe wound compelled him to retire from the field. The
+ command then devolved upon the oldest Georgia officer, General John
+ Twiggs, who was assisted by Jackson, Clarke, and Chandler. In this
+ engagement Tarleton, the famous leader of the British dragoons, was
+ defeated for the first time, and he was never able to recover the prestige
+ he had lost. Tarleton fled from the field, and Jackson was ordered to
+ pursue him. It was owing only to the fleetness of his horse that Tarleton
+ escaped.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0014" id="linkimage-0014">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figleft" style="width:31%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/093.jpg" alt="General James Jackson 093 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ At the battle of The Cow-pens, Jackson again distinguished himself. "Major
+ Jackson," says General Andrew Pickens, "by his example, and firm, active
+ conduct, did much to animate the soldiers and insure the success of the
+ day. He ran the utmost risk of his life in seizing the colors of the 71st
+ British Regiment, and afterwards introducing Major Mc-Arthur, commanding
+ officer of the British Infantry, as a prisoner of war to General Morgan."
+ His services brought him to the attention of General Greene, and he was
+ sent on a tour of difficult duty through North Carolina. He was so
+ successful in this, that the commanding general authorized him to raise a
+ partisan legion of infantry and cavalry for service in Georgia. By means
+ of his native eloquence, which was said to be almost irresistible, he
+ succeeded in raising the legion in a very short time. Wherever he
+ addressed the people, there were loud cries of "Liberty and Jackson
+ forever!" When his legion had been organized, he was appointed lieutenant
+ colonel. His dragoons were clothed and armed by themselves, with the
+ exception of their pistols. Their coats were made of dressed deerskins,
+ and faced with the little blue that could be procured.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Just before the siege of Augusta, Jackson was called upon to employ his
+ eloquence in preventing the militia from giving up in despair and
+ returning to their homes. These men were utterly worn out. Being ignorant
+ men, they could see no ray of hope. They lacked every necessary of life.
+ Jackson roused their drooping spirits, restored their hopes, and revived
+ their old-time enthusiasm. At the siege of Augusta these men fought
+ fiercely. Jackson himself led one of the advance parties. After the
+ surrender of the town, he was ordered to level the fortifications, and he
+ was appointed commandant. He was afterwards ordered to take position
+ midway between Augusta and Savannah. While he held this position, a
+ conspiracy was formed in the infantry to kill him in his bed. A soldier
+ named Davis, who waited in the commander's tent, suspected that something
+ was wrong. So he mingled among the men, and applied many harsh epithets to
+ Jackson. Thinking to make Davis useful to them, the conspirators told him
+ their plans, which he made haste to lay before his superior officer.
+ Shortly afterwards the infantry were drawn up in line, and the ringleaders
+ in the conspiracy arrested, tried, and executed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After the war the Legislature gave Davis a horse, saddle, and bridle, and
+ five hundred acres of land, as a reward for his fidelity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Jackson was with General Wayne in his Georgia campaign, and was intrusted
+ by him with many hazardous duties. When Savannah surrendered, General
+ Wayne issued an order in which he said, "Lieutenant Colonel Jackson, in
+ consideration of his severe and fatiguing service in the advance, is to
+ receive the key of Savannah, and is allowed to enter the western gate."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1786, Jackson was made brigadier general, and had command of the forces
+ operating against the Indians. Between 1788 and 1806 General Jackson held
+ almost every high office within the gift of the people of the State,&mdash;member
+ of the Legislature, governor when only thirty-one years old, member of the
+ first Congress held under the Federal Constitution, member of the State
+ Constitutional Convention, presidential elector, and United States
+ senator.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ With General Jackson in many of his engagements was General Elijah Clarke,
+ who in many respects was the most remarkable soldier that Georgia
+ contributed to the War for Independence. With fairer opportunities than he
+ had, he would have made a great commander. He had small knowledge of
+ tactics, but he had what is better,&mdash;the skill to take advantage of
+ quickly passing events, and the coolness that made him complete master of
+ all his resources. He was a man of the most striking characteristics, and
+ he came out of the war with many bitter enemies among those with whom he
+ came in contact. This feeling was perpetuated by the political campaigns
+ in which his son, John Clarke, took part after the war. A trace of this is
+ to be seen in the sketch which Governor Gilmer gives to Elijah Clarke in
+ his curious book entitled "Georgians." It is undoubtedly true that Elijah
+ Clarke was ignorant of what is called book knowledge, but he was not much
+ worse off in this respect than the famous Confederate General Forrest, who
+ is thought by some high military critics to have been the most remarkable
+ commander on the Southern side in the civil war. Elijah Clarke, as well as
+ General Forrest, had something that served them a better turn than a mere
+ knowledge of books. They had a thorough knowledge of men, and a quick eye
+ for the situations that follow each other so rapidly in a skirmish or
+ battle.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0015" id="linkimage-0015">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/097.jpg" alt="Elijah Clarke 097 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ Elijah Clarke was born in North Carolina, but moved to Georgia in 1774. He
+ was among the first of the inhabitants of Upper Georgia to take up the
+ cause of American independence; and his example, for he was a notable man
+ even in private life, did much to solidify and strengthen those who leaned
+ to that cause. When the British troops marched from the coast into Upper
+ Georgia, Elijah thought the time had come to take his gun from the rack
+ over the door, and make at least some show of resistance. His courage, and
+ the firmness and decision of his character, made him the natural leader of
+ those of his neighbors whose sympathies were with the Liberty Boys in
+ other parts of the State, and he soon found himself a commander without
+ commission or title. He cared less for these things than for the
+ principles of liberty for which he was fighting.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For a while Elijah Clarke and his followers fought as partisan rangers,
+ but he soon drew around him a compact and disciplined body of men who were
+ ready to go wherever he might lead them. He did not confine his efforts to
+ his new neighborhood We hear of him with Howe's ill-fated expedition
+ against East Florida, where, at Alligator Creek, he was asked to perform
+ the impossible feat of storming with a troop of horse a camp intrenched
+ behind logs and brushwood. He was no doubt amazed at the stupidity of
+ General Howe in issuing such an order, but he attempted to carry it out
+ with his usual courage. He did succeed in floundering over the logs with
+ his troops, but he came to a ditch that was too wide for his horses to
+ leap, and too deep to be ridden through. At this moment he and his men
+ were saluted with a heavy fire from the enemy, and they were compelled to
+ retire in confusion. In this attempt Elijah Clarke was shot through the
+ thigh. Later he was in South Carolina, at Blackstocks, and at The Cowpens.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In some quarters an effort has been made to blacken the reputation of
+ General Clarke by comparing his treatment of the Tories with the mild and
+ humane policy pursued by Francis Marion. There was, indeed, some
+ misunderstanding between the two men in regard to the methods that might
+ be adopted. The policy of Marion was undoubtedly the correct one, so far
+ as South Carolina was concerned; but if the Tories in that Province had
+ been guilty of the crimes committed by their brethren in Wilkes and the
+ surrounding region, General Marion's policy would not have been very
+ different from that of General Clarke. The Tories with whom Clarke was
+ familiar were guilty of murder, rapine, pillage, and incendiarism. The
+ Tories in South Carolina were kept under by the presence of Marion and his
+ men. Clarke went wherever his services were needed; and during his
+ absence, the Tories of the Broad River region were free to commit every
+ excess. Marion refused to leave the region where he made his name famous,
+ and thus kept the Tories in constant fear and dread.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Who shall say that Marion would not have been as ready to exterminate the
+ Tories as Clarke was, or that Clarke would not have been as humane as
+ Marion, if each of these distinguished patriots had been in the other's
+ place?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the battle of Kettle Creek, in what is now Wilkes County, Elijah Clarke
+ distinguished himself by his readiness and skill as a commander. The
+ Americans under Colonel Pickens were in pursuit of the British under
+ Colonel Boyd. Their line of march was the order of battle, and following
+ the vanguard came the right and left wings. The left wing was commanded by
+ Elijah Clarke. The center was led by Colonel Pickens, who was in command
+ of the expedition. Colonel Boyd, the British commander, appeared to be
+ unconscious of pursuit. He had halted on a farm on the north side of
+ Kettle Creek. His horses were left to forage on the young cane that grew
+ on the edge of the swamp; and his men were slaying cattle and parching
+ corn, preparing for a feast after their short rations. The British
+ encampment was formed near the creek, on a piece of open ground flanked on
+ two sides by a canebrake. Colonel Boyd was in utter ignorance of the
+ approach of the Americans, who advanced at once to the attack. The British
+ colonel formed his line in the rear of his encampment, and there received
+ the assault. The battle was hotly contested for more than an hour, and
+ then the Tories retreated through the swamp.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Elijah Clarke, seeing a piece of rising ground on the farther side of the
+ creek, on which he suspected the Loyalists would try to form, ordered the
+ left wing to follow him, and was about to cross the stream when his horse
+ was shot under him. Mounting another, he soon crossed the creek, followed
+ by not more than a fourth of his division. There had been some mistake in
+ sending the order along the line. Clarke gained the hill that had
+ attracted his eye just in time to attack Major Spurgen, a brave British
+ officer, who was forming his command. The firing attracted the notice of
+ the rest of Clarke's division, and they soon joined their leader. Pickens
+ and Dooly also pressed through the swamp, and the battle was renewed with
+ great vigor. For a while the result was in doubt, but at the end the
+ Americans held the hill. The Tories fled in all directions, leaving
+ seventy dead on the field, and seventy-five wounded and captured. Of the
+ Americans, nine were slain, and twenty-three wounded. To Elijah Clarke
+ must be given the credit for this victory, which, coming at the time it
+ did, revived the hopes and courage of the Liberty Boys in all parts of the
+ country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Tories, on the other hand, were so depressed by it, that many of them
+ left that part of the State, and those who remained became comparatively
+ quiet. The situation was so encouraging, that many of the people of
+ Georgia, who had been driven from their homes by the cruelty of the
+ Tories, returned with their families. They were not long left in peace,
+ however. The British and the Tories had their active agents among the
+ Creeks and Cherokees, urging these tribes to take up arms and attack the
+ Americans. In view of this, Clarke was sent to guard the frontier forts.
+ Then the Tories again began to pillage and devastate the Broad River
+ region. Some of the crimes they committed would have disgraced savages.
+ Clarke's house was burned, and his family ordered to leave the State. Mrs.
+ Clarke and her two daughters started on their perilous journey with
+ nothing but a small pony of little value, and even this was taken from
+ them before they had gone very far. This only served to renew the activity
+ of Clarke in behalf of the American cause. He defeated the Tories wherever
+ he met them; and if he gave them no quarter, it was because they had shown
+ no mercy to the Americans. The savage character of the warfare waged by
+ the Tories against men, women, and children, must ever stand as an
+ explanation and as an excuse for the fierce spirit displayed by Clarke and
+ the Americans who lived in the Broad River region.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the battle near Musgrove's Mill, Clarke defeated the British, killing
+ sixty-three men, and wounding and capturing one hundred. During the battle
+ he was twice severely wounded on the head and neck; and once he was
+ surrounded by the enemy, captured, and placed in charge of two men. One of
+ these he knocked down with a blow of his fist, and the other fled. At one
+ time, acting without orders, he was near taking Augusta, and was only
+ prevented by the desire of his men to see their families. After this he
+ returned to Wilkes County, where he was compelled to take under his
+ protection nearly four hundred women and children who had been driven from
+ their homes by the savage Tories. He resolved to carry these to a place of
+ safety, and, with a sufficient guard, set out for Kentucky. Cornwallis,
+ hearing of this movement, and taking for granted that it was a retreat,
+ sent one hundred men under Captain Ferguson to cut Clarke off, the
+ supposition being that the great partisan fighter would march through
+ South Carolina, but he had re-crossed the mountains in the Piedmont
+ region. Hearing of this movement, Clarke detached Major Chandler and
+ Captain Johnston with thirty men to take part in the operations against
+ Ferguson. Thus it was the pursuit of Clarke that brought on the memorable
+ battle of Kings Mountain, which resulted in a great victory for the cause
+ of American independence; and although Clarke was not there in person, his
+ heroic spirit animated the brave men who won the day.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He was the first to teach the militia to stand against the bayonets of the
+ British; and at Blackstocks, in South Carolina, at the head of his Wilkes
+ riflemen, he charged and drove the British light infantry in an open
+ field,&mdash;a movement that turned the enemy's right flank, and insured
+ the victory of the Americans. At the siege of Augusta, Clarke had
+ anticipated the movement of Colonel "Light Horse Harry" Lee, and had
+ confined the British garrison to their works for weeks before Colonel
+ Lee's arrival.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the close of the Revolution, Clarke led the movement against the
+ Indians. He defeated the Creeks in the battle of Jacks Creek. After peace
+ was declared, Clarke, who had been made a general by a grateful State,
+ settled on lands that had been reserved to the Indians. For this he has
+ been criticised very severely; but it is curious that the policy for which
+ he was attacked, shortly afterwards became the policy of the whole people.
+ The States and the United States have made treaties with the Indians, only
+ to break them. Having personal knowledge of the Indians, and having been
+ made the victim of some of their raids, he had no respect for them or for
+ their rights. To this view the whole country afterwards came, and the red
+ men disappeared before it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It will be well to bear in mind, that, whatever failings he may have had,
+ there was not a more heroic figure in the Revolution than General Elijah
+ Clarke.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ A WAR OF EXTERMINATION.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0016" id="linkimage-0016">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/104.jpg" alt="A War of Extermination 104 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ Some of the barbarous features of the Revolutionary War in Georgia have
+ been briefly noted.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ History has turned her eyes away from the more horrible details; but by
+ reading between the lines, and taking advantage of the hints and
+ suggestions, it is not hard to get a tolerably fair idea of the methods
+ that were pursued on both sides. Even Colonel Charles C. Jones, jun.,
+ whose "History of Georgia" is thus far the most complete that has been
+ written, touches lightly on the cruelties practiced in the efforts of the
+ British and Tories to wrest Upper Georgia from the control of the
+ Americans. There are matters that History cannot deal with and maintain
+ her dignity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There can be no doubt that the British and the Tories began their
+ cruelties without considering the results to which their acts would lead.
+ It is an easy matter at this late day to see how naturally the war, in the
+ region tributary to Augusta, degenerated into a series of crimes and
+ barbarities foul enough to cause History to hold her hands before her
+ eyes. When Colonel Campbell, assisted by Colonel Brown, advanced to attack
+ Augusta, it was the only American post that had not surrendered to the
+ King's men, and its capture would complete the subjugation of Georgia from
+ a military point of view. The city fell without a struggle, and the
+ American forces retreated across the river. It was natural that the
+ British, and the Tories who were acting with them, should take advantage
+ of this victory to bring the whole region above and around Augusta to
+ terms. The sooner this was done, the sooner would all Georgia be restored
+ to her relations with his Majesty George III. No time was to be lost.
+ Therefore Colonel Campbell, the British commander, tarried in Augusta but
+ a few days. He left Colonel Brown in charge, and marched in the direction
+ of Wilkes County. Those of the inhabitants who had Tory sympathies were to
+ be encouraged; but those who were disaffected were to be dealt with
+ summarily, so as to put an end, at once and forever, to the disloyalty
+ that had been active in that region. This plan was carried out promptly
+ and violently. The severest punishment was the portion of those who
+ refused to take the oath of allegiance. Plunder and the torch were the
+ portions of those who chanced to be away from home, fighting for their
+ country. Their helpless wives and children were left homeless, and
+ destitute of provisions. Fortunately a great many stanch Liberty Boys had
+ carried their families, their household effects, and their cattle, into
+ South Carolina as soon as they heard of the fall of Augusta; but many had
+ remained at home, and the sufferings of these were severe.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Another explanation of the extreme cruelty with which the war in Upper
+ Georgia was waged after the fall of Augusta, was the fact that Colonel
+ Brown, who had been left in command by Colonel Campbell, had some old
+ scores to settle. At the very beginning of the struggle he had been
+ arrested in Augusta by some of the Liberty Boys, tarred and feathered, and
+ paraded through the public streets, on account of his outspoken loyalty to
+ the King. Still another reason was the fact that Daniel McGirth, who had
+ been maltreated by an American officer, was among the officers who had
+ accompanied Colonel Brown. McGirth held every American responsible for the
+ treatment he had received, and he spared few that fell into his hands.
+ Thus, between the anxiety of the British to conquer Georgia completely,
+ and the desires of Brown and McGirth to revenge themselves, the Americans
+ in Upper Georgia were made the victims of the most inhuman barbarities.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Americans under Elijah Clarke lost no time in retaliating, and thus
+ was begun a contest that may be aptly described as a war of extermination.
+ Clarke was enabled to defeat the British and the Tories wherever they
+ opposed him on anything like equal terms, and this fact added to the rigor
+ with which they treated the Americans who were so unfortunate as to fall
+ into their hands. Shortly after the affair at Musgrove's Mill, in which
+ Clarke defeated the British and the Tories, Lord Cornwallis addressed a
+ circular letter to the officers commanding the advanced posts. He
+ declared, "The inhabitants of the Provinces who have subscribed to and
+ taken part in this revolt shall be punished with the utmost rigor; and
+ also those who will not turn out shall be imprisoned, and their whole
+ property taken from them or destroyed. I have ordered," he goes on to say,
+ "in the most positive manner, that every militiaman who has borne arms
+ with us, and afterwards joined the enemy, shall be immediately hanged. I
+ desire you will take the most vigorous measures to punish the rebels in
+ the district in which you command, and that you obey in the strictest
+ manner the directions I have given in this letter relative to the
+ inhabitants in this country."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Here was authority broad enough to cover every crime that the British and
+ the Tories might see fit to commit, and they stretched it to the utmost
+ limit. They burned houses and destroyed property. They insulted and
+ inhumanly treated women and children. They hanged the innocent. They went
+ about the country practicing every barbarity that their savage and
+ bloodthirsty natures could suggest. It was no wonder that the Americans
+ retaliated whenever they had the opportunity. It was no wonder that Elijah
+ Clarke, naturally independent and irritable, should fail to see the
+ justice or necessity of treating the Tories he captured as prisoners of
+ war.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The situation of the Americans became so serious that Clarke determined to
+ strike a heavy blow. He returned from Carolina to Wilkes County in
+ September, 1780, and in two days succeeded in placing in the field three
+ hundred and fifty men. With this force, strengthened by eighty men
+ recruited in Carolina, he boldly marched on Augusta. The movement was so
+ unexpected, that, but for the fact that the advance guard fell in with an
+ Indian camp which it was compelled to attack, Colonel Brown would have
+ been taken completely by surprise. But the retreating Indians gave him
+ notice, and he took refuge with his command in a strong building known as
+ the White House. The siege began on the 14th. By daylight on the 16th
+ Clarke had succeeded in cutting the garrison off from its water supply.
+ The sufferings of the men, especially the wounded, became most intense.
+ The Americans could hear their cries for water and for medical aid. Brown
+ appears to have been as brave as he was cruel. Though he was shot through
+ both thighs, he remained at the head of his men; and his great courage
+ sustained the spirits of his followers. Clarke summoned him to surrender
+ on the 17th. He not only refused, but warned the American commander that
+ the demonstration he was making against the King's men would bring
+ destruction to the western part of Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile some of Clarke's men had gone to visit their families, and
+ others were more interested in securing plunder than in forwarding the
+ cause of independence. Colonel Brown, as soon as he heard of the approach
+ of the Americans, had sent several messengers by different routes to
+ inform Colonel Cruger of the state of affairs. Cruger, who was in Carolina
+ at Ninety-six, promptly set his men in motion, and on the morning of the
+ 18th appeared on the bank of the Savannah, opposite Augusta. Under the
+ circumstances, Clarke was compelled to retreat. He had suffered a loss of
+ sixty, killed and wounded. In retreating, he was compelled to leave
+ twenty-nine of his wounded men behind. Among these was Captain Ashby, one
+ of the bravest and most humane of the officers of the American army. This
+ unfortunate officer and the men with him fell into the hands of the enemy.
+ Colonel Brown was so severely wounded that he was unable to move about; so
+ he ordered Captain Ashby and twelve of the wounded prisoners to be hanged
+ on the staircase of the White House, where he might see their sufferings
+ and gloat over their agonies. These men were cruelly strangled before
+ Brown's eyes. But their fate was a happy one compared with that of their
+ wounded companions. Those men were turned over to the red savages, who
+ were the allies of the British. The Indians received the prisoners with
+ howls of delight, and began at once to torture them in every conceivable
+ way. They formed a circle, and marched around the Americans, cutting and
+ slashing them with their knives. The end of the unfortunates was most
+ horrible. They were ripped with knives, scalped, and then burned. No
+ doubt, Colonel Brown enjoyed this scene more thoroughly than he did the
+ tame and commonplace spectacle of strangling Captain Ashby and his
+ companions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Before raising the siege, Elijah Clarke paroled the officers and men whom
+ he had captured,&mdash;fifty-six men, all told. This fact is mentioned to
+ show that the Georgia militia had not then begun those acts of retaliation
+ which have attracted the notice of historians. They had had, as we know,
+ abundant provocation; but after the horrible crimes perpetrated by Brown
+ reached their ears, they threw off all restraint. Self-preservation is the
+ first law of nature, and the men who acted with Elijah Clarke thought that
+ the best way to preserve the lives of themselves and their families was to
+ destroy the Tories as fast as they caught them. The fact is chronicled by
+ Colonel Jones, and it is worth noting, that the officers and men paroled
+ by Clarke, in utter disregard of their obligations, took up their arms as
+ soon as the Americans had departed. The probability is that they were
+ driven to this by the commands of Brown.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is well known, that, as soon as Clarke and his men had retreated,
+ Colonel Brown sent detachments of troops in all directions, with orders to
+ arrest all persons who had taken part in the siege, or who had sympathized
+ with the efforts of the Americans to recapture Augusta. Under this
+ sweeping order, men of all ages and conditions were dragged from their
+ homes and thrown into prison. Those who were suspected of taking part in
+ the siege, or of belonging to Clarke's command, were seized and hanged out
+ of hand. Old men, no longer able to bear arms, were imprisoned for
+ welcoming the return of members of their families who had fought on the
+ American side. One instance out of many that might be cited was the arrest
+ of the father of Captains Samuel and James Alexander. In the
+ seventy-eighth year of his age, this old man was arrested at his home,
+ tied to the tail of a cart, and dragged forty miles in two days. When
+ caught leaning against the cart to rest his feeble limbs, he was whipped
+ by the driver. It was at this time that in the region round about Augusta
+ the hopes of the patriots grew very faint. The women and children
+ assembled, and begged Elijah Clarke to take them out of the country; and
+ in response to the appeals of these defenseless ones, he undertook the
+ movement that culminated in the glorious victory of Kings Mountain.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0017" id="linkimage-0017">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/111.jpg" alt="Old Man Whipped at the Tail of a Cart 111 "
+ width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ The winter of 1780 was the darkest hour of the Revolution in Upper
+ Georgia. There was no trade. Farming was at a low ebb. The schoolhouses
+ were closed. Many of the patriots had carried off their families. Many had
+ gone with Elijah Clarke to Kentucky. The patriots had betaken themselves
+ to South Carolina, though the services they rendered there have been
+ slurred over by the historians of that State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When General Greene began his Southern campaign, and gradually rid South
+ Carolina of the British and the Tory element, the patriots of Upper
+ Georgia ventured to return to their homes. Captain McCall, who was among
+ them, says, in his history, that they returned in parties of ten and
+ twelve, so as to attract as little attention as possible. They appointed
+ Dennis's Mill, on Little River, as a place of meeting. "When these small
+ parties entered the settlements where they had formerly lived," says
+ Captain McCall, "general devastation was presented to view; their aged
+ fathers and their youthful brothers had been murdered; their decrepit
+ grandfathers were incarcerated in prisons where most of them had been
+ suffered to perish in filth, famine, or disease; and their mothers, wives,
+ sisters, and young children had been robbed, insulted, and abused, and
+ were found by them in temporary huts more resembling a savage camp than a
+ civilized habitation." Though Captain McCall was an eyewitness of some of
+ the scenes he describes, the picture he draws might seem to be too highly
+ colored were it not supplemented by a great mass of evidence. One more
+ instance out of many may be given. In a skirmish with the Americans under
+ Colonel Harden, Brown captured several prisoners. Among them was a youth
+ only seventeen years old named Rannal McKay, the son of a widow who was a
+ refugee from Darien. Being told that her son was a prisoner in the hands
+ of Brown, Widow McKay, providing herself with some refreshments that she
+ thought might suit the taste of the British commander, went to Brown's
+ headquarters, and begged that her son might be set free. The cruel wretch
+ accepted the present she had brought him, but refused even to let her see
+ her son, and caused the sentinels to put her out of the camp by force.
+ Next day young McKay and four other prisoners were taken out of the rail
+ pen in which they had been confined. By Brown's order they were hanged
+ upon a gallows until they were nearly strangled. They were then cut down
+ and turned over to the tender mercies of the Indians, by whom they were
+ mutilated, scalped, and finally murdered in the most savage manner.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The cruelty of Colonel Brown and the Tories acting under him was so
+ unbearable that the patriots of that region felt that their existence
+ depended on the capture of Augusta. They decided on an aggressive movement
+ when they met again at Dennis's Mill, on Little River.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Colonel Clarke, who was suffering from the results of smallpox, was too
+ feeble to lead them. His place was taken for the time by Lieutenant
+ Colonel Micajah Williamson; and on the 16th of April, 1781, the Americans
+ moved to the vicinity of Augusta. They were there reënforced by a
+ detachment from southern Georgia under Colonel Baker, and by a number of
+ recruits from Burke County. A few days afterwards they were joined by some
+ Carolina militiamen under Colonel Hammond and Major Jackson.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ With this force, Colonel Williamson took up a position twelve hundred
+ yards from the British works, and fortified his camp. The Americans were
+ compelled to wait nearly a month for the aid they expected from General
+ Greene. The militia, worn out with waiting for the reënforcements, were
+ about to withdraw from the camp in despair, when Jackson, that truly great
+ Georgian, made them an address full of the most passionate and patriotic
+ eloquence, and this appeal changed their purpose. Jackson's voice was
+ afterwards heard in the halls of Congress; but we may be sure that he was
+ never more in earnest or more truly eloquent than when he pleaded with the
+ faint-hearted Americans to stand to their cause and their arms. Jackson's
+ address revived their courage; and when, on the 15th of May, Elijah Clarke
+ rode into camp, restored to health and accompanied by one hundred fresh
+ recruits, the confidence of the militiamen was fully renewed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was at this time that General Pickens and "Light Horse Harry" Lee (the
+ father of General Robert E. Lee) were ordered by General Greene to march
+ on Augusta and capture that post When Lee reached the neighborhood of
+ Augusta, he learned, from a party of light horse which he had sent on
+ ahead to collect prisoners and gain information, that the annual royal
+ present intended for the Indians had arrived at Fort Galphin, some
+ distance below Augusta. The present comprised blankets, liquor, salt,
+ small arms, powder, and ball. There was a great lack of these articles in
+ the American camp, and Lee resolved to capture them. The supplies were so
+ valuable, that Brown, the British commander, had sent two companies from
+ Augusta to garrison Fort Galphin. This was the situation when "Light Horse
+ Harry" arrived on the ground. The British in Augusta had not yet
+ discovered his approach, and promptness was necessary. Leaving Eaton's
+ battalion, the artillery, and the footsore men of the legion, to follow
+ more slowly, Lee mounted a detachment of infantry behind his dragoons, and
+ made a forced march to Fort Galphin.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This point he reached on the 21st of May, 1781. The weather was extremely
+ hot, and for miles the troopers and their horses had been unable to find a
+ drop of water: consequently neither the men nor the animals were in a
+ condition to make the attack when the command was brought to a halt under
+ the pines that skirted the field surrounding the fort. The British within
+ the fort were resting quietly, and were not aware that an enemy was at
+ hand. A prompt and decisive movement was necessary; and when his men and
+ horses had rested a little while, Lee dismounted the militiamen he had
+ brought with him, and ordered them to make a demonstration against the
+ fort on the side opposite the position he had taken. This famous commander
+ reasoned, that, as soon as the militiamen appeared before the fort, the
+ garrison would sally from the stockade. The militia would retreat, the
+ garrison pursuing, and he would seize upon that moment to assault and
+ capture the post left defenseless. To carry out this plan, Captain Rudolph
+ (who was supposed to be some great general in disguise), with a detachment
+ of picked infantry, was held in readiness to rush upon the fort; while the
+ rest of the troops, supported by the dragoons, were placed where they
+ could shield the militia from the pursuit of the British.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The affair took place just as Lee had foreseen. The garrison sallied out
+ to the attack. The militia, before making a show of resistance, began a
+ retreat. The garrison gave pursuit. Captain Rudolph dashed across the
+ field, and captured the fort without any trouble, The end came, when the
+ militia rallied, and the foot soldiers and dragoons closed around the
+ soldiers of the garrison. During the engagement the Americans lost one man
+ from sunstroke. The enemy lost only three or four men. The rest, together
+ with the valuable stores in the stockade, fell into the hands of the
+ patriots.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Following this successful affair, which was of more importance than it
+ seems now to be, Lee formed a junction with General Pickens; and these two
+ then joined their forces with those of Clarke, who commanded the Georgia
+ militia, and the siege of Augusta began. The first movement was the
+ capture of Fort Grierson, so called in honor of the man who commanded its
+ garrison. Grierson, hard pressed, threw open the gates of the fort, and
+ endeavored to escape. Thirty of his men were killed, and forty-five
+ wounded and captured. Grierson was made a prisoner, but was killed by a
+ Georgia rifleman. He was as cruel and vindictive as Brown himself. He was
+ a monster who had made himself odious to the followers of Clarke. In his
+ history, Captain McCall strongly hints that Grierson was shot by one of
+ the sons of the aged Mr. Alexander, who had been made prisoner and dragged
+ to Augusta tied to the tail of a cart. A reward was offered for
+ information that would lead to the arrest of the man who shot Grierson,
+ but the reward was never claimed. The whole army probably knew who had
+ fired the fatal shot, and no doubt the commanders knew, but their
+ knowledge was not official. No further notice was taken of the matter.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The capture of Fort Grierson cheered the hearts of the besiegers, and gave
+ them renewed courage. Fort Cornwallis was next invested. This stronghold
+ was commanded by Colonel Brown himself, who was as bold as he was cruel.
+ He was mean enough to expose to the American fire the aged Mr. Alexander
+ and other unfortunate patriots who had long been held as prisoners.
+ Captain Samuel Alexander commanded one of the companies close to the fort,
+ and could see and recognize his venerable father, who had been placed in
+ an exposed position by Brown.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is not necessary to describe all the events of the siege. Brown held
+ out as long as he could, but was finally compelled to surrender. On the
+ 5th of June, 1781, Brown, with three hundred men, marched out of Fort
+ Cornwallis, and that stronghold was immediately taken possession of by
+ Captain Rudolph. A strong guard was detailed by the American commanders,
+ to protect Brown from the just anger of the Georgia soldiers, under
+ Clarke, Williamson, and Jackson. To insure his safety, he was carried to
+ the quarters of "Light Horse Harry" Lee. The next day he and a few of his
+ officers were paroled and sent down the river in charge of a party of
+ infantry instructed to guard him. Ramsay, in his "History of the
+ Revolution of South Carolina," says that Brown was recognized at Silver
+ Bluff by Mrs. McKay, who thus addressed him: "Colonel Brown, in the late
+ day of your prosperity I visited your camp, and on my knees supplicated
+ for the life of my son; but you were deaf to my entreaties. You hanged
+ him, though a beardless youth, before my face. These eyes have seen him
+ scalped by the savages under your immediate command, and for no better
+ reason than that his name was McKay. As you are now prisoner to the
+ leaders of my country, for the present I lay aside all thoughts of
+ revenge; but when you resume your sword, I will go five hundred miles to
+ demand satisfaction at the point of it, for the murder of my son." The
+ probability is that Mrs. McKay used no such stately language. No doubt she
+ walked up to Brown, shook her finger in his face, and exclaimed, "You
+ miserable villain! I can't get at you now; but if the day ever comes, I'll
+ flay you alive for the murder of my poor boy."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The fall of Augusta was received with rejoicings by the patriots
+ everywhere, and the British and the Tories were correspondingly depressed.
+ Men who had been overawed by the cruelty of the Tories, now came out
+ boldly for the cause of independence, and the forces of the Americans were
+ rapidly strengthened. Preparations were made for an aggressive campaign in
+ Georgia by the Liberty Boys; and in this purpose they had the active aid
+ and sympathy of General Greene, whose skill and ability as a commander
+ were not greater than the wisdom he displayed in dealing with the people.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In January, 1782, General Greene ordered General Anthony Wayne to take
+ charge of the campaign in Georgia. At the same time he wrote a letter to
+ Governor Martin that displays better than any document now extant the
+ sagacity and conservatism that were the basis of General Greene's
+ character and the source of his great success as a commander. "I cannot
+ help recommending to your Excellency," he wrote to the governor of
+ Georgia, "to open a door for the disaffected in your State to come in,
+ with particular exceptions. It is better to save than to destroy,
+ especially when we are obliged to expose good men to destroy bad. It is
+ always dangerous to push people to a state of desperation; and the
+ satisfaction of revenge has but a momentary existence, and is commonly
+ succeeded by pity and remorse. The practice of plundering, which, I am
+ told, has been too much indulged with you, is very destructive to the
+ morals and manners of the people. Habits and dispositions founded on this
+ practice soon grow obstinate, and are difficult to restrain; indeed, it is
+ the most direct way of undermining all government, and, never fails to
+ bring the laws into contempt, for people will not stop at the barriers
+ which were first intended to bound them after having tasted the sweets of
+ possessing property by the easy mode of plunder. The preservation of
+ morals and an encouragement to honest industry should be the first objects
+ of government. Plundering is the destruction of both. I wish the cause of
+ liberty may never be tarnished with inhumanity, nor the morals of people
+ bartered in exchange for wealth." This letter was intended to put an end
+ to the war of extermination that the Tories of Upper Georgia had begun,
+ and to prevent the patriots from carrying out their plans of revenge. The
+ letter did great good. It was turned over to the Legislature by the
+ governor, and thus made public; and its sentiments were taken to heart by
+ hundreds who had suffered the most cruel wrongs at the hands of the
+ Tories. General Greene's letter was also made the basis of two
+ proclamations, both issued by the governor after conference with General
+ Wayne. One opened the door to disaffected Georgians who might desire to
+ return to the ranks of the republicans, and the other was addressed to the
+ Hessian troops who had already begun to sympathize with the Salzburghers
+ at Ebenezer. Stevens, in his "History of Georgia," says that many citizens
+ who had been compelled from various reasons to seek protection under the
+ British Government, and who had even joined the armies of the enemy, took
+ advantage of the proclamation which referred to them, returned to their
+ State allegiance, and joined the forces of General Wayne, where they
+ proved their sincerity by making the most zealous efforts to merit the
+ pardon and protection that had been promised them by the governor.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After a brilliant campaign, lasting from January to July, 1782, General
+ Wayne, assisted by Elijah Clarke, James Jackson, and other bold spirits
+ who had never suffered the fires of liberty to go out in Georgia, cleared
+ the State of the British. Savannah was occupied on the 11th of July, the
+ keys having been surrendered to James Jackson. This was the end of British
+ rule in Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ A NEGRO PATRIOT.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0018" id="linkimage-0018">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/122.jpg" alt="A Negro Patriot 122 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ Along with the emigrants from North Carolina who first settled Wilkes
+ County, there came a man named Aycock. He brought with him a mulatto boy
+ named Austin. This boy passed as Aycock's slave; but when the conflict
+ between the Liberty Boys and the Tories in that part of the country became
+ desperate,&mdash;when the patriots were fighting for their lives as well
+ as for the liberties of their country,&mdash;Aycock's neighbors called on
+ him to do his part. According to all accounts, Aycock was not much of a
+ warrior. His sympathies were with his liberty-loving neighbors; but his
+ enthusiasm did not invite him to expose himself to the fire of musketry.
+ It is said that he joined the neighbors, and strove to be a faithful
+ militiaman, but he was in a state of constant fear. Governor Gilmer says
+ of Aycock, that, from the time he was required to fight, he saw a terrible
+ Tory constantly pointing a loaded gun at him. His alarm finally became so
+ extreme that he offered as his substitute the mulatto boy Austin, who had
+ then grown to be a stout and serviceable lad.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Objection was made that Austin was a slave, and could not therefore be
+ received as a soldier. At this, Aycock acknowledged that Austin was no
+ slave; that, although he was a mulatto, he had been born free. This fact
+ was made so clear to the patriots, that they willingly received Austin as
+ a soldier, and he was mustered into the service under the name of Austin
+ Dabney. He fought under Elijah Clarke, being under the command of Colonel
+ John Dooly, who was afterwards so foully murdered by the Tories. Of all
+ the brave men that fought under the heroic Clarke, there was none braver
+ than Austin Dabney, none that did better service.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He was in the battle of Kettle Creek, and was foremost among those who
+ followed Clarke. Toward the close of this the bloodiest battle fought in
+ Georgia between the patriots and Tories, Austin Dabney was shot through
+ the thigh, and so dangerously wounded that he became a cripple for life.
+ He was taken by his comrades to the house of a Mr. Harris, where he was
+ carefully nursed until his wound healed. He was not able to do military
+ duty after that, but he devoted himself to Harris and his family more
+ faithfully than any slave could have done. It may be said of him that
+ gratitude became the ruling passion of his heart.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After the Americans had won their independence, and peace with it, Austin
+ Dabney became prosperous. Being a quick-witted man, with an instinct for
+ business, he accumulated property. He finally moved to Madison County,
+ taking with him his benefactor and family, to whose wants and desires he
+ continued to minister with as much devotion as he displayed at the
+ beginning of his service. It was in Madison County that Austin Dabney
+ became noted for his fondness for horse-racing. He attended all the races
+ in the neighboring counties. He was the owner of some of the finest race
+ horses to be found in the country; and such was his popularity, that he
+ always found prominent men to stand for him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Shortly after he removed to Madison County, he received a pension from the
+ United States Government. He sent Harris's oldest son to school, and
+ afterwards to college. When the young man graduated from Franklin College,
+ now the State University, Austin Dabney supported him while he studied law
+ with Hon. Stephen Upson at Lexington, Oglethorpe County. When young Harris
+ was undergoing his examination for admission to the bar, Austin Dabney
+ stood leaning against the railing that inclosed the court, listening to
+ the proceedings with great anxiety. When the young man was sworn in, and
+ was shaking hands with the members of the bar, Austin, unable to control
+ himself, burst into a flood of tears, happy that he had been able to make
+ a gentleman of the son of the man who had nursed him so long and patiently
+ while his wound was healing.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the public lands in Georgia were distributed among the people by
+ lottery, the Legislature gave to Austin Dabney a lot of land in Walton
+ County. The next year the voters of Madison County were in a condition
+ bordering on distraction, being divided into Dabney and anti-Dabney
+ parties. Austin had not been permitted to have a chance in the lottery
+ with other soldiers of the Revolution. Consequently Stephen Upson, one of
+ Georgia's most prominent men at that time, employed his influence with
+ such effect that a law was passed giving Dabney a valuable lot. One of the
+ members of the Legislature from Madison County voted for this law. At the
+ next election the constituents of this member divided themselves into two
+ parties, one faction indorsing the vote, and the other denouncing it.
+ Those who denounced the vote did it on the ground that it was an indignity
+ to white men for a mulatto to be put on an equality with them in the
+ distribution of the public land, though, as Governor Gilmer bluntly puts
+ it, not one of them had served his country so long or so well. Governor
+ Gilmer, from whose writings all facts about Austin Dabney are taken, tells
+ a very interesting anecdote about him. In order to collect the pension
+ which the United States Government allowed on account of his broken thigh,
+ Austin went once a year to Savannah. Once when he was on his way to draw
+ what was due him, he fell in with Colonel Wiley Pope, his neighbor, who
+ was also journeying to Savannah. They were very intimate and social on the
+ road, and until they found themselves in the streets of Savannah. When
+ they reached the fashionable part of the city, Colonel Pope observed to
+ his companion that he was a sensible man, and knew the prejudices that
+ prevented them from associating together in the city. Austin Dabney
+ replied that he understood it very well, and with that he checked his
+ horse and fell in the rear of Colonel Pope after the fashion of a servant
+ following his master. Their way led them in front of the house of General
+ James Jackson, who was at that time governor of the State. The governor
+ was standing in his door at the time. Colonel Pope passed on unrecognized,
+ but, chancing to glance around, he saw Governor Jackson run from the house
+ into the street to greet Austin Dabney. The governor seized the negro's
+ hand, shook it heartily, drew him from his horse, and carried him into the
+ house, where he remained a welcome guest during his stay in the city.
+ Colonel Pope (so Governor Gilmer says) used to tell this story with great
+ glee, but owned that he felt put out when he realized, that, whilst he was
+ a stranger at a tavern, Austin Dabney was the honored guest of the
+ governor of the State. The explanation was, that Governor Jackson had seen
+ Dabney's courage and patriotism tested on the field of battle, and he knew
+ that beneath the tawny skin of the mulatto there beat the heart of a true
+ man.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Austin Dabney was always popular with those who knew of his services in
+ the Revolutionary War. Governor Gilmer says that he was one of the best
+ Chroniclers of the stirring events of that period. His memory was
+ retentive, his understanding good, and he had a gift of description
+ possessed by few. He moved to the land the State had given him, taking
+ with him the family of the man who had nursed him. He continued to serve
+ them while he lived, faithful to the end, and when he died left them the
+ property he had accumulated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ THE YAZOO FRAUD
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Some writers on the early history of Georgia have been under the
+ impression that the speculation known as the Yazoo Fraud had its beginning
+ in the efforts of General Elijah Clarke and his followers to settle on the
+ Indian reservation lying west of the Oconee River; but this is not the
+ case at all. General Clarke's movement was the result of an enterprise
+ which was aimed against the Spaniards; and, though the facts have no real
+ connection with the Yazoo speculation, they may be briefly told here,
+ especially since Stevens, in his "History of Georgia," turns them all
+ topsy-turvy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Genet was the first envoy sent to represent the wild and revolutionary
+ republic of France,&mdash;the republic of Robespierre and the Jacobins. He
+ represented, as well as any man could, the ideas and purposes of those who
+ had wrought such havoc in France. He was meddlesome, wrong-headed,
+ unreasonable, and bold with it all. He sailed from France in a ship which
+ he commanded himself; and instead of going straight to Philadelphia (then
+ the seat of government), where his business called him, he landed at
+ Charleston in South Carolina. War was then pending between France and
+ Spain; and Genet, after landing in Charleston, found ready sympathizers in
+ the French Huguenots of South Carolina, and indeed in all those who had
+ fought for American liberty. There were two reasons why the fiery appeals
+ of Genet to the people of Carolina to take up arms against Spain were
+ received enthusiastically. One was, that the Spaniards in Florida had been
+ at constant war with the people of Georgia and Carolina, and had committed
+ many crimes and depredations. The other was, that the people felt grateful
+ to France for the aid she had given the American Colonies in their efforts
+ to shake off the yoke of Great Britain.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Genet's plan was to raise in this country an army large enough to seize
+ the Spanish possessions in Florida, and to reconquer Louisiana. For the
+ reasons stated, Genet found the people enthusiastic in favor of his
+ enterprise. The enthusiasm was intense. It crossed the Savannah, and found
+ General Elijah Clarke, with his strong nature and active sympathies, ready
+ to embrace it. His military prestige in the South commended him to Genet
+ as the man to lead the military enterprise against the Spanish settlements
+ in the South. Accordingly he was given command of the army that was to be
+ raised, and was made a major general in the French service with a pay of
+ ten thousand dollars.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Having secured a commander whose courage and resources in the field could
+ be depended on, Genet went from Charleston to Philadelphia overland,
+ stirring up sympathy for his enterprise and enlisting men. His success was
+ greater than he had dreamed of. He found but one thing in his way, and
+ that was the firmness and vigilance of George Washington. This great man
+ set his face sternly against the project; but such was the enthusiasm of
+ the people&mdash;artfully stirred by Genet, who was as accomplished as he
+ was unscrupulous,&mdash;that a French party was formed. Genet took
+ advantage of the formation of this party to arouse prejudice against
+ Washington; and such was his success, that John Adams, who was afterwards
+ President, says that there was a multitude of men in Philadelphia ready to
+ drive Washington from the executive chair.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A considerable army was raised, recruits reported to General Clarke from
+ the Ohio River to the St. Mary's, and everything was ready for action. At
+ that moment the heavy hand of Washington descended on the enterprise. The
+ recall of Genet was demanded, the French party went to pieces, the project
+ collapsed, and Elijah Clarke was left without resources, surrounded by a
+ considerable force of men who had come at his bidding to take part in the
+ attack on the Spanish possessions. These men were on his hands, expecting
+ the fulfillment of promises that had been made to them. What was to be
+ done? It was at this critical period that the eyes of General Clarke
+ turned to the Indian reservation west of the Oconee. He marched his men to
+ these lands, and took possession. He, and those who engaged in the
+ movement for settling the lands, had risked their lives for their country
+ on a hundred battlefields. They thought that the lands that had been
+ claimed by the King belonged to those who had conquered the King's armies.
+ They were right in principle, but wrong in action. The lands that had
+ belonged to the King now belonged to the people, not as individuals, but
+ as a corporate body,&mdash;to the whole people represented by the State
+ government. These principles had not been made as clear by discussion in
+ General Clarke's day as they have been made since. He engaged in no
+ speculation. He boldly settled the lands, and was prepared to boldly hold
+ his position. The settlement was made in 1794. On the 28th of July,
+ Governor George Matthews issued a proclamation forbidding the settlement,
+ and likewise directed one of the judges to issue a warrant for the
+ general's arrest. At the Superior Court of Wilkes County, Clarke
+ surrendered himself to the judge, who referred the case to the county
+ justices. These judges made a decision, setting forth the fact that Elijah
+ Clarke had surrendered himself into custody; that, being desirous to do
+ speedy justice to the State as well as to the party charged, they had
+ proceeded to maturely consider the case; and that after examining the laws
+ of the State, and the treaties made and laws passed by the United States,
+ they gave it as their "decided and unanimous opinion that the said Elijah
+ Clarke be and is hereby discharged." Encouraged by this decision, General
+ Clarke returned to his settlement with the intention of holding the lands;
+ but finally both the Federal and the State governments moved against him,
+ and he abandoned the enterprise. The policy that Clarke began in settling
+ the Indian lands without regard to the rights of the savage has since
+ become the policy of the government. It is not a wholesome policy, nor is
+ it authorized by the moral or civil law; but it has been unblushingly
+ carried out nevertheless.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Yazoo Fraud was a far different matter. The very name of it was
+ foreign to Georgia. It was borrowed from the Indian name of a small stream
+ which empties itself into the Mississippi River. When the Colony of
+ Georgia was first settled, the land granted to Oglethorpe was described as
+ lying along the Savannah River, extending southward along the coast to the
+ Altamaha, and from the head waters of these rivers westward to "the South
+ Seas." Afterwards Great Britain changed the line which he had established.
+ She carried the boundary line of West Florida, a part of her possessions,
+ higher up. The new line started from the Mississippi at the mouth of the
+ Yazoo River, and ran due east to the Chattahoochee at a point near where
+ the town of West Point now stands. As the upper boundary of British West
+ Florida this line came to be known as the Yazoo line, and the country
+ above and below it to an indefinite extent came to be known as the Yazoo
+ country. No boundary can now be fixed to the region then known as the
+ Yazoo country. At the close of the Revolutionary War, Great Britain made a
+ treaty which has been interpreted as vesting in the United States and in
+ Georgia the right and title to these lands, reaching from the
+ Chattahoochee to the Yazoo River, and extending on each side of this line
+ to a distance that has never been estimated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Yazoo Fraud itself had a somewhat vague beginning. From the best
+ information that can now be obtained, it may be said that it was set on
+ foot in 1789, shortly after the close of the Revolution, by a sharper who
+ was famous in that day. He was known as Thomas Washington, but his real
+ name was Walsh. Washington, or Walsh, is described as being a very
+ extraordinary man. He had fought in the service of Georgia, but he had the
+ instinct of a speculator; and when the war was ended, he gave himself up
+ to the devices of those who earn their living by their wits. He was a man
+ of good address, and his air of candor succeeded in deceiving all whom he
+ met. Those who dealt with him always had the worst of the bargain.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When Washington, or Walsh, began to operate in Georgia through agents, he
+ found the way already prepared for him. The War for Independence had
+ barely closed, when certain individuals, most of them men of some
+ influence, began to look on our Western possessions with a greedy eye.
+ They had an idea of securing these lands and setting up a new government,&mdash;a
+ sort of Western empire. To further their designs they began by forming
+ themselves into an association called the "Combined Society," the members
+ of which were bound to secrecy by oaths and other solemn pledges. The
+ purpose of the Combined Society became known, and the force of public
+ opinion compelled the members to disband. Some of them were men of
+ aristocratic pretensions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus Washington, or Walsh, found a great many sympathetic people in
+ Georgia. He was too well known in the State to undertake any scheme to
+ which his name was attached: so he worked through an agent, a man named
+ Sullivan. This man Sullivan had been a captain in the patriot army; but he
+ had headed the Philadelphia mob which insulted Congress, and he was
+ compelled to flee to the Mississippi to save his neck. When the old
+ Congress went out, Sullivan felt free to return. He came to Georgia,
+ representing, or pretending to represent, the Virginia Yazoo Company, of
+ which the celebrated Patrick Henry was a member, and made application to
+ the State Legislature for the purchase of the Western lands. Sullivan's
+ description of the Yazoo lands was so glowing that another company was
+ formed in Georgia. Some of the members of the new company formerly
+ belonged to the Combined Society, but others were men of good standing.
+ This company employed active agents; but no corrupt means were used so far
+ as is now known, though some members of the General Assembly were
+ interested. The efforts of the company were successful. Their act was
+ passed, and the sale made. Immediately the people began to oppose the
+ scheme, and to demand the repeal of the act The demand grew into a State
+ issue, and the new Legislature declared the sale null and void.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0019" id="linkimage-0019">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/134.jpg" alt="The Yazoo Scheme 134 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ For a while the land grabbers were quiet; but in 1794 it seemed to the
+ most eager of the speculators that the time had come for them to make
+ another effort to secure the rich Western lands that belonged to the
+ State. They were evidently afraid, that, unless they made haste to get
+ hold of the lands, the people's Legislature would divide them out or sell
+ them to the Federal Government. So they formed another conspiracy, and
+ this time they laid their plans very deep. Acting on the principle that
+ every man has his price, they managed, by bribery and other underhanded
+ schemes, to win the sympathy and support of some of the most prominent men
+ in the State,&mdash;men whose names seemed to be far above suspicion. Some
+ of the highest judges lent their aid to the land grabbers. Members of
+ Congress were concerned in the scheme. Generals and other high officers of
+ the militia took part in it. Nothing was left undone that was calculated
+ to win the support of men who, up to that time, had enjoyed and deserved
+ the confidence and respect of the State. The extent of the bribery and
+ corruption that existed would be altogether beyond belief if the records
+ were not left to show it. The swindlers were both bold and cunning, and in
+ one way or another sought to win the support of all the leading men in the
+ State. And they came very close to succeeding.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Legislature held its session in Augusta at that time; and while the
+ Yazoo land sale was up for discussion, the agents of the land grabbers
+ swarmed around it, coaxing, bribing, and bullying the people's
+ representatives. Among these agents was a judge of the Supreme Court of
+ the United States, from Pennsylvania, with twenty-five thousand dollars in
+ his hands. There was a judge of the United States District Court for
+ Georgia, paying shares in the land company for the votes of members. A
+ United States senator from Georgia, James Gunn, who had neglected to
+ return to his post of duty in Congress, was seen bullying members with a
+ loaded whip, to secure their support for the land-sale scheme. A judge of
+ the State courts was also present, with other prominent citizens,
+ buttonholing the members of the Legislature, offering them shares,
+ sub-shares, and half sub-shares to secure their votes. General James
+ Jackson, who was then a United States senator from Georgia, was told by a
+ prominent judge of the State that he might have any number of acres he
+ pleased up to half a million, without the payment of a dollar, if he would
+ use his influence in behalf of the corrupt schemes of the land grabbers.
+ In reply, General Jackson said he had fought for the people of Georgia;
+ that the land belonged to them and to their children; and that, should the
+ conspirators succeed, he, for one, would hold the sale to be void. Many
+ weak men in the Legislature were intimidated by threats; and some who
+ could not be persuaded to vote for the sale, were paid to go home, and
+ remain away from the Legislature.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In this way the representatives of the people were persuaded and bribed to
+ support the scheme of the land grabbers. In 1795 the bill was passed,
+ selling to four companies&mdash;the Georgia Company, the Georgia
+ Mississippi Company, the Upper Mississippi Company, and the Tennessee
+ Company&mdash;thirty-five million acres of land for $500,000. Nothing was
+ now wanting to complete the fraud but the signature of the governor. If he
+ put his name to the bill, it became a law. If he refused to sign it, the
+ scheme of the swindlers would fail. General George Matthews was the
+ governor at that time, and, though two of his sons had been made members
+ of the land-grabbing companies, it was hoped that he would refuse to sign
+ the bill. The hope was justified by the fact that he had refused to sign a
+ similar bill, and had given some very good reasons for it. It was known,
+ too, that he was a man of great courage, and honest in his intentions; but
+ the influence brought to bear on him was too great. His judgment was
+ weakened by the clamor of the prominent men around him, who had become the
+ paid agents of the swindlers. He resisted for some time, but finally
+ agreed to sign the bill. The secretary of Governor Matthews, a man named
+ Urquhart, tried to prevent the signing of the bill by working on the
+ governor's superstitions. He dipped the pen in oil, thinking that when
+ Matthews came to write with it, and found that the ink refused to flow, he
+ would take it as an omen that the bill should not be signed. The governor
+ was startled, when, after several efforts, he found the pen would not
+ write; but he was not a man to let so trifling a matter stand in his way.
+ He directed his secretary to make another pen, and with this he made the
+ land-steal bill a law. By a stroke he made the bill a law, and also signed
+ away his own popularity and influence. The people of Georgia never trusted
+ him afterwards; and he left the State, finding it unpleasant and
+ uncomfortable to live among those who had lost their respect for him. Yet
+ no charge of corruption was ever made against him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the people learned that the Yazoo Fraud had become a law, they rose
+ up as one man to denounce it. Those who lived in the neighborhood of
+ Augusta determined to put to death the men who had betrayed them. They
+ marched to the legislative halls, and were only prevented from carrying
+ out their threats by the persuasion of the small minority of the members
+ that had refused to be coaxed, bullied, or bribed into voting for the
+ Yazoo Fraud. But the indignation of the people continued to grow as they
+ learned of the corrupt methods that had been employed to pass the measure.
+ Meetings were held in every county; and public opinion became so strong
+ that those who had voted for the Yazoo Fraud found it dangerous to remain
+ in the State. A senator from Hancock County became so alarmed that he fled
+ to South Carolina. He was followed by one of his neighbors, found in a
+ lonely cabin at night, and shot to death. Except in one or two counties,
+ the men who voted for the Yazoo Fraud were compelled to hide themselves
+ until the anger of the people had cooled.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In his "Sketches of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia," Governor George
+ R. Gilmer tells a little story that will serve to show the state of
+ feeling in Georgia at that time. After the Yazoo Fraud was passed, the
+ people of the counties held indignation meetings. A meeting was called in
+ Oglethorpe County, and on the morning of the day, a citizen on his way to
+ town stopped at the gate of a neighbor to wait until he could get ready to
+ go. The man who was getting ready was named Miles Jennings. The citizen,
+ waiting, saw Mr. Jennings put a rope in his pocket.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What is that for?" the citizen asked.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "To hang Musgrove!" replied Mr. Jennings, Musgrove being the name of the
+ member of the Legislature.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the two neighbors arrived at the courthouse, all the people had
+ assembled. Mr. Jennings hitched his horse and went into the crowd, pulled
+ the rope from his pocket, and, holding it above his head where all could
+ see it, cried out,&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Neighbors! this rope is to hang Musgrove, who sold the people's land for
+ a bribe!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0020" id="linkimage-0020">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figright" style="width:32%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/138.jpg" alt="Rope to Hang Musgrove 138 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ The words of Jennings and the sight of the rope made the people furious.
+ Musgrove had been given a hint by Jennings's neighbor, and he had made
+ good his escape. But for that, no human power could have saved him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The whole State was in a condition of excitement that is hard to describe.
+ Grand juries made presentments, county and town meetings passed
+ resolutions, and petitions were sent from hand to hand, and signed by
+ hundreds of people. A State convention, called to alter the constitution,
+ had been chosen to meet in May, 1795, but the members had been chosen at
+ the same time that the members of the corrupt Legislature had been
+ elected; and a majority of them had been "tarred with the same stick," as
+ the saying goes. The presentments, resolutions, and petitions crowded so
+ fast upon the convention, that it was decided to postpone the changing of
+ the constitution to a time when the people were in a better humor. The
+ convention referred all the papers it had received to the next
+ Legislature, and adjourned in some confusion.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This added to the excitement and anger of the people. They were in doubt
+ how to act. Delay would give the land grabbers time to sell the lands they
+ had secured through bribery and corruption. But whom could the people
+ trust? They had been betrayed by many of their highest judges, by one of
+ their United States senators, and by a large majority of their
+ Legislature. A great many believed that all the powers of government had
+ come to an end.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ During the troubled times of the Revolution it had been the custom of
+ military officers having the confidence of the people to convene the
+ Legislative Assembly when an emergency seemed to call for it. In the midst
+ of their doubt and confusion, the people applied to General Twiggs, the
+ senior major general, to convene the Legislature in order that action
+ might be taken before the swindlers sold the lands they had obtained by
+ fraud; but General Twiggs refused to act in a case in which he had no
+ clear right and power, so the people remained for the time being without a
+ remedy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From the very beginning of this scheme to defraud the people of the State,
+ it had been bitterly opposed by General James Jackson, who was
+ representing Georgia in the United States Senate. He denounced it in the
+ Senate. He corresponded with the most eminent men in the State, he wrote
+ to the newspapers, and in every possible way held up to the scorn and
+ contempt of the public the men who were trying to defraud the State of its
+ rich Western lands. On the other hand, the conspirators left nothing
+ undone to injure the reputation of General Jackson. His character was
+ attacked, and his life was several times threatened. As early as the
+ spring of 1795, he took occasion in full Senate, and in the presence of
+ General James Gunn (the Georgia senator who was representing the
+ swindlers), to denounce the scheme as "a speculation of the darkest
+ character and of deliberate villany."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ By his bold, even violent opposition to the Yazoo sale, General Jackson
+ had made himself the leader of the people. Therefore in 1795, while he was
+ still senator, many of the people requested him to resign, so that he
+ might use his influence and great talents in bringing about the repeal of
+ the obnoxious law. He tendered his resignation at once, and returned home.
+ He was elected a member of the Legislature, and devoted all his time and
+ all his energy to blotting out the odious law. He became a member of the
+ committee appointed to investigate the means used to pass the law, and
+ under his leadership the whole scandalous affair was probed to the bottom.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In electing the new Legislature, the only issue was Yazoo and anti-Yazoo.
+ The people were successful in electing men who favored the repeal of the
+ law. There was no other business before the General Assembly until this
+ matter was disposed of. The body was flooded with the petitions and
+ remonstrances that had been sent to the convention. The Legislature had
+ met in January, 1795. At once a day was set to "consider the state of the
+ Republic." On that day the petitions and presentments were considered, and
+ referred to a committee, of which General Jackson was appointed chairman.
+ On the 22d of January the committee reported not only that the act was
+ unconstitutional, but that fraud had been practiced to secure its passage.
+ On these grounds they declared that the act was a nullity, and not binding
+ on the people of the State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The bill declaring the sale void was drawn up by General Jackson. It
+ passed both Houses by large majorities, and was signed by Governor Irwin.
+ The feeling of the Legislature was so strong, that, after the Yazoo act
+ had been repealed, it was decided to destroy all the records and documents
+ relating to the corruption. By order of the two Houses a fire was kindled
+ in the public square of Louisville, which was then the capital. The
+ enrolled act that had been secured by fraud was brought out by the
+ secretary of state, and by him delivered to the President of the Senate
+ for examination. That officer delivered the act to the Speaker of the
+ House. The Speaker in turn passed it to the clerk, who read the title of
+ the act and the other records, and then, committing them to the flames,
+ cried out in a loud voice, "God save the State and preserve her rights,
+ and may every attempt to injure them perish as these wicked and corrupt
+ acts now do!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The flames in which the records were burned were kindled by means of a sun
+ glass, so that it might be truly said that fire came down from heaven to
+ destroy the evidences of corruption. There is a tradition that when the
+ officers of the State had met to destroy the records, an old man, a
+ stranger to all present, rode through the multitude, and made his way to
+ where the officials stood. Lifting up his voice, he declared, that, feeble
+ as he was, he had come there to see an act of justice performed, but he
+ thought the fire in which the records of corruption were to be destroyed
+ should come from heaven. The people watched him in silence. He drew from
+ his bosom with trembling hands a sun glass, and in this way burned the
+ papers. Then, says tradition, the white-haired old man mounted his horse
+ and rode away, and was never seen again.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ GEORGE MATTHEWS AND JOHN CLARKE.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0021" id="linkimage-0021">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/143.jpg" alt="George Matthews and John Clarke 143 "
+ width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ In giving the history of the Yazoo Fraud, mention has been made of General
+ George Matthews, who was governor at the time, and who was compelled to
+ leave the State because he had been persuaded to sign the bill. General
+ Matthews was one of the most remarkable characters of his time. Governor
+ Gilmer has drawn a very interesting portrait of him. It is not a pleasing
+ picture in some respects, but it gives a very interesting glimpse of a man
+ who in his day was one of the strongest characters in the State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He was the son of an Irishman named John Matthews, who settled in western
+ Virginia in 1737. George Matthews began to fight the Indians at an age
+ when most boys are at school. In 1761 the Indians attacked and murdered a
+ family not far from his father's home. He heard the guns, and thought that
+ a shooting match was going on. With some companions of his own age, he
+ rode forward to join in the sport; but the youngsters saw the dead bodies
+ of their neighbors lying in the yard where they had been left by the
+ murderous savages, and at once turned their horses' heads and fled. They
+ were not a moment too soon; for the Indians, who had been lying in ambush,
+ rose and fired at the boys. Matthews had a narrow escape; for a bullet cut
+ off the wisp of hair (known as a queue) that hung dangling from the back
+ of his head. The danger that he had passed through, and the sight of his
+ murdered neighbors, roused young Matthews to action. He collected a party
+ of men, put himself at the head of them, followed and overtook the
+ savages, and killed nine of their number.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the greatest battle that ever took place between the Virginians and the
+ Indians, Matthews commanded a company, and bore a very conspicuous part.
+ The battle took place at the junction of the Ohio River with the Kanawha,
+ on what was called Point Pleasant. The fight began at sunrise, and was
+ kept up all day, with no great success on either side. The Indians held
+ their ground, and refused to give way before the most stubborn attacks of
+ the Virginians. Near sundown, Matthews, with two other captains, made a
+ strategic movement. The three companies were withdrawn from the battle.
+ Out of sight of the enemy, they got into the bed of a creek. Hidden by the
+ banks of the stream, they marched to the rear of the Indians, and from
+ this point made an attack. The movement had been so cleverly carried out,
+ that the savages were taken completely by surprise, and driven across the
+ Ohio.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Early in the Revolutionary War, General Washington, who knew well the
+ value of the training Matthews had received on the frontier, ordered him
+ and the regiment which he commanded to join the main army. He took part in
+ the battle of the Brandywine; and at the battle of Germantown he led his
+ regiment against the British opposing him, drove them back, and pushed on
+ to the center of the town, where he captured a regiment of the enemy.
+ Shortly after this, while engaged in a skirmish, his courage led him too
+ close to the British. He was knocked down, severely wounded by a bayonet
+ thrust, and taken prisoner. He was sent to the British prison ship in New
+ York Harbor. He was there treated with so much cruelty that he appealed to
+ his government for relief. In response to that appeal, Thomas Jefferson,
+ who was then governor of Virginia, wrote him a personal letter, in which
+ he said, "We know that the ardent spirit and hatred of tyranny which
+ brought you into your present situation will enable you to bear up against
+ it with the firmness which has distinguished you as a soldier, and look
+ forward with pleasure to the day when events shall take place against
+ which the wounded spirit of your enemies will find no comfort, even from
+ reflections on the most refined of the cruelties with which they have
+ glutted themselves."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General Matthews was not exchanged until the close of the war. He then
+ joined the Southern army under General Greene, and commanded the Third
+ Virginia Regiment. While in the South, he bought a tract of land on Broad
+ River, known as the Goose Pond. He settled there with his family in 1784.
+ The fame he had won as a soldier made General Matthews at that time the
+ principal man in Georgia. He was elected governor in 1786. When his term
+ expired, he was sent to Congress. In 1794-95 he was again made governor;
+ and it was at this time, that, contrary to all expectations, he was
+ prevailed on to sign the Yazoo Act. No charge of corruption was ever made
+ against him. No thief or swindler was ever bold enough to try to bribe
+ such a high-spirited and fearless man. But excitement in the State ran so
+ high, that General Matthews was ruined so far as his influence was
+ concerned. He left Georgia, and never afterwards made the State his home
+ for any long period.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1811 a lot of runaway negroes, ruffians, and lawless men congregated in
+ Florida in such numbers that they were able to get control of affairs.
+ They formed a government of their own, and then petitioned the United
+ States to make Florida one of their territories. President Madison
+ appointed General Matthews the agent of the United States to negotiate
+ with the "constituted authorities" for the annexation of Florida. General
+ Matthews made a treaty with those who were in control of Florida; but
+ Spain protested, and the President finally declared that the treaty had
+ not been made with the "constituted authorities."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General Matthews was not a learned man (he knew nothing of books), and he
+ could not understand the fuss that was made over the term "constituted
+ authorities." He became very angry with the President, said that that
+ officer had a cowardly fear of Spain and Great Britain, and declared that
+ he would go to Washington to "thrash" the President. He actually set out
+ on that errand; but the fatigue and exposure which he had experienced in
+ Florida, and the high state of excitement under which he labored, threw
+ him into a fever while he was on his journey to Washington, and he died in
+ Augusta in March, 1812.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Previous to his Florida appointment, General Matthews had been nominated
+ to be governor of the Territory of Mississippi by President Adams; but the
+ opposition was so great that the President withdrew the nomination. When
+ General Matthews heard of this, he promptly set out for Philadelphia to
+ call the President to account. He rode to Mr. Adams's house, gave a loud
+ knock on the door, and told the servant he wished to see the President.
+ The servant said the President was engaged; but General Matthews bristled
+ with anger at the bare thought that any man, even the President, could be
+ engaged in any business more important than talking to George Matthews,
+ late colonel of the Virginia line, and governor of the State of Georgia.
+ Therefore he told the servant to go at once and tell the President that a
+ gentleman wished to speak to him; and he added, that, if the message was
+ not carried at once, the servant would find his head taken from his
+ shoulders. General Matthews wore his Revolutionary sword and cocked hat,
+ and he succeeded in convincing the servant that he was not to be trifled
+ with. He was promptly admitted into the presence of Mr. Adams, and, with
+ the touch of Irish brogue he had caught from his father, he made himself
+ and his business known. He introduced himself, and then said to the
+ President,&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Now, sir, I understand that you nominated me to the Senate of these
+ United States, to be governor of the Territory of Mississippi, and that
+ afterwards you took back the nomination. Sir, if you had known me, you
+ would not have taken the nomination back. If you did not know me, you
+ should not have nominated me to so important an office. Now, sir, unless
+ you can satisfy me, your station as President of these United States shall
+ not screen you from my vengeance."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Adams at once made himself agreeable, for he had nothing but good will
+ for the stanch Georgia Federalist. The outcome of the meeting was that the
+ President promised to appoint the general's son John to be supervisor of
+ the revenue, and this promise he carried out.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Governor Gilmer, in his racy reminiscences of the people who settled in
+ the Broad River region, draws an interesting portrait of General Matthews.
+ He describes him as a short, thick man, with stout legs, on which he stood
+ very straight. "He carried his head rather thrown back. His features were
+ full and bluff, his hair light red, and his complexion fair and florid. He
+ admitted no superior but General Washington. He spoke of his services to
+ his country as unsurpassed except by those of his great chief. He wore a
+ three-cornered cocked hat, top boots, a shirt full ruffled at the bosom
+ and wrists, and sometimes a long sword at his side. To listen to his talk
+ about himself, his children, and his affairs, one would have thought that
+ he was but a puff of wind. Trade or talk of history with him, and he was
+ found to be one of the shrewdest of men. Fight with him, and he never
+ failed to act the hero. He was unlearned. He spelled 'coffee'
+ k-a-u-g-h-p-h-y. He wrote 'Congress' with a K."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When it is considered that he had small opportunity to train himself in
+ any direction except rough fighting, General Matthews must be regarded as
+ one of the most remarkable men of his time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Another remarkable man who figured largely in both the military and
+ political history of the State was General John Clarke, son of the famous
+ Elijah Clarke. John Clarke became a soldier in the Revolutionary War when
+ a mere boy. He had followed his father to camp, and remained with him. He
+ took part in many skirmishes; but at the battle of Kettle Creek, in Wilkes
+ County, he distinguished himself by his coolness and courage. He fought
+ through the war. He was made a lieutenant at sixteen years of age, and
+ when the war ended he was a major. After the war he was made a brigadier,
+ and then a major general of the militia. After aiding to run the British
+ out of the State, and subduing the Tories, General Clarke turned his
+ attention to the Indians. At the battle of Jacks Creek, in Walton County,
+ in 1787, he greatly distinguished himself, having charge of one of the
+ wings of the Georgia forces.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was natural that a man raised in camp, and brought up in the midst of
+ the rough and tough elements that are collected together there, should
+ possess qualities not calculated to fit him for the polite transactions
+ that take place in drawing rooms and parlors. General Clarke's
+ self-reliance was extreme. Having commanded men from the time he was
+ sixteen, it was natural that his temper and his manners should be
+ offensive, to some extent, to those who were not thoughtful enough to make
+ due allowance for these things. It thus happened that when peace came,
+ John Clarke's methods and practices made him many bitter enemies. On the
+ other hand, the sterling qualities of his character made him many strong
+ friends.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Coming out of the war with neither trade nor profession, and with only the
+ rudiments of an education, John Clarke was compelled to turn his attention
+ to politics. With him politics was simply a modified form of war. He had
+ never given any quarter to the Tories, and he gave small quarter to his
+ political enemies. But he was as faithful to his friends in politics as he
+ had been to the cause of American liberty. He was uncompromising, whether
+ dealing with friends or enemies, and his temper was such that he regarded
+ his opponents as his personal enemies. Of his political career, mention
+ will be made in another place. It is sufficient to say that a quarrel he
+ had with a judge divided the people of the State into two parties, and the
+ contest between them was carried on for several years. The prejudices that
+ sprang up in that contest lasted for more than a generation, and strong
+ traces of them are to be found in estimates of General Clarke's character
+ written long after he was dead.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Only a man of the strongest character, and possessing the most remarkable
+ qualities, could have made such a marked impression on the political
+ history of a commonwealth.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0022" id="linkimage-0022">
+ <!-- IMG --></a> <br />
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img alt="After the Revolution 152 (127K)" src="images/152.jpg"
+ width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Revolution came to an end in Georgia when, on the 11th of July, 1782,
+ Savannah was taken possession of by the American troops under General
+ Anthony Wayne. It ended for the whole country when, on the 30th of
+ November of the same year, the treaty of peace was signed at Paris between
+ the United States and Great Britain. The King of Great Britain
+ acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen States, and declared them
+ free and sovereign. This was a very happy event for the country, and had
+ been long looked forward to by the people, sometimes doubtfully, but
+ always hopefully.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the great victory that had been won found the people of Georgia
+ prostrate. The little property that they possessed when the war began had
+ either been spent in maintaining the struggle, or well-nigh destroyed by
+ the raids of the British and Tories. In the larger communities of Savannah
+ and Augusta, the citizens had the resources of trade and commerce to fall
+ back on, but in the smaller settlements and rural districts the condition
+ of the inhabitants bordered on destitution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the time that Savannah was surrendered to the American troops, there
+ was almost a famine in the land. The soldiers were without shoes, and
+ sometimes they were without supplies. The crops were short on account of
+ the lack of farmers. The condition of the people was quite as bad as that
+ of the troops, especially when the disbanded militia returned to their
+ homes. Houses, barns, and fences had been burned; stock and cattle had
+ been slaughtered or driven away; and there was a great lack of even the
+ necessities of life.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But those whose energy and spirit upheld them through the long struggle
+ for independence were not the men to surrender to the hard circumstances
+ that surrounded them. They went to work as bravely as they had fought; and
+ the sacrifices they made to peace were almost as severe, though not so
+ bloody, as those they had made to war. Slowly, but surely and steadily,
+ they reclaimed their waste farms. Slowly, but surely and steadily, they
+ recovered from the prostration that the war had brought on their
+ industries. Slowly, but surely and steadily, the people worked their way
+ back to comparative prosperity. There may have been a few drones in the
+ towns, but there were no idle hands in the country places.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The men built for their families comfortable log cabins; and these, with
+ their clean sanded floors, are still the fashion in some parts of Georgia.
+ This done, they went about the business of raising crops, and stocking
+ their farms with cattle. The women and children were just as busy. In
+ every cabin could be heard the hum of the spinning wheel, and the thump of
+ the old hand loom. While the men were engaged in their outdoor work, the
+ women spun, wove, and made the comfortable jeans clothes that were the
+ fashion; while the girls plaited straw, and made hats and bonnets, and in
+ many other ways helped the older people. In a little while peddlers from
+ the more northern States began to travel through Georgia with their
+ various wares, some with pewter plates and spoons, and some with clocks.
+ The peddlers traveled in wagons instead of carrying their packs on their
+ backs, and in this way brought a great deal of merchandise to the State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As was natural, the political development of Georgia was much more rapid
+ than its industrial progress. In January, 1783, Lyman Hall was elected
+ governor. He was distinguished for the patriotic stand he took at the very
+ beginning of the controversy between the Colony and the King. The
+ Legislature met in Savannah after the evacuation of the town by the
+ British; but it was so far from the central and upper portions of the
+ State, and there was so much dissatisfaction among the people on this
+ account, that in May Augusta was made the capital. In that town the
+ General Assembly met July 8, 1783. Measures were at once taken to seize
+ land, and confiscate the property of those Royalists who had lived in
+ Georgia. This property was sold for the benefit of the public. In November
+ of the same year a new cession of land was obtained from the Creek nation
+ by treaty. This was divided into the counties of Franklin and Washington,
+ and the land distributed in bounties to the soldiers of the war.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is worthy of note that about this time, when the State had hardly begun
+ to recover from the effects of the war, the representatives of the people
+ began to move in the matter of education. The Constitution of 1777 had
+ declared that "schools shall be erected in each county, and supported by
+ the general expense of the State." On the 31st of July, 1783, the
+ Legislature appropriated one thousand acres of land to each county for the
+ support of free schools. In 1784, a short time after the notification of
+ the treaty of peace, the Legislature passed an act appropriating forty
+ thousand acres of land for the endowment of a college or university. A
+ year later the charter for this university was granted; and the preamble
+ of the act declares it to be the policy of the State to foster education
+ in the most liberal way. It so happened that some of the provisions that
+ had been made for public education were not carried out at once, and the
+ people of the various settlements established schools of their own. Many
+ of the best teachers of the country came to Georgia from the more northern
+ States; and some of them won a reputation that has lasted to this day.
+ Later, more than one of these teachers established schools that became
+ famous all over the country. In this way the reign of the "old field
+ schoolmaster" began, and continued for many years.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0023" id="linkimage-0023">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/156.jpg" alt="Early Cultivation of Cotton 156 "
+ width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ The people had been cultivating cotton on a small scale before 1791; but
+ the staple was so difficult to handle, that the planting was limited.
+ Those who grew it were compelled to separate the seed from the lint by
+ hand, and this was so tedious that few people would grow it. But in 1793,
+ Eli Whitney, who was living on the plantation of General Greene, near
+ Savannah, invented the cotton gin. The machine was a very awkward and
+ cumbrous affair compared with the gins of the present day; but in that day
+ and time, and for many years after, the Whitney was sufficient for the
+ needs of the people. It was one of the most important inventions that have
+ ever been made. It gave to the commerce of the world a staple commodity
+ that is in universal demand, and it gave to the people of the South their
+ most valuable and important crop. But for this timely invention, the
+ cultivation of cotton would have been confined to the narrowest limits.
+ The gin proved to be practicable, and it came into use very quickly. The
+ farmers prospered, and gradually increased the cotton crop.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The population also increased very rapidly. The rich lands were purchased
+ and settled on by farmers from Virginia and the Carolinas. The colony that
+ had been planted by Oglethorpe had never ventured very far from the
+ seacoast. A few probably followed the course of the Savannah River, and
+ made their homes in that region; but the people brought over by Oglethorpe
+ were not of the stuff that pioneers are made of. The experience they had
+ undergone in the mother country had tamed them to such a degree that they
+ had no desire to brave the future in the wilderness. Adventures of that
+ kind were left for the hardy North Carolinians and Virginians who first
+ settled what was then known as Upper Georgia. After the Revolution, this
+ tide of immigration increased very rapidly, and it was still further
+ swelled by the profits that the Whitney gin enabled the planters of
+ Georgia to make out of their cotton crops.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The settling of Georgia began with the charitable scheme of Oglethorpe.
+ The making of Georgia began when the North Carolinians and Virginians
+ began to open up the Broad River region to the north of Augusta. It was
+ due to the desperate stand taken by these hardy pioneers that Georgia
+ continued the struggle for American independence. To Upper Georgia came
+ some of the best families from Virginia and North Carolina,&mdash;the
+ Grattons, the Lewises, the Clarkes, the Strothers, the Crawfords, the
+ Reeses, the Harrises, the Andrewses, the Taliaferros (pronounced
+ Tollivers), the Campbells, the Barnetts, the Toombses, the Doolys, and
+ many other families whose names have figured in the history of the
+ country. Here also settled James Jack, the sturdy patriot who volunteered
+ to carry the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence to Philadelphia. The
+ Congress then in session chose to shut its eyes to that declaration, but
+ it was the basis and framework of the Declaration afterwards written by
+ Thomas Jefferson.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After the Revolution, when the Cherokees went on the warpath, the Virginia
+ settlement was in a state of great alarm. Men, women, and children met
+ together, and decided that it would be safer to camp in the woods in a
+ body at night rather than run the risk of being burned to death in houses
+ that they could not defend. They went into the depths of the woods and
+ made an encampment. One night while they were around a fire, cooking their
+ supper, suddenly the report of a gun was heard, and then there was a cry
+ of "Indians!" The men seized their guns; but they hardly knew where to
+ turn, or what to do. Suddenly a lad who had not lost his head emptied a
+ bucket of water on the fire. This was the thing to do, but no one else had
+ thought of it. The name of the lad was Meriwether Lewis. He went into the
+ regular army, became the private secretary of President Jefferson, and was
+ selected to head the party that explored the Territory of Louisiana, which
+ had been bought from France. Meriwether Lewis selected for his companion
+ Captain Clark, an old army friend and comrade. Leading the party, Lewis
+ and his friend Clark left St. Louis, and pushed westward to the Pacific
+ coast, through dangers and obstacles that few men would have cared to
+ meet. The famous expedition of Lewis and Clark has now become a part of
+ the history of the country. Lewis took possession of the Pacific coast in
+ the name of the United States. There was a controversy with Great Britain
+ some years afterwards as to the title of Oregon, but that which Lewis and
+ Clark had established was finally acknowledged to be the best.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meriwether Lewis won a name in history because the opportunity came to
+ him. His name is mentioned here because he was a representative of the men
+ who settled Upper Georgia,&mdash;the men who kept the fires of liberty
+ alive in the State, and who, after helping to conquer the British and the
+ Tories, became the conquerors of the wilderness that lay to the west of
+ them. From Wilkes, Burke, Elbert, and the region where Clarke and his men
+ had fought, the tide of emigration slowly moved across the State, settling
+ Greene, Hancock, Baldwin, Putnam, Morgan, Jasper, Butts, Monroe, Coweta,
+ Upson, Pike, Meriwether, Talbot, Harris, and Muscogee counties.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Some of the more adventurous crossed the Chattahoochee into Alabama, and
+ on into the great Mississippi Valley and beyond. Their descendants live in
+ every part of the South; and Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas have had
+ Georgians for their governors, and their senators and representatives in
+ Congress,&mdash;men who were descended from the Virginia and North
+ Carolina immigrants. One of the most brilliant of these was Mirabeau B.
+ Lamar, scholar, statesman, and soldier, the president of Texas when that
+ Territory had declared itself a free and an independent republic.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ THE COTTON GIN.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Brief mention has been made of Whitney's invention of the cotton gin. The
+ event was of such world-wide importance that the story should be told
+ here. Whitney, the inventor of the gin, was born in Massachusetts in 1765,
+ in very poor circumstances. While the War of the Revolution was going on,
+ he was earning his living by making nails by hand. He was such an apt
+ mechanic that he was able to make and save enough money to pay his way
+ through Yale College, where he graduated in 1792. In that year he engaged
+ himself to come to Georgia as a private tutor in the family of a gentleman
+ of Savannah; but when he reached that city, he found that the place had
+ been filled.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While in Savannah, Whitney attracted the attention of the widow of General
+ Nathanael Greene, who lived at Mulberry Grove, on the river at no great
+ distance from the city. Mrs. Greene invited the young man to make his home
+ on her plantation. He soon found opportunity to show his fine mechanical
+ genius, and Mrs. Greene became more interested in him than ever.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The story goes, that soon after the young man had established himself on
+ the Mulberry Grove Plantation, several Georgia planters were dining with
+ Mrs. Greene. During their conversation the difficulty of removing the seed
+ from the cotton fiber was mentioned, and the suggestion was made that this
+ might be done by machinery. At this Mrs. Greene mentioned the skill and
+ ingenuity of young Whitney, and advised her guests that he should be given
+ the problem to solve. This advice was followed. The planters had a talk
+ with the young man, and explained to him the difficulty which they found
+ in separating the seed from the lint.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At that time one pound of lint cotton was all that a negro woman could
+ separate from the seed in a day; and the more cotton the planters raised,
+ the deeper they got in debt. The close of the war had found them in a
+ state of the utmost poverty, so that they had been compelled to mortgage
+ their lands in order to get money on which to begin business. Cotton was
+ the only product of the farm for which there was any constant demand; but,
+ owing to the labor of separating the lint from the seed, it could not be
+ raised at a profit. Thus, in 1791, the number of pounds exported from the
+ South to Europe amounted to only about 379 bales of 500 pounds each.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the planters went to Whitney with their problem, he was entirely
+ ignorant of the whole matter. He knew nothing of cotton or of cotton
+ planting; but he at once set himself at work. He made a careful study of
+ the cotton plant. He shut himself in a room with some uncleaned cotton,
+ and worked at his task during a whole winter. He made his own tools at the
+ plantation blacksmith shop; and all day long, and sometimes far into the
+ night, he could be heard hammering and sawing away.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1793 he called together the planters who had asked him to solve the
+ problem, and showed them the machine, which he called a cotton gin. When
+ they saw it work, their surprise and delight knew no bounds. They knew at
+ once that the problem had been solved by the young genius from
+ Massachusetts. Little calculation was needed to show them that the cotton
+ gin could clean as much cotton in a day as could be cleaned on a
+ plantation during a whole winter. What before had been the work of a
+ hundred hands for several months could now be completed in a few days.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0024" id="linkimage-0024">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figright" style="width:28%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/163.jpg"
+ alt="Whitney and his Cotton Gin 163 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ But it seems to be the fate of the majority of those who make wonderful
+ inventions never to enjoy the full benefits of the work of their genius.
+ Eli Whitney was not an exception to the general rule. While he was working
+ on his cotton gin, rumors of it went abroad; and by the time it was
+ completed, public expectation was on tiptoe. When the machine was
+ finished, it was shown to only a few people; but the fact, of such immense
+ importance to the people of the State, was soon known throughout the
+ State, and the planters impatiently waited for the day when they would be
+ able to put it in use.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ One night the building in which Whitney's cotton gin was concealed was
+ broken into, ransacked, and the machine carried off. It was a bold
+ robbery, and a very successful one. The inventor made haste to build
+ another gin; but before he could get his model completed, and obtain a
+ patent right to the invention, the machine had been manufactured at
+ various points in the South by other parties, and was in operation on
+ several plantations. Whitney formed a partnership with a gentleman who had
+ some capital, and went to Connecticut to manufacture his gin; but he was
+ compelled to spend all the money he could make, fighting lawsuits. His
+ patent had been infringed, and those who sought to rob him of the fruits
+ of his labor took a bold stand. The result of all this was, that the
+ inventor never received any just compensation for a machine that
+ revolutionized the commerce of the country, and added enormously to the
+ power and progress of the Republic. Lord Macaulay said that Eli Whitney
+ did more to make the United States powerful than Peter the Great did to
+ make the Russian Empire dominant. Robert Fulton declared that Arkwright,
+ Watt, and Whitney were the three men that did more for mankind than any of
+ their contemporaries. This is easy to believe, when we remember that while
+ the South shipped 6 bags of cotton to England in 1786, and only 379 in
+ 1791, ten years after the cotton gin came into use, 82,000 bales were
+ exported. The very importance of Whitney's invention made it immensely
+ profitable for the vicious and the depraved to seize and appropriate the
+ inventor's rights. These robberies were upheld by those who were anxious
+ to share in the profits; and political demagogues made themselves popular
+ by misrepresenting Whitney, and clamoring against the law that was
+ intended to protect him. It was only by means of this clamor, half
+ political and wholly dishonest, that the plain rights of Whitney could be
+ denied and justice postponed. His invention was entirely new. It was
+ distinct from every other. It had no connection with and no relation to
+ any other invention that had been made. It stood alone, and there could be
+ no difficulty whatever in identifying it. And yet Whitney had just this
+ difficulty. In his efforts to prove that he was the inventor of the cotton
+ gin, and that he was entitled to a share of the immense profits that those
+ who used it were reaping, he had to travel thousands of miles, and spend
+ thousands of dollars in appearing before Legislatures and in courts that
+ denied him justice. The life of his patent had nearly expired before any
+ court finally enforced his right, and Congress refused to grant him an
+ extension beyond the fourteen years that had then nearly expired.
+ Associations and combinations had been formed for the purpose of
+ defrauding Whitney, and these were represented by the ablest lawyers that
+ could be hired. It is no wonder that Whitney, in writing to Robert Fulton,
+ a brother inventor, declared that the troubles he had to contend with were
+ the result of a lack of desire on the part of mankind to see justice done.
+ The truth is, his invention was of such prime importance that the public
+ fought for its possession, and justice and honesty were for the moment
+ lost sight of. At one time but a few men in Georgia were bold enough to go
+ into court and testify to the simplest facts within their knowledge; and
+ Whitney himself says, that in one instance he had the greatest difficulty
+ in proving that the machine had been used in Georgia, although at that
+ very moment three, separate gins were at work within fifty yards of the
+ building in which the court sat. They were all so near, that the rattle
+ and hum of the machinery could be heard from the court-house steps.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In December, 1807, a judge was found to affirm the rights of Whitney under
+ his patent. The judge's name was Johnson; and in his decision he said,
+ "The whole interior of the Southern States was languishing, and its
+ inhabitants emigrating for want of some object to engage their attention
+ and employ their industry, when the invention of this machine at once
+ opened views to them which set the whole country in active motion. From
+ childhood to age it has presented to us a lucrative employment.
+ Individuals who were depressed with poverty, and sunk in idleness, have
+ suddenly risen to wealth and respectability. Our debts have been paid off.
+ Our capital has increased, and our lands have trebled themselves in value.
+ We cannot express the weight of the obligation which the country owes to
+ this invention. The extent of it cannot now be seen."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The language of the learned judge was high-flown; but he was a just judge,
+ and he had a faint and glimmering idea of the real importance of this
+ remarkable invention. It was a very simple affair. The principle came to
+ Whitney in a flash, and he had a model constructed within ten days after
+ the despairing planters had gone to him with their problem. But it may be
+ doubted whether any other individual, by one simple invention, ever did so
+ much for the progress and enrichment of human interests, and for the
+ welfare and the comfort of the human race. This little machine made the
+ agriculture of the South the strongest and the richest in the world, and
+ gave to this section a political power that was for years supreme in the
+ nation, and was only surrendered as the result of a long and exhausting
+ war. By means of the cotton gin, towns and cities have sprung up, and a
+ vast network of railways has been built; and yet the most that Whitney
+ received was a royalty on his gin in North Carolina, and a donation of
+ fifty thousand dollars from the State of South Carolina. In Georgia his
+ right to his invention was stolen, and all that he got out of it was a
+ number of costly lawsuits.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After struggling for five years against the overwhelming odds that avarice
+ and greed had mustered to aid them, Whitney turned his attention in
+ another direction, and made a still more remarkable display of his genius.
+ This part of his career does not belong directly to the history of
+ Georgia, but it is interesting enough to be briefly recorded here. The
+ United States Government was in want of arms, and this want various
+ contractors had failed to meet. Through the influence of the secretary of
+ the treasury, Whitney was given a contract to make ten thousand muskets at
+ $13.40 apiece. He had no capital, no works, no machinery, no tools, no
+ skilled workmen, no raw material. In creating a part of these and
+ commanding the rest, he called into play an inventive genius, the extent
+ of which must always excite wonder and admiration.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Within ten years he created his own works, and invented and made his own
+ tools, invented and made his own machinery. More than this, he invented
+ and applied a wholly new principle of manufacture,&mdash;a principle that
+ has done more to advance human industry and increase wealth all over the
+ world than any other known effort of the human mind to solve material
+ problems. He invented and developed the principle or system of making the
+ various parts of a musket or any other complex manufactured article, such
+ as the sewing machine, so absolutely uniform as to be interchangeable.
+ This principle has been carried out in hundreds of thousands of different
+ ways. It has entered into and become a feature of a vast range of
+ manufactures. The principle was established by a series of inventions as
+ wonderful as any that the human mind ever conceived, so that Whitney has
+ been aptly called the Shakespeare of invention. His inventions remain
+ practically unchanged. After ninety years of trial, they are found to be
+ practically perfect.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was his peculiar gift to be able to convey into inanimate machinery the
+ skill that a human being could acquire only after years of study and
+ practice.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is almost like belittling the greatest of marvels to call it a stroke
+ of genius. He made it possible for the most ordinary laborer to accomplish
+ a hundred times as much in an hour, and with the most exquisite
+ perfection, as a skilled laborer could accomplish in a day.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On these wonderful inventions Whitney took out no patents. He gave them
+ all to the public. In this way he revenged himself on those who had
+ successfully robbed him of the fruits of his labor and genius in the
+ invention of the cotton gin. Perhaps if he had been more justly treated in
+ Georgia, he might have set up his works in this State, and this fact might
+ have made the South the seat of great manufacturing industries. Who knows?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ SOME GEORGIA INVENTIONS.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ The credit of inventing the steamboat is by general consent given to
+ Robert Fulton. Every schoolboy is taught that such is the case, and yet
+ the fact is at least very doubtful. There is preserved among the papers in
+ the Archives of Georgia a document that indicates, that, while Robert
+ Fulton has won the credit for an invention that has revolutionized the
+ commerce of the world, the real inventor may have been William Longstreet
+ of Augusta, an uncle of General James B. Longstreet, and the father of
+ Judge A. B. Longstreet, author of "Georgia Scenes." On the 26th of
+ September, 1790, William Longstreet sent the following letter to Edward
+ Telfair, who was then governor of Georgia:&mdash;
+ </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ Sir,&mdash;I make no doubt but you have heard of my steamboat
+ and as often heard it laughed at. But in this I have only
+ shared the fate of all other projectors, for it has
+ uniformly been the custom of every country to ridicule even
+ the greatest inventions until use has proved their utility.
+
+ My not reducing my scheme to practice has been a little
+ unfortunate for me, I confess, and perhaps for the people in
+ general, but until very lately I did not think that either
+ artists or material could be had in the place sufficient.
+ However, necessity, that grand science of invention, has
+ furnished me with an idea of perfecting my plans almost
+ entirely with wooden materials, and by such workmen as may
+ be got here, and from a thorough confidence of its success,
+ I have presumed to ask your assistance and patronage.
+
+ Should it succeed agreeable to my expectations, I hope I
+ shall discover that source of duty which such favors always
+ merit, and should it not succeed, your reward must lay with
+ other unlucky adventurers.
+
+ For me to mention to you all the advantages arising from
+ such a machine would be tedious, and, indeed, quite
+ unnecessary, Therefore I have taken the liberty to state in
+ this plain and humble manner my wish and opinion, which I
+ hope you will excuse, and I will remain, either with or
+ without approbation,
+
+ Your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant,
+
+ William Longstreet.
+</pre>
+ <p>
+ There are two features of this letter that ought to attract attention. One
+ is that William Longstreet has the name of "steamboat" as pat as if the
+ machine were in common use. The second is his allusion to the fact that
+ his conception of a boat to be propelled by steam was so well known as to
+ be noised abroad.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Credit is sometimes given to John Fitch, who, it is said, invented a boat
+ propelled by steam, that carried passengers on the Delaware River in 1787.
+ An Englishman named Symington is said to have run a steamboat in 1801,
+ while Robert Fulton's success was delayed until 1806. All these men have
+ received credit for their efforts to benefit humanity, but history is
+ silent in regard to William Longstreet. In one book about Georgia the
+ remark is made that "James Longstreet is said to have invented the
+ steamboat in 1793," but in this instance neither the name nor the date is
+ correct.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In old St. Paul's churchyard in Augusta there is a tombstone which bears
+ the inscription, "Sacred to the memory of William Longstreet, who departed
+ this life September 1, 1814, aged 54 years, 10 months, and 26 days." Below
+ this runs the pleasant legend, "All the days of the afflicted are evil,
+ but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast." We are thus left
+ to infer that William Longstreet was a man of a merry heart; and that fact
+ is certified to by the cleverness with which his son, the author of
+ "Georgia Scenes," has preserved for us some of the quaint characters that
+ lived and moved and had their being on the borders of Georgia society
+ directly after the Revolution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0025" id="linkimage-0025">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figleft" style="width:34%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/172.jpg"
+ alt="William Longstreet and his Steamboat 172 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ Being an inventor, a man of ingenious ideas, and somewhat ambitious of
+ serving the public in that way, William Long-street certainly had need of
+ a merry heart; for, as he himself says, the way of the projector is hard.
+ The term itself is used in Georgia to this day to express a certain sort
+ of good-natured contempt. Go into the country places and ask after some
+ acquaintance who has not prospered in a worldly way, and the answer will
+ be, "Oh, he's just a prodjikin around."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is certain that William Longstreet knew that steam could be used as a
+ motive power long before it was so applied; and because he employed a good
+ deal of his time in trying to discover the principle, he was ridiculed by
+ his neighbors and friends, and the more thoughtless among them didn't know
+ whether he was a crank, a half-wit, or a "luny." From all accounts, he was
+ a modest, shy, retiring man, though a merry one. He had but little money
+ to devote to the experiments he wished to make, and in this was not
+ different from the great majority of inventors.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For a long time Longstreet's zeal and enthusiasm attracted the attention
+ of a few of his wealthy friends, and these furnished him such money as he
+ wanted; but no very long time was needed to convince those who were
+ spending their money that the idea of propelling a boat by steam, instead
+ of by sails or oars, was ridiculous. Longstreet made many experiments, but
+ he had not hit upon the method of applying the principle he had in mind:
+ consequently his rich friends closed their purses, and left him entirely
+ to his own resources. A newspaper publication, in giving some of the facts
+ in regard to Longstreet's efforts, says that he and his steamboat were
+ made the subject of a comic song:&mdash;
+ </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ "Can you row the boat ashore,
+ Billy boy, Billy boy?
+ Can you row the boat ashore,
+ Gentle Billy?
+
+ Can you row the boat ashore
+ Without a paddle or an oar,
+ Billy boy?"
+</pre>
+ <p>
+ Though he had failed many times, Longstreet was not disheartened. He
+ continued his experiments, and at last succeeded in making a toy boat,
+ which he exhibited to a few friends. His idea at this time, it seems, was
+ not to construct a steamboat, but merely to convince some of his friends
+ that steam could be used as a motive power. But in this he was not very
+ successful. His toy boat did all that he wanted it to do; but his friends
+ declared, that while steam might be used to move a small boat, it could
+ never be used to move a large one. The experience of a new generation
+ showed that there was one wise man in Augusta and a great many fools.
+ Nevertheless William Longstreet determined to show that a large boat could
+ be moved by a large amount of steam as easily as a small boat could be
+ moved by a small volume.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Now, while he was making his experiments; and trying to overcome the
+ difficulties that presented themselves, Robert Fulton was living in Paris
+ with Joel Barlow. He was in Paris when Napoleon became first consul. At
+ that time he was experimenting with his diving boat and submarine torpedo.
+ Napoleon was so much interested in this work that he gave Fulton ten
+ thousand francs to carry it on. The inventor was in France in 1803 when
+ Napoleon organized his army for the invasion of England. He was surrounded
+ by influential friends, and he had money at his command.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Compared with William Longstreet, Robert Fulton was "in clover."
+ Longstreet was compelled to work without money, and in the midst of a
+ community whose curiosity had developed into criticism and ridicule. Thus
+ it was not until 1806 that he succeeded in completing a steamboat that
+ would accommodate twenty or twenty-five persons. He went on board,
+ accompanied by such of his friends as he could persuade, and in the
+ presence of a curious and doubting crowd the first real steamboat was
+ launched on the Savannah River. Some of the friends of those on board,
+ feeling anxious for their safety if the "contraption" should explode,
+ secured a skiff, and followed the steamboat at a safe distance, ready to
+ pick up such of the passengers as might survive when the affair had blown
+ to pieces. Longstreet headed the boat down the river, and went in that
+ direction for several miles. Then he turned the head of the little boat
+ upstream; and, although the current was swift, he carried his passengers
+ back to the wharf, and several miles above.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From that hour William Longstreet became a man of some consequence in the
+ community. Those who had ridiculed him now sang his praises, and those who
+ had doubted that steam could be used as a motive power were now convinced.
+ His friends tried hard to get him to go to Washington and secure the
+ benefits of a patent for his invention; but he persistently refused to
+ take any steps to profit by the results of his genius, or indeed to make
+ his invention known. His constant reply to all those who tried to persuade
+ him to go to Washington was, that he had carried on his experiments simply
+ to prove the truth of his theory to his own satisfaction, and to convince
+ those whose respect he coveted that he was neither a fool nor a crank.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Some of his friends and admirers were themselves preparing to go to
+ Washington in behalf of the inventor, but they had put off their journey
+ until the year after the exhibition was made in Augusta, and at that time
+ they heard that Robert Fulton had exhibited his steamboat "Clermont" on
+ the Hudson River. They then gave up their design, and William Longstreet
+ continued to remain in the seclusion that was so pleasant to him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is a noteworthy fact, that twelve years after William Longstreet made
+ his successful experiments on the Savannah River, Georgia enterprise
+ built, launched, and managed the first steamship that ever crossed the
+ ocean. This great enterprise was organized in Savannah in 1818. The
+ Georgia Company contracted to have the ship built in New York; and when
+ completed, it was named the "Savannah." The vessel was finished and
+ brought to Savannah in April, 1819. In May the steamship left Savannah
+ bound for Liverpool. From Liverpool it went to St. Petersburg, and then
+ returned to Savannah, having made the voyage in fifty days.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The first sewing machine was invented by Rev. Frank R. Goulding, a
+ Georgian who has won fame among the children of the land as the author of
+ "The Young Marooners." He invented the sewing machine for the purpose of
+ lightening the labors of his wife; and she used it for some years before
+ some other genius invented it, or some traveler stole the idea and
+ improved on it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Dr. Crawford W. Long, in 1842, when twenty-seven years of age, performed
+ the first painless surgical operation that is known to history. In 1839,
+ Velpeau of Paris declared that the attempts to find some agent by which to
+ prevent pain in surgical operations was nothing less than chimerical; and
+ as late as 1846 Sir Benjamin Brodie said, "Physicians and surgeons have
+ been looking in vain, from the days of Hippocrates down to the present
+ time, for the means of allaying or preventing bodily pain." And yet three
+ years after the declaration of Velpeau, and four years before the
+ statement of Sir Benjamin Brodie, the young Georgia physician had removed
+ a tumor from the neck of a patient, and that patient had felt no pain.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The story is very interesting. Dr. Crawford W. Long was born in
+ Danielsville, Madison County, Ga., on the 1st of November, 1815. He
+ graduated at the University of Georgia, studied medicine, and graduated at
+ the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He then went to
+ Jefferson, Jackson County, where he opened an office, and practiced
+ medicine for many years.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0026" id="linkimage-0026">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figright" style="width:33%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/177.jpg" alt="Laughing Gas 177 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ In those days the young men living in the country districts, for want of
+ something better to amuse them, were in the habit of inhaling
+ nitrous-oxide gas, or, as it was then popularly known, "laughing gas." The
+ young people would gather together, and some of them would inhale the gas
+ until they came under its influence. The result was in most cases very
+ amusing. Some would laugh, some would cry, and all in various ways would
+ carry out the peculiarities of their characters and dispositions. Thus, if
+ a young man had an inward inclination to preach, he would, under the
+ influence of "laughing gas," proceed to deliver a sermon. As these
+ "laughing-gas" parties were exhilarating to the young people who inhaled
+ the gas, and amusing to those who were spectators, they became very
+ popular.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But it was not always easy to secure the gas. On one occasion a company of
+ young men went to Dr. Long's office and asked him to make them a supply of
+ "laughing gas." There was no apparatus in the office suitable for making
+ it, but Dr. Long told the young men that the inhalation of sulphuric ether
+ would have the same effect. He had become acquainted with this property of
+ ether while studying medicine in Philadelphia. The young men and their
+ friends were so well pleased with the effects of ether inhalation, that
+ "ether parties" became fashionable in that section, as well as in other
+ parts of the State. At these ether parties, Dr. Long noticed that persons
+ who received injuries while under its influence felt no pain. On one
+ occasion a young man received an injury to his ankle joint that disabled
+ him for several days, and he told Dr. Long that he did not feel the
+ slightest pain until the effects of the ether had passed off. Observing
+ these facts, Dr. Long was led to believe that surgical operations might be
+ performed without pain.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Dr. Long's theory was formed in 1841, but he waited for some time before
+ testing it, in the hope that a case of surgery of some importance&mdash;the
+ amputation of an arm or a leg&mdash;might fall in his practice. On the
+ 30th of March, 1842, Dr. Long removed a tumor from the neck of Mr. James
+ M. Venable. On the 6th of June, the same year, another small tumor was
+ removed from the neck of the same patient, and both operations were
+ painless. Mr. Venable inhaled sulphuric ether, and the effect of it was to
+ render him insensible to the pain of cutting out the tumors.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Dr. Long had told Mr. Venable that he would charge little or nothing for
+ removing the tumors under the influence of ether. The bill rendered for
+ both operations amounted to $4.50; but, small as the bill was, it
+ represented the discovery and application of ether in surgical practice,&mdash;one
+ of the greatest boons to mankind. Up to that time no patient under the
+ surgeon's knife had ever been able to escape the horror and pain of an
+ operation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Dr. Long did not at once print the facts about his discovery. He wanted to
+ make assurance doubly sure. He waited in the hope of having an important
+ case of surgery under his charge, such as the amputation of a leg or an
+ arm. But these cases, rare at any time, were still rarer at that time,
+ especially in the region where Dr. Long practiced. He finally satisfied
+ himself, however, of the importance of his discovery, but, having waited
+ until 1846, found that at least three persons&mdash;Wells, Jackson, and
+ Morton&mdash;had hit on the same discovery, and had made publication of
+ it. Morton patented ether under the name of "Letheon," and in October,
+ 1846, administered it to a patient in the Massachusetts General Hospital.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1844, Horace Wells, a native of Vermont, discovered that the inhalation
+ of nitrous-oxide gas produces anaesthesia. He was a dentist. He gave it to
+ his patients, and was able to perform dental operations without causing
+ pain. Thus we may see how the case stands. Long produced anaesthesia in
+ 1842; that is to say, he caused his patients to inhale sulphuric ether in
+ that year, whenever he had a painful operation to perform, and in each
+ case the operation was painless.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1846, when the surgeons of the Massachusetts General Hospital performed
+ painless operations on patients, after administering to them Morton's
+ patented "Letheon," which was his name for sulphuric ether, there came
+ about a great war of pamphlets, and it ended tragically. Long had never
+ made any secret of the substance which he used. He gave information of it
+ to all the surgeons and doctors with whom he came in contact; and he was
+ not in any way concerned in the conflict that was carried on by Jackson,
+ Morton, and Wells. He simply gathered together the facts of his discovery,
+ proved that he was the first physician to perform painless operations in
+ surgery, and that was the end of it so far as he was concerned.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Wells became insane, and committed suicide in New York in 1848. Morton
+ died in New York City of congestion of the brain. Jackson ended his days
+ in an insane asylum.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In Boston a monument has been erected to the discoverer of anaesthesia.
+ The name of Crawford W. Long should stand first upon it, and should be
+ followed by the names of Wells, Morton, and Jackson.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ THE EARLY PROGRESS OF THE STATE.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0027" id="linkimage-0027">
+ <!-- IMG --></a> <br />
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img alt="181 (101K)" src="images/181.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ After the invention of the cotton gin, the progress of the people and the
+ development of the agriculture of the State went forward very rapidly. The
+ population began to increase. The movement of families from Virginia and
+ North Carolina grew constantly larger. In Virginia, and in settled
+ portions of North Carolina, it was found that the soil and climate were
+ not favorable to the growth of the cotton plant: consequently hundreds of
+ families left their homes in these States, and came to Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When Oglethorpe settled the Colony, the charter under which he acted
+ prohibited the introduction and use of negro slaves in the Colony. It is
+ hard to say at this late day whether this portion of the charter was
+ dictated by feelings of humanity, especially when we remember that in
+ those days, and in most of the Colonies, there were many white people&mdash;men,
+ women, and children&mdash;employed and used as slaves. From the very
+ first, many of the Georgia colonists were anxious to introduce negro
+ slaves, but the trustees firmly refused to allow it. There was a strong
+ party in favor of introducing negroes, and those who opposed the movement
+ presently found themselves in a very small and unpopular minority. By 1748
+ the excitement over the question had grown so great, that those colonists
+ who were opposed to negro slavery were compelled to abandon their
+ position. Rev. Mr. Whitefield, the eloquent preacher, had already bought
+ and placed negro slaves at his Orphan House at Bethesda, near Savannah.
+ The colonists had also treated this part of the charter with contempt.
+ They pretended to hire negroes' homes in South Carolina for a hundred
+ years, or during life. They paid the "hire" in advance, the sum being the
+ full value of the slaves. Finally negroes were bought openly from traders
+ in Savannah. Some of them were seized; but a majority of the magistrates
+ were in favor of the introduction of negroes, and they were able to
+ postpone legal decisions from time to time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Rev. George Whitefield, whose wonderful eloquence has made his name
+ famous, and Hon. James Habersham, had great influence with the trustees;
+ and it was mainly due to their efforts that the colonists were legally
+ allowed to purchase and use negro slaves. Mr. Habersham affirmed that the
+ Colony could not prosper without slave labor. Rev. Mr. Whitefield, on the
+ other hand, was in favor of negro slavery on the broad ground of
+ philanthropy. He boldly declared that it would be of great advantage to
+ the African to be brought from his barbarous surroundings and placed among
+ civilized Christians. When we remember what has happened, who can deny
+ that the remark of the eloquent preacher was not more to the purpose, and
+ nearer to the truth, than some of the modern statements about American
+ slavery? What really happened (as any one may discover by looking into
+ impartial history) was, that thousands of negroes who had been captured in
+ battle, and made slaves of in their own country, were taken from that dark
+ land and brought into the light of Christian civilization. Their
+ condition, mentally and morally, was so improved, that, in little more
+ than a century after White-field made his statement, the government of the
+ United States ventured to make citizens of them. The contrast between
+ their condition and that of the negroes who remained in Africa is so
+ startling, that a well-known abolitionist, writing twenty years after
+ emancipation, has described slavery as a great university, which the
+ negroes entered as barbarians, and came out of as Christians and citizens.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The efforts of the Colony to secure a repeal of the act prohibiting
+ slavery were successful. The trustees in London concluded that it would be
+ better to permit slavery, with such restrictions and limitations as might
+ be proper, than to permit the wholesale violations that were then going
+ on; and so in 1749 the colonists of Georgia were allowed by law to own and
+ use negro slaves.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus, when the cotton gin came fairly into use, slavery had been legally
+ allowed in Georgia for nearly half a century. The rest of the Colonies had
+ long enjoyed that privilege. The cotton gin, therefore, had a twofold
+ effect,&mdash;it increased the cotton crop and the value of the lands, and
+ it also increased the use of negro slaves. The Virginians and North
+ Carolinians, who came to Georgia, brought their slaves with them; and the
+ Georgians, as their crops became profitable, laid out their surplus cash
+ in buying more negroes. The slave trade became very prosperous, and both
+ Old England and New England devoted a large amount of capital and
+ enterprise to this branch of commerce.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As the population increased, and the cotton crop became more valuable, the
+ demand for land became keener. To this fact was due the intense excitement
+ kindled by the Yazoo Fraud in 1794. The cotton gin had been introduced the
+ year before, and the people were beginning to see and appreciate the
+ influence the invention would have on their prosperity. Instead of selling
+ land to speculators, they wanted to keep it for themselves and children,
+ or at least to get something like its real value.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The cotton gin had increased not only the demand for negro slaves, but
+ also the demand for land; and indirectly it was the cause of the various
+ troubles the State had with the Indians after the close of the War for
+ Independence. The troubles with the Indians also led finally to serious
+ misunderstandings between the United States Government and that of
+ Georgia. In May, 1796, a treaty was made between the United States and the
+ Creeks. This treaty created some indignation among the people, and was
+ denounced as an interference by the General Government with State affairs.
+ The lands which the Indians ceded to the United States were a part of the
+ Territory of Georgia, and the transaction gave rise to much discussion and
+ considerable bad feeling.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In ten years, from 1790 to 1800, the population in Georgia had increased
+ more than eighty thousand. During the next ten years the increase in the
+ population was more than ninety thousand. This increase meant a still
+ greater demand for farm lands. Westward the Territory of Georgia extended
+ to the Mississippi River. The agitation which began over this rich
+ possession when the Yazoo Fraud was attempted, was kept up until 1800,
+ when Georgia appointed four of her most prominent citizens to meet with
+ commissioners appointed by the United States; and settle all questions
+ that had arisen. The result was, that Georgia ceded to the General
+ Government all her lands belonging to the State, south of Tennessee and
+ west of the Chattahoochee River. These lands were to be sold, and out of
+ the proceeds the State was to receive $1,250,-000. It was also provided
+ that the United States, at its own expense, should extinguish the Indian
+ titles to the lands held by the Creeks between the forks of the Oconee and
+ Ocmulgee rivers, and that in like manner the General Government should
+ extinguish the Indian title to all the other lands within the State of
+ Georgia. Under this agreement, and the Indian treaty based upon it, nearly
+ all of the lands lying between the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers were opened
+ up for occupation and cultivation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ All the Territory of Georgia was looked upon by the people as a public
+ domain, belonging to the State for distribution among the citizens. The
+ lands east of the Oconee were divided among the people under the plan
+ known as the "Head Right System." By this system every citizen was allowed
+ to choose, and survey to suit himself, a body of unoccupied land. This
+ done, he received a title called a "head right land warrant," which was
+ issued to him when he paid a small fee and a nominal price for the land.
+ If no one had previously appropriated the same land, the warrant was his
+ title. But much confusion arose in the distribution of titles, and serious
+ disputes grew out of it. The poorer sections of land were neglected, and
+ only the most fertile sections surveyed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the lands west of the Oconee were acquired, the clumsy Head Right
+ System was given up for what is known as the "Land Lottery System." "All
+ free white males, twenty-one years of age or older, every married man with
+ children under age, widows with children, and all families of orphan
+ minors," were allowed to draw in the lottery. Lists of these persons were
+ made out in each count, and sent to the governor. The lottery was drawn
+ under the management of five responsible persons. The tickets to be drawn
+ were marked with the numbers of the land lots, and these were put into
+ boxes with numerous blanks. Those who were fortunate enough to draw
+ numbered tickets were entitled to plats and grants of their lots, signed
+ by the governor.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The lots were not all of the same size. Some contained 202 1/2 acres,
+ others 490 acres. Twelve months after the drawing was completed, the
+ fortunate person was required to pay into the State treasury four dollars
+ for every hundred acres contained in his lot.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Many of those who had the good fortune to draw prizes in the land-lottery
+ scheme paid the necessary amount of money, and received titles to their
+ land lots; but many others neglected to pay in the money, and thus
+ forfeited their titles.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It has been said that the land hunger of the people at this time was both
+ selfish and sordid; but if we come to look at the matter closely,
+ selfishness is behind much of the material progress that the world has
+ made. The selfishness of individuals is not more conspicuous than the
+ selfishness of communities, commonwealths, and nations. In history we find
+ the rumseller, the land grabber, and the speculator following hard upon
+ the heels of the missionary. The selfishness of nations is frequently
+ given the name of "patriotism," and rightly so, since it is a movement for
+ the good of all.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When Georgia had fairly begun to recover from the disastrous results of
+ the War for Independence, the troubles that resulted in the War of 1812
+ began to make themselves felt. France and England were at war; and the
+ United States Government tried to remain neutral, giving aid to neither
+ the one nor the other. But this was not pleasing to either of these great
+ powers. Both were interested in the trade and commerce of this country,
+ and both issued orders affecting American affairs. The United States
+ resented the interference, and protested against it Great Britain, with an
+ arrogance made bitter by the remembrance of her humiliating defeat at the
+ hands of a few feeble Colonies, replied to the American protest, declaring
+ that American ships would still be searched, and American sailors
+ impressed into the service of the British, wherever found on the high
+ seas. In 1807 a British man-of-war fired on an American merchant vessel as
+ it was leaving harbor. Three men were killed, eighteen wounded, and four
+ sailors seized. This outrage inflamed the whole country, and in December
+ of that year Congress passed a law preventing American vessels from
+ leaving their ports to trade with foreign nations. This law was deeply
+ resented by the New England States, and they held at Hartford, Conn., the
+ first secession convention that ever met in this country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0028" id="linkimage-0028">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figleft" style="width:32%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/188.jpg"
+ alt="British Impressement of Americans 188 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ Georgia was foremost among the States to denounce and resist the
+ aggressive acts of Great Britain. In 1808 the Legislature sent an address
+ to the President of the United States, approving the measures he had
+ taken, and declared that the people of Georgia were strong in their
+ independence, and proud of their government, and that they would never
+ wish to see the lives and property of their brethren exposed to the insult
+ and rapacity of a foreign power; but if the war should come, they would,
+ in proportion to their number and resources, give zealous aid to the
+ government of their choice.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The British, meanwhile, made arrangements to force a cotton trade with
+ Georgia and South Carolina, and for the purpose fitted out a number of
+ vessels of from ten to fifteen guns each. These vessels were to be
+ employed in opening the ports of Georgia and Carolina. A war brig anchored
+ at Tybee, and two of its officers went to Savannah. When they had made
+ known their purpose, they were peremptorily ordered away. They returned to
+ their vessel and put to sea; but as they were leaving, they fired at a
+ pilot boat in the harbor, and committed other outrages.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This incident and others aroused the indignation of the people. The
+ Legislature passed resolutions, addressed to the President of the United
+ States, declaring that all hope of a peaceful termination of the
+ difficulty had been lost, that the duty of the United States was to
+ maintain its sovereign rights against the despots of Europe, and that the
+ citizens of Georgia would ever be found in readiness to assert the rights
+ and support the dignity of the country whenever called on by the General
+ Government. By the time the treaty of peace was made, the day before
+ Christmas in 1814, the war spirit in Georgia had been roused to the
+ highest pitch by the numerous outrages committed by the Indian allies of
+ the British.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the story of the Indian troubles belongs to a chapter by itself.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ THE CREEKS AND THE CREEK WAR
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0029" id="linkimage-0029">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/191.jpg" alt="The Creek War 191 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ If all the stories of the troubles of the early settlers of Georgia with
+ the Indians could be written out, they would fill a very large book. All
+ the whites with whom the red men came in contact in Georgia were not as
+ just, as generous, and as unselfish as James Edward Oglethorpe. On the
+ other hand, not all the Indians with whom the whites had dealings were as
+ wise and as honest as old Tomochichi. Consequently misunderstandings
+ arose, and prejudices grew and developed. This was greatly helped by
+ dishonest traders and speculators, who were keen to take advantage of the
+ ignorance of the Indians.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The controlling influence among the Indians in Georgia was the Creek
+ Confederacy (or nation); and this, in turn, was practically controlled by
+ the Muscogees.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ North of the Creeks, Broad River being the dividing line, lived the
+ Cherokees, a nation even more warlike than the Creeks. The impression made
+ upon the Indians by Oglethorpe and some of his more prudent successors,
+ made them the strong friends of the British. Of course, the red men were
+ unable to appreciate the merits of the quarrel between the Georgia
+ settlers and King George: but, even if matters had been different, they
+ would probably have remained on friendly terms with the Royalists; for
+ Governor Wright, who was a wise as well as a good man, took great pains,
+ when the Liberty Boys began their agitations against the Crown, to
+ conciliate the Indians, and to show them that the King was their friend.
+ What was known as "the royal presents" were promptly sent from England,
+ and promptly delivered to and distributed among the Indians. The governor
+ sent for the chiefs, and had conferences with them; so that when the
+ Revolution began, the Upper and the Lower Creeks, and the Cherokees as
+ well, were the firm friends of the British. During the Revolution, as we
+ have already seen, they made constant and unprovoked attacks on the
+ patriots, burning their houses, carrying off their cattle, and murdering
+ their helpless women and children. These raids were continued even after
+ the Americans had compelled Great Britain to recognize their independence,
+ and hundreds of incidents might be given to show the ferocity with which
+ the savages attacked the whites. In many cases the settlements were
+ compelled to build stockades, in which the people took shelter, for safety
+ as well as defense, whenever there was an alarm.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On one occasion shortly after the close of the war, the Indians attacked
+ the family of a man named William Tyner, who was living in what is known
+ as Elbert County. Tyner himself was absent, and his family was entirely
+ without protection. Mrs. Tyner was killed, the brains of her youngest
+ child were dashed out against a tree, and another child was scalped and
+ left for dead. A young boy named Noah, the son of Mr. Tyner, escaped in
+ the general confusion, and hid himself in a hollow tree. This tree was for
+ many years known as "Noah's Ark." Mary and Tamar, two daughters, were
+ suffered to live; but the Indians carried them off to the Coweta towns on
+ the Chattahoochee. These children remained with the Indians several years.
+ John Manack, an Indian trader, saw them there, and purchased Mary. He then
+ brought her to Elbert County, and afterwards made her his wife. He
+ returned to the Indian nation shortly afterwards, and tried to purchase
+ Tamar; but, as she was useful to the Indians in bringing wood and fuel for
+ their fires, they refused to sell her. When Manack went away, an old
+ Indian woman, who was fond of Tamar, learned that the Indians, suspecting
+ the girl was preparing to escape, had decided to burn her at the stake.
+ The old woman helped her to escape by providing her with provisions and a
+ canoe. She also gave Tamar directions how to go down the Chattahoochee. By
+ day the fleeing girl hid herself in the thick swamps along the banks of
+ the river, and by night she floated down the river in her canoe. She
+ finally reached Apalachicola Bay, took passage on a vessel, and shortly
+ afterwards arrived at Savannah. Here she was assisted to her home in
+ Elbert County by the citizens. She married a man named Hunt, and no doubt
+ many of her descendants are still living in Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There was once an Indian village in Troup County, on the west bank of the
+ Chattahoochee, where the Indians who lived on the Alabama side of the
+ river were in the habit of meeting before and after their raids upon the
+ white settlements. Before the raids they would meet there to arrange their
+ programme; and afterwards they would assemble at the village to count the
+ scalps they had taken, dispose of their prisoners, and divide the spoils.
+ On one occasion, after a very destructive raid into the white settlements,
+ the Indians returned to this village, and began to celebrate the success
+ with which they had been able to creep upon the settlements at dead of
+ night, murder the unsuspecting whites, burn their dwellings, and drive off
+ their horses and cattle. This time, however, the Indians had been followed
+ by a few hundred men, under the leadership of General David Adams, who was
+ at that time a major in the militia, and a scout. Major Adams had taken
+ part in the closing scenes of the Revolution when quite a young man. When
+ the Creeks renewed their depredations after the war, Major Adams, both as
+ a scout and as a leader, fought the Indians with such success as to win
+ distinction.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He followed the Indians on this occasion with a few hundred men, who had
+ volunteered to accompany him. His pursuit was not active. The men under
+ him were not seasoned soldiers; and even if they had been, the force of
+ Indians was too large to justify an attack. Major Adams followed the
+ Indians in the hope that he and his men would find an opportunity to
+ surprise them. The Indians marched straight for the village on the west
+ bank of the Chattahoochee, about eight miles beyond the point where La
+ Grange now stands. At this village, which was the central point of the
+ Lower Creek nation at that time, there were many Indians&mdash;men, women,
+ and children&mdash;awaiting the return of the raiders. It was in the late
+ afternoon when they reached the village, and as the sun went down they
+ began the celebration of their victories; and in this they were joined by
+ the Indians, who had been waiting for their return.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Major Adams had halted his command a few miles from the river, where he
+ waited until night fell. He then advanced silently to the banks of the
+ stream, which was not so wide that he and his men could not see the
+ Indians dancing around their fires, and hear their whoops and yells. On
+ one bank stood the men whose families and friends had been murdered; on
+ the opposite shore, and almost within a stone's throw, the red murderers
+ danced and howled in savage delight.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For half the night, at least, the orgies were kept up by the Indians; but
+ at last they grew weary of the song and dance. Their fires slowly died
+ out, and there came a moment when the whites, who were watching and
+ waiting, could hear nothing but the murmur of the flowing water, as it
+ rippled over the shoals or lapped the bank. The time had come to strike a
+ blow, if a blow was to be struck. It was characteristic of Major Adams,
+ that, instead of sending one of his little party to find out the position
+ of the village and its surroundings, so as to be able to make a swift,
+ sudden, and an effective attack, he himself proposed to go.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0030" id="linkimage-0030">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/197.jpg" alt="Major Adams Scouting and Indian Camp 197 "
+ width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ It was a hazardous undertaking, and required a bold heart to undertake it.
+ Major Adams knew there was a ford near the point where his men lay. The
+ trail led into the river; but, once in the river, it was lost. He had to
+ find the ford for himself, and it proved to be a very narrow and difficult
+ one. It led in a direct line across the river nearly halfway, and then
+ turned down the stream in an oblique direction. A part of the ford was
+ over a slippery shoal. At some points the water was knee-deep, at others
+ it was chin-deep.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ With great difficulty Major Adams reached the opposite bank in safety. The
+ paths leading from the ford into the swamp that lay between the Indian
+ village and the river were so numerous that the stout-hearted scout hardly
+ knew which one to take. He chose one almost at random, and, after
+ following it through the thick underbrush, he found that it had led him
+ some distance below the village. He followed the margin of the swamp back
+ again, and soon found himself in the outskirts of the village. There he
+ paused to listen. A dog somewhere in the settlement barked uneasily and
+ sleepily.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Pushing forward, but moving with the utmost caution, Major Adams soon
+ found himself in the center of the village. In every hut the Indians were
+ sleeping; and, in addition to these, the ground seemed to be covered with
+ warriors, who lay stretched out and snoring, their rifles and tomahawks
+ within easy reach. The brave Georgian went through the village from one
+ end to the other. Once a huge Indian, near whom he was passing, raised
+ himself on his elbow, grasped his gun, and looked carefully in every
+ direction. Having satisfied himself, he lay down, and was soon snoring
+ again. Fortunately, Major Adams had seen the Indian stir, and sank to the
+ ground near a group of sleeping warriors, where he remained until he was
+ sure the savage was asleep.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He had examined every point of attack and defense in the village, and was
+ returning to the river, when he saw a pony tethered to a sapling. Thinking
+ that the little animal would be able to find the ford without trouble, and
+ could thus be used as a safe guide, Major Adams resolved to capture it. He
+ approached the pony with that intention, but not until too late did he
+ discover that it had a bell hung on its neck. The pony, frightened at the
+ sight of a white man, broke the rope by which he was tied, and went
+ scampering through the village, arousing and alarming warriors, squaws,
+ children, and dogs with the jingling bell.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the sound of the bell, Major Adams knew that there would be a
+ tremendous uproar in the village, and he made an instant rush toward the
+ river, but soon found himself entangled in the briers and thick underbrush
+ of the swamp. It was fortunate that he missed the path leading to the
+ ford; for a party of Indians ran in that direction, either to catch the
+ pony, or to find out whether they were about to be attacked. Some of them
+ passed within a few feet of the spot where Major Adams stood.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In a short time the Indians returned to the village, and it was not long
+ before everything was as quiet and as peaceful as before the uproar. Major
+ Adams, instead of hunting for the path, made his way directly to the
+ river, slipped into the water, and swam straight across to the opposite
+ bank. He soon found his men, and told them of his adventure and of the
+ plans he had matured. Up to this moment he had been second in command. A
+ colonel of militia was with the party, and it was his right to be the
+ leader of the expedition; but now the men declared that they would cross
+ the river under the leadership of no one but Adams. It was Adams or
+ nobody; and the militia colonel, as gracefully as he could, yielded to the
+ demand.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Major Adams led the volunteers safely across the treacherous ford and into
+ the Indian town. The surprise was complete. Scarcely a warrior escaped.
+ The women and children were spared as far as possible, but the village was
+ burned to the ground. In retreating from that point, which was the center
+ of the famous Muscogee nation, Major Adams made long marches during the
+ day, and camped without fires at night, and in this way brought his
+ command out of the Indian country without the loss of a man.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But Adams's excursion to the center of the Muscogee (or Creek) nation did
+ not settle matters. The troubles continued. The temper of the people was
+ not improved by the efforts of the United States Government to take
+ affairs into its own hands. In some instances the agents of the General
+ Government sought to stir up active strife between the people of the State
+ and the Indians, and it was their habit to belittle the State government
+ by speaking of it contemptuously before the Indians. In many instances the
+ United States stepped in between the agents of the State and the Indians,
+ and prevented settlements and treaties that would have been of lasting
+ benefit to both the whites and the Indians. This was not due to any
+ purpose or desire of the General Government to trample on the rights of
+ the State, but grew altogether out of the folly of the agents, who wanted
+ to put on airs and advertise their importance.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1796 there was a treaty of peace arranged between the Creek nation and
+ the United States. Three commissioners represented the General Government,
+ and Georgia also had three present; but the business was conducted without
+ regard to the wishes of the Georgia commissioners, and, as the
+ commissioners thought, without regard to the interests of the State.
+ Seagrove was the name of the agent representing the General Government at
+ that time, and his attitude toward Georgia was not calculated to give the
+ Indians any respect for the commonwealth. After the treaty was signed,
+ General James Jackson, on the part of Georgia, made an eloquent speech, in
+ which he showed that the Creeks had not faithfully observed the treaties
+ they had made with the State. He exhibited two schedules of property which
+ they had stolen, amounting in value to $110,000, and demanded its
+ restoration. When General Jackson had concluded, one of the prominent
+ chiefs of the Creeks remarked that he could fill more paper than Jackson
+ showed with a list of outrages of the Georgians upon his people. There was
+ something more than a grain of truth in this; but on that very account the
+ Indians and the Georgians should have been allowed to settle their
+ difficulties in their own way, without the interference of the United
+ States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The result of the treaty at Coleraine, in 1796, was, that the Georgia
+ agents were offended with Seagrove (the Indian agent for the United
+ States), offended with the Indians, and displeased with the United States
+ commissioners. To these last the Georgians presented a protest in which
+ the Federal commissioners were accused of disregarding the interests of
+ Georgia. Charges were brought against Seagrove, who, it was claimed, had
+ influenced the Creeks not to cede the lands as far as the Ocmulgee. A
+ bitter controversy grew out of this. It was, in fact, very nearly the
+ beginning of the discussion that has continued from that day to this, in
+ some shape or other, over the rights of the States and the power of the
+ General Government. Pickett, in his "History of Alabama and Georgia," says
+ that General Jackson, and Seagrove the Indian agent, became enemies, and
+ afterwards fought a duel.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Other treaties were made with the Creeks up to 1806, but all these were
+ violated when the Indians became the allies of the British during the War
+ of 1812. It is only fair to the Indians to say that the leader in whom
+ they placed the greatest confidence was a man who for many years nourished
+ hot resentment against the United States, and especially against Georgia.
+ This man was General Alexander McGillivray, who became famous as an
+ opponent of the Americans and the Georgians in all their efforts to come
+ to a just, fair, and peaceable understanding with the Creeks.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As has been stated, when the War of 1812 began, the Creeks became the
+ allies of the British, and the attacks they made on the unprotected
+ settlements were so numerous and so serious as to call for some action on
+ the part of the General Government. In September, 1813, Congress called
+ for a levy of Georgia troops, and, the State authorities ordered 3,600 men
+ to assemble at Camp Hope, near Fort Hawkins, on the Ocmulgee River. The
+ ruins of Fort Hawkins may be seen to this day on the Ocmulgee, in the city
+ of Macon.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The men who assembled at Camp Hope were volunteers, and all eager for
+ service. The command of this force fell to General John Floyd, who made
+ haste to take charge, and endeavored to make arrangements for taking the
+ field at once. He found his men assembled according to orders, and all
+ anxious to be led against the hostile Indians. But the little army could
+ not march. The Federal Government had failed to supply the necessary
+ funds. What is called "red tape" stood in the way of prompt action. A
+ dispute arose. Federal officials placed the blame on the contractors who
+ were to furnish supplies, and the contractors placed it on the officials,
+ who had failed to furnish the necessary money. While this dispute was
+ raging, General Floyd, who was a brave and gallant spirit, applied to the
+ State Legislature, then in session, for a loan of $20,000. The request was
+ granted, and he was able to equip his troops, procure supplies, and march
+ into the country of the Creeks, by the middle or latter part of November.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile the hostile Creeks had already challenged Georgia and begun
+ their attack. On the 30th of August, seven hundred and twenty-five Creek
+ Indians attacked Fort Mims on the Chattahoochee. The attack was as sudden
+ as it was unexpected. It was made at twelve o'clock in the day, and the
+ inmates of the fort were taken entirely by surprise. The savages massacred
+ nearly three hundred men, women, and children in the most cruel manner.
+ This horrible outrage spread consternation on the frontier, and aroused
+ indignation in all parts of the country. Hundreds of frontier settlers
+ fled from their homes, and sought safety in the more thickly settled
+ regions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was owing to this massacre that the troops commanded by General Floyd
+ were called out. This active and energetic leader began his campaign by
+ building a line of forts and blockhouses from the Ocmulgee to the Alabama
+ River, and in this way completely protected the northern part of the State
+ from invasion by the Creeks. General Floyd accomplished this work in spite
+ of the failure of the United States officials to supply with provisions
+ and transportation the troops they had called out.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He completed his line of defense by building Fort Mitchell. Leaving a
+ sufficient garrison in this fort, General Floyd placed himself at the head
+ of nine hundred and fifty men, and marched on Autossee, one of the most
+ populous towns of the Creek nation, situated on the left bank of the
+ Tallapoosa River, and near the town of Tallassee, which was nearly as
+ large. The distance from Fort Mitchell to Autossee was sixty miles, and
+ General Floyd made it by forced night marches, resting his troops during
+ the day. He was accompanied on this expedition by General William
+ Mcintosh, the famous Indian chief, who led four hundred friendly Creeks.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Arriving at Autossee and Tallassee at daybreak on the 29th of November,
+ 1813, General Floyd arranged and ordered a simultaneous attack on both
+ towns. By nine o'clock the Indians had been defeated and driven from the
+ towns, and their houses burned. Four hundred houses were burned, with all
+ the provisions and stock. Two hundred Indians were killed, including the
+ kings of both towns. The pipe which the old chief of Tallassee had smoked
+ at a treaty forty years before, was taken and presented to the governor,
+ who placed it in the executive office of the State Capitol. Eleven whites
+ were killed, and fifty-four wounded; among them, General Floyd himself,
+ who had received a ball in the knee early in the fight. He refused to have
+ his wound dressed, and continued on horseback, directing his troops, until
+ after the battle was over. He never entirely recovered from the effects of
+ this wound. After the towns had been entirely destroyed, the troops
+ returned to Fort Mitchell, having marched a hundred and twenty miles in
+ bitter cold weather, and fought a severe engagement on five days'
+ provisions.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In January, 1814, General Floyd heard that the Upper Creeks had collected
+ in great force at the Indian town of Hothlewaulee. By that time his wound
+ had so far healed that he was able to ride a horse, and he determined to
+ make an attack on the town. For this purpose he detached from the troops
+ at Fort Mitchell a force of fifteen hundred men. The weather was cold, and
+ the winter rains had so obstructed the roads that the troops found the
+ march a weary and a difficult one; but they pressed on, nevertheless,
+ cheered by the energy and enthusiasm of their gallant leader. They marched
+ to within fifteen or twenty miles of the town, and there encamped. Between
+ midnight and day a large body of Indians, led by the warrior Weather-ford
+ and Colonel Woodbine, an English officer, attacked General Floyd's camp.
+ His troops were taken by surprise, but they were not demoralized. They had
+ been fighting for six months, and were seasoned to all the dangers of
+ Indian warfare. Above all, they had a leader who possessed in a wonderful
+ degree a genius for war.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ No sooner had the alarm been sounded than General Floyd rallied his little
+ army, formed it in a square, the baggage in the center, and held the
+ savages at bay until daylight. There was no faltering in any part of the
+ line or on any side of the square. The dauntless courage of Floyd himself
+ seemed to control every man, down to the humblest private. When day
+ dawned, a charge was sounded, and Floyd's troops drove the Indians before
+ them at the point of the bayonet. Within a quarter of an hour after the
+ charge was made, the battle was won. The loss of the Indians was never
+ discovered, as they had an opportunity to carry off their killed and
+ wounded up to the moment the charge was sounded. Seventeen Georgians were
+ killed, and a hundred and thirty-two wounded. Floyd's camp was known as
+ Camp Defiance, but in the official report the fight is called the battle
+ of Chalibbee. The attack was made on Floyd in order to prevent a junction
+ between his troops and those of General Andrew Jackson, who was fighting
+ the Indians in the lower part of Alabama. The result of the fight made a
+ junction unnecessary; and shortly afterwards the term for which Floyd's
+ Georgia troops had enlisted expired, and they were discharged.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1814, when peace was declared between the United States and Great
+ Britain, the Creeks remained quiet for some time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ TWO FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Among the Indian leaders who made Georgia the scene of their operations,
+ the most celebrated were General Alexander McGillivray and General William
+ Mcintosh. If these men had been born and brought up among the whites, both
+ of them would have won lasting renown. They possessed the energy and the
+ genius: all they lacked was the opportunity to direct their gifts into
+ channels that would have benefited humanity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Alexander McGillivray was one of the most remarkable men of his time,
+ whether we regard him as a leader of the Indians or simply as an
+ individual. His father, Lachlan McGillivray, being a lad of adventurous
+ turn, ran away from a home in Scotland where he enjoyed all the advantages
+ and comforts that wealth could give him, took passage on a ship bound for
+ South Carolina, and shortly afterwards landed at Charleston. Wandering
+ about in that city, and enjoying the sights that were new to his
+ experience, he soon found himself in the suburbs of the city. There he
+ found the headquarters of the Indian traders, who came to Charleston with
+ their pack horses to carry merchandise of all kinds to the red men. One of
+ these traders persuaded young McGillivray to go with him. His Scotch eye
+ and mind were quick to appreciate the possibilities of this new business,
+ and in a few years he became one of the most enterprising and prosperous
+ of the Indian traders. He pushed his trade farther than any of his
+ predecessors had ever dared to go. He went, indeed, to the neighborhood of
+ Fort Toulouse. A few miles above that fort, where Wetumpka, Ala., now
+ stands, he met Sehoy Marchand, a beautiful girl of about sixteen years.
+ This girl was the daughter of Captain Marchand, who had commanded at Fort
+ Toulouse, but who had been killed by his own soldiers in August, 1722. The
+ soldiers rose against the officers of the garrison on account of the
+ failure of France to forward money and supplies to the troops in her
+ American settlement. The girl's mother was a Creek woman of the tribe of
+ The Wind, the most powerful and influential family in the Creek nation.
+ The young Scotchman fell in love with the dark-haired maiden, and she fell
+ in love with the blue-eyed Scotchman, with his fair skin and red hair.
+ Lachlan McGillivray built him a trading house on the Coosa, not far away,
+ and soon married Sehoy, and carried her home. He became very wealthy. He
+ owned two plantations on the Savannah River, which were well stocked with
+ negroes, and stores filled with merchandise in both Savannah and Augusta.
+ When Lachlan McGillivray's son Alexander reached the age of fourteen, he
+ was carried to Savannah and placed at school, and in a few years was made
+ a clerk in a counting-house at Savannah.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the humdrum business of buying, selling, and adding up long rows of
+ tiresome figures, did not please him, and so he neglected his duties to
+ read books, mainly histories. His father, taking the advice of friends,
+ placed young Alexander under the tutorship of a clergyman in Charleston,
+ where the lad learned Latin and Greek, and in that way became well
+ grounded in what our dear old grandfathers called polite literature. But
+ one day word came to the young man that the chiefs of the Creek nation,
+ who were getting into trouble with the people of Georgia, were waiting for
+ the moment when he, as a descendant of the tribe of The Wind, should
+ return and take charge of the affairs of the nation. So he departed
+ suddenly from Charleston, and turned his horse's head toward the
+ wilderness.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0031" id="linkimage-0031">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figright" style="width:22%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/208.jpg"
+ alt="Mcgillavray Joins the Indians 208 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ On his way to the Creek nation, he fell in with Leclerc Mil-fort, an
+ adventurous Frenchman, who afterwards wrote a book of travels, and was
+ made a general of brigade by Napoleon. Milfort married one of
+ McGillivray's sisters, was made Tustenug-gee (or grand war chief), and was
+ the right-hand man of his powerful brother-in-law. The first that was
+ heard of McGillivray after he left Charleston, he was presiding at a grand
+ national council of the Creeks at the town of Coweta on the Chattahoochee.
+ When Alexander arrived among the Creeks, Colonel Tait of the British army
+ was stationed on the Coosa, and he used all his tact and influence to
+ prevail upon the young man to take the side of the English in the war that
+ was then going on between the Colonies and the mother country. To this end
+ Colonel Tait pursued McGillivray with attentions, loaded him with favors,
+ and finally caused him to be given the rank and pay of a colonel in the
+ army. The result was that the great chief was throughout the war devoted
+ to the cause of the British. This would have been natural in any event,
+ for his father was a stanch Royalist. During the war, McGillivray
+ frequently acted in concert with the notorious Daniel McGirth, sometimes
+ leading his Indians in person; but his main dependence was on his
+ brother-in-law Milfort, who was possessed of the most daring spirit.
+ McGillivray preferred to plan and engage in intrigue, which gave the
+ remarkable powers of his mind full play.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There is no doubt that the authorities of Georgia made a great mistake,
+ after the war, in neglecting to win the friendship of McGillivray. Such a
+ course would have prevented much suffering and bloodshed. The father of
+ the great chief, Lachlan McGillivray, was living in Savannah at the close
+ of the Revolution; and when the British were compelled to evacuate the
+ city, he scraped together an immense amount of money and other valuables,
+ and sailed for Scotland. He abandoned his plantations and negroes, in the
+ hope that his wife and three children might be permitted to inherit them;
+ but the Georgians confiscated the whole of the valuable estate, and thus
+ the Creek leader had another reason for entertaining a bitter prejudice
+ against the Whigs.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The result was, that until the day of his death, which occurred in 1792,
+ he succeeded in baffling all the efforts of the Federal and State
+ authorities to come to an understanding with the Creek nation. He was
+ perhaps the most accomplished diplomat in the country,&mdash;a veritable
+ Talleyrand, able to cope with the most distinguished statesmen among the
+ Americans. Such of his letters as have been preserved do not suffer by
+ comparison with the writings of even the greatest of the Americans. The
+ most of these depended on a stately and scholarly diction to attract
+ attention. McGillivray paid little regard to diction; but his letters
+ possess the distinction of style, and in this particular but one American
+ writer can be compared to him,&mdash;Benjamin Franklin. There is, in fact,
+ a modern touch and flavor about McGillivray's letters that even the
+ writings of Franklin do not possess. He wrote thus to Andrew Pickens, who
+ had addressed him on behalf of the United States Government:&mdash;
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "When we found that the American independence was confirmed by the peace,
+ we expected that the new government would soon have taken some steps to
+ make up the differences that subsisted between them and the Indians during
+ the war, to have taken them under their protection and confirmed to them
+ their hunting grounds. Such a course would have reconciled the minds of
+ the Indians, and secured the States their friendship, as they considered
+ your people their natural allies. The Georgians, whose particular interest
+ it was to conciliate the friendship of this nation, have acted in all
+ respects to the contrary. I am sorry to observe that violence and
+ prejudice have taken the place of good policy and reason in all their
+ proceedings with us. They attempted to avail themselves of our supposed
+ distressed situation. Their talks to us breathed nothing but vengeance,
+ and, being entirely possessed with the idea that we were wholly at their
+ mercy, they never once reflected that colonies of a powerful monarch were
+ nearly surrounding us, to whom, in any extremity, we might apply for
+ succor and protection, and who, to answer some ends of their policy, might
+ grant it to us. However, we yet deferred any such proceeding, still
+ expecting that we could bring them to a true sense of their interest; but
+ still finding no alteration in their conduct towards us, we sought the
+ protection of Spain, and treaties of friendship and alliance were mutually
+ entered into; they guaranteeing our hunting grounds and territory, and
+ granting us a free trade in the ports of the Floridas.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "How the boundary and limits between the Spaniards and the States will be
+ determined, a little time will show, as I believe that matter is now on
+ foot. However, we know our limits and the extent of our hunting grounds.
+ As a free nation, we have applied, as we had a right to do, for
+ protection, and obtained it. We shall pay no attention to any limits that
+ may prejudice our claims, that were drawn by an American and confirmed by
+ a British negotiator. Yet, notwithstanding we have been obliged to adopt
+ these measures for our preservation, and from real necessity, we sincerely
+ wish to have it in our power to be on the same footing with the States as
+ before the late unhappy war, to effect which is entirely in your power. We
+ want nothing from you but justice. We want our hunting grounds preserved
+ from encroachments. They have been ours from the beginning of time, and I
+ trust that, with the assistance of our friends, we shall be able to
+ maintain them against every attempt to take them from us."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Undoubtedly McGillivray was unscrupulous, and the probability is that he
+ was mercenary; but such charges may be brought against some of the ablest
+ men who have figured in history. When all is said, the fact remains that
+ Alexander McGillivray was one of the most accomplished and ingenious of
+ the politicians of his time. If he had been on the side of the whites, and
+ had managed their interests with the skill and ability which he displayed
+ in behalf of the Creeks, history would have written him down as a great
+ statesman. It was only by an accidental suit at law that some of his most
+ characteristic letters were brought to light; but those that have been
+ rescued from oblivion show that in wielding the pen he was more than a
+ match for the many able men who corresponded with him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In September, 1789, Washington sent General Andrew Pickens, with three
+ other commissioners, to treat with McGillivray. They found the great chief
+ at Rock Landing, on the Oconee, with two thousand Creek warriors, where he
+ had been encamped more than a week. The Indian camp was on the western
+ bank of the river. The commissioners pitched their tents on the eastern
+ bank. They were received by McGillivray with great courtesy. Everything
+ progressed favorably, so much so that the commissioners read to the
+ assembled chiefs a copy of the treaty which they had drawn up. This treaty
+ was all in favor of the whites. The Indians were offered no equivalent for
+ the terms proposed. It is worthy of note that Andrew Pickens wholly
+ dissented from the terms of the proposed treaty. He knew that the Indians
+ would have to be paid for the valuable land which the Georgians were then
+ cultivating in the neighborhood of the Oconee, and the commissioners had
+ been advised by the Federal authorities to pay for these lands.
+ McGillivray broke up his encampment and retired to the Ocmulgee, nor could
+ he be induced at that time to renew the negotiations.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ President Washington was urged by the Georgia delegation in Congress to
+ declare war against the Creeks, and this indeed was his first impulse; but
+ when he found, from a careful estimate, that the expenses of such a war
+ would amount to fifteen millions of dollars, he prudently gave up the
+ idea. He took the matter in hand in a more conservative way. He appointed
+ Colonel Marinus Willett a secret agent to visit Mc-Gillivray, and urge him
+ to visit President Washington in New York. In this Colonel Willett was
+ entirely successful. Accompanied by McGillivray and a number of the
+ leading men of the Creeks, Willett set out on his return journey. At
+ Guilford Court House, McGillivray attracted great attention on account of
+ a very pathetic incident that occurred there some years before. A man
+ named Brown had been killed by the Creeks, and his wife and children
+ captured and made slaves. Their unfortunate condition came to the notice
+ of Alexander McGillivray, and, as he had done in the case of many other
+ captive white women and children, he paid their ransom and redeemed them
+ from slavery. He maintained them at his house for over a year, and finally
+ assisted them to return to their friends. Mrs. Brown, hearing that
+ McGillivray had arrived, went to see him. At that moment he was in the
+ courthouse, the center of a large assembly of ladies and gentlemen who had
+ gathered to pay their respects. But this was no obstacle to Mrs. Brown.
+ She rushed through the assembly, and, in a flood of tears, expressed her
+ gratitude to him for saving her life and the lives of her children. She
+ also expressed her strong admiration for his character.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In due course, McGillivray arrived in New York, where he was treated with
+ great consideration. He had long private conferences with Washington and
+ other officials of the government, and was finally induced to make a
+ treaty which was satisfactory to the United States, and would have been
+ satisfactory to Georgia if it had been carried out, but in fact the terms
+ of it were never fulfilled. While in New York, McGillivray made a secret
+ treaty with Washington, a fact that was not discovered for many years. It
+ provided, that after two years from date (August, 1790) the commerce of
+ the Creek nation should be carried on through the ports of the United
+ States, and in the mean time through the present channels; that a number
+ of chiefs of the Creeks and of the Seminole nation should be paid one
+ hundred dollars a year each, and be furnished with handsome medals; that
+ the United States should feed, clothe, and educate Creek youth at the
+ North, not exceeding five at one time; and that Alexander McGillivray
+ should be constituted agent of the United States, with the rank of
+ brigadier general, and the pay of twelve hundred dollars a year. In 1792,
+ McGillivray was a British colonel, an American brigadier general, an agent
+ of the United States, and an agent of Spain. This extraordinary man died
+ in Pensacola on the 17th of February, having been seized with a fatal
+ illness while returning from one of his plantations on Little River in
+ Putnam or Baldwin.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Another famous Creek was General William Mcintosh, a half-breed. His
+ father was Captain William Mcintosh, and his mother was an Indian of
+ unmixed blood. He was not so brilliant a man intellectually as
+ McGillivray; but he had a native force of character, and an inborn sense
+ of justice, that McGillivray seems to have been a stranger to. History
+ tells us little enough of Mcintosh, but that little is all to his credit.
+ Almost from the days of Oglethorpe, there were two parties in the Creek
+ nation, and the issue on which they divided was the treatment that should
+ be accorded to the whites. The party division was geographical as well as
+ political. The Upper Creeks, living upon the Alabama, Coosa, and
+ Tallapoosa rivers, were not present at the Coweta town when James
+ Oglethorpe treated with the Lower Creeks in August, 1730. At that time
+ they were under the influence of the French, and afterwards they sought
+ the protection of the Spaniards. They refused to recognize any of the
+ treaties made by the Lower Creeks with the English, and the great body of
+ them remained to the end the bitter enemies of the Georgians. On the other
+ hand, the majority of the Lower Creeks were friendly with the English from
+ the days of Oglethorpe; and that friendship continued, with but few
+ interruptions, down to the days of Governor Troup.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Now, McGillivray, in his day and time, represented the Upper Creeks of the
+ Tallapoosa country and their policy, while William Mcintosh represented
+ the Lower Creeks of the Coweta country and their policy. The division in
+ the Creek nation was so serious, that, when the Upper Creeks took sides
+ with the British in the War of 1812, they found themselves opposed in the
+ field by a large party of Lower Creeks under the command of Mcintosh.
+ Thus, at the battle of Autossee, William Mcintosh led a large band of
+ Lower Creeks against those who were making war on the whites. He made
+ himself so conspicuous in that affair, that General Floyd mentions him in
+ the official report of the battle.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The treaty at Indian Spring, and the results that followed, cannot be
+ clearly understood unless we bear in mind the political differences that
+ existed between the Upper and the Lower Creeks. The Creek chiefs and the
+ commissioners met at Indian Spring on the 15th of February, 1825. The
+ chiefs and warriors of the Upper Creeks declared that no treaty could be
+ made for a cession of lands, and on the night of the 11th they went home.
+ On the 12th a treaty was signed with the Mcintosh party. Colonel John A.
+ Crowell, agent for the Creek Indians, sent a letter to the secretary of
+ war, in which he declared that the treaty was in direct opposition to the
+ letter and spirit of the instructions to the commissioners; but the treaty
+ was sent to Washington, and was ratified on the 3d of March, 1825. When
+ the Indians of the Upper Creeks and their party learned that the treaty
+ had been ratified, they became very much excited. Mcintosh and his party
+ went to Milledgeville, and told the governor that they expected violent
+ treatment at the hands of the Upper Creeks. They begged the protection of
+ the State and of the United States, and this was promised them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Out of this treaty grew a very serious conflict between the Federal and
+ State governments. After a good deal of discussion, the President asked
+ Congress to reconsider the treaty of Indian Spring, and presented a new
+ one as a substitute, which was ratified and proclaimed; but popular
+ indignation ran so high in Georgia, that Governor Troup felt justified in
+ paying no attention to this new treaty. He proceeded to carry out the
+ terms of the Indian Spring treaty. Charges were brought against Crowell,
+ the Indian agent. The governor informed T. P. Andrews, the special agent,
+ that he would hold no further correspondence with him. The conduct of
+ General Gaines had been such that Governor Troup requested the Federal
+ Government to recall, arrest, and punish him. In 1826 the State
+ Legislature declared that the attempt to repeal the treaty of Indian
+ Spring by the substitution of another treaty was illegal and
+ unconstitutional. In September, 1826, Governor Troup ordered the districts
+ ceded by the treaty of Indian Spring to be surveyed. When the Indians
+ complained of this, the secretary of war wrote to Governor Troup that the
+ President felt himself compelled to employ all the means under his control
+ to maintain the faith of the nation by carrying the treaty into effect,
+ meaning the treaty made at Washington, and intended to be a substitute for
+ the Indian Spring treaty. In his reply, Governor Troup declared that he
+ would feel it to be his duty to resist to the utmost any military attack
+ which the President of the United States should think proper to make upon
+ the Territory, the people, or the sovereignty of Georgia. "From the first
+ decisive act of hostility," he wrote to the secretary of war, "you will be
+ considered and treated as a public enemy. You have referred me, as the
+ rule of my conduct, to the treaty of Washington. In turn I refer you to
+ the treaty of prior date and prior ratification, concluded at the Indian
+ Spring."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The President issued orders that the surveyors appointed by the State be
+ prosecuted. Governor Troup thereupon ordered the proper officers, in every
+ instance of complaint made of the arrest of any surveyor, to take all
+ necessary and legal measures to effect their liberation, and to bring to
+ justice all the parties concerned in such arrests, as violators of the
+ peace and personal security of the State. He also ordered the major
+ generals of the militia to hold the various regiments and battalions in
+ readiness to repel any hostile invasion of the State. But no acts of
+ violence were committed. The surveyors were not arrested, the surveys were
+ made, and the lands ceded by the treaty of Indian Spring were divided by
+ lottery in 1827.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Upper Creeks, who had always been unfriendly to the Georgians, were so
+ angry at the signing of the treaty of Indian Spring, that they determined
+ to assassinate General William Mcintosh. They had never forgiven him for
+ leading his party of Lower Creeks against them in the campaign that was
+ made necessary by the terrible massacre of Fort Mims, and they now
+ determined to rid themselves of him at once and forever.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We have seen that General Mcintosh, and his party of Lower Creeks,
+ suspecting that an attack would be made on them by the powerful tribes on
+ the Tallapoosa, went to Milledgeville to beg the governor to protect them.
+ Protection was promised, but never given. Meanwhile the Upper Creeks held
+ a secret council, and selected a hundred and seventy of the boldest
+ warriors in the nation to murder Mcintosh. They marched in the most
+ cautious way. They reached the neighborhood of Mcintosh's home, and
+ concealed themselves, to wait for night to fall. About sundown, or a
+ little before, the Indians saw from their hiding place two persons riding
+ along a trail. One was Mcintosh, and the other a man named Hawkins, who
+ had married one of Mcintosh's daughters. It would have been an easy matter
+ for the savages to have killed Mcintosh at this time; but they had made up
+ their minds to kill him upon his own premises, so that his blood might
+ stain the land that had been granted him by the State. While still in
+ sight of the men who had been sent to slay him, Mcintosh bade Hawkins good
+ evening, wheeled his horse, and rode back on the trail toward his home.
+ Although he was now alone, the Indians would not kill him. They had fixed
+ up a different plan, and they carried it out.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Before dark the Indians gathered together a supply of "fat lightwood," as
+ the resinous pine was called. This they split into convenient length, and
+ made up into three bundles to be carried on the backs of their warriors.
+ They remained hidden within half a mile of Mcintosh's house till three
+ o'clock in the morning, and then silently and swiftly marched to the
+ place. They had taken along with them a man named James Hutton to act as
+ interpreter, the reason for this being that Mcintosh was in the habit of
+ entertaining travelers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was to be Hutton's duty to assure such as might be found there that
+ they would not be disturbed in any manner. Guests of Mcintosh were
+ commonly lodged in an outhouse in the yard; and Hutton, accompanied by two
+ Indians, went to this building to see who might be sleeping there. They
+ found a peddler in one bed, and Chilly, a son of General Mcintosh, in
+ another.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Young Mcintosh, as if instinctively understanding the nature of the visit,
+ sprang from the bed and leaped out at a window. He was fired upon by the
+ Indians, but was not touched, and succeeded in making his escape. The
+ peddler was nearly scared out of his wits; but his pack of goods was
+ removed to a place of safety, and the house in which he had been sleeping
+ was soon in flames.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0032" id="linkimage-0032">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/220.jpg" alt="Indian Attack 220 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ Meanwhile most of the Indians had surrounded Mcintosh's house, and torches
+ of the fat pine were used to set it on fire. The red men danced around the
+ burning building, yelling, and crying out, "Mcintosh, we have come, we
+ have come! We told you if you sold the land to the Georgians we would
+ come. Now we have come!" At the first alarm Mcintosh had barricaded his
+ front door. He stood near it; and when it was broken down, he fired upon
+ his assailants. At that moment, one of his firmest friends, Toma
+ Tustenuggee, who had thrown himself upon the party at the door, fell on
+ the threshold, riddled with bullets. General Mcintosh then retreated to
+ the second story with four guns, which he continued to fire from the
+ windows.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The flames drove him from the second story to the first floor again. He
+ fought bravely to the end, but was soon compelled to expose himself to the
+ fire of his enemies. He fell to the floor, pierced by many bullets, and
+ was dragged into the yard by his heels. He breathed defiance to the last,
+ and was finally stabbed to death. After this savage deed, the Indians
+ plundered the houses, killed such cattle as they could find, and committed
+ other outrages. A small party of the Indians had followed Hawkins the
+ evening before. His house was surrounded about daybreak the next morning,
+ and he was ordered to come out. He refused, and defended himself the best
+ he could; but he was finally taken prisoner and tied, until the fate of
+ Mcintosh was known. Then he was murdered, and his body thrown into the
+ river near where he lived. The Indians marched back to the Tallapoosa
+ country with the scalps of these unfortunate men. Mcintosh's scalp was
+ suspended from a pole in the public square of Ocfuskee, and young and old
+ danced around it with shouts of joy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General Mcintosh was a cousin of Governor Troup, being the son of Governor
+ Troup's uncle, Captain William Mcintosh, who was frequently on the
+ Chattahoochee before the breaking-out of the Revolution.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ REMOVAL OF THE CHEROKEES.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ When Georgia had begun to recover its breath, after the difficulties with
+ the Creeks, the people had time to discover that they had a much more
+ serious problem to deal with in the Cherokee nation, which occupied all
+ the northwestern portion of the State. Those who mingled thrift with their
+ benevolence, and had the courage to think about the future of the whites
+ as well as the future of the savages, thought that both ends would be
+ attained by making a permanent settlement for the Indians beyond the
+ Mississippi River. Those whose benevolence was a mixture of sentimentality
+ and romantic misinformation thought the Indians ought to be left where
+ contact with the whites would tend to civilize and Christianize them.
+ Consequently there were two parties to the discussion, and a good deal of
+ practical selfishness at the bottom of it all. There used to be an old
+ song running in this wise,&mdash;
+ </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ "All I want in this creation,
+ Is a pretty little wife and a big plantation
+ Away up yonder in the Cherokee nation,"&mdash;
+</pre>
+ <p>
+ and this song no doubt represented the real feeling behind the whole
+ matter. The big plantation was what was really wanted. At the same time it
+ should not be forgotten that it was for the benefit of the Indians as well
+ as the whites that they should be settled in a section where they would
+ remain undisturbed. This policy has been proven by time to be the true
+ one.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Travelers and romancers have done no end of harm by exalting the Indian
+ character, covering up its faults, and exaggerating its merits. Romance
+ has made great heroes of the Indians; but in the whole history of the red
+ men, so far as it has been faithfully chronicled, the names of the Indians
+ of unmixed blood who are worth remembering can be counted on the fingers
+ of two hands.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Sequoia, or George Guess, who invented the Cherokee alphabet, was the
+ grandson of a white man. This invention, however, was a very remarkable
+ achievement, and it is worthy of a word here. Sequoia was altogether
+ illiterate. He could neither write nor speak English, but he saw that the
+ whites could talk with each other by means of pieces of paper. So he set
+ himself to work to examine his own language. He found that sixty
+ monosyllables could be so combined as to represent every word in the
+ Cherokee language, and for each of these syllables he formed a character.
+ Many of these characters were taken from an English spelling book which he
+ managed to get hold of. Some are Greek characters, and others are letters
+ of the English alphabet turned upside down; but each character in the
+ Cherokee alphabet stands for a monosyllable. It happened, too, from the
+ structure of the Cherokee language or dialect, that the syllabic alphabet
+ is also in the nature of a grammar; so that those who know the language by
+ ear, and master the alphabet, can at once read and write. Owing to the
+ extreme simplicity of this system, it can be acquired in a few days. Some
+ have learned it even in one day. Thus it happened that the Cherokees, who
+ were at the beginning of one year ignorant and illiterate, had become in
+ the course of a few months able to read and write their own language. They
+ accomplished this without going to school, and without expense of time or
+ money.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This curious and useful invention is dwelt on here because it stands
+ alone. The Indian grandson of a white man remains to-day the only man, in
+ the long history of the aborigines, who has done anything for the real and
+ lasting benefit of his race.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the people of Georgia insisted on the removal of that nation to the
+ Far West, the Cherokees were neither better nor worse than the rest of the
+ Indians. Some of the half-breeds had indeed begun to put on the airs of
+ civilization, and many of them had put off their barbarian garbs; but from
+ time to time they gave evidence that contact with the whites had only
+ whetted their savage appetites for cruelty. The Indian in Cooper's novels
+ and the Indian in real life are two different creatures. They were tall
+ and straight because they refused to do manual labor. The drudgery was
+ left to the women, who hoed the corn when at home, and carried the burdens
+ when the warriors were moving about. They cultivated the passion of
+ revenge. Those who know them best have declared in a thousand ways that
+ they never found in the red men any solid substantial, or agreeable
+ quality. They were brave, but so is a bulldog.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There is no wonder that Georgia wanted to get rid of them as neighbors.
+ The people showed their anxiety in this matter when, in 1802, they
+ conveyed to the United States Government all the valuable lands that now
+ form the States of Alabama and Mississippi; the consideration being that
+ the General Government would secure from the Indians, and open up to
+ settlement, the lands which they then held in the State. In 1808 the
+ Cherokees asked the United States to allow them to examine the public land
+ west of the Mississippi, and, if pleased, to settle on it. Permission was
+ given, and the Cherokees sent a party to explore the lands. The country
+ suited them so well that many of the Indians emigrated at once. The
+ General Government thus had an opportunity to carry out the contract of
+ 1802, but failed to do so. It had another opportunity in 1814, when the
+ conquered Creeks sued for peace. The General Government had the right to
+ demand of them the cession of the land they occupied in Georgia. Instead,
+ it took land in Alabama, which it sold for its own benefit.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And so the matter went on from year to year, and the people waited
+ patiently; for they had become aware, from costly experience, that one of
+ the prices they have to pay for popular government is the occasional rule
+ of the political demagogue.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1827, when the people of Georgia began to grow restive under the
+ failure of the government to carry out its contracts, the Cherokees had
+ declared themselves to be an independent state. They had their own printed
+ constitution and code of laws. So that here in the limits of Georgia there
+ were three governments going on at one and the same time. The United
+ States prohibited any person from settling on Indian territory, or trading
+ with any Indian, without a special license from the proper authority. In
+ addition to this, the State of Georgia had found it necessary to extend
+ her criminal courts over the Cherokee territory, in order to protect her
+ own citizens.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The half-breeds among the Cherokees were very shrewd and unscrupulous.
+ They had caused some of their tribe to take possession of lands ceded to
+ Georgia by the Creeks, and in this way sought to add confusion to the
+ discussion that was then going on. The Indians took possession by force.
+ They were armed and painted, and led by Chief Ridge. Fourteen or fifteen
+ houses were burned by these savages, and the white women and children were
+ left exposed to the weather, the ground being covered with snow.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The great trouble with the Cherokees then and afterwards was, that the
+ government of their nation had fallen into the hands of half-breeds, whose
+ education only gave them fresh opportunities to gain wealth and power at
+ the expense of the rest of the tribe. They owned trading houses, big
+ plantations, numbers of slaves, had charge of the ferries, and controlled
+ all the traffic between the whites and the Indians. As these half-breeds
+ became wealthier, the rest of the tribe became poorer. They had forsaken
+ their primitive habits and customs, and taken up those of the most
+ depraved whites who lived among them. It is worthy of note that the most
+ progressive spirits among the Cherokees were in favor of emigration beyond
+ the Mississippi. The leaders of this party were natives of unmixed blood,
+ who saw that the control of the corrupt half-breeds was carrying the
+ nation to ruin. Several of these leaders were waylaid and shot down by the
+ agents of those whose policy they were opposing. The alarm in some
+ sections was very great. The citizens met, and adopted resolutions
+ requesting the government to station troops at suitable points, for the
+ protection of the lives and property of the whites and friendly Indians.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Under an act of the Legislature, a body of militia had been organized,
+ under the name of the "Georgia Guard." It was the duty of the Guard to
+ protect the citizens of Georgia and the friendly Cherokees. John Howard
+ Payne, the famous author of "Home, Sweet Home," was arrested by this
+ Guard. The poet was traveling among the Cherokees for information, and was
+ no doubt ignorant of the state of feeling then existing. He was finally
+ suspected by the vigilant Georgia Guard of writing improper papers. He had
+ been seen making notes, and when he was arrested his papers were searched.
+ The commander of the Georgia Guard, Colonel William N. Bishop, reported to
+ the governor that he had examined some of Mr. Payne's papers, and found
+ some very improper and indiscreet statements about the President, the
+ government, and the State authorities, and many bitter remarks concerning
+ Cherokee matters. Evidently, Colonel Bishop was of the opinion, that,
+ while a politician or a newspaper editor might be allowed to indulge in
+ improper and indiscreet statements about Presidents and other public men,
+ a poet had no such rights. But the colonel finally discharged Mr. Payne
+ from custody, and the very foolish proceeding was condemned by a
+ resolution of the General Assembly.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1835 two parties had developed in the Cherokee nation. One was in favor
+ of removal to the Western lands, and the other was opposed to removal.
+ John Ridge headed the removal party, and John Ross the opposition. In
+ February of that year these men went to Washington at the head of
+ deputations, and entered into negotiations with the General Government.
+ After a great deal of talk, excitement, confusion, and trouble, the
+ Cherokee people finally concluded to hold a meeting at Red Clay in
+ October, 1835. There was a good deal of angry feeling between those of the
+ Cherokees who were in favor of a treaty of removal and those who were
+ opposed to it. Major Ridge, John Ridge, and David Vann were impeached for
+ holding opinions contrary to those held by the Cherokee authorities. On
+ the other hand, many of those in favor of removal met, and passed
+ resolutions, in which they declared that their people could not prosper in
+ the midst of a white population, and that, while they loved the lands of
+ their fathers, and would leave the place of their birth with regret, they
+ considered that it would be better to become exiles than to submit to the
+ laws of the State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At the Red Clay meeting, arrangements were made for discussing with the
+ United States authorities the terms of a treaty of removal. The Ross party
+ was still violently opposed to removal. John Ross, the leader of this
+ party, was only one fourth Indian, the other three fourths being Scotch
+ and American. Ross was very shrewd and thrifty, and had accumulated a
+ great deal of property, with the prospect of accumulating more. He had
+ many sympathizers and admirers in all parts of the country. It seems to
+ have been thought a wonderful thing in that day, that a man one quarter
+ Indian should be able to read and write English, and make political
+ speeches. When everything had been arranged for the final treaty, and
+ while negotiations were going forward, Ross and his party put an end to
+ them, and went to Washington, where they hoped to delay matters. But the
+ Ridge party met the United States commissioners at New Echota on the 21st
+ of December, 1835, according to appointment, and on the 29th the treaty
+ was concluded. On May 23, 1836, it was ratified.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ By the terms of this treaty, the Cherokees, in consideration of the sum of
+ five million dollars, relinquished all claims to lands east of the
+ Mississippi. In addition to the money to be paid, they were to receive
+ seven million acres of land west of the Mississippi. Should this territory
+ be found to be insufficient, the United States, in consideration of five
+ hundred thousand dollars, was to convey to them an additional body of
+ land. The land thus granted was not to be included within the limits of
+ any State at any future time. The Cherokees were guaranteed protection
+ against domestic strife and foreign enemies, and it was provided that the
+ tribe should be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives
+ whenever Congress passed a law to that effect. The United States
+ authorities were to remove the Cherokees to their new homes, and to
+ provide for their support for one year after they were settled. There were
+ other provisions, all in favor of the Cherokees. The Indians were to be
+ removed within two years after the ratification of the treaty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Ross, and other leaders opposed to removal, had gone to Washington. While
+ there they were informed, by Major Ridge and others, of the treaty at New
+ Echota. Ross refused to make any reply to the communication, but tried to
+ make a new treaty. He was told that he could not be received to make a new
+ treaty. The attitude of the Ross party, together with certain threats that
+ had been made by their followers, led many citizens of Georgia to believe
+ that the Indians opposed to removal would, in accordance with their
+ character and history, revenge themselves by making night attacks on the
+ unprotected people. Consequently those most likely to be the victims of
+ such attacks petitioned the governor for arms, ammunition, and troops; and
+ these petitions were granted. A battalion of militia was raised, and
+ placed at Lashley's Ferry on the Coosa River, with orders to keep the
+ Cherokees in check, and also to prevent the Creeks from coming into
+ Georgia. Many of the Cherokees were disarmed; and five hundred muskets,
+ with ammunition, were sent into Cherokee County, for the use of the people
+ in the event of any hostile movement on the part of the Indians.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The State of Georgia was to take possession of the territory ceded by the
+ treaty on the twenty-fourth day of May, 1838, and the military were got in
+ readiness for removing the Indians. General Scott, of the United States
+ army, called on the governor of Georgia for two regiments, and to this
+ call there was a prompt response. By the 18th of May enough men had
+ arrived at New Echota, where the troops were to assemble, to organize a
+ regiment; and on the morning of the 24th the troops took up the line of
+ march for the purpose of collecting the Indians. This continued until the
+ 3d of June, when the troops and the Indians started for Ross's Landing on
+ the Tennessee River. About fifteen hundred Indians had been collected by
+ the Georgia troops, and these troops were then dismissed from the service
+ of the United States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The rest of the work was done by the regular army, which, being divided
+ into small detachments, went about the Cherokee country, making prisoners
+ of family after family, and carrying them to the camps. The most careful
+ arrangements had been made to prevent cruelty or disorder, and there has
+ never been any complaint as to the manner in which the troops performed
+ their duty. Nearly the whole nation had been gathered into camps by the
+ end of June. At that time some of the Indians began their march to the
+ West; but the great body of the tribe, fourteen thousand in number, did
+ not begin their westward journey until September, owing to the hot
+ weather. Every arrangement that could be suggested was made for the
+ comfort of the Indians in their march; but from May, when the removal
+ began, to the time when the last company had completed its journey, more
+ than four thousand persons died.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ One year afterwards, on the 22d of June, 1839, Major Ridge, John Ridge,
+ and Elias Boudinot, all of whom had taken an active part in negotiating
+ the treaty of removal, were assassinated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Since their removal the Cherokees have prospered to a greater extent than
+ any other Indian tribe. They have a government of their own, flourishing
+ schools, and books and newspapers printed in their own language. It is the
+ only tribe of American Indians that has shown any desire or ability to
+ share in the benefits of civilization.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ THE BEGINNING OF PARTIES IN GEORGIA.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ The first serious political division in Georgia after the Revolution had a
+ very curious beginning. There is always, of course, a division among the
+ people on great public questions as they arise. But the War of the
+ Revolution had so solidified public sentiment that nothing occurred to jar
+ it until the Yazoo Fraud created some division. Even then public sentiment
+ was so overwhelmingly opposed to the sale of the lands to the speculators,
+ that the few who favored it were not numerous nor respectable enough to be
+ called a party.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 24th of February, 1806, Mr. Josiah Glass, having come all the way
+ from North Carolina in search of a Mr. Robert Clary, went to the town of
+ Sparta with a warrant which he requested Judge Charles Tait to indorse.
+ This Judge Tait did in due form. The warrant was for negro stealing, and
+ was directed against Mr. Robert Clary. Mr. Clary was arrested by Mr.
+ Josiah Glass in Washington County, and was carried to Greene County
+ Superior Court. On the first day of the court, Mr. Josiah Glass wrote a
+ letter to Judge Tait, and requested him to attend, and take the
+ examination of a man then in his custody, who would make confessions
+ highly interesting to the State and the United States. Judge Tait,
+ accompanied by Squire Oliver Skinner, attended that night, and took a part
+ of the confessions of Mr. Robert Clary, and completed them the following
+ night. Then he gave Mr. Josiah Glass a certified copy of the same to take
+ with him to North Carolina, to which State he was taking Mr. Robert Clary,
+ on a warrant charging him with negro stealing.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Now, it seems that the warrant against Clary was merely intended as a
+ scheme to get him to North Carolina to testify against a man named
+ Collins. History has suppressed the confessions made by Mr. Robert Clary;
+ but it is certain that they contained a most offensive charge against
+ General John Clarke, whose patriotic services in behalf of the people
+ during the Revolution gave him great fame and popularity. No sooner did
+ John Clarke hear of this affair than he proceeded to act with his usual
+ promptness. When he learned the particulars about the taking of the
+ affidavit at night, he at once jumped to the conclusion that he had been
+ made the victim of a conspiracy. There had been some disagreement between
+ him and Hon. William H. Crawford; and as Judge Tait had been the partner
+ of Mr. Crawford, and was his firm friend,&mdash;for Crawford was a man
+ great enough to command and deserve friends,&mdash;General Clarke
+ suspected that Clary and Glass had been made tools of to damage his
+ reputation. General Clarke acted at once. He presented a memorial to the
+ Legislature, making certain charges against Judge Tait with respect to the
+ taking of the "dark-lantern affidavits," as they were called by his
+ friends. The Legislature found, as it ought to have done, that the charges
+ made in the memorial of General Clarke were unsupported by fact or
+ evidence. In the very nature of things, it could not be shown that an
+ honorable judge of the Superior Court of Georgia, in certifying to an
+ affidavit containing the confession of a mere adventurer, was engaged in a
+ conspiracy; but the question with which General Clarke had to deal was,
+ how did the offensive and malicious matter, contained in an affidavit
+ taken by a judge and one witness at night, become public property? If
+ General Clarke had been a more thoroughgoing politician, he would have
+ found a better way to confound his enemies than that which he adopted; but
+ he was deeply wounded by a foul charge made at night, and put in
+ circulation by means of nods and winks and whispers. His first recourse
+ was to the Legislature, consequently it had the effect of strengthening
+ both his friends and his enemies. His friends were indignant at the action
+ of the Legislature. His enemies professed to be astonished that arrogance
+ should fly so high as to bring before the Legislature unfounded charges
+ against a judge of the superior courts.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The legislative record is not as full as it might be. There was something
+ behind the Clary business that does not appear on the records of the House
+ and Senate. General Clarke wrote a pamphlet entitled "A Legacy for My
+ Children," in which, according to Judge Garnett Andrews (see
+ "Reminiscences of an Old Georgia Lawyer"), the matter of his memorial to
+ the Legislature is differently stated. According to Judge Andrews, who
+ bases his authority on General Clarke's pamphlet and on the testimony of
+ those who were familiar with the facts, Clary was arrested and carried
+ before Judge Tait on a charge of stealing horses. Clary charged General
+ Clarke with complicity. Mr. Crawford was the prosecuting attorney. General
+ Clarke accused Judge Tait and Mr. Crawford with instigating Clary to make
+ the charge.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The truth seems to be, that Clary, knowing the differences that existed
+ between these distinguished men, sought to help his own case by making the
+ charge against General Clarke, and that the latter was quite ready to
+ believe that his two opponents had originated the charges for the purpose
+ of doing him a mortal injury. Feeling assured of the justice of his cause,
+ he appealed to the Legislature. This failing, he took the matter into his
+ own hands. He challenged Mr. Crawford, shot him through the wrist, and
+ then challenged him again. A little later, cantering along a street in
+ Milledgeville on his fine sorrel horse, General Clarke saw Judge Tait
+ before him in a sulky. He spurred his horse forward, and laid his whip
+ across the judge's shoulders two or three times.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0033" id="linkimage-0033">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/238.jpg" alt="General Clarke Whips Judge Tait 237 "
+ width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ These events created great excitement throughout the State. There had
+ already been controversy and division caused by the duel between Mr.
+ Crawford and Van Allen, a cousin of President Van Buren, and at that time
+ attorney-general of the State. Van Allen was killed; and there was a great
+ controversy in Georgia, in consequence, as to who was right and who was
+ wrong. This excitement became furious in the course of the contest between
+ Clarke and Crawford. Crawford was fortunately lifted out of it by being
+ made a United States senator in 1807. His distinguished career afterwards
+ is well known. He was minister to France, secretary of the treasury,
+ Vice-President of the United States, and would have been elected President
+ but for reports circulated throughout the country that he had been
+ stricken down with a fatal illness. But the contest between the Clarke and
+ Crawford parties continued to rage. Whatever issue the Clarke men were
+ favorable to, the Crawford men opposed. Whatever scheme the Clarke men
+ suggested, the Crawford men fought. There was nothing polite about the
+ contest. People who wore gloves pulled them off. In cold weather the
+ voters were warm, and in hot weather they were steaming. The contest went
+ on before elections, and was kept up with just as much energy after
+ elections. No vote could settle it, and no success could quiet it. It was
+ in the nature of a political squabble, covering the whole State, dividing
+ districts, counties, cities, towns, villages, settlements, beats,
+ crossroads groceries, and families. It was a knock-down-and-drag-out
+ fight, in which hair pulling, gouging, and biting were allowed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While Crawford was advancing step by step in national politics, his party
+ in Georgia took up George M. Troup, one of the most brilliant and
+ aggressive men in the State. The contest had been going on for twenty
+ years when Troup came upon the scene, in 1830, as a candidate for
+ governor. He had been a member of the State Legislature, a representative
+ in Congress, and a United States senator: therefore in 1820, when he was
+ nominated for governor by the Crawford party, he was ripe in experience.
+ He was forty years old, and full of the fire and energy that marked his
+ whole career. The Crawford party now became the Troup party, and the
+ contests that followed were the most exciting that ever took place in the
+ State before, or that have ever taken place since.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At that time the General Assembly elected the governor, the people
+ selecting members favorable to the candidates they preferred. As the
+ result of the first campaign between the Clarke and Troup parties, General
+ John Clarke was elected by a majority of thirteen legislative votes. When
+ Governor Clarke's term expired, he was again opposed by Troup, and was
+ again elected, but this time by a majority of only two legislative votes.
+ In 1823, Matthew Talbot represented the Clarke party, but was defeated by
+ Troup. In 1825, General Clarke again entered the contest. The election was
+ no longer in the hands of the Legislature, but was by popular vote.
+ Governor Troup's treatment of the Indian question, and the firm stand he
+ had taken in favor of the rights of the State, had materially increased
+ his influence, and he was elected over Clarke by a majority of 683 votes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Curious to relate, the old Clarke party became the Union party, and in
+ 1840 was the Democratic party. The Crawford party became the States Rights
+ party, and in 1840 was the Whig party. Such was the evolution of parties
+ in Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ A QUEER CASE.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0034" id="linkimage-0034">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/241.jpg" alt="A Queer Case 241 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ A very queer, not to say mysterious case, was brought to trial in Jones
+ County in 1837, at the April term of the Superior Court. It has had no
+ parallel in Georgia before or since, and had none in any other country, so
+ far as the present writer is aware, until the celebrated Tichborne case
+ was brought to trial in England a few years ago. The Bunkley case created
+ quite as much excitement, and caused quite as much division in public
+ opinion in Georgia, as the Tichborne case did in England.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Jesse L. Bunkley belonged to a good family in Jones County, and when he
+ came of age would have fallen heir to an estate worth forty thousand
+ dollars. An effort was made to give him all the advantages of education,
+ but these he refused to accept. He was a wild boy, and was fonder of wild
+ company than of his books. He went to school for a while in Eatonton, but
+ got into some scrape there and ran away. He was afterwards sent to
+ Franklin College, now the State University, where he entered the grammar
+ school. Such discipline as they had in those days was irksome to young
+ Bunkley, and he soon grew tired of it. He left the college, and, after
+ roving about for a while, returned to his home in Jones County. In his
+ twentieth year, 1825, being well supplied with money, he left his home for
+ the purpose of traveling. He went to the Southwest, and in that year wrote
+ to his mother from New Orleans.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ No other letter was received from him during that year or the next, and in
+ 1827 word was brought to Jones County that Jesse Bunkley was dead. The
+ rumor, for it seems to have been nothing more, was regarded by the family
+ as true. At any rate, no attempt was made to investigate it. Jesse was the
+ black sheep of the family; he had been away from home a good deal; his
+ conduct when at home had not been such as to commend him to the affections
+ of his people; and his mother had married a third husband, a man named
+ Lowther: consequently the vague news of the young man's death was probably
+ received with a feeling of relief. There was always a probability that
+ such a wild and dissipated youngster would come to some bad end; but with
+ his death that probability ceased to be even a possibility, and so, no
+ doubt with a sigh of relief, young Bunkley's people put aside the memory
+ of him. He was dead and buried. Those who survived him were more than
+ willing to take the care and trouble of managing the estate which young
+ Bunkley would have inherited had he returned and claimed it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But in 1833, Major Smith of Jones County received a letter purporting to
+ be from Jesse L. Bunkley, and it related to matters that both Smith and
+ Bunkley were familiar with. In December, 1833, Mrs. Lowther, his mother,
+ received a letter from a person claiming to be her son Jesse. The letter
+ was dated at the New Orleans prison. It appears from this letter that the
+ family of Bunkley had already taken steps to disown the person who had
+ written to Major Smith, and who claimed to be Jesse Bunkley. The letter to
+ Mrs. Lowther was very awkwardly written. It was misspelled, and bore no
+ marks of punctuation; and yet it is just such a letter as might be written
+ by a man who took no interest in his books when a schoolboy, and had had
+ no occasion to look into them or to handle a pen. He said in this letter
+ that he wrote to convince his mother that he was her own child, though it
+ appeared that she wished to disown him. This, he declared in his awkward
+ way, he knew no reason for, unless it was on account of his past folly. He
+ then went on to relate some facts about the family and his own school
+ days. The mother did not answer this letter, because, as she said
+ afterwards on the witness stand, she did not consider that it was from her
+ son. She was satisfied, she said, that the letter was not in her son's
+ handwriting.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The person claiming to be Jesse L. Bunkley reached Jones County some time
+ afterwards. His case, in the nature of things, excited great public
+ interest. Hundreds of people who had known Jesse recognized him in this
+ claimant. On the other hand, hundreds who had also known Bunkley when a
+ boy failed to recognize him in the claimant. Meanwhile those who had
+ charge of the Bunkley property took prompt action. They went before the
+ grand jury, and had the claimant indicted for cheating and swindling; and
+ thus began the celebrated case of the State against Elijah Barber, alias
+ Jesse L. Bunkley.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The claimant came to Jones County in 1836, was indicted in that year, and
+ his case was brought to trial in the Superior Court in April, 1837. A
+ great deal of time was taken up in the investigation. More than one
+ hundred and thirty witnesses were examined. Ninety-eight, the majority of
+ these being disinterested persons, declared that they believed the
+ claimant to be an impostor. More than forty disinterested persons declared
+ under oath that they believed the claimant to be Jesse L. Bunkley, and the
+ majority of these last witnesses had known Bunkley long and intimately.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The efforts of the prosecution were directed to showing that the man
+ claiming to be Jesse Bunkley was in reality Elijah Barber, who in 1824-25
+ was a wagoner who hauled lumber from Grace's Mill near Macon, who was also
+ known in Upson County, and who had served in the Florida war. Some of the
+ witnesses who had never known Bunkley recognized the claimant as a man who
+ had called himself Barber. Some of the witnesses who had known Jesse from
+ his boyhood testified that they recognized the claimant as Bunkley on
+ sight. Bunkley had various scars on his face, neck, and body. The claimant
+ exhibited all these to the jury. One of the witnesses remembered that
+ Bunkley bore the marks of a snake bite on one of his legs. The claimant
+ immediately showed these marks. Hundreds of questions had been put to the
+ claimant to test his memory. A great many he answered correctly, a great
+ many others he failed to answer; but his replies to all vital questions
+ were wonderfully clear and satisfactory. The jury was out but a short time
+ before it returned, bringing in a verdict of guilty; and the claimant was
+ sentenced to the penitentiary, where he served out his term.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0035" id="linkimage-0035">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/245.jpg" alt="The Bunkley Trial 245 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ This verdict and sentence settled the case in law, but it remained as
+ unsettled as ever in the public mind. The writer of this has heard it
+ discussed on more than one occasion among old ladies and gentlemen who
+ knew Bunkley, and who saw the claimant; and, without exception, they
+ declared that the verdict of the jury was cruelly unjust.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And yet, if any wrong was done, Bunkley himself was to blame for it. Being
+ a young man of fortune and of the fairest prospects, he owed it to
+ himself, his family, his friends, and to society at large, to become a
+ good citizen, so that his ample means might be properly employed. Instead
+ of that, he became a rowdy and a rioter, spending his days and his nights
+ in evil company and in dissipation. If the claimant in this mysterious
+ case was really Jesse Bunkley, it may be said of him that his sins had
+ found him out.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ GEORGIA WIT AND HUMOR.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ The wit and humor of Georgia stand by themselves. They have no counterpart
+ in any other section of the country. Many attempts have been made to
+ imitate them, but there is always something lacking. The flavor, the
+ "bouquet," the aroma, is gone. The sun, the soil, the air, and even the
+ spring water, seem to have something to do with it. Just what, nobody
+ knows. Wit and humor are elusive,&mdash;they are unsubstantial. On the
+ other hand, the Georgia watermelon is something solid. It may be handled
+ and felt. It may be "thumped" and "plugged" and tested. Those who know
+ what a watermelon is and should be, know that there is none to compare
+ with the melons that are grown in Georgia, no matter what the variety. The
+ same may be said of the wit and humor that belong to Georgia. An old man&mdash;Uncle
+ Tom Norris he was called, on account of his gray hairs&mdash;was once
+ heard to say (speaking professionally), "Let me clap a drop of the
+ low-wines to my tongue, and I'll tell you what branch the fire was kindled
+ on." He was a distiller, and knew his business. One need not be an expert
+ to say the same of Georgia humor. It is almost possible to tell the very
+ militia district in which it originated. It carries not only the flavor,
+ but the color.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For a hundred years Georgia has remained the most democratic part of the
+ country. The sons of the richest men were put in the fields to work side
+ by side with the negroes, and were thus taught to understand the
+ importance of individual effort that leads to personal independence. It
+ thus happened that there was a cordial, and even an affectionate,
+ understanding between the slaves and their owners, that perhaps had no
+ parallel elsewhere. The poorer whites had no reason to hold their heads
+ down because they had to work for their living. The richest slave owners
+ did not feel themselves above those who had few negroes or none. When a
+ man called his neighbor "Colonel," or "Judge," it was to show his respect,
+ nothing more. For the rest, the humblest held their heads as high as the
+ richest, and were as quick, perhaps quicker, in a quarrel.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Virginians and North Carolinians who settled in the Broad River region
+ intermarried, and spread out over middle Georgia. Those who were not akin
+ were bound to each other by ties of long acquaintanceship; but the
+ homogeneousness of the people, complete and thorough as it was, was not
+ marked by any monotony. On the contrary, character and individuality ran
+ riot, appearing in such strange and attractive shapes as to puzzle and
+ bewilder even those who were familiar with the queer manifestations. Every
+ settlement had its peculiarities, and every neighborhood boasted of its
+ humorist,&mdash;its clown, whose pranks and jests were limited by no
+ license. Out of this has grown a literature which, in some of its
+ characteristics, is not matched elsewhere on the globe; but that which has
+ been preserved by printing is not comparable, either in volume or merit,
+ with the great body of humor that has perished because of the lack of some
+ one industrious enough to chronicle it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ One of the most perfect types of the Georgia humorist was the late John M.
+ Dooly. Judge Dooly was a remarkable man in other respects, but it is his
+ wonderful fund of humor that has made his name famous in Georgia and
+ throughout the country. It has been told in these pages how Colonel John
+ Dooly was dragged from his bed by the Tories and murdered. This Colonel
+ Dooly was the father of John M., who was hid under the bed when the Tories
+ dragged his father out and murdered him. It might be supposed that such an
+ event would have a tendency to give a boy a very serious view of life.
+ Judge Dooly's views were no doubt serious enough; but they were
+ overwhelmed and overpowered by a temperament which found cause for
+ laughter in almost every person and passing event, and was the cause of
+ innocent mirth in others.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Judge Dooly was born in what he called the "Dark Corner" of Lincoln
+ County, which had not then been cut off from Wilkes. After the murder of
+ his father, the family was left in poverty. When he went to Washington,
+ the county seat of Wilkes County, to read law with Mr. Matthews, the
+ clothes he wore were in such a condition that he was compelled to confine
+ himself to the office in the daytime. He was very poor and very bright.
+ Old people who knew him when a boy, described him to Judge Garnett Andrews
+ as "a sallow, piney-woods-looking lad." "Piney-woods people" was the local
+ name for the tackies, the clay eaters, the no-accounts, that had settled
+ about on the poorer lands in that section of Georgia, and given themselves
+ over to thriftlessness for good and all. But young Dooly had that within
+ him which made him superior to the conditions and limitations of poverty.
+ Apart from his remarkable gift of humor, he had a native brilliancy of
+ mind that gave him an easy mastery over the principles of law that he
+ found in the books. He was admitted to the bar in 1798, and was
+ immediately successful as a lawyer. His education had been limited to that
+ which he found in the "old field schools," and in that day they were not
+ of the best; but such a mind as his needed only the rudiments, the rest
+ came as by instinct.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0036" id="linkimage-0036">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figleft" style="width: 22%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/250.jpg" alt="Judge Dooly 250 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ Judge Dooly was not a student while practicing at the bar. He had
+ thoroughly mastered the principles, the groundwork, of the law; and his
+ mind, as logical as it was brilliant, fitted these principles to every
+ case he had charge of. His love of humor, and his fondness for the society
+ of those who preferred fun and frolic, placed many temptations in his way,
+ and some of these he did not always resist; but the faults he had were the
+ faults of the time in which he lived, the faults of the society in which
+ he was brought up and by which he was surrounded. Judge Dooly has been
+ described by a contemporary as having a large head, with a bold, high
+ forehead, heavy eyebrows, prominent nose, a small compressed mouth, and
+ large, vivid, sparkling eyes, which, when the spirit of humor had
+ possession of him, illuminated his countenance as if an electric battery
+ were in play.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On one occasion, Judge Dooly had been challenged by Judge Tait,&mdash;the
+ same Judge Tait who had made himself so obnoxious to General John Clarke.
+ Judge Tait had a wooden leg; and Judge Dooly, in replying to the
+ challenge, referred to this fact, and said he did not think they could
+ fight on equal terms. He hoped his refusal would not be interpreted as a
+ reflection on the misfortunes of Judge Tait. This reply made Judge Tait
+ more indignant than ever. He wrote a severe reply, suggesting to Judge
+ Dooly that his refusal to fight was the result of cowardice rather than a
+ desire not to shed the blood of an unfortunate cripple. In answer to this
+ insinuation, Judge Dooly declared boldly that he was ready to fight his
+ adversary on anything like equal terms. He announced that he would meet
+ Judge Tait anywhere, on any day, and exchange a shot with him, provided he
+ (Judge Dooly) was allowed to stand on the field of honor with one leg in a
+ bee-gum! The bee-gums of that day were made of sections of hollow trees.
+ Naturally this remarkable proposition made Judge Tait madder than ever,
+ and he wrote to Judge Dooly that he intended to publish him as a coward.
+ Judge Dooly calmly informed Judge Tait by letter that he had no sort of
+ objection to the publication, provided it was at Tait's expense. He
+ declared, that, for his part, he would rather fill a dozen newspapers than
+ one coffin. These unexpected strokes of humor disarmed the anger of Judge
+ Tait, and set the whole State in a roar. They did more: they cleared the
+ political atmosphere, and took the edge off of party rancor, which was at
+ that time very fierce and keen.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Once, when dining at a public table, Dooly said something or did something
+ to irritate Major Freeman Walker. The latter, remarking that he had borne
+ with the liberties taken by Judge Dooly quite long enough, said he
+ proposed to resent them then and there. The attack on his feelings had
+ been made in public, and he proposed to resent it in public. Seizing a
+ chair, he advanced on Judge Dooly. The judge seized a carving knife, and
+ braced himself for defense. Several gentlemen caught hold of the judge to
+ prevent him from using the knife, while only one held Major Walker.
+ Surveying the scene, Judge Dooly calmly remarked, "Gentlemen, one of you
+ will be sufficient to prevent me from doing any mischief. The rest of you
+ had better hold Walker." The explosion that this remark created put even
+ Major Walker in good humor, and he and the judge settled their differences
+ in the most amiable and rational manner.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the Legislature passed severe laws against gaming, Judge Dooly
+ enforced them rigidly. Some of the gamblers were brought to trial and
+ fined, and others were only saved from arrest by the fact that they kept
+ out of the way when court was in session.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But one night in Washington, Wilkes County, after the judge had been
+ holding court all the week and had closed the term, he went to his room in
+ the hotel and made all preparations to retire. He had barely settled
+ himself in bed, when he heard a noise in an adjoining room, and soon
+ discovered that a game of faro was going on. The noise disturbed him so,
+ that he dressed himself, went to the room, and told the players, that,
+ having tried all legal methods to break them up, and failed, he was now
+ determined to try another plan. He thereupon seated himself at the table,
+ and before the night was spent broke the bank. He then told the gamblers
+ to clear out, and be more careful in future how they interfered with the
+ court.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Once when sitting up late at night, trying a very complicated case, the
+ sheriff voluntarily placed on the bench beside the judge a small pitcher
+ half filled with toddy. When he had finished the toddy, the judge called
+ to the officer, "Mr. Sheriff, fetch in some more water out of the same
+ spring." A murder case was once tried before him. The point in the case
+ was whether the prisoner had shot in self-defense. There was a good deal
+ said by the lawyers about the right to shoot. The jury, intending to
+ justify the prisoner, brought in this verdict: "The prisoner has a right
+ to shoot." When this verdict was read to the court, the judge held up his
+ hands in pretended alarm, and cried out, "Mr. Sheriff, don't let him shoot
+ this way!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A story is told of Judge Dooly and Tom Peter Carnes, another rare
+ humorist, that fairly illustrates the statement made in the beginning of
+ this chapter in regard to the plain and democratic character of the people
+ who settled Middle Georgia. Dooly and his friend Carnes were traveling to
+ court, having gone without breakfast in order to be up and on their way at
+ an early hour. At last they reached the place where they were to get
+ breakfast, and called for it with some show of impatience. The lady of the
+ house, however, was in no hurry. She said that they should have breakfast
+ the moment Charles came. So she called for Charles, blew the horn for
+ Charles, and finally sent for Charles. When Charles put in an appearance,
+ the two travelers found that he was a big negro, so black and fat that he
+ fairly glistened when the sun shone on him. Naturally Dooly and Carnes
+ were surprised. They were still more surprised when the negro's mistress
+ said in a coaxing tone, "Now, Charles, I do wish you would sit down and
+ let the gentlemen eat, as they are in a hurry to go to court." Charles
+ didn't like so much company; but he finally sat down to the table, on
+ which there was a big bowl of clabber, three "hunks" of corn bread, and
+ three pewter spoons. "Now, Charles," said the woman, "do eat, and then the
+ gentlemen will begin." Making the best of the situation, and somewhat
+ enjoying the humor of it, Dooly and Carnes sat down at the table and began
+ to eat. Carnes shook his big spoon at the negro, and cried out, "Now,
+ Charles, you must spoony on your own side;" and he kept on warning him,
+ "Spoony on your own side, Charles, spoony on your own side." The two
+ lawyers ate until Charles's spoon began to make raids on their side of the
+ bowl, and then they abandoned the feast to him and went on their way.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A landlord of a hotel, having heard some of the lawyers, among them Judge
+ Dooly, bragging about the toothsomeness of a baked pig they had tasted,
+ probably at Milledgeville during the session of the Legislature, concluded
+ that he would surprise and please them by having something in that line
+ himself.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He was either ignorant or ill-advised; for, instead of baking a suckling
+ pig, he roasted a half-grown pig, stuffed him, put an apple in his mouth,
+ and stood him upon his stumps in a dish. In those days the seat of honor
+ at the head of the hotel table was reserved for the judge of the court At
+ the head of the table Mr. Pig was placed, facing Judge Dooly's seat. The
+ judge and the lawyers came in, sat down, and ate dinner in comparative
+ silence. They were overawed by Mr. Pig. Though the carving knife lay
+ handy, and the landlord and his wife were watching with impatience and
+ uneasiness to see what the lawyers would say when they had tasted this
+ particular roast pig, no one dared to touch it. At supper Mr. Pig was
+ still standing defiantly in his place. He presided at every meal during
+ the day following. On the morning of the second day, when Judge Dooly came
+ to the table, Mr. Pig was in his old position. Thereupon the judge bowed
+ to him gravely. "Good-morning, sir!" he said. "I am afraid you have lost
+ your appetite, seeing you have not eaten that apple yet. I presume you are
+ tired attending court.&mdash;Mr. Sheriff, you may discharge him on his own
+ recognizance, until court in course, seeing we shall have no further use
+ for him at this session, and return him the thanks of the court for his
+ prompt and faithful attendance."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0037" id="linkimage-0037">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figright" style="width:34%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/255.jpg" alt="The Roast Pig 255 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ Judge Dooly was a member of the Clarke party; but on one occasion, when he
+ was a candidate for reëlection to the judgeship of the northern circuit,
+ some of the Clarke men declared that Governor Troup's warlike message was
+ an evidence that he was mad. Judge Dooly made the comment, "If he is mad,
+ I wish the same mad dog that bit him would bite me." This happy remark
+ came to the ears of the Troup men in the Legislature, and it so pleased
+ them that they put an end to all opposition to the judge in the election.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Judge Dooly was one of the most charitable of men. He once refused to give
+ alms to an unfortunate woman in Savannah, and the refusal haunted him all
+ his life He declared that it taught him never to let Satan cheat him out
+ of another opportunity to help the unfortunate; that he had determined to
+ err on the safe side ever after.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Just before he died, a friend called to ask after his condition. His reply
+ was that he had a bad cold without any cough to suit it. And so, humor
+ bubbling from his lips to the last, there passed away, on the 26th of May,
+ 1827, the rarest humorist that Georgia, the especial mother of humorists,
+ has ever produced. Judge Dooly had a humor that was as illuminating as it
+ was enlivening. It stirred to laughter or it moved to tears, according as
+ this wonderful man chose to direct it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A great deal of the humor that originated in Georgia has been printed in
+ books. We find it in Judge Long-street's "Georgia Scenes," in Major
+ Jones's "Travels," in Colonel Richard Malcolm Johnston's "Stories of
+ Georgia Life," and in other volumes that have attracted public attention.
+ But the best of it has been lost. It originated when the lawyers were
+ riding about on horseback or in buggies from court to court, and tradition
+ has only preserved a small part of it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ SLAVERY AND SECESSION.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ The dispute over slavery, which had been going on for many years, grew
+ furious in 1850; and its fury increased until, in 1860-61, it culminated
+ in the secession of the Southern States from the Union. Some of those who
+ have written the history of the secession movement contend that slavery
+ had little or nothing to do with the matter; that the South seceded
+ because the North had refused to grant her people their rights guaranteed
+ under the Constitution. This is true as far as it goes; but the fact
+ remains, that secession and the war grew out of the efforts of the
+ abolitionists of the North, and those who sympathized with them, to keep
+ slavery out of the Territories, and to prevent the new States then forming
+ from becoming slave States. There is no doubt that these efforts were
+ illegal and unconstitutional; and yet, in the minds of those who made
+ them, constitutionality was not a sufficient excuse for slavery, which,
+ whatever might be its political status, was morally wrong: that is to say,
+ they believed that such a wrong as slavery could not be justified by paper
+ constitutions and the like. Some of the more extreme abolitionists of the
+ North were just as ready to secede from the Union that recognized slavery
+ as the Southerners were to break up a Union whose constitutional
+ guaranties meant nothing.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It must be borne in mind that the antislavery movement began in the South.
+ While slavery was in full blast both North and South, Thomas Jefferson,
+ the greatest political leader the South has ever produced, was at the head
+ of an emancipation movement, and in all parts of the South there were men
+ whose minds revolted at the possibilities that swarmed about human
+ slavery. Georgia was the only one of the Original Thirteen Colonies in
+ which slavery was prohibited, and we have seen how this prohibition was
+ repealed at the demand of the planters. Seven Northern States, finding
+ slavery unprofitable, abolished the system, and a majority of the slaves
+ were sold to the Southern States. But the emancipation movement went on in
+ the South. There were more than fifty thousand free negroes in Virginia in
+ 1856, and there were a great many in Georgia. A number of planters in
+ Georgia, the most prominent among them being Alfred Cuthbert, emancipated
+ their slaves, and arranged to send them to Liberia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Nevertheless the invention of the cotton gin did more to strengthen the
+ cause of slavery than all other events combined. It became more profitable
+ than ever to own slaves; and in this way, and on this account, all the
+ cotton-growing States became interested in the system. They had the excuse
+ not only that slavery was profitable, but that self-interest combined with
+ feelings of humanity to make it a patriarchal institution. And such, in
+ fact, it was. It is to the glory of the American character and name, that
+ never before in the history of the world was human slavery marked by such
+ mildness, such humanity, as that which characterized it in the United
+ States.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But all such considerations as these, as well as the moral objections to
+ slavery of any sort, humane or cruel, were lost sight of in the great
+ controversy that grew so furious in 1850. In that controversy some of
+ Georgia's ablest men took part,&mdash;men who were famous as statesmen all
+ over the country. There were Alexander H. Stephens, who afterwards became
+ the Vice-President of the Confederacy; Robert Toombs, whose fiery and
+ impetuous character and wonderful eloquence made him a man of mark; Howell
+ Cobb, who was speaker of the House of Representatives; Herschel V.
+ Johnson, who was a candidate for Vice-President on the ticket with Stephen
+ A. Douglas in 1860; Benjamin H. Hill, who was just then coming into
+ prominence; and Joseph E. Brown, whose influence on the political history
+ of the State has been more marked than that of any other individual.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The controversy growing out of the slavery question became so warm that it
+ led to the breaking-up of parties in 1850. Stephens and Toombs, who had
+ been Whigs, united with Howell Cobb, who was a Democrat. Other Southern
+ Whigs united under the name of the American party. At the North the Whigs
+ either joined the Republican party or united with the American party. The
+ spirit of disunion was rampant in all parts of the South. In Georgia the
+ Legislature had called a State convention, and a great effort was made by
+ some of the politicians to commit the State to secession. Both Toombs and
+ Stephens were strong Union men, and they opposed the spirit and purpose of
+ the call for the convention. The speeches that Toombs had made in Congress
+ were garbled by the newspapers, and he was made to appear as favoring
+ immediate secession. He made short work of that scheme, however. He
+ returned to Georgia in the fall of 1850, and immediately began one of the
+ most extraordinary campaigns that has ever taken place in the State. He
+ was in the prime of life. His fiery energy, his boldness, his
+ independence, and his dauntless courage, were in full flower. He took
+ issue with what seemed to be the unanimous sentiment of the State. He
+ declared that the call for the convention had dishonored the State. He
+ sent out a ringing address to the people, urging the South to stand by the
+ Constitution and the laws in good faith.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ By the time the convention was held, the efforts of Toombs, supplemented
+ by those of Stephens and other conservative men, had turned the tide of
+ disunion. Whigs united with Democrats. When the returns of the election
+ were made known, it was found that a large majority of the members were
+ for the Union. "With no memory of past differences," said Toombs,
+ "careless of the future, I am ready to unite with any portion or all of my
+ countrymen in defense of the integrity of the Republic." So it was that
+ the convention met, and adopted what is known in our political history as
+ "The Georgia Platform." This platform said that Georgia held the American
+ Union secondary in importance to the rights and principles it was bound to
+ perpetuate; that, as the Thirteen Colonies found union impossible without
+ compromise, the thirty-one of that day would yield somewhat in the
+ conflict of opinion and policy, to preserve the Union; that Georgia had
+ maturely considered the action of Congress in adopting the compromise
+ measures, and, while she did not wholly approve that action, would abide
+ by it as a permanent adjustment of this sectional controversy; that the
+ State would in future resist, even to the disruption of the Union, any act
+ prohibiting slavery in the Territories, or a refusal to admit a slave
+ State into the Union.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Thus the Union was saved in 1850 by the very man who had been charged with
+ trying to break it up. The eyes of the whole South were turned to Georgia
+ during that campaign; and when the people, under the leadership of Toombs,
+ Stephens, and Howell Cobb, voted to save the Union, the tide of disunion
+ was turned everywhere. The Georgia platform was made the platform of the
+ constitutional Union party in the Southern States. In Mississippi, Henry
+ S. Foote, the Union candidate, defeated Jefferson Davis for governor. The
+ action of Georgia strengthened the Union sentiment in all parts of the
+ country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ For a while the situation was secure and satisfactory; but, in the nature
+ of things, this could not last. The politicians were busy while the people
+ were asleep. The Know-nothing party sprang up in a night, and divided the
+ people again; and in Congress the slavery discussion was renewed with
+ extreme bitterness over the bills to admit the Territories of Kansas and
+ Nebraska as States. This controversy was even more exciting than that
+ which resulted in the Compromise Laws of 1850. Following close upon this
+ agitation came John Brown's raid into Virginia, and his attack on Harpers
+ Ferry. In ordinary times this raid would have been regarded with contempt
+ by the Southern people. It was a ridiculous affair,&mdash;the act of a man
+ who had worked himself up into a frenzy of folly. If the people themselves
+ had not been influenced by passion cunningly played on by the smaller
+ politicians in both sections, poor old John Brown would not have been
+ regarded as a murderer by the South nor as a martyr by the North. He would
+ have been an object of pity to the sensible men of both sections.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the state of public opinion was such at that time, that this
+ ridiculous venture of a crazy old man was a tremendous shock to the South.
+ It contributed more largely than any other event to alarm the people of
+ this section, and to turn their minds to secession as a relief from, and a
+ remedy for, such attacks upon the peace and good order of society. It was
+ a great stimulant to those who had long been in favor of disunion, as well
+ as to those at the North who were ready to get rid of slavery by violence.
+ Following this raid, public opinion both North and South became so
+ violently agitated, that the voices of conservative men could not be heard
+ above the storm. It was the hour of the agitator and the extremist, and
+ they made the most of it. The Democratic Convention, to nominate a
+ candidate for President and Vice-President, met in Charleston on the 23d
+ of April, 1860, and remained in session until the second day of May. The
+ confused state of public opinion was shown by the turbulent division in
+ that convention.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At a moment when the wise men of the Democratic party, or of any party,
+ ought to have taken hold of affairs and made their influence felt, they
+ seemed to be unequal to the occasion. The members of the convention could
+ not agree, and the body adjourned to meet in Baltimore. But the division
+ continued and grew wider. The differences could not be settled. One
+ faction nominated Douglas and Johnson, and the other nominated
+ Breckinridge and Lane. The result was the election of Lincoln and Hamlin
+ as the candidates of the Republican party.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0038" id="linkimage-0038">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/264.jpg" alt="Georgia Politics 264 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ In Georgia three of the ablest men still stood for the Union,&mdash;Alexander
+ H. Stephens, Herschel V. Johnson, and Benjamin H. Hill. But they were
+ unable to stem the tide. The vote of the State for members of the
+ convention that passed the ordinance of secession showed a majority of
+ only thirteen thousand for disunion; but Toombs, Thomas R. R. Cobb, Howell
+ Cobb, and others seized the advantage that events gave them, and, in a
+ whirlwind of passion, swept aside all the arguments and appeals of the
+ more conservative men. But, of all those who were in favor of secession,
+ Toombs was at that time the most powerful and influential. He so managed
+ matters in Congress as to make the secession of Georgia follow the
+ inevitable failure of measures that he proposed in that body.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ With the people of the South, and indeed with the people of the whole
+ country, divided between three parties, the election of a Republican
+ candidate was a foregone conclusion. Following this came secession, with
+ all the terrible disasters of a war in which the South could not have
+ hoped to succeed if reason and common sense had ruled. If the South had
+ fought for her constitutional rights in the Union and under the old flag,
+ the result might have been different. She would have had the active
+ sympathy and support of that large and influential body of Northern men
+ who were sincerely anxious to see the terms of the Constitution faithfully
+ carried out. But disunion was more than these constitutional Democrats
+ could stand. Daniel Webster had solidified their love for the Union, and
+ no consideration of party could affect it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The course of the South, considering all that was involved, should have
+ been conservative; but it was not. It is perfectly well known now that
+ Abraham Lincoln was willing to sacrifice the abolition party on the altar
+ of the Union. He was prompt to announce his policy in this respect. But
+ secession came, and with it came the doom of slavery. That all was ordered
+ by Providence, it would be foolish to deny; and yet it is impossible not
+ to regret the great sacrifice of blood and treasure that was demanded by
+ the unhappy war that followed secession.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ THE FARMER BOY OF GADDISTOWN.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ In 1857, when Bob Toombs was looking after his large landed possessions in
+ Texas, and bringing the squatters to terms, he received a letter from one
+ of his political friends, announcing that the Democratic State Convention
+ had adjourned after nominating Joseph E. Brown as a candidate for
+ governor. Toombs was traveling with a party of friends, and to one of them
+ he read the letter. Then in a dazed way he asked, "Who is Joe Brown?" His
+ friend knew no more about Joe Brown than Senator Toombs did, and all the
+ way home the travelers were puzzling themselves with the question, "Who is
+ Joe Brown?" They were destined to find out; for the convention that
+ nominated Joe Brown for governor brought to the front in Georgia politics
+ one of the most remarkable men the State has ever known.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Shortly after his return to Georgia from Texas, Toombs was compelled to
+ meet Joe Brown to consult in regard to the details of the campaign in
+ which both were interested. It must have been an interesting meeting. It
+ was as if Prince Charlie and Cromwell had met to arrange a campaign. It
+ was a meeting between Puritan and Cavalier. Toombs was full-blooded,
+ hotheaded, impetuous, imperious. Joe Brown was pale, angular, awkward,
+ cold, and determined. It was as if in a new land the old issues had been
+ buried. Toombs was a man of the people, but in his own way, and it was a
+ princely and a dashing way. Brown was a man of the people, but in the
+ people's way; and it was a cold, calculating, determined, and common-sense
+ way. Howell Cobb had written to Toombs to go to the aid of Brown,
+ expressing a fear that the nominee, being a new and an untried man, would
+ not be able to hold his own against Ben Hill, who was the candidate of the
+ American or Know-nothing party for governor. So the dashing and gallant
+ senator sought out the new and unknown Democratic candidate for governor,
+ and had a conference with him. Toombs found the young man strangely cold
+ and placid, and yet full of the determination that martyrs are made of. He
+ found that Joe Brown had already mapped out and arranged the plans for his
+ campaign, and the more experienced politicians saw nothing to change in
+ them. They were marked by shrewdness and sagacity, and covered every
+ detail of party organization. This was satisfactory; but how could the
+ young man sustain himself on the stump against such a speaker as Ben Hill,
+ who, although a young man, was a speaker of great force and power? Toombs
+ thought it would be better to meet Hill himself, and he started out with
+ that purpose; but when he heard Joe Brown make two or three speeches, and
+ saw the tremendous effect he produced on the minds of the audiences that
+ assembled to hear him, the older campaigner went home, satisfied that
+ young Brown needed no instruction and no coaching in the difficult art of
+ influencing the people and winning their votes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The personal history and career of Joseph E. Brown should be studied by
+ every ambitious boy in the land, especially by those who imagine they
+ cannot succeed because they lack opportunities that money and friends
+ would obtain for them. From 1857 to the close of the war, and after, the
+ political history of Joe Brown is the history of the State; but that
+ history, attractive as it is, is not so interesting as his struggle to
+ make a name for himself in the world. Joseph E. Brown was born in Pickens
+ County, South Carolina, and was the eldest of eleven children. His family
+ was English. His grandfather fought manfully against the British and
+ Tories in the Revolutionary War. His father fought under Andrew Jackson
+ during the War of 1812, and was at the battle of New Orleans on the 8th of
+ January, 1815.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Joe Brown was born in 1821. His parents were not so well off as to be able
+ to send the lad continuously to school as he grew up. He had to "take his
+ chances." He was compelled to work in the fields in season, and was
+ permitted to go to school only when there was nothing for him to do on the
+ little farm. He did farm labor from the time he was eight until he reached
+ the age of nineteen, and the schooling he had received was only of the
+ most haphazard kind.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Before he was grown, his father moved from South Carolina into Georgia,
+ settling in Union County, near a little valley named Gaddistown. Up to
+ this time, though young Brown was nineteen years of age, he had learned
+ nothing but reading, writing, and arithmetic, and very little of these. He
+ was now compelled to work harder than ever. Settling in a new country, and
+ on new land that had to be cleared before it would yield a crop, the
+ Browns had as much as they could do to get the farm in order in time for
+ the planting season; and in this severe work, Joseph E., being the eldest
+ son, was the chief reliance of the family. He had a pair of small steers
+ with which he plowed; and when he wasn't plowing on the farm, he was
+ hauling wood and butter and vegetables to the small market at Dahlonega,
+ and taking back in truck and trade some necessary article for the family.
+ In this way he learned the lessons of patience, self-control, and tireless
+ industry that all boys ought to learn, because they are not only the basis
+ of content and happiness, but of all success.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When Joe Brown was twenty years old, his father allowed him to seek an
+ education. All he could do for the industrious and ambitious boy was to
+ give him his blessing and the yoke of steers with which he had been
+ plowing. With these young Brown returned to South Carolina and entered an
+ academy in Anderson district He gave the steers for eight months' board,
+ and went into debt for the tuition fee. In the fall of 1841 he returned to
+ Georgia and taught school for three months, and with the money he received
+ for this he paid for the schooling he had gone in debt for. He returned to
+ the Carolina academy in 1842, and went into debt not only for his
+ schooling, but for his board. His patience and his untiring industry
+ enabled him to make such rapid progress that within two years he had
+ fitted himself to enter an advanced class in college. But the lack of
+ means prevented him from entering college. Instead he returned to Georgia
+ and opened a school at Canton, Cherokee County. He opened this school with
+ six pupils, and the number rapidly increased to sixty, so that he was able
+ in a short time to settle the debts he had made in Carolina. He taught
+ school all day, and at night and on Saturdays devoted himself to the study
+ of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1845, and was at once successful. He
+ made no pretense of oratory; but his simple and unpretending style, his
+ homely and direct way of putting a case, and his faculty of applying the
+ test of common sense to all questions, were as successful with juries as
+ they afterwards proved to be with the people; and before the people he was
+ irresistible.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0039" id="linkimage-0039">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/270.jpg" alt="Joe Brown and his Steers 270 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ But he was not yet through with his studies. A friend advanced him the
+ money necessary to enter the Law School of Yale; and there, from October,
+ 1845, to June, 1846, when he graduated, he took the lead in all his
+ classes, and had time to attend lectures in other departments of the
+ college. He returned home, began active practice, and was soon prosperous.
+ He became a State senator, and was afterwards made a judge of the superior
+ courts.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the Democratic Convention met in Milledgeville in 1857, for the
+ purpose of nominating a candidate for governor, it had so many popular
+ candidates to choose from, and these candidates had so many and such
+ strong friends, that the members found it impossible to agree on a man. A
+ great many ballots were taken, and there was a good deal of "log-rolling"
+ and "buttonholing," as the politicians call it, on behalf of the various
+ candidates by their special friends. But all this did no good. There was a
+ deadlock. No one of the candidates was able to obtain a two-thirds
+ majority, which, according to Democratic law, was the number necessary to
+ a nomination. Twenty-one ballots had been taken with no result, and the
+ convention had been in session three days. Finally it was decided to
+ appoint a special committee made up of three delegates from each
+ congressional district. It was the duty of this committee to name a
+ candidate on whom the convention could agree. When this committee retired,
+ it was proposed that a ballot be taken, each committeeman writing the name
+ of the candidate of his choice on a slip of paper, and depositing the slip
+ in a hat. This was done; but before the ballots were counted, Judge Linton
+ Stephens, a brother of Alexander H., stated that such a formality was not
+ necessary. He thereupon moved that Judge Joseph E. Brown of Cherokee be
+ selected as the compromise man, and that his name be reported to the
+ convention. This was agreed to unanimously, and Joseph E. Brown was
+ nominated; and yet, if the written ballots had been counted, it would have
+ been found that Alfred H. Colquitt, who afterwards became so distinguished
+ in Georgia, had been nominated by the committee. He received a majority of
+ one of the written ballots when they were afterwards counted through
+ curiosity. Twenty-three years later, Colquitt, who was then governor, made
+ Joseph E. Brown a United States senator under circumstances that aroused
+ strong opposition, and immediately afterwards Brown aided Colquitt to a
+ reelection in one of the bitterest contests the State has ever witnessed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The unexpected nomination of Brown by the convention of 1857 introduced
+ into State politics the most potent element that it had ever known. The
+ nomination, surprising as it was, was not half so surprising as some of
+ the results that have followed it. At the moment the convention nominated
+ him, Joe Brown was tying wheat in one of his fields near Canton, in
+ Cherokee County. He was then judge of the Blue Ridge Circuit; and on the
+ day that his name was placed before the Democratic Convention at
+ Milledgeville, he had returned home. After dinner he went out into his
+ farm to see how his men were getting on. He had four men cutting wheat
+ with cradles, and he found the binders very much behind. About half-past
+ two o'clock he pulled off his coat and ordered the binders to keep up with
+ him. It was on the 15th of June, 1857. The weather was very warm, but he
+ kept at work all the afternoon. About sundown he went home, and was
+ preparing to bathe, when a neighbor, who had been to Marietta and heard
+ the news, rode to his house and told him about the nomination, which had
+ been made at three o'clock that afternoon. Telling about the incident
+ afterwards, Joe Brown, with a twinkle in his eye, said that he had heard
+ that a good many men were anxious to buy that wheat field, so as to have
+ an opportunity to tie wheat in it while a nominating convention was in
+ session.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The great majority of the people of the State were as much puzzled about
+ Joe Brown as Toombs was. Either they had not heard of him before, or they
+ had forgotten him. In those days a man who made a reputation in the
+ Cherokee country was not known to the rest of the State for a long time.
+ The means of communication were slow and uncertain. But the whole State
+ found him out just as Toombs did. He was prompt to begin the campaign.
+ Toombs had already left the Whig party, and was acting with the Democrats.
+ Stephens had left the Whigs, but had not become a Democrat. He was an
+ Independent. He was, as he expressed it, "toting his own skillet." Ben
+ Hill was Joe Brown's opponent, and these two met in debate before the
+ people on two or three occasions. It was thought at first that Mr. Hill
+ had the advantage of the tall and ungainly candidate from Cherokee, but
+ the end of the contest showed that the advantage was all the other way.
+ Mr. Hill was a man of very marked ability. He was one of the few good
+ speakers who could write well, and one of the few fine writers who could
+ speak well. He had courage, he had wit, he had learning, he had eloquence;
+ he had everything, in fact, to attract popular approval and entice a
+ popular following; but somehow, and until the very latest years of his
+ life, he fell far short of being a popular idol. He was showy and
+ effective before a mixed crowd, he never failed to attract applause, and
+ it was supposed that Brown was making a losing campaign; but the campaign
+ was going just the other way. Hill, in the course of his discussion, said
+ hundreds of things that the people applauded; while Brown said hundreds of
+ things that the people remembered, and carried home with them, and thought
+ over. Joe Brown was not only a man of the people, but a man of the country
+ people; and he pleased the city people who had formerly lived in the
+ country. The result of the campaign was that Know-nothingism was buried
+ out of sight in Georgia. Joe Brown was elected by more than ten thousand
+ majority, and the Democratic majority in the Legislature was overwhelming.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Although he was only thirty-six years old when he became governor, the
+ people began to call him "Old Judg<i>ment</i>." This was due no less to
+ his peculiar gift of hard common sense than to his peculiar pronunciation.
+ His speech and his ways were "countrified," and they remained so all the
+ days of his life. His voice was not musical, and he had a peculiar
+ drawling intonation, which, if it had been a little more nasal, would have
+ been an exact reproduction of the tone and manner of the Down-east Yankee.
+ He shared these peculiarities with hundreds of the descendants of the
+ Puritans who settled in the mountains of East Tennessee and North Georgia.
+ He had no wish for the luxuries of life; and though he lived comfortably,
+ he never, even when by close economy he had accumulated one of the largest
+ fortunes in Georgia, cared to live finely. He was a plain man at first and
+ a plain man at last, always temperate, industrious, and economical.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ His term of office in the governor's chair was for two years, and at the
+ end of that time he had almost entirely remolded and refashioned his
+ party. He had stamped his own personality and character upon it, and it
+ became in truth and in fact the party of the people,&mdash;the common
+ people. In his management of State affairs he had introduced the plain
+ business methods suggested by common sense; he dispensed with all
+ unnecessary officials; he shook off all the hangers-on; he uprooted all
+ personal schemes: so that when the time came to nominate a man to succeed
+ him, it was found that the people had no other choice. His party thought
+ of no other name.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The year of Joe Brown's second nomination, as we have seen, was the year
+ that witnessed John Brown's ridiculous raid into Virginia. The people of
+ the South, however, thought it was a very serious matter, and the people
+ of Georgia were not different from those of the rest of the South. Some
+ very wise men allowed themselves to be led away by their passions. Even
+ Joe Brown, as Alexander Stephens once said, "tucked his judgment under the
+ bed" for the time being. Back of the indignation created by the John Brown
+ raid was the unconfessed and half-formed fear that the Northern
+ abolitionists would send their agents to the South and organize a negro
+ insurrection. Many of the Southern people remembered the horrors of San
+ Domingo, and there was a vague and an undefined but constant dread that
+ such a rising of the blacks would take place in the South. But there never
+ was any such danger in Georgia. The relations between the slaves and their
+ masters were too friendly and familiar to make such an uprising possible.
+ The abolitionists did send agents to the South to stir the negroes to
+ rebellion, and some of them came to Georgia, but in every instance their
+ mission became known to the whites through the friendliness of the blacks.
+ There was always some negro ready to tell his master's family when the
+ abolition agents made their appearance. Still the people resented to the
+ utmost the spirit that moved certain so-called philanthropists of the
+ North to endeavor to secure the freedom of the negroes by means of the
+ torch and midnight murder.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Consequently in 1859, when Joe Brown was nominated for governor the second
+ time, the people were greatly stirred. Sectional feeling ran high. In that
+ year began the active movement that led to secession and the civil war. If
+ all our statesmen had been as wise as Mr. Stephens and Mr. Hill, war would
+ have been averted. Slavery itself, in the very nature of things, was
+ doomed. It had accomplished its providential mission. It had civilized and
+ christianized millions of savages who had been redeemed from slavery in
+ their own land. It had justified its own ends, and would have passed away
+ in good time, no matter what compromise may have been made.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Stephens and Mr. Hill were opposed to secession. They were for
+ fighting, if there must be a fight, in the Union, and this was the true
+ policy. For a while the people of Georgia were earnestly in favor of this;
+ but the efforts of the abolitionists to stir the negroes to insurrection,
+ and the inflammatory appeals of some of the leading men, led them to
+ oppose a policy which was at once just, wise, and considerate. Even Joseph
+ E. Brown, cool, calculating, placid, and not easily-swayed by emotion,
+ became a disunionist, demonstrating once again that beneath the somber and
+ calm exterior of the Puritan is to be found a nature as combative and as
+ unyielding as that which marks the Cavalier.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Joe Brown was reelected in 1859, and did everything in his power as
+ governor to hasten the event of secession. The National Democratic
+ Convention met in Charleston, and the meeting showed that the differences
+ between the Democrats could not be settled; and it so happened, that,
+ while the South was opposed by the solid and rapidly growing Republican
+ party, the people of the South were divided among themselves. What is most
+ remarkable, the people of the South, after making the election of the
+ Republican candidate certain by dividing among themselves, seemed to be
+ amazed at the result. In some instances county meetings were held in
+ Georgia, and resolutions sent to the Legislature declaring the election of
+ Lincoln and Hamlin "a violation of national comity." Nothing could show
+ more clearly that the minds of the voters were upset.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union, and the event was
+ made the occasion for great rejoicing by the secession element in Georgia.
+ Bonfires were kindled, guns were fired, and people seemed to be wild with
+ enthusiasm. Georgia did not secede until Jan. 19, 1861; but Governor Brown
+ did not wait for that event. He committed the first overt act of the war.
+ He seized Fort Pulaski, on the Savannah, Jan. 3, 1861.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ On the 22d of January, ten cases of muskets belonging to a firm in Macon
+ were seized by the New York police after they had been placed on board a
+ vessel. Governor Brown sent a telegram to Governor Morgan, demanding the
+ release of these arms. Governor Morgan hesitated some time before he made
+ any response. Meanwhile, Governor Brown waited three days, and then
+ ordered the seizure of every ship in the harbor of Savannah belonging to
+ citizens of New York. Two brigs, two barks, and a schooner were seized and
+ held by the State troops. When this seizure was made known, Governor Brown
+ received official notification that the arms had been released. He
+ therefore ordered the release of the vessels. But when the agents of the
+ Macon firm made an effort to get the arms, they were refused. Promptly
+ Governor Brown seized other vessels, and caused them to be advertised for
+ sale.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ This was merely the beginning of those greater events that cast a shadow
+ over the whole country. The farmer boy of Gaddistown was reelected
+ governor in 1861, and continued to hold the office until 1865.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ GEORGIA IN THE WAR.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0040" id="linkimage-0040">
+ <!-- IMG --></a> <br />
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img alt="279 (138K)" src="images/279.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the Southern Confederacy was organized at Montgomery, Ala., there was
+ great enthusiasm all over the South, especially in Georgia; and this
+ feeling kept up until the State had given to the Confederate armies a
+ hundred and twenty thousand soldiers, twenty thousand more than its voting
+ population. By reason of the fame and number of its public men, Georgia
+ had a controlling influence in the organization of the new government.
+ Howell Cobb was president of the convention of the seceded States that met
+ in Montgomery on the fourth day of February, 1861; and it is well known
+ that the convention itself was in favor of making Robert Toombs president
+ of the provisional government that was there formed. Mr. Toombs, however,
+ expressly forbade the use of his name. The Georgia delegates then
+ concluded to support Jefferson Davis of Mississippi for president, and
+ Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia for vice-president.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Only a few men doubted that the South would conquer the North, and among
+ these was Herschel V. Johnson. There was an idea abroad, that one
+ Southerner could whip a dozen Northerners. Nobody knows how this idea got
+ out, nor why the absurdity of it was not plain to all; but the newspapers
+ were full of it, and the speech makers insisted on it so roundly that the
+ people began to believe it. One orator declared that he could take one
+ company of "Southrons," arm them with popguns, and run a regiment of
+ Yankees out of the country. Another stated that he would be willing to
+ drink all the blood that would be shed as the result of secession. It is
+ said that both of these orators were asked for an explanation by their
+ constituents after the war was over. The first said that the reason he
+ didn't run the Yankees out of the country with popguns was because they
+ wouldn't fight that way. The second one, who had promised to drink all the
+ blood, said that exposure in camp had interfered with his digestion, and
+ his appetite wasn't as good as it ought to be.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At this time and afterwards there was an overwhelming sentiment in favor
+ of the Union in some parts of North Georgia. The people of that section
+ had few slaves, and the arguments in favor of the protection of slavery in
+ the Territories did not appeal to them: consequently they were opposed to
+ secession. There was but one thing that prevented serious trouble between
+ these Union men and the State government, and that was the fact that Joe
+ Brown was governor. He knew the North Georgians thoroughly, and he knew
+ precisely how to deal with them. General Harrison W. Riley, a leading
+ citizen of Lumpkin County, declared that he intended to seize the mint at
+ Dahlonega, and hold it for the United States. This threat was telegraphed
+ to Governor Brown by some of the secession leaders in that part of the
+ State, and they appealed to him to send troops to Dahlonega at once, and
+ seize the mint by force. But the governor knew Riley and the people of
+ North Georgia too well to make any show of force. He knew that any such
+ demonstration would excite sympathy for Riley, and inflame the Union
+ sentiment there.. So Governor Brown wrote to some of Riley's friends,
+ telling them what he had heard, and saying that he had known General Riley
+ too long, and had too high an opinion of his good sense and patriotism, to
+ believe the report. At the same time the governor informed the
+ superintendent of the mint that the State of Georgia now held that
+ institution. The superintendent said he was willing to act under the
+ orders of the governor.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At Jasper, the county seat of Pickens County, the feeling of loyalty to
+ the Union was very strong. The delegate from that county to the State
+ convention had refused to sign his name to the ordinance of secession.
+ Soon after the State had seceded, the citizens of Jasper planted a pole,
+ and raised on it a United States flag, and kept it floating there for
+ several weeks in open defiance of the Confederate and State authorities.
+ This was an event to be delicately handled. The slightest mistake would
+ have created a state of feeling in North Georgia that would have given no
+ end of trouble during the whole war. But the Union flag floating in
+ Pickens County irritated the rest of the State; and hundreds of appeals
+ were made to Governor Brown to send troops to Jasper, and have the flag
+ taken down by force. To these appeals he made but one response, and then
+ turned a deaf ear to all criticism. "Let the flag float there," he said.
+ "It floated over our fathers, and we all love the flag now. We have only
+ been compelled to lay it aside by the injustice that has been practiced
+ under its folds. If the people of Pickens desire to hang it out and keep
+ it there, let them do so. I shall send no troops to interfere with it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ While this wise management on the part of Governor Brown did not change
+ the sentiments of the Union men of North Georgia, it prevented any serious
+ outbreak, and kept them soothed and quieted throughout the war. Matters
+ were managed differently in East Tennessee; and the result was, that the
+ Union men of that section went into the business of bushwhacking, and
+ created a great deal of trouble. While Governor Brown exercised authority
+ without regard for precedent, the time and the occasion being without
+ precedent, he was very wise and very prudent in meeting such emergencies
+ as those that arose in North Georgia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ By the time the election for governor came on, Joe Brown had aroused a
+ good deal of opposition. He had had a controversy with the Confederate
+ authorities because the latter had enrolled troops from Georgia without
+ first making a requisition on the governor. He had seized several cargoes
+ of salt which the speculators had been holding for higher prices. There
+ was at that early day, and all during the war, a salt famine in the South.
+ The farmers found it difficult to save their meat, owing to the scarcity
+ of salt. It is a curious fact, that, when the famine was at its height, a
+ pound of salt was worth a pound of silver. Foreseeing this famine, a great
+ many shrewd business men had laid in large stocks of salt, storing it
+ about in large warehouses in different parts of the State. They were about
+ to realize immense fortunes out of the sufferings of the people, when
+ Governor Brown stepped in and seized all the salt the State authorities
+ could lay hands on, and prohibited the shipment of the article out of the
+ State. The Legislature afterwards came to the support of the governor; but
+ if the matter had been discussed in the Legislature in advance of the
+ action of the executive, the speculators would have had timely notice, and
+ the State authorities would have found no salt to seize.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0041" id="linkimage-0041">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figright" style="width:33%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/284.jpg" alt="The Salt Famine 284 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ This salt famine was almost as serious as any result of the war, and it
+ hung over the State until the close of the contest. In thousands of
+ instances the planters who had been prodigal of salt before the war, dug
+ up the dirt floors of their smokehouses, and managed to extract a small
+ supply of the costly article. The Legislature was compelled to organize a
+ salt bureau, and for that purpose half a million dollars was appropriated.
+ The State, in self-defense, took into its own hands the monopoly of
+ manufacturing salt and of distributing it to the people.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The next difficulty with which the people of Georgia had to contend was
+ the Conscription Act. This act passed the Confederate Congress in April,
+ 1862. It had been recommended by Mr. Davis in a special message, and
+ Congress promptly passed it. Nobody in Georgia could understand why such a
+ law had been recommended, or why it had passed. It was the most ruinous
+ blunder of the Confederate Government during the war. If such a law was
+ necessary, it showed that the Confederacy had fallen to pieces. If it was
+ not necessary, its enactment was a stupendous piece of folly; and such it
+ turned out to be. Under the last call for troops for Confederate service,
+ Governor Brown had no difficulty in furnishing eighteen regiments. He
+ could have gone on furnish ing troops as long as there was any fighting
+ material left in the State; but as soon as the Conscript Act went into
+ operation, the ardor of the people sensibly cooled. The foolish law not
+ only affected the people at home, but hurt the army in the field. It was a
+ reflection on the patriotism of the whole Southern population. The law was
+ the occasion of a controversy between Governor Brown and President Davis,
+ in which Brown, in the nature of things, had a decided advantage; for the
+ Conscript Act wiped out the whole theory of State rights, on which the
+ people of the South depended to justify secession. But Georgia did not
+ stand in the way of the law. It was enforced, and the terms of its
+ enforcement did the work of disorganization more thoroughly than the hard
+ times and the actual war were doing it.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In March, 1863, the governor issued a proclamation convening the
+ Legislature in special session to discuss the subject of bread. This was a
+ very important subject at that time. In his message, the governor said
+ that the time had come for the farmers to raise bread instead of cotton.
+ He also laid before the Legislature' the reports of the distribution of
+ the fund of two and a half millions of dollars for the support of the
+ indigent families of soldiers. These reports showed what havoc the war had
+ created among the people of a State which, not much more than two years
+ before, was one of the most prosperous in the country. The fund had been
+ distributed among more than eighty-four thousand people. Of this number,
+ about forty-six thousand were children, twenty-four thousand were
+ kinswomen of poor living soldiers, eight thousand were orphans, four
+ thousand were widows of dead soldiers, and five hundred were soldiers
+ disabled in service. Governor Brown, out of his own barn, gave the people
+ of Cherokee County four thousand dollars' worth of corn. These events show
+ the straits to which the people had been reduced by two years of actual
+ war.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It should be borne in mind, however, that the people had to fight the
+ Union army in front, and the speculators and extortioners in the rear.
+ Governor Brown tried hard to make the lives of this latter class entirely
+ miserable, and he succeeded in a way that delighted the people. Wherever
+ he could get his hands on a speculator or extortioner, he shook him up. He
+ made many seizures, and confiscated the hoards of a great many men who had
+ influence with some of the newspapers; and in this way life in the State
+ was made almost as exciting as the experience of the soldiers at the
+ front.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1863, Governor Brown wanted to retire from office. The strain on his
+ health and strength had been very severe, and he felt that he was breaking
+ down. He wanted to make Toombs, who was then a general in the army, his
+ successor. But Brown's friends insisted that he should make the race. The
+ public opinion of Georgia and of the whole South insisted on it. So he
+ became a candidate for a fourth term. He had two opponents,&mdash;Joshua
+ Hill, who had been a strong Union man; and Timothy Furlow, who was an
+ ardent secessionist and a strong supporter of the Confederate
+ administration; but Governor Brown was elected by a large majority over
+ both candidates.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The war went steadily on, and during the year 1864 Georgia became the
+ battle ground,&mdash;the strategic point. This fact the Union commanders
+ realized very early, and began their movements accordingly. Virginia was
+ merely the gateway to the Confederacy, but Georgia was very near the
+ center of its vitality. This was shown by the fact that when Atlanta fell,
+ and Sherman began his destructive march to the sea, it was known on all
+ sides that the Confederate Government was doomed. This movement, strange
+ to say, was hastened by the Confederate authorities. General Joseph E.
+ Johnston, one of the greatest commanders of the war, was removed at a
+ critical moment, when his well-disciplined army had reached Atlanta. He
+ was ordered from Richmond to turn his army over to the command of General
+ Hood, and within a very few days the fate of the Confederacy had been
+ decided. Hood at once ordered an attack on Sherman's lines. He was
+ repulsed, and then compelled to evacuate the city. General Sherman
+ detached General Thomas from his main army to follow Hood on his march
+ toward the Tennessee, and moved across the State to Savannah. Within a
+ very few months thereafter the war was brought to a close. Colonel I. W.
+ Avery, in his "History of Georgia," says that on the thirty-first day of
+ December, 1864, one dollar in gold was worth forty-nine dollars in
+ Confederate money. The private soldier received eleven dollars of this
+ money for a month's service. He could buy a pound of meat with his month's
+ pay. He could buy a drink of whisky, and have one dollar left over. With
+ four months' pay he could buy a bushel of wheat. General Toombs once
+ humorously declared that a negro pressman worked all day printing money,
+ and then until nine o'clock at night to pay himself off. There was a grain
+ of truth in this humor,&mdash;just enough to picture the situation as by a
+ charcoal sketch.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ A DARING ADVENTURE.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ On the 12th day of April, 1862, the anniversary of the firing on Fort
+ Sumter by the Confederates, a passenger train pulled out of the old car
+ shed in Atlanta. It was a "mixed" train, being composed of three freight
+ cars, a baggage car, and the passenger coaches. The train started from
+ Atlanta at an early hour, arrived at Marietta about daylight, and stopped
+ at Big Shanty, about seven miles north of Marietta, for breakfast. At
+ Marietta, early as the hour was, quite a crowd of passengers were waiting
+ to take the train. This excited no remark. There was a good deal of travel
+ and traffic on the State Road at that time, for it was the key to the
+ Confederacy&mdash;the one artery that connected the army at the front with
+ its source of supplies.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The conductor of the train was Captain William A. Fuller, of Atlanta.
+ Captain Fuller's title was not one of courtesy. He was a captain in the
+ Confederate Army, on detached service. The engineer in charge of the
+ locomotive was Jeff Cain. Mr. Antony Murphy, an employee of the road, was
+ also on the train. At Big Shanty the passengers were allowed twenty
+ minutes for breakfast, but the train men were in the habit of dispatching
+ their meal a little quicker than this, so as to see that everything about
+ the locomotive was shipshape when the conductor tapped the bell. Captain
+ Fuller, sitting at a table near a window, had a full view of the train. He
+ had hardly begun to eat before he saw the locomotive (the now famous
+ "General") and the three freight cars pull out, and heard the gong sound
+ as the cord snapped. He rose instantly and rushed from the breakfast room,
+ followed by Engineer Cain and Antony Murphy. He saw the "General" going at
+ full speed up the road with three freight cars attached. Without
+ hesitation Captain Fuller started after the flying train on foot, followed
+ by Cain and Murphy. Hundreds of soldiers were idling about the station.
+ They had no idea what was taking place. They thought either that the
+ locomotive had been carried up the track to take on or leave a freight
+ car, or that some practical joker was playing a prank. They showed their
+ enjoyment of the situation by laughing and cheering loudly when Captain
+ Fuller, followed by Engineer Cain and Mr. Murphy, started after the
+ "General "on foot.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0042" id="linkimage-0042">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="figleft" style="width:32%;">
+ <img width="100%" src="images/289.jpg" alt="Capture of the Locomotive 289 " />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ The locomotive had been captured, and had the plan of its captors been
+ successful, a paralyzing, perhaps a fatal, blow would have been struck at
+ the Confederacy. The way the capture had come about was this: Early in
+ 1862 the Federal commanders planned an advance on Chattanooga; but the
+ fact that stood in their way was, that at various points along the line of
+ railroad leading from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Confederate troops had been
+ posted: consequently the moment an advance on Chattanooga was made,
+ soldiers and war supplies could be hurried forward to the relief of the
+ city. It was General Mitchell of the Federal army who planned the advance;
+ and it was J. J. Andrews, an active spy in the Union service, who planned
+ a raid by means of which it was intended to burn the bridges on the road
+ north of Marietta, cut the telegraph wires, and thus destroy for a time
+ the lines of transportation and communication between Atlanta and
+ Chattanooga, and make the capture of the last-named point an easy matter.
+ Andrews suggested to General Mitchell that a party of bold men could make
+ their way to a station on the Western and Atlantic Railway (called the
+ State Road because it was owned by the State), capture a locomotive, and
+ then steam towards Chattanooga, burning the bridges and cutting the
+ telegraph lines as they went along. Although there seemed to be small
+ chance for the success of such a daring adventure, General Mitchell gave
+ his consent to it, agreeing to pay Andrews sixty thousand dollars if he
+ succeeded. To aid him, Andrews was allowed to select a number of young men
+ who had already made a reputation in the Federal army for intelligence and
+ bravery.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There were twenty-four men in this small expedition when it started for
+ Chattanooga. They were under the command of Andrews, who was a tall,
+ handsome man with a long black beard. He was cold, impassive, and had the
+ air of one who is born to command. He was bold as a lion, and never once
+ lost his coolness, his firmness, or his decision. He and his men pretended
+ to be Kentuckians who had become disgusted with the Lincoln government and
+ were making their way South, where they might find more congenial company
+ than that of the ardent Union men who were their neighbors at home. This
+ story was plausible on the face of it, for many Southern sympathizers had
+ fled from Tennessee and Kentucky when the Federals began to take
+ possession of those sections.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Andrews and his men tramped southward more than a hundred miles before
+ they reached Chattanooga. Before going into that city, they divided into
+ smaller squads, and all but two succeeded in eluding guards, sentinels,
+ and patrols, and passing into the town. They left Chattanooga on a train
+ bound for Atlanta, buying tickets for Marietta. They reached Marietta in
+ safety, and went to different hotels for the night. They had arranged to
+ meet again at four o'clock the next morning and take the north-bound
+ train. Two of the men were not called by the clerk of the hotel at which
+ they stopped: consequently they overslept, and their companions had to go
+ on without them when the train arrived. They had learned that Big Shanty
+ had no telegraph office, and that it was a breakfast station. At that
+ point Andrews determined to capture the locomotive. It was not long before
+ the brakeman put his head in at the door of the car and yelled out, "Big
+ Shanty! Twenty minutes for breakfast!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Andrews and his men looked out of the windows of the car as the train drew
+ up at the station, and the sight they saw was not calculated to make them
+ feel certain of success. Opposite the station was a field covered with the
+ tents of soldiers, and in and around the station thousands of soldiers
+ were loitering and standing about. When the train stopped, Andrews, the
+ leader, and Knight, an engineer who had come with the party, rose and left
+ the coach on the side opposite the depot, and went to the locomotive,
+ which they found empty. They also saw that the track was clear. Andrews
+ and Knight then walked back until they came to the last of the three box
+ cars. Andrews told his engineer to uncouple the baggage car from the box
+ car, and then wait for him. Knight did as he was told, while Andrews
+ walked leisurely back to the passenger coach, opened the door, and said
+ quietly, "Now is our time, boys! Come on!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The men rose at once and went out of the coach. Knight, as soon as he saw
+ them coming, climbed into the locomotive, cut the bell rope, and stood
+ with his hand on the throttle, waiting for the word. Andrews stood near
+ the locomotive, and motioned with his hand for the men to get into the box
+ cars, the doors of which were slid back. All the men were now in the box
+ cars except Andrews, Knight, and another engineer named Brown, who ran
+ forward and climbed into the locomotive. While this was going on, a
+ sentinel stood within half a dozen yards of the train, but he had no idea
+ what was occurring. Andrews gave the signal to go ahead. Instantly Knight
+ pulled the throttle valve open, and the locomotive started forward with a
+ jerk. It went puffing and snorting out of Big Shanty without let or
+ hindrance.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the train had not gone very far before the speed of the locomotive
+ began to slacken. The fire in the furnace refused to burn, and the steam
+ was low. While the engineer was trying to discover what was wrong, Andrews
+ ordered the men to cut the telegraph wire and tear up a rail from the
+ track. By the time the rail had been torn up and the wire cut, the
+ engineer had discovered that the dampers of the fire box were closed. With
+ these open, the boiler began to make steam again, and the locomotive was
+ soon rattling over the rails once more. It was the intention of Andrews to
+ run the captured train on the time of the regular passenger train, so that
+ he would have only one train to meet and pass before reaching the Resaca
+ River, where he intended to burn the bridge. This done, it would have been
+ an easy matter to burn the bridges over the Chickamauga. This crooked
+ stream winds about the valleys so unexpectedly, and in such curious
+ fashion, that the railroad crosses it eleven times within a few miles.
+ These eleven bridges Andrews intended to burn as he went along, and then
+ he would not fear pursuit. His success seemed to be certain.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The captured locomotive, an old-fashioned machine with a big heavy
+ smokestack, went clanking and clattering along the road, and reeling and
+ rumbling through the towns, dragging after it the three box cars
+ containing the men whom Andrews had brought with him. After passing a
+ station, the locomotive would be stopped and the wire cut. When the train
+ reached Cassville, wood and water were running low, and a stop was made to
+ get a fresh supply. The doors of the box cars were closed, and the men
+ inside could not be seen. The station agent at this place was very
+ inquisitive. He wanted to know why so small and insignificant a freight
+ train was running on the time of the morning passenger train. Andrews
+ promptly told the agent that the train was not a freight, but an express,
+ and that it was carrying three cars of gunpowder to Beauregard. The agent
+ believed the story, and furnished Andrews with a train schedule.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0043" id="linkimage-0043">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/295.jpg" alt="Tearing up the Rails 295 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ From Cassville the distance to Kingston was seven miles, and at that point
+ a freight train was to be passed. When Andrews reached the place, he found
+ that the freight had not arrived. He therefore switched his train into a
+ siding to wait for the freight train, and repeated his powder story for
+ the benefit of the inquisitive. When the freight arrived, he saw that it
+ carried a red flag. This meant another train was on the road. After
+ another long half hour's wait, the second freight train came in sight, and
+ Andrews was dismayed to see another red flag displayed. The railroad men
+ said another train was following. The men on the captured train were
+ compelled to wait more than an hour. To those shut up in the box cars this
+ was a very trying time. They had no means of knowing what had happened, or
+ what was about to happen, until Knight, the engineer, found an opportunity
+ to saunter by and tell them what the trouble was. At the end of an hour
+ the long wait was over. The freight trains had passed, and the captured
+ locomotive, dragging the box cars, went swiftly out of Kingston. A short
+ distance beyond, the usual stop was made, and the wires cut An attempt was
+ made to tear up the track by some of the men, while others loaded the box
+ cars with railroad ties. While engaged in this work, the men heard the
+ screaming whistle of a locomotive in full pursuit. They were more than
+ amazed: they were paralyzed. If a pursuing locomotive had sprung out of
+ the ground at their feet with a full head of steam on, they could not have
+ been more astonished. They had just passed three freight trains headed in
+ the opposite direction, and now here was a pursuing locomotive coming
+ after them at full speed, and with a full head of steam on. Making one
+ spasmodic effort, they broke the rail they were trying to tear up.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Reaching Adairsville, Andrews and his men found that the passenger train
+ had not arrived. But it was no time for waiting. They resolved to take
+ every chance. The engineer had orders to send the locomotive along at full
+ speed. He was very willing to do this. Calhoun was nine miles away, and if
+ that station could be reached before the passenger train left, all would
+ be well; if not, there was danger of a collision. But Andrews took all the
+ chances. The throttle of the locomotive was pulled wide open, and the
+ train started so suddenly and so swiftly that the men in the box cars were
+ thrown from their feet. The distance to Calhoun was nine miles, and the
+ train bearing Andrews and his men made it in seven minutes and a half,&mdash;pretty
+ swift traveling, when it is remembered that the track was full of short
+ curves, and not in the best condition.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As the locomotive neared Calhoun, Engineer Knight gave several loud blasts
+ on the whistle; and it was well he did so, for the passenger train had
+ just begun to pull out of Calhoun on its way to Adairsville. If the
+ whistle had been blown a moment later than it was, the passenger train
+ would have been under full headway, and the signal would not have been
+ heard; but the passenger train had just begun to move, and was going
+ slowly. The whistle was heard, and the engineer backed his train to
+ Calhoun again. But when Andrews and his men arrived, they found a new
+ difficulty in the way. The passenger train was such a long one that the
+ rear end blocked the track. Andrews tried to get the conductor to move on
+ to Adairsville and there meet the upbound passenger train; but that
+ official was too badly scared by the danger he had just escaped to take
+ any more chances, and he refused to budge until the other train should
+ arrive. This would be fatal to the plans of Andrews, and that bold
+ adventurer made up his mind that the time had come for force to be used.
+ The conductor was finally persuaded to allow Andrews to go ahead with his
+ powder train. He ran a little more than a mile beyond Calhoun, stopped his
+ train, ordered the wire cut and another rail torn up. While they were
+ busily engaged in this work, they were both amazed and alarmed to see a
+ locomotive approaching from the direction of Calhoun. They had only bent
+ the rail, and were compelled to leave it and get out of the way of their
+ pursuers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Andrews and his men were bold and intrepid, even reckless; but the man who
+ had charge of the pursuit had all these qualities and more. Captain Fuller
+ was possessed of an energy and a determination that allowed nothing to
+ stand in their way.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We have seen how Captain Fuller sprang from the breakfast table at Big
+ Shanty, and went running after the flying locomotive. Engineer Jeff Cain
+ and Mr. Murphy followed after. The soldiers loitering about the station
+ laughed and cheered at the queer spectacle of a conductor giving chase on
+ foot to his locomotive which, with a part of his train, was running away
+ under a full head of steam. All of Captain Fuller's energies were aroused
+ to their highest pitch, and he easily distanced his companions. He ran
+ fully three miles, and then came upon a squad of section hands who had
+ been engaged in repairing the track. They were now very much excited. The
+ captured locomotive had stopped with them long enough for the men on the
+ box cars to seize all their tools and cut the telegraph wire, being
+ careful to take away about fifty feet, so that the wire could not be
+ promptly joined. From the demoralized section hands Captain Fuller learned
+ of the number of men on the locomotive, and was given reason to suspect
+ that they were Federals in disguise. The section hands had what was then
+ called a pole car, a small affair which they pushed with poles from point
+ to point. It had been derailed to make way for the up passenger train.
+ Conductor Fuller had it lifted upon the track, and then debated with
+ himself as to whether he should go back for his engineer, Jeff Cain, who,
+ with Mr. Antony Murphy, had been left far behind. Concluding that it would
+ be well to have his engineer with him, Captain Fuller pressed some of the
+ section hands into service, and pushed down the road the way he had come,
+ going more than a mile before he met Cain and Murphy. Once on the old hand
+ car, Captain Fuller turned and again began the pursuit as energetically as
+ before, although he knew that valuable time had been lost. Something of
+ their leader's energy and dauntless spirit was imparted to the men with
+ him, and they made tolerable speed with the pole car; but, suddenly, while
+ they were poling along at a great rate, the car tumbled from the track.
+ They had now come to the place where the would-be bridge burners had torn
+ up the first rail. The pursuers were not hurt by the fall. They jumped to
+ their feet, pushed the car over the obstruction, and were soon on their
+ way again, going even more rapidly than before. In this way the pursuit
+ led by Captain Fuller came to Etowah Station. Here he found the old
+ "Yonah," a locomotive belonging to the Mark A. Cooper Iron Works. The
+ "Yonah" was a superannuated engine, but Captain Fuller pressed it and its
+ crew into his service. The rickety old "Yonah" seemed to enter into the
+ spirit of the pursuit, for the distance to Kingston&mdash;thirteen miles&mdash;was
+ made in twelve minutes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As Andrews and his men had been delayed at Kingston for more than an hour
+ waiting for the freight trains to allow him to pass, the pursuers, led by
+ Captain Fuller, arrived at Kingston only ten minutes after the raiders
+ left. The tracks were crowded with these freight trains when the "Yonah"
+ arrived, and Captain Fuller saw at a glance that the locomotive would be
+ of no further service in the chase. He leaped from the engine, and ran
+ about two miles to the north angle of the Rome railway, where he knew he
+ would find the locomotive of the Rome road standing at this hour. He
+ pressed the engine and crew into service, and again took up the pursuit of
+ the fleeing raiders.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Andrews and his men, in the meantime, had stopped and loaded their box
+ cars with old cross-ties and discarded rails These they began to throw out
+ of the rear end of their hindmost car as a measure of safety. They did not
+ suspect pursuit at this time, but they took the precaution to obstruct the
+ track in this manner. Six miles north of Kingston the raiders stopped and
+ tore up several rails. Captain Fuller rode on the pilot of his engine, and
+ removed such of the obstructions as were not knocked off by the
+ cowcatcher.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When Captain Fuller reached the point where the rails had been removed,
+ his locomotive was useless. But his blood was now up. He abandoned the
+ engine, and ran on foot towards Adairsville, where he knew he would find a
+ through freight train. In fact he met it after he had run about three
+ miles, flagged it down, reversed it, and carried it back to Adairsville.
+ There, taking the engine, tender forward, with its crew, he renewed the
+ pursuit. The locomotive was run at an extraordinary rate of speed; but
+ Captain Fuller felt it to be his duty to ride on the bumper of the tender,
+ a precarious position even when there is no danger of obstructions. Beyond
+ Calhoun, Andrews and his men stopped to cut the telegraph wire and tear up
+ more rails. They had pried a rail above the stringers when they heard the
+ pursuing locomotive, and saw it rounding a curve half a mile away. They
+ scrambled into their cars in a hurry, leaving the rail bent but not
+ removed. Captain Fuller saw the bent rail, but he had also seen the game,
+ and he allowed his engine to be driven over it under a full head of steam.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ From this point the chase was the most thrilling and reckless of which
+ there is any record. Andrews resorted to his old trick of dropping
+ cross-ties, but he soon saw that this would not do. Then he uncoupled one
+ of his box cars. Captain Fuller picked it up, and pushed it ahead. Andrews
+ uncoupled another. This was served the same way, and at Resaca the cars
+ were run on a siding. The "General," commanded by Andrews, was now
+ forward, with one car, while the "Texas," commanded by Captain Fuller, and
+ driven by Peter Bracken, was running tender forward, with Fuller standing
+ on the brake board, or bumper. The locomotives were about evenly matched.
+ Both had five-foot ten-inch drivers, and both were running under all the
+ pressure their boilers could carry.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ All thought of danger was lost sight of. The pursued had no time to hatch
+ any scheme calculated to delay pursuit. The pursuers forgot to look for
+ obstructions. On one side it was capture or die; on the other it was
+ escape at all hazards. The people of the towns and villages through which
+ the road passes knew not what to make of the spectacle. Before they could
+ recover from the surprise of seeing a locomotive with one box car dash
+ wildly past the station, they were struck dumb with amazement by the sight
+ of another locomotive thundering by, tender forward, a tall man standing
+ on the bumper and clinging to the brake rod.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ They were going at a terrific rate of speed, but Peter Bracken, the brave
+ engineer of the "Texas," knew his locomotive so well, and handled her with
+ such a nice eye for her weak as well as her strong points, that the
+ pursuers gradually shortened the distance between them and the raiders.
+ The "General" was a good locomotive in its day and time, but it was in
+ unfamiliar hands. Any locomotive engineer will tell you that a man must be
+ thoroughly acquainted with his machine, and somewhat in love with it to
+ boot, to get the best speed out of it, when speed is necessary.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The raiders were pushed so closely that they soon found it necessary to
+ abandon their engine and car. Three miles north of Ringgold, they slowed
+ down a little, and, seizing a favorable opportunity, tumbled out, and fled
+ through the woods in all directions. It might be supposed that Captain
+ Fuller would be satisfied with recapturing his locomotive, which was in
+ all respects a remarkable achievement. But he had other views. He knew
+ that there would be no safety for the road with the bridge burners at
+ large, and so he made up his mind to be satisfied with nothing less than
+ their capture. In passing through Ringgold, three miles back, he had
+ noticed a company of militia drilling in an old field. So he sent word to
+ the commanding officer by his engineer, Peter Bracken (who, with his
+ fireman, took the two locomotives back to Ringgold), to mount his men as
+ promptly as possible, and join in the chase of the fugitives. This message
+ dispatched, Captain Fuller and two of his men, Fleming Cox and Alonzo
+ Martin, ran into the woods after the fleeing raiders. Jeff Cain, the
+ engineer of the "General," had been left with the Rome locomotive. Mr.
+ Antony Murphy remained in the chase until the "General" was recaptured,
+ and returned to Ringgold with the two locomotives.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ All the raiders were caught and imprisoned. Andrews was known to be a spy,
+ and he, with seven of his men who could establish no connection with the
+ Federal army in any branch of the service, was hanged. Six escaped, and
+ made their way to the Federal lines. The rest were regularly exchanged.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Perhaps those that were hanged deserved a better fate. They were brave to
+ recklessness, and were engaged in the boldest adventure of the war. Their
+ scheme was most skillfully planned, and courageously undertaken, and if it
+ had succeeded,&mdash;if the bridges had been burned and the door of the
+ Confederate granaries closed,&mdash;the result would have been what it was
+ when Sherman, with a large army, and at the sacrifice of many men and much
+ treasure, closed the State Road to the Confederates in Virginia.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Andrews and his men came near accomplishing, by one bold stroke, pretty
+ much all that Sherman accomplished in crippling the Confederates. It was
+ only by the merest chance that they had such a man as Captain Fuller to
+ oppose them. If they had arrived at Marietta the day before or the day
+ after, the probability is that they would have succeeded in their daring
+ venture. Captain Fuller was more than the equal of Andrews in all those
+ qualities that sustain men in moments of great emergency, and greatly his
+ superior in those moral acquirements that lead men to take risks and make
+ sacrifices on behalf of their convictions, and in the line of their duty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD.
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ The people of the State had not recovered from the chaos and confusion
+ into which they had been thrown by Sherman's march to the sea, when the
+ news came that Lee had surrendered in Virginia, and General Joseph E.
+ Johnston (who had been restored to his command) in North Carolina. Thus a
+ sudden and violent end had been put to all hopes of establishing a
+ separate government. General Sherman, who was as relentless in war as he
+ was pacific and gentle when the war was over, had, in coming to terms with
+ General Johnston, advanced the theory that the South never had dissolved
+ the Union, and that the States were restored to their old places the
+ moment they laid down their arms. This theory was not only consistent with
+ the views of the Union men of the North, but with the nature and character
+ of the Republic itself. But in the short and common-sense cut that Sherman
+ had made to a solution, he left the politicians out in the cold, and they
+ cried out against it as a hideous and ruthless piece of assumption on the
+ part of a military man to attempt to have any opinions after the war was
+ over. Any settlement that left the politicians out in the cold was not to
+ be tolerated. Some of these gentlemen had a very big and black crow to
+ pick with the South. Some of them, in the course of the long debate over
+ slavery, had had their feelings hurt by Southern men; and although these
+ wrangles had been purely personal and individual, the politicians felt
+ that the whole South ought to be humiliated still further.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The politicians would have been entirely harmless if the life of President
+ Lincoln had been spared. During the war, Mr. Lincoln was greatly
+ misunderstood even at the North; but it is now the general verdict of
+ history, that, take him for all in all, he was beyond all comparison the
+ greatest man of his time, the one man who, above all others, was best
+ fitted to bring the people of the two sections together again, and to make
+ the Union a more perfect Union than ever before. But unfortunately Mr.
+ Lincoln fell by the hands of an assassin, and never had an opportunity to
+ carry out the great policy of pacification which could only have been
+ sustained at that time by his great influence, by his patience, that was
+ supreme, and by his wisdom, that has proved to be almost infallible in
+ working out the salvation of the Union. After Lee's surrender, the
+ interests of the South could have sustained no severer blow than the death
+ of Lincoln. His successor, Andrew Johnson, was a well-meaning man, but a
+ very narrow-minded one in some respects, and a very weak one in others. It
+ is but justice to him to say that he did his best to carry out Lincoln's
+ policy of pacification, and his failure was no greater than that of any
+ other leading politician of his time would have been.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It would be impossible to describe the condition of the people at this
+ time. There was no civil law in operation, and the military government
+ that had been established was not far-reaching enough to restrain violence
+ of any sort. The negroes had been set free, and were supported by means of
+ a "freedmen's bureau." They were free, and yet they wanted some practical
+ evidence of it. To obtain this, they left the plantations on which they
+ had been born, and went tramping about the country in the most restless
+ and uneasy manner.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0044" id="linkimage-0044">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/306.jpg" alt="The Negroes Freed 306 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ A great many of them believed that freedom meant idleness, such as they
+ had seen white folks indulge in. The country negroes flocked to the towns
+ and cities in great numbers, and the freedmen's bureau, active as its
+ agents were, had a great deal more than it could attend to. Such peace and
+ order as existed was not maintained by any authority, but grew naturally
+ out of the awe that had come over both whites and blacks at finding their
+ condition and their relations so changed. The whites could hardly believe
+ that slavery no longer existed. The negroes had grave doubts as to whether
+ they were really free. To make matters worse, a great many small
+ politicians, under pretense of protecting the negroes, but really to
+ secure their votes, began a crusade against the South in Congress, the
+ like of which can hardly be found paralleled outside of our own history.
+ The people of the South found out long ago that the politicians of the
+ hour did not represent the intentions and desires of the people of the
+ North; and there is much comfort and consolation to be got out of that
+ fact, even at this late day. But at that time the bitterest dose of
+ reconstruction was the belief that the best opinion of the North sustained
+ the ruinous policy that had been put in operation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The leading men of the State were all disfranchised,&mdash;deprived of the
+ privilege of voting, a privilege that was freely conferred on the negroes.
+ A newspaper editor in Macon was imprisoned, and his paper suppressed, for
+ declaring, in regard to taking the amnesty oath, that he had to "fortify
+ himself for the occasion with a good deal of Dutch courage." The wife of
+ General Toombs was ordered by an assistant commissioner of the freedmen's
+ bureau to vacate her home with only two weeks' provisions, the grounds of
+ the order being that the premises were "abandoned property," and, as such,
+ were to be seized, and applied to the uses of the freedmen's bureau. The
+ superior officer of this assistant commissioner, being a humane and kindly
+ man, revoked the order.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These were the days when the carpet-bagger and the scalawag flourished,&mdash;the
+ camp followers of the Northern army, who wanted money and office; and the
+ native-born Southerner, who wanted office and money. There is no doubt
+ that the indignities heaped on the people led to acts of retaliation that
+ nothing else could excuse; but they were driven to desperation. It seemed,
+ in that hour, that their liberties had been entirely withdrawn. Governor
+ Brown, who had formerly been so popular, was denounced because he advised
+ Georgians to accept the situation. He, with other wise men, thought it was
+ a waste of time and opportunity to discuss constitutional questions at a
+ moment when the people were living under bayonet rule. Joe Brown's plan
+ was to accept the situation, and then get rid of it as quickly as
+ possible. Ben Hill's plan was to fight it to the last. There was a fierce
+ controversy between these two leaders; and such strong expressions were
+ used on both sides, that General Pope made them the subject of a curious
+ letter to his commander in chief, General Grant.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ General Pope seemed to be afraid that war was about to break out again,
+ and he assumed charge of everything. He removed and appointed mayors of
+ cities, solicitors, and sheriffs. He closed the State University because a
+ student made a speech which was in effect a defense of civil law. After a
+ while the general said he would reopen the institution if the press of the
+ State would say nothing about the affair. In 1867, General Pope ordered an
+ election to be held for delegates to a State convention. The polls were
+ kept open five days, and voters were allowed to vote in any precinct in
+ any county upon their making oath that they were entitled to vote. The
+ convention met, but, in the nature of things, could not be a
+ representative body. Thousands of the best and most representative men of
+ the State were not allowed to vote, and thousands of other good men
+ refused to take part in an election held under the order of a military
+ commander: consequently, when the convention met, its membership was made
+ up of the political rag-tag-and-bobtail of that day. There were a few good
+ men in the body, but they had little influence over the ignorant negroes
+ and vicious whites who had taken advantage of their first and last
+ opportunity to hold office.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The authority of this convention was not recognized by the State
+ government, and this contest gave rise to a fresh conflict between the
+ State officials and the military dictators who had been placed over them.
+ The convention needed money to pay its expenses, and passed an ordinance
+ directing the treasurer of the State to pay forty thousand dollars for
+ this purpose to the disbursing officer of the convention. General Pope
+ issued an order to the treasurer to pay this amount. The treasurer
+ declined to pay out the money, for the simple reason that he was forbidden
+ by law to pay out money except on an order or warrant drawn by the
+ governor, and sanctioned by the comptroller general.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ About this time General Meade was appointed to rule in Georgia in place of
+ General Pope, and he found this matter unsettled when he took charge. So
+ he wrote to Governor Jenkins, and requested him to draw his warrant on the
+ treasury for forty thousand dollars. The governor could find no authority
+ in law for paying over this sum, and he therefore refused. But civil
+ government was not of much importance to the military at that time; so,
+ when he had received the governor's letter, General Meade drew a sheet of
+ paper before him, called for pen and ink, and issued "General Order No.
+ 8," in which the announcement is made that "the following-named officers
+ are <i>detailed for duty</i> in the district of Georgia: Brevet Brigadier
+ General Thomas H. Ruger, Colonel 33d Infantry, <i>to be Governor of the
+ State of Georgia</i>; Brevet Captain Charles F. Rockwell, Ordnance Corps
+ U. S. Army, <i>to be Treasurer of the State of Georgia</i>."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In this way the rag-tag-and-bobtail convention got its money, but it got
+ also the hatred and contempt of the people; and the Republican party,&mdash;the
+ party that had been molded and made by the wise policy of Lincoln,&mdash;by
+ indorsing these foolish measures of reconstruction, and putting its
+ influence behind the outrages that were committed in the name of
+ "loyalty," aroused prejudices in the minds of the Southern people that
+ have not died away to this day. Some of the more vicious of the
+ politicians of that epoch organized what was known as "The Union League."
+ It was a secret political society, and had branches in every county of the
+ State. Through the medium of this secret organization, the basest
+ deception was practiced on the ignorant negroes. They were solemnly told
+ that their old masters were making arrangements to reënslave them, and all
+ sorts of incendiary suggestions were made to them. It was by means of this
+ secret society that the negroes were made to believe that they would be
+ entitled to forty acres and a mule for voting for the candidates of the
+ carpet-baggers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The effect of all this was to keep the blacks in a constant state of
+ turmoil. They were too uneasy to settle down to work, and too suspicious
+ to enter into contracts with the whites: so they went wandering about the
+ State from town to town and from county to county, committing all sorts of
+ crimes. As the civil system had been entirely overthrown by the military,
+ there was neither law nor order; and this condition was very seriously
+ aggravated by the incendiary teachings of The Union League. The people,
+ therefore, in some parts of the South, offset this secret society with
+ another, which was called the "Ku Klux Klan." This organization was
+ intended to prevent violence and to restore order in communities; but the
+ spirit of it was very frequently violated by lawless persons, who, acting
+ in the name of the "Klan," subjected defenseless negroes to cruel
+ treatment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There is no darker period in the history of the State than that of
+ reconstruction. The tax payers were robbed in the most reckless way, and
+ the rights of citizens were entirely disregarded. Even when the Republican
+ Congress, responsive to the voice of conservative Northern opinion, turned
+ its back on the carpet-bag government of Georgia, these men made a
+ tremendous effort to extend their rule unlawfully. The carpet-bag
+ Legislature was in session three hundred and twenty-eight days, and cost
+ the State nearly one million dollars; whereas the cost of legislation from
+ 1853 to 1862, nine years, was not nine hundred thousand dollars. In one
+ year the State Road took in a million dollars and a half; and of this
+ immense sum, only forty-five thousand dollars was paid into the treasury.
+ Added to this, the road had been run into debt to the amount of six
+ hundred thousand dollars, and it had been run down to such an extent that
+ five hundred thousand was needed to place it in good condition.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ During this trying period, Joseph E. Brown, who had been so popular with
+ the people, was under a cloud. He had advised accepting the reconstruction
+ measures in the first instance, so that they might be carried out by men
+ who had the confidence and the esteem of the State; but this wise
+ proposition brought upon his head only reproaches and abuse. The public
+ mind was in such a state of frenzied uneasiness, the result of carpetbag
+ robbery and recklessness, that the people would listen to no remedy except
+ passionate defiance and denunciation. When the name of Brown was mentioned
+ only as a handle of abuse, Benjamin H. Hill became the leader and the idol
+ of the people. When, in 1870, Hill issued an address declaring that the
+ reconstruction must be accepted by the people, he was at once made the
+ object of the most violent attacks. But Brown was right in 1864, and Hill
+ was right in 1870, and the people were wrong. They paid dearly for their
+ blindness in the wrongs imposed on them by men who were neither
+ Republicans nor reconstructionists at heart, but public plunderers.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In 1871 the carpet-bag government began to totter. The governor left the
+ State, and staid away so long that the State treasurer, a man of stern
+ integrity, refused to pay warrants that were not signed by a resident
+ governor. Finally the governor returned, but almost immediately resigned.
+ In a short time the real representatives of the people took charge of
+ affairs, and since that time the State has been in a highly prosperous
+ condition.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0029" id="link2H_4_0029">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ "THE NEW SOUTH"
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ When the people of Georgia had once more gained control of their State
+ government, the political tempest that had been raging slowly quieted
+ down. A pot that has been boiling furiously doesn't grow cool in a moment,
+ but it ceases almost instantly to boil; and though it may cool slowly, it
+ cools surely. There was not an end of prejudice and unreason the moment
+ the people had disposed of those who were plundering them, but prejudice
+ began to lose its force as soon as men had the opportunity to engage in
+ calm discussion, and to look forward hopefully to the future. In the midst
+ of bayonet and carpet-bag rule, the State could not make any real
+ progress. It is only during a time of peace and contentment that the
+ industrial forces of a community begin to display their real energy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ No State in the South had suffered so severely as Georgia during the war.
+ She placed in the field more than a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers,&mdash;twenty
+ thousand more than her voting population at the beginning of the war. The
+ taxable wealth of the State in 1867 was more than four hundred and
+ eighty-one millions less than it was in 1861,&mdash;a loss of more than
+ three fourths. After the reconstruction period, all the State had to show,
+ in return for the treasure that had been squandered by the carpet-bag
+ politicians, was a few poorly equipped railroads that had been built on
+ the State's credit. In some instances railroad bonds were indorsed when
+ there was no road to show for them; in others, bonds were issued in behalf
+ of the same road under different names; so that the people lost by fraud
+ as much or more than the amount of improvement that had been made. The
+ "developers" who had connected themselves with the bayonet administration
+ were much more interested in "developing" their own private interests than
+ they were in developing the resources of the State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But when the bayonet administration had been driven out, not less by
+ Northern opinion, which had become disgusted with the reckless dishonesty
+ that was practiced under the name of republicanism, than by the energetic
+ opposition of all good citizens of the State, there came a welcome end to
+ the bitter controversy that had been going on. The fierce rancor and
+ prejudice that had been aroused gradually died out; so that in 1872,
+ shortly after the State had been rescued from misrule, Horace Greeley, the
+ great abolition editor, received in Georgia a majority of more than
+ seventy-one thousand votes over the straight-out Democratic candidate.
+ This, more than any other event, showed the improving temper of the
+ people, and their willingness to make compromises and concessions for the
+ purpose of restoring the Union and burying the spirit of sectionalism.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ With this improved temper there came an improvement in the material
+ conditions of the State. Free negro labor was a problem which the planters
+ had to meet. For a time it presented many difficulties. It was hard to
+ make and enforce contracts with the negroes, who had been demoralized and
+ made suspicious by The Union League and by the harsh and unjustifiable
+ acts of men who acted under the name, but not under the authority, of the
+ Ku Klux Klan. But gradually all these difficulties were overcome. The
+ negroes settled down to work, and with them a good many white men who had
+ been left adrift by the fortunes of war and the prostration of industries.
+ This vast change was not brought about in a day or a month, or even in a
+ year, but was the gradual outgrowth of a bitter feeling,&mdash;the slow
+ awakening to the fact that matters were not as bad on a better
+ acquaintance as they had seemed. There was, of course, the negro problem;
+ but the wiser men soon saw that this problem, such as it was, would settle
+ itself sooner or later. The result was that everybody began to take a day
+ off from politics occasionally, and devote themselves to the upbuilding of
+ the resources of the State.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ At first, and for several years, the negro problem seemed to be a very
+ serious matter indeed. All the statesmen, all the politicians, all the
+ historians, and all the newspaper editors, discussed it morning, noon, and
+ night for a long time. Some wanted it settled one way, and some another.
+ At the North the men who had indorsed and approved the bayonet governments
+ of the South thought that laws ought to be passed giving the negroes
+ social equality with the whites. Finally a compromise was made with what
+ is called the "Civil Rights Law," which was intended to give the negroes
+ the same privileges at the hotels, theaters, and other public places, that
+ the whites had. The Northern politicians pretended to believe that the
+ efforts they were making were for the benefit of the negroes, though no
+ doubt the majority of them knew better. Of course, the Southern people
+ resisted the pressure thus brought to bear by the Northern sectionalists,
+ and the result was what might have been expected. The condition of the
+ negro was made more uncomfortable than ever, and the color line was more
+ closely drawn. To show how shortsighted the politicians were and are, it
+ is only necessary to call attention to one fact, and it is this: that
+ while the Civil Rights Law has kept negroes out of public places both
+ North and South, they ride on the street cars side by side with the white
+ people, and it frequently happens that an old negro woman who comes into a
+ crowded car is given a seat by some Southerner who has tender
+ recollections of his negro "mammy."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="linkimage-0045" id="linkimage-0045">
+ <!-- IMG --></a>
+ </p>
+ <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+ <img src="images/318.jpg" alt="Streetcar in the South 318 " width="100%" /><br />
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ It is worthy of note, that while the politicians on both sides were
+ fighting the shadows that the "negro problem" called up, the problem was
+ solving itself in the only way that such vast problems can be settled in
+ the order of Providence,&mdash;by the irresistible elements of time and
+ experience. A great deal of misery, suffering, and discontent would have
+ been spared to both races, if, after the war, the conservative men of the
+ North had either insisted on the policy that Abraham Lincoln had mapped
+ out, or had said to the pestiferous politicians who were responsible for
+ carpet-bag rule, "Hands off!" No doubt some injustice would have been done
+ to individuals if the North had permitted the negroes to work out their
+ political salvation alone, but the race itself would be in a better
+ condition every way than it is today; for outside interference has worked
+ untold damage and hardship to the negro. It has given him false ideas of
+ the power and purpose of government, and it has blinded his eyes to the
+ necessity of individual effort. It is by individual effort alone that the
+ negro race must work out its destiny. This is the history of the white
+ race, and it must be the history of all races that move forward.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When Georgia, with the rest of the Southern States, had passed safely
+ through the reconstruction period, the people, as has been seen, found
+ themselves facing new conditions and new possibilities. Slavery had been
+ abolished utterly and forever; and wise men breathed freer when they saw
+ that a great obstacle to progress and development had been abolished with
+ it. Instinctively everybody felt that here was cause for congratulation. A
+ few public men, bolder than the rest, looking out on the prospect, thanked
+ God that slavery was no more. They expected to be attacked for such
+ utterances, but they were applauded; and it was soon discovered, much to
+ the surprise of everybody, that the best sentiment of the South was
+ heartily glad that slavery was out of the way. Thus, with new conditions,
+ new prospects, and new hopes,&mdash;with a new fortune, in fact,&mdash;it
+ was natural that some lively prophet should lift up his voice and cry,
+ "Behold the New South!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ And it was and is the new South,&mdash;the old South made new by events;
+ the old South with new channels, in which its Anglo-Saxon energies may
+ display themselves; the old South with new possibilities of greatness,
+ that would never have offered themselves while slavery lasted. After these
+ hopes, and in pursuit of these prospects, Georgia has led the way.
+ Hundreds of miles of new railroads have been built in her borders since
+ the dark days of reconstruction, hundreds of new factories have been
+ built, immense marble beds and granite quarries have been put in
+ operation, new towns have sprung into existence, and in thousands of new
+ directions employment has been given to labor and capital. In short, the
+ industrial progress the State has made since 1870 is more than double that
+ of the previous fifty years.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was natural, that, out of the new conditions, new men should arise;
+ and, as if in response to the needs of the hour and the demands of the
+ people, there arose a man who, with no selfish ends to serve and no
+ selfish ambition to satisfy, was able to touch the hearts of the people of
+ both sections, and to subdue the spirit of sectionalism that was still
+ rampant long after the carpetbag governments in the South had been
+ overthrown by the force of public opinion. That man was Henry Woodfin
+ Grady. He took up his public work in earnest in 1876, though he had been
+ preparing for it since the day that he could read a school history. In
+ that year he became one of the editors of the "Atlanta Constitution," and
+ at once turned his attention to the situation in which his State had been
+ left by the war, and by the rapacity of those who had come into power by
+ means of the bayonet. Whether he used his tongue or pen, the public soon
+ found out that he had control of that mysterious power which moves men.
+ Whether he wrote or whether he spoke, he had the gift and the inspiration
+ of eloquence; and from first to last he could never be induced to use this
+ great gift for his personal advancement, nor could he be induced to accept
+ a political office. With a mind entirely sincere and unselfish, he
+ addressed himself to the work of restoring unity between the North and
+ South, and to putting an end to the sectional strife which the politicians
+ were skillfully using to further their own schemes. He was asked to be a
+ United States senator, and refused; he was asked to be a congressman, and
+ refused. For the rest, he could have had any office within the gift of the
+ people of Georgia; but he felt that he could serve the State and the South
+ more perfectly in the way that he had himself mapped out. He felt that the
+ time had come for some one to say a bold and manly word in behalf of the
+ American Union in the ear of the South, and to say a bold and manly word
+ in behalf of the South in the ear of the North. He began this work, and
+ carried it on as a private citizen; and the result was, that, though he
+ died before he had reached the prime of his life, he had won a name and a
+ popularity in all parts of the country, both North and South, that no
+ other private citizen had ever before succeeded in winning.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It was Henry Grady that gave the apt name of "The New South" to the spirit
+ that his tireless energy and enthusiasm had called from the dark depths of
+ reconstruction. Of this spirit, and the movement that sprang from it, he
+ was the prophet, the pioneer, the promoter. He saw the South poor in the
+ midst of the most abundant resources that Providence ever blessed a people
+ with, and he turned aside from politics to point them out. He saw the
+ people going about in deep despair, and he gave them the cue of hope, and
+ touched them with his own enthusiasm. He saw the mighty industrial forces
+ lying dormant, and his touch awoke them to life. He saw great enterprises
+ languishing, and he called the attention of capital to them. Looking
+ farther afield, he saw the people of two great sections forgetting
+ patriotism and duty, and reviving the prejudices and issues that had led
+ to the war, and that had continued throughout the war; and he went about
+ among them, speaking words of peace and union,&mdash;appealing to the
+ spirit of patriotism which held the Northern and Southern people together
+ when they were building the Republic, when they stood side by side amid
+ the sufferings of Valley Forge, and when they saw the army of a mighty
+ monarch surrender to the valor of American soldiers at Yorktown. With the
+ enthusiasm of a missionary and the impetuous zeal of an evangelist, he
+ went about rebuking the politicians, and preaching in behalf of peace,
+ union, and genuine patriotism.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Such was the mission of Henry W. Grady, and the work that he did will live
+ after him. "The New South" will cease to be hew, but the people will never
+ cease to owe him a debt of gratitude for the work that he did in urging
+ forward the industrial progress of this region, and in making peace
+ between the sections. He was the builder, the peacemaker.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /><br />
+ </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Stories Of Georgia, by Joel Chandler Harris
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF GEORGIA ***
+
+***** This file should be named 24728-h.htm or 24728-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+ http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/2/24728/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+ the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+ you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
+ owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+ has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+ Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
+ must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+ prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+ returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+ sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+ address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+ the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+ you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+ does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+ License. You must require such a user to return or
+ destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+ and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+ Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+ money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+ electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+ of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+ distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+ Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+ Chief Executive and Director
+ gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+ http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+ </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/24728-h/images/014.jpg b/24728-h/images/014.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d64e9fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/014.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/020.jpg b/24728-h/images/020.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b450ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/020.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/028.jpg b/24728-h/images/028.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58ecbb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/028.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/032.jpg b/24728-h/images/032.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..416cb54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/032.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/039.jpg b/24728-h/images/039.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8beacc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/039.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/048.jpg b/24728-h/images/048.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4888cde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/048.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/055.jpg b/24728-h/images/055.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dbd48c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/055.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/060.jpg b/24728-h/images/060.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea72a9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/060.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/066.jpg b/24728-h/images/066.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3663c21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/066.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/072.jpg b/24728-h/images/072.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf6c71a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/072.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/074.jpg b/24728-h/images/074.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e4978f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/074.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/079.jpg b/24728-h/images/079.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cf21bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/079.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/085.jpg b/24728-h/images/085.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a17488
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/085.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/093.jpg b/24728-h/images/093.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6da0454
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/093.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/097.jpg b/24728-h/images/097.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7cb72c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/097.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/104.jpg b/24728-h/images/104.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7163e71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/104.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/111.jpg b/24728-h/images/111.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d28a26f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/111.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/122.jpg b/24728-h/images/122.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3994fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/122.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/134.jpg b/24728-h/images/134.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f6ddfd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/134.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/138.jpg b/24728-h/images/138.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7fc4a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/138.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/143.jpg b/24728-h/images/143.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d36fc5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/143.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/148.jpg b/24728-h/images/148.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f633d1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/148.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/152.jpg b/24728-h/images/152.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d2fc9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/152.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/156.jpg b/24728-h/images/156.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5398e98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/156.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/163.jpg b/24728-h/images/163.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4956683
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/163.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/172.jpg b/24728-h/images/172.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7bfc437
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/172.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/177.jpg b/24728-h/images/177.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f992852
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/177.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/181.jpg b/24728-h/images/181.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb97104
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/181.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/188.jpg b/24728-h/images/188.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac0cf21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/188.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/191.jpg b/24728-h/images/191.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b9d2f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/191.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/197.jpg b/24728-h/images/197.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e11980f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/197.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/208.jpg b/24728-h/images/208.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f30851
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/208.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/220.jpg b/24728-h/images/220.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8ac654
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/220.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/235.jpg b/24728-h/images/235.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5254ae1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/235.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/238.jpg b/24728-h/images/238.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0347569
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/238.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/241.jpg b/24728-h/images/241.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f87ee9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/241.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/245.jpg b/24728-h/images/245.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d7467b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/245.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/250.jpg b/24728-h/images/250.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b33551
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/250.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/255.jpg b/24728-h/images/255.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c6d169
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/255.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/264.jpg b/24728-h/images/264.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e2a9b6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/264.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/270.jpg b/24728-h/images/270.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..769c5a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/270.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/279.jpg b/24728-h/images/279.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b30a16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/279.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/284.jpg b/24728-h/images/284.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..347423c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/284.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/289.jpg b/24728-h/images/289.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3241bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/289.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/295.jpg b/24728-h/images/295.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..19ad3cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/295.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/306.jpg b/24728-h/images/306.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff44d6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/306.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/311.jpg b/24728-h/images/311.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d881d51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/311.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/318.jpg b/24728-h/images/318.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3018892
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/318.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728-h/images/titlepage.jpg b/24728-h/images/titlepage.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63917dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728-h/images/titlepage.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/24728.txt b/24728.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94d71a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7672 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories Of Georgia, by Joel Chandler Harris
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Stories Of Georgia
+ 1896
+
+Author: Joel Chandler Harris
+
+Release Date: March 2, 2008 [EBook #24728]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF GEORGIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF GEORGIA
+
+By Joel Chandler Harris
+
+Copyright, 1896, by American Book Company
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+In preparing the pages that follow, the writer has had in view the
+desirability of familiarizing the youth of Georgia with the salient
+facts of the State's history in a way that shall make the further study
+of that history a delight instead of a task. The ground has been gone
+over before by various writers, but the narratives that are here retold,
+and the characterizations that are here attempted, have not been brought
+together heretofore. They lie wide apart in volumes that are little
+known and out of print.
+
+The stories and the characterizations have been grouped together so
+as to form a series of connecting links in the rise and progress of
+Georgia; yet it must not be forgotten that these links are themselves
+connected with facts and events in the State's development that are
+quite as interesting, and of as far-reaching importance, as those that
+have been narrated here. Some such suggestion as this, it is hoped,
+will cross the minds of young students, and lead them to investigate for
+themselves the interesting intervals that lie between.
+
+It is unfortunately true that there is no history of Georgia in which
+the dry bones of facts have been clothed with the flesh and blood of
+popular narrative. Colonel Charles C. Jones saw what was needed,
+and entered upon the task of writing the history of the State with
+characteristic enthusiasm. He had not proceeded far, however, when the
+fact dawned upon his mind that such a work as he contemplated must be
+for the most part a labor of love. He felt the influence of cold neglect
+from every source that might have been expected to afford him aid and
+encouragement. He was almost compelled to confine himself to a bare
+recital of facts, for he had reason to know that, at the end of his
+task, public inappreciation was awaiting him.
+
+And yet it seems to the present writer that every person interested
+in the growth and development of the republic should turn with eager
+attention to a narrative embodying the events that have marked the
+progress of Georgia. It was in this State that some of the most
+surprising and spectacular scenes of the Revolution took place. In one
+corner of Georgia those who were fighting for the independence of the
+republic made their last desperate stand; and if they had surrendered to
+the odds that faced them, the battle of King's Mountain would never have
+been fought, Greene's southern campaign would have been crippled, and
+the struggle for liberty in the south would have ended in smoke.
+
+It is to illustrate the larger events that these stories have been
+written; and while some of them may seem far away from this point of
+view, they all have one common purpose and tend to one common end.
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF GEORGIA.
+
+
+
+
+A SEARCH FOR TREASURE.
+
+[Illustration: De Soto 014]
+
+So far as written records tell us, Hernando de Soto and his companions
+in arms were the first white men to enter and explore the territory now
+known on the map as the State of Georgia. Tradition has small voice in
+the matter, but such as it has tells another story. There are hints that
+other white men ventured into this territory before De Soto and his men
+beheld it. General Oglethorpe, when he came to Georgia with his gentle
+colony, which had been tamed and sobered by misfortune and ill luck,
+was firmly of the opinion that Sir Walter Raleigh, the famous soldier,
+sailor, and scholar, had been there before him. So believing, the
+founder of the Georgian Colony carried with him Sir Walter's diary. He
+was confirmed in his opinion by a tradition, among the Indians of the
+Yamacraw tribe, that Raleigh had landed where Savannah now stands.
+There are also traditions in regard to the visits of other white men
+to Georgia. These traditions may be true, or they may be the results
+of dreams, but it is certain that De Soto and his picked company of
+Spaniards were the first to march through the territory that is now
+Georgia. The De Soto expedition was made up of the flower of Spanish
+chivalry,--men Used to war, and fond of adventure. Some of them were
+soldiers, anxious to win fame by feats of arms in a new land; some were
+missionaries, professing an anxiety for the souls of such heathen as
+they might encounter, but even these men were not unfamiliar with the
+use of the sword; some were physicians, as ready to kill as to heal;
+some were botanists, who knew as much about the rapier and the poniard
+as they did about the stamens, pistils, and petals of the flowers;
+and some were reporters, men selected to write the history of the
+expedition. As it turned out, these reporters were entirely faithful
+to their trust They told all that happened with a fidelity that
+leaves nothing to be desired. The record they have left shows that the
+expedition was bent on finding gold and other treasures.
+
+On the 30th of May, 1539, De Soto's expedition landed at Tampa Bay,
+Fla., and his men pitched their tents on the beach. The army was not
+a large one; but it was made up of chosen men, who were used to the
+dangers of war, and who, as stated before, were fond of adventure. There
+was but one gray head in the expedition: therefore, though the army was
+a small one, it was the most enthusiastic and warlike array that had
+ever been seen in the New World. The soldiers wore rich armor, and
+the cavalry rode gayly caparisoned horses. The army was accompanied by
+slaves and mules to bear the burdens. It had artillery and other weapons
+of war; handcuffs, neck collars, and chains for prisoners; crucibles for
+refining gold; bloodhounds, greyhounds, and a drove of hogs.
+
+For nearly a year the little army of De Soto wandered about in Florida,
+ransacking the burying grounds of the Indians in search of treasures,
+and committing such other depredations as were common to the
+civilization of that age. When inquiries were made for gold, the
+Indians always pointed toward the north; and, following these hints,
+the expedition pursued its way through Florida, wandering about in the
+swamps and slashes, but always held together by the enthusiasm of the
+men and their hopes of securing rich spoils.
+
+On the 3d of March, 1540, De Soto's army left Anhayca, which is said to
+have been near the site of Tallahassee, and marched northward. Before
+leaving the Spaniards seized from the Indians a large supply of maize
+(now commonly known as corn), and appropriated whatever else struck
+their fancy. They had spent some time with the Indians at this town of
+Anhayca, and had sent out parties that committed depredations wherever
+an Indian settlement could be found. They made slaves of many Indians,
+treating them with more severity than they treated their beasts of
+burden. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Indians, discovering the
+greed of the Spaniards for gold, should have spread rumors that large
+quantities of the yellow metal were to be found farther north.
+
+Reports came to the Spaniards of a wonderful Indian queen who reigned
+at a place called Yupaha, a settlement as large as a city. One day an
+Indian boy, who had been brought to camp with other prisoners, told the
+Spaniards a good deal about this great Indian queen. He said that she
+ruled not only her own people, but all the neighboring chiefs, and as
+far as the Indian settlements extended. The boy told the Spaniards that
+all the Indians paid tribute to this great queen, and sent her fine
+presents of clothing and gold. De Soto and his men cared nothing about
+fine clothing. They were greedy only for gold and precious stones. They
+asked the Indian boy many questions, and he answered them all. He
+told how the gold was taken from the earth, and how it was melted and
+refined. His description was so exact that the Spaniards no longer
+had any doubt. Their spirits rose mightily, and, after robbing and
+plundering the Indians who had fed and sheltered them during the winter
+months, they broke up their camp and moved northward.
+
+Four days after leaving Tallahassee, the Spaniards came to a deep river,
+which Colonel C. C. Jones, jun., in his "History of Georgia," says was
+the Ocklockonnee, very close to the southwest boundary of Georgia. Two
+days later they came to an Indian village from which the inhabitants
+fled, but a little later a squad of five soldiers was set upon by the
+Indians hiding near the encampment. One of the Spaniards was killed,
+while three others were badly wounded. De Soto left this Indian village
+on the 11th of March, and presently came to a piece of country which the
+Spanish historian describes as a desert. But it was not a desert then,
+and it is not a desert now. It was really a pine barren, such as may
+be seen to this day in what is called the wire-grass region of southern
+Georgia. In these barrens the soil is sandy and the land level,
+stretching away for miles. De Soto and his men saw the primeval pines;
+but these have long since disappeared, and their places are taken by
+pines of a smaller growth. On the 21st of March, the Spaniards came to
+the Ocmulgee River, near which they found an Indian town called Toalli.
+
+There will always be a dispute about the route followed by De Soto in
+his march. This dispute is interesting, but not important. Some say that
+the expedition moved parallel with the coast until the Savannah River
+was reached, at a point twenty-five miles below Augusta; but it is just
+as probable that the route, after reaching the Ocmulgee, was along the
+banks of that stream and in a northwesterly direction.
+
+At Toalli the Indians had summer and winter houses to live in, and they
+had storehouses for their maize. The women wore blankets or shawls made
+of the fiber of silk grass, and the blankets were dyed vermilion or
+black. Thenceforward the Indians whom the Spaniards met with were of a
+higher order of intelligence, and of a more industrious turn, than those
+left behind in Florida and along the southern boundary of Georgia.
+
+As De Soto marched along, he seized Indians and made guides of them,
+or made prisoners and held them until he was furnished with guides and
+interpreters. He also announced to the Indians that he was the Child of
+the Sun, who had been sent to seek out the greatest Prince and Princess.
+This made a great impression on the Indians, many of whom were sun
+worshipers.
+
+Many times during the march the Spaniards were on the point of
+starvation, and the account of their sufferings as set forth in the
+history of the expedition is intended to be quite pathetic. We need
+not pause to shed any tears over these things, for the sufferings the
+Spaniards endured were nothing compared to the sufferings they inflicted
+on the Indians. They murdered and robbed right and left, and no doubt
+the Indians regarded them as demons rather than Christians. More
+than once when the Spaniards were wandering aimlessly about in the
+wilderness, they were found by the Indians and saved from starvation. In
+turn the simple-minded natives were treated with a harshness that would
+be beyond belief if the sickening details were not piously set forth by
+the Spanish historian of the expedition.
+
+[Illustration: Indian Queen 020]
+
+About the 28th of April the expedition reached the neighborhood of
+Cutifachiqui, having been told by three Indians whom they had taken,
+that the queen of that province knew of the approach of the Spaniards,
+and was awaiting them at her chief town just across the river. As De
+Soto came to the shore of the stream, four canoes started from the
+opposite side. One of them contained a kinswoman of the queen, who
+had been selected to invite the Spaniards to enter the town. Shortly
+afterwards the queen came forth from the town, seated on a palanquin or
+litter, which was borne by the principal men. Coming to the water side,
+the queen entered a canoe, over the stern of which was stretched an
+awning to shelter her from the sun.
+
+Under this awning she reclined on cushions; and thus, in company with
+her chiefs, and attended by many of her people in canoes, she crossed
+the river to meet De Soto. She landed, and gave the Spaniard a gracious
+welcome. As an offering of peace and good will, she took from her neck
+a long string of pearls, and gave the gems to De Soto. She also gave him
+many shawls and finely dressed deerskins. The Spaniard acknowledged the
+beautiful gifts by taking from his hand a gold ring set with a ruby, and
+placing it upon one of the queen's fingers.
+
+The old historian pretends that De Soto and his men were very much
+impressed by the dignity and courtesy of the Indian queen. She was the
+first woman ruler they had met in their wanderings. She was tall, finely
+formed, and had great beauty of countenance. She was both gracious and
+graceful. All this is set down in the most pompous way by the Spanish
+chroniclers; but the truth seems to be that De Soto and his men cared
+nothing for the courtesy and hospitality of the queen, and that they
+were not moved by her beauty and kindness. The Spaniards crossed the
+river in canoes furnished by the queen's people, and found themselves
+surrounded by the most hospitable Indians they had yet seen. They were
+supplied with everything the land afforded, and rested in comfortable
+wigwams under the shade of mulberry trees. The soldiers were so
+delighted with the situation, that they were anxious to form a
+settlement there; but De Soto refused to forget the only object of
+the expedition, which was to search for gold and other treasures. His
+determination had the desired effect His men recovered their energies.
+While enjoying the hospitality of the queen, they found out the burial
+places of her people, and gathered from the graves, according to the
+statement of the Spanish historian, "three hundred and fifty weight of
+pearls, and figures of babies and birds, made from iridescent shells."
+
+The mother of the queen lived not far from the town where the Spaniards
+were quartered, and, as she was said to be the owner of many fine
+pearls, De Soto expressed a desire to see her. Upon hearing this, the
+queen sent twelve of her principal men to beg her mother to come to
+see the white strangers and the wonderful animals they had brought
+with them; but the mother of the queen was very shrewd. She rebuked the
+messengers, and sent them back with some sharp words for her daughter;
+and though De Soto did his best to capture the woman, he was never able
+to carry out his purpose.
+
+He then turned his attention to a temple that stood on the side of
+a deserted settlement which had formerly been the chief town of the
+queen's people. This temple, as described by the Spanish chronicler,
+was more than one hundred steps long by forty broad, the walls high in
+proportion, and the roof elevated so as to allow the water to run off.
+On the roof were various shells arranged in artistic order, and the
+shells were connected by strings of pearls. These pearls extended from
+the top of the roof to the bottom in long festoons, and the sun shining
+on them produced a very brilliant effect. At the door of the temple were
+twelve giant-like statues made of wood. These figures were so ferocious
+in their appearance, that the Spaniards hesitated for some time before
+they could persuade themselves to enter the temple. The statues were
+armed with clubs, maces, copper axes, and pikes ornamented with copper
+at both ends. In the middle of the temple were three rows of chests,
+placed one upon another in the form of pyramids. Each pyramid consisted
+of five or six chests, the largest at the bottom, and the smallest at
+the top. These chests, the Spanish chroniclers say, were filled with
+pearls, the largest containing the finest pearls, and the smallest only
+seed pearls.
+
+It is just as well to believe a little of this as to believe a great
+deal. It was an easy matter for the survivors of the expedition to
+exaggerate these things, and they probably took great liberties with
+the facts; but there is no doubt that the Indians possessed many pearls.
+Mussels like those from which they took the gems are still to be found
+in the small streams and creeks of Georgia, and an enterprising
+boy might even now be able to find a seed pearl if he sought for it
+patiently.
+
+It is not to be doubted that rich stores of pearls were found. Some were
+distributed to the officers and men; but the bulk of them, strange to
+say, were left undisturbed, to await the return of the Spaniards another
+day. De Soto was still intent on searching for gold, and he would hear
+of nothing else. He would neither settle among the queen's people for a
+season, nor return to Tampa with the great store of pearls discovered.
+Being a resolute man and of few words, he had his way, and made
+preparations to journey farther north to the province called Chiaha,
+which was governed by a great Indian king. The conduct of the Spaniards
+had been so cruel during their stay at Cutifachiqui, that the queen had
+come to regard them with fear and hatred, and she refused to supply
+them with guides and burden bearers. De Soto thereupon placed her under
+guard; and when he took up his march for Chiaha, the queen who had
+received him with so much grace, dignity, and hospitality, was compelled
+to accompany him on foot, escorted by her female attendants. The old
+Spanish chronicler is moved to remark that "it was not so good usage
+as she deserved for the good will she shewed and the good entertainment
+that she had made him." This was the return the Spanish leader made
+to the queen who had received and entertained his army,--to seize her,
+place her under guard, and compel her to accompany his expedition on
+foot.
+
+One reason why De Soto made the queen his prisoner and carried her with
+the expedition was to use her influence in controlling the Indians along
+his line of march. The result was all that he could have expected. In
+all the towns through which the Spaniards passed, the queen commanded
+the Indians to carry the burdens of the army; and thus they went for a
+hundred leagues, the Indians obeying the queen without question. After a
+march of seven days, De Soto arrived at the province of Chelaque, which
+was the country of the Cherokees. Here the soldiers added to their
+stores of provisions, and renewed their march; and on May 15 they
+arrived in the province of Xualla, the chief town of which is supposed
+to have been situated in the Nacoochee valley. Inclining his course
+westwardly from the Nacoochee valley, De Soto set out for Guaxule, which
+marked the limit of the queen's dominion, and which has been identified
+as Old Town, in Murray County. On this march the queen made her escape,
+taking with her a cane box filled with large pearls of great value. This
+box had been borne by one of the queen's attendants up to the moment
+when she disappeared from the Spanish camp. De Soto made every effort
+to recapture the queen. No doubt the bloodhounds, which formed a part of
+the expedition, were called in to aid in the search; but it was all to
+no purpose. The queen hid herself as easily as a young partridge hides,
+and neither men nor dogs could find her. De Soto went on his way,
+deploring the loss of the valuable pearls.
+
+From Nacoochee to Murray County the march was fatiguing. The route lay
+over mountains as well as valleys. One of the foot soldiers, Juan Terron
+(his folly has caused history to preserve his name), grew so weary on
+this march, that he drew from his wallet a linen bag containing six
+pounds of pearls. Calling to a cavalryman, Juan Terron offered him the
+bag of pearls if he would carry them. The cavalryman refused the offer,
+and told his comrade to keep them. But Juan Terron would not have it so.
+He untied the bag, whirled it around his head, and scattered the pearls
+in all directions. This done, he replaced the empty bag in his wallet,
+and marched on, leaving his companions amazed at his folly. Thirty of
+the pearls were recovered by the soldiers. The gems were of great size,
+and perfect in every particular; and it was estimated that the six
+pounds of pearls would have fetched six thousand ducats in Spain (over
+twelve thousand dollars). The folly of the foot soldier gave rise to
+a saying in the army, that is no doubt current in Spain to this
+day,--"There are no pearls for Juan Terron," which means that a fool
+makes no profits.
+
+Continuing their march, the Spaniards came to the town of Chiaha,--a
+site that is now occupied by the flourishing city of Rome. De Soto
+remained at Chiaha a month, sending out exploring expeditions in search
+of the much-coveted gold. They found traces of the precious metal, but
+nothing more. On the 1st of July, 1540, De Soto left Chiaha, going down
+the valley of the Coosa. His expedition was organized by the spirit of
+greed. It spread desolation wherever it went, and it ended in disaster
+and despair. De Soto himself found a grave in the waters of the
+Mississippi, and the survivors who made their way back home were broken
+in health and spirits.
+
+An attempt has been made to throw a halo of romance over this march
+of the Spaniards through the wilderness of the New World, but there
+is nothing romantic or inspiring about it. It was simply a search for
+riches, in which hundreds of lives were most cruelly sacrificed, and
+thousands of homes destroyed.
+
+
+
+
+OGLETHORPE AND HIS GENTLE COLONY
+
+General James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of the Colony of Georgia,
+was among the few really good and great men that history tells us of.
+We need to keep a close eye on the antics of history. She places the
+laurels of fame in the hands of butchers, plunderers, and adventurers,
+and even assassins share her favors; so that, if we are going to enjoy
+the feast that history offers us, we must not inquire too closely into
+the characters of the men whom she makes heroes of. We find, when we
+come to look into the matter, that but few of those who figured as the
+great men of the world have been entirely unselfish; and unselfishness
+is the test of a man who is really good and great. Judged by this test,
+General Oglethorpe stands among the greatest men known to history.
+
+He had served in the army with distinction, as his father had before
+him. He was on the staff of the great soldier Eugene of Savoy, and
+under that commander made himself conspicuous by his fidelity and
+fearlessness. A story is told of him that is interesting, if not
+characteristic. While serving under Eugene, he one day found himself
+sitting at table with a prince of Wuertemberg. He was a beardless
+youngster, and the prince thought to have some sport with him. Taking up
+a glass of wine, the prince gave it a fillip, so that a little flew in
+Oglethorpe's face. The young Englishman, looking straight at the prince,
+and smiling, said, "My prince, that is only a part of the joke as the
+English know it: I will show you the whole of it." With that he threw a
+glassful of wine in the prince's face. An old general who sat by laughed
+dryly, and remarked, "He did well, my prince: you began it."
+
+[Illustration: Oglethorpe 028]
+
+Born in 1689, Oglethorpe entered the English army when twenty-one years
+of age. In 1714 he became captain lieutenant of the first troop of the
+queen's guards. He shortly afterwards joined Eugene on the continent,
+and remained with that soldier until the peace of 1718. On the death of
+his brother, he succeeded to the family estate in England. In 1722 he
+was elected to Parliament from Haslemere, county of Surrey, and
+this borough he represented continuously for thirty-two years. His
+parliamentary career was marked by wise prudence and consistency;
+and his sympathies were warmly enlisted for the relief of unfortunate
+soldiers, and in securing reform in the conduct of prisons. In this way
+Oglethorpe became a philanthropist, and, without intending it, attracted
+the attention of all England. Pope, the poet, eulogizes his "strong
+benevolence of soul."
+
+In that day and time, men were imprisoned for debt in England. The
+law was brutal, and those who executed it were cruel. There was no
+discrimination between fraud and misfortune. The man who was unable to
+pay his debts was judged to be as criminal as the man who, though able,
+refused to pay. Both were thrown into the same prison, and subjected
+to the same hardships. In "Little Dorrit," Charles Dickens has told
+something of those unfortunates who were thrown into prison for debt.
+
+There was apparently nothing too atrocious to be sanctioned by the
+commercial ambition of the English. It armed creditors with the power to
+impose the most cruel burdens upon their debtors, and it sanctioned the
+slave trade. Many crimes have been committed to promote the commercial
+supremacy of Great Britain, and on that blind policy was based the law
+which suffered innocent debtors to be deprived of their liberty and
+thrown into prison.
+
+This condition of affairs Oglethorpe set himself to reform; and while
+thus engaged, he became impressed with the idea that many of the
+unfortunates, guilty of no crime, and of respectable connections, might
+benefit themselves, relieve England of the shame of their imprisonment,
+and confirm and extend the dominion of the mother country in the New
+World, by being freed from the claims of those to whom they owed money,
+on condition that they would consent to become colonists in America.
+To this class were to be added recruits from those who, through lack
+of work and of means, were likely to be imprisoned on account of their
+misfortunes. Oglethorpe was also of the opinion that men of means,
+enterprise, and ambition could be enlisted in the cause; and in this he
+was not mistaken.
+
+He had no hope whatever of personal gain or private benefit. The plan
+that he had conceived was entirely for the benefit of the unfortunate,
+based on broad and high ideas of benevolence; and so thoroughly was this
+understood, that Oglethorpe had no difficulty whatever in securing
+the aid of men of wealth and influence. A charter or grant from the
+government was applied for, in order that the scheme might have the
+sanction and authority of the government. Accordingly a charter was
+granted, and the men most prominent in the scheme of benevolence were
+incorporated under the name of "The Trustees for establishing the
+Colony of Georgia in America." Georgia in America, was, under the terms
+of the charter, a pretty large slice of America. It embraced all that
+part of the continent lying between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers,
+and extending westerly from the heads of these rivers in direct lines to
+the South Seas; so that the original territory of Georgia extended from
+ocean to ocean.
+
+In aid of this enterprise, Oglethorpe not only contributed largely from
+his private means, and solicited contributions from his wealthy friends,
+but wrote a tract in which he used arguments that were practical as well
+as ingenious.
+
+On the 17th of November, 1732, all arrangements having been completed,
+the "Anne" set sail for the Colony of Georgia, accompanied by
+Oglethorpe, who furnished his own cabin, and laid in provisions not
+only for himself, but for his fellow-passengers. On the 13th of January,
+1733, the "Anne" anchored in Charleston harbor. From Charleston the
+vessel sailed to Port Royal; and the colonists were soon quartered
+in the barracks of Beaufort-town, which had been prepared for their
+reception. Oglethorpe left the colonists at Beaufort, and, in company
+with Colonel William Bull, proceeded to the Savannah River. He went up
+this stream as far as Yamacraw Bluff, which he selected as the site of
+the settlement he was about to make. He marked out the town, and named
+it Savannah. The site was a beautiful one in Oglethorpe's day, and it is
+still more beautiful now. The little settlement that the founder of the
+Colony marked out has grown into a flourishing city, and art has added
+its advantages to those of nature to make Savannah one of the most
+beautiful cities in the United States.
+
+Close by the site which Oglethorpe chose for his colony was an Indian
+village occupied by the Yamacraws,--a small tribe, of which Tomochichi
+was chief. At this point, too, was a trading post, which had been
+established by a white man named John Musgrove. This man had married a
+half-breed woman whose Indian name was Coosaponakesee, but who was
+known as Mary Musgrove. In order to insure the friendly reception of his
+little colony and its future safety, Oglethorpe went to the village and
+had a talk with Tomochichi. Mary Musgrove not only acted as interpreter,
+but used her influence, which was very great, in favor of her husband's
+countrymen. This was fortunate, for the Indians were very uneasy when
+they learned that a colony of whites was to be established near their
+village, and some of them even threatened to use force to prevent it;
+but Oglethorpe's friendly attitude, and Mary Musgrove's influence, at
+last persuaded them to give their consent. They made an agreement to
+cede the necessary land, and promised to receive the colonists in a
+friendly manner. Oglethorpe returned to Beaufort when he had concluded
+this treaty, and the Sunday following his return was celebrated as a day
+of thanksgiving. After religious services there was a barbecue, which,
+history tells us, consisted of four fat hogs, turkeys, fowls English
+beef, a hogshead of punch, a hogshead of beer, and a quantity of wine.
+
+[Illustration: Mary Musgrove 032]
+
+On the 30th of January, 1733, the immigrants set sail from Beaufort, and
+on the afternoon of the next day they arrived at Yamacraw Bluff. On the
+site of the town that had already been marked off, they pitched four
+tents large enough to accommodate all the people. Oglethorpe, after
+posting his sentinels, slept on the ground under the shelter of the
+tall pines, near the central watch fire. As a soldier should, he slept
+soundly. He had planted the new Colony, and thus far all had gone well
+with him and with those whose interests he had charge of.
+
+To bring these colonists across the ocean, and place them in a position
+where they might begin life anew, was not a very difficult undertaking;
+but to plant a colony amongst savages already suspicious of the whites,
+and to succeed in obtaining their respect, friendship, and aid, was
+something that required wisdom, courage, prudence, and large experience.
+This Oglethorpe did; and it is to his credit, that, during the time he
+had charge of the Colony, he never in any shape or form took advantage
+of the ignorance of the Indians. His method of dealing with them was
+very simple. He conciliated them by showing them that the whites could
+be just, fair, and honorable in their dealings; and thus, in the very
+beginning, he won the friendship of those whose enmity to the little
+Colony would have proved ruinous.
+
+Providence favored Oglethorpe in this matter. He had to deal with an
+Indian chief full of years, wisdom, and experience. This was Tomochichi,
+who was at the head of the Yamacraws. From this kindly Indian the
+Georgia Colony received untold benefits. He remained the steadfast
+friend of the settlers, and used his influence in their behalf in every
+possible way, and on all occasions. Although he was a very old man,
+he was strong and active, and of commanding presence. He possessed
+remarkable intelligence; and this, added to his experience, made him one
+of the most remarkable of the Indians whose names have been preserved
+in history. There was something of a mystery about him that adds to the
+interest which his active friendship for the whites has given to his
+name. He belonged to the tribe of Lower Creeks; but for some reason or
+other, he, with a number of his tribemen, had been banished. The cause
+of his exile has never been made known; but at this late day it may be
+guessed that he became disgusted with the factional disputes among the
+Creeks, and sought in another part of the territory the peace and repose
+to which his years of service had entitled him; and that when he had
+taken this step, the factions which he had opposed succeeded in having
+him banished. Some such theory as this is necessary to account for the
+tributes that were paid to his character and influence by the Creek
+chiefs who assembled at Savannah to make a treaty with Oglethorpe.
+Tomochichi was ninety-one years old when the Georgia Colony was founded,
+and he had gathered about him a number of disaffected Creeks and
+Yemassees, known as the tribe of the Yamacraws. When the Creeks came to
+Savannah to meet Oglethorpe, the greatest of their chiefs said that
+he was related to Tomochichi, who was a good man, and had been a great
+warrior.
+
+Thus, with Oglethorpe to direct it, and with Tomochichi as its friend,
+the little Georgia Colony was founded, and, as we shall see, thrived and
+flourished.
+
+
+
+
+THE EMPRESS OF GEORGIA
+
+When Oglethorpe landed at Yamacraw Bluff, he was greatly aided in
+his efforts to conciliate the Indians by the wife of John Musgrove, a
+half-breed woman whose Indian name was Coosaponakesee. She was known by
+the colonists as Mary Musgrove, and her friendship for the whites was
+timely and fortunate. She was Oglethorpe's interpreter in his first
+interview with Tomochichi. She was very friendly and accommodating,
+giving aid to Oglethorpe and his colony in every possible way. Finding
+that she had great influence, and could be made very useful to the
+colonists, Oglethorpe employed her as interpreter, and paid her yearly
+one hundred pounds sterling, which in that day was equal to a great deal
+more than five hundred dollars; but Mary Musgrove earned all that was
+paid her, and more. She used all her influence in behalf of the whites.
+She aided in concluding treaties, and also in securing warriors from
+the Creek nation in the war that occurred between the colonists and the
+Spaniards who occupied Florida.
+
+General Oglethorpe had a sincere friendship for Mary Musgrove, and his
+influence over her was such that she never refused a request he made.
+If Oglethorpe had remained in Georgia, it is probable that the curious
+episode in which Mary took a leading part would never have occurred.
+
+Oglethorpe left Georgia on the 23d of July, 1743, and never returned.
+John Musgrove died shortly afterwards, and Mary married a man named
+Matthews, who also died. She then married a man named Thomas Bosomworth,
+who had been chaplain to Oglethorpe's regiment. In 1743, before
+Oglethorpe's departure, Bosomworth had been commissioned to perform all
+religious and ecclesiastical affairs in Georgia. Previous to that he had
+accepted a grant of lands, and had taken up his abode in the Colony. He
+appears to have been a pompous and an ambitious person, with just enough
+learning to make him dangerous.
+
+Before Mary Musgrove married Bosomworth she had never ceased to labor
+for the good of the Colony. No sacrifice was too great for her to make
+in behalf of her white friends. It is true, she had not been fully
+paid for her services; but she had faith in the good intentions of
+the government, and was content. In 1744, a year after Oglethorpe's
+departure from the Colony, Mary married Bosomworth, and after that her
+conduct was such as to keep the whites in constant fear of massacre and
+extermination.
+
+In 1745, Thomas Bosomworth went to England and informed the trustees
+of the Georgia Company that he intended to give up his residence in the
+Georgia Colony. The next year he returned to Georgia, and violated
+the regulations of the trustees by introducing six negro slaves on the
+plantation of his wife near the Altamaha River. This action was at once
+resented; and President Stephens, who had succeeded Oglethorpe in the
+management of the Colony's affairs, was ordered to have the negro slaves
+removed from the territory of Georgia. This was done, and from that time
+forth Bosomworth and his wife began to plot against the peace and
+good order of the Georgia Colony. He used the influence of his wife to
+conciliate the Indians, and secure their sympathy and support. While
+this was going on, he was busy in preparing a claim against the
+government of the Colony for the services rendered and losses sustained
+by his wife, which he valued at five hundred pounds sterling. In
+her name he also claimed possession of the islands of Ossabaw, St.
+Catharine, and Sapelo, and of a tract of land near Savannah which in
+former treaties had been reserved to the Indians.
+
+Bosomworth was shrewd enough not to act alone. In some mysterious way,
+not clearly told in history, he secured the sympathy and support of
+Major William Horton, commander of Oglethorpe's regiment stationed at
+Frederica, and other officers. Colonel Heron, who succeeded Major Horton
+as commander of the regiment in 1747, was likewise gained over to the
+cause of the Bosomworths. By the connivance of this officer, a body
+of Indians, with Malatche at their head, marched to Frederica for a
+conference. At this conference Malatche made a speech in which he told
+of the services which his sister Mary had rendered the colonists, and
+requested that a messenger be sent to England to tell the King that he,
+Malatche, was emperor of all the Creeks. He declared, also, that Mary,
+his sister, was confided in by the whole Creek nation, and that the
+nation had decided to abide by her will and desire.
+
+Bosomworth saw the necessity of pushing the matter forward, and so
+he suggested to Malatche the importance of having himself crowned as
+emperor by those who were with him. Accordingly a paper was drawn up
+giving to Malatche full authority as emperor. This done, Bosomworth was
+quick to procure from the Creek emperor a deed of conveyance to
+Thomas and Mary Bosomworth of the islands of Ossabaw, Sapelo, and St.
+Catharine.
+
+Matters went on peaceably for a while; but Bosomworth was active and
+energetic, and his wife appears to have been entirely under his control.
+He bought on credit a great number of cattle from planters in South
+Carolina, and these he placed on the islands that had been given him
+by Malatche. When his debts fell due, he was unable to pay them. Rather
+than surrender the property for which he was unable to pay, he suggested
+to his wife that she take the title of an independent empress. It is
+doubtful if she knew what an empress was; but she had an idea, that, if
+she claimed to be one, she would be able to buy some red calico at the
+nearest store, as well as an extra bottle of rum. So she fell eagerly
+into the Rev. Mr. Bosom-worth's plans. She sent word to the Creeks that
+she had suddenly become a genuine empress, and called a meeting of the
+big men of the nation. The big men assembled; and Mary made a speech,
+in which she insisted that she was the Empress of Georgia. She must have
+been a pretty good talker; for the Indians became very much excited, and
+pledged themselves to stand by her to the last drop of their blood.
+
+Having thus obtained the support of the Indians, Mary set out for
+Savannah, accompanied by a large body of them. She sent before her a
+messenger to inform the president of the Province that she had become
+empress over the whole territory belonging to the Upper and Lower
+Creeks; that she was on her way to demand the instant surrender of all
+the lands that had belonged to Doth nations; and that, if there should
+be any serious opposition to her demands, the settlement would be
+attacked and destroyed.
+
+[Illustration: Empress Mary 039]
+
+It was a dark hour for the colonists, who were vastly outnumbered by the
+Indians. The president and council were disturbed by the bold threats
+made by Mary Bosomworth. Their first plan was to meet the Indians
+peaceably, and, by gentle measures, find an opportunity to seize Mary
+Bosomworth and ship her to England. In the town of Savannah there were
+only one hundred and seventy men able to bear arms. The president of
+the Province sent a messenger to Mary, while she and her followers were
+still several miles distant, warning her to give up her wild scheme.
+Mary sent back a message expressing her contempt for the Colony and its
+officials. Thereupon the president of the Province determined to put
+the best possible face on the matter, and receive Mary and her savage
+followers boldly. Accordingly the militia was ordered under arms; and as
+the Indians entered the town, they were stopped by Colonel Noble Jones,
+who, at the head of a company of horse, demanded to know whether they
+came with friendly or hostile intentions. He received no satisfactory
+answer to his demand, whereupon he informed the Indians that they must
+ground their arms, as he had orders not to permit an armed man
+among them to set foot within the town. The Indians submitted to the
+unexpected demand, but with great reluctance.
+
+Having grounded their arms, the Indians were allowed to enter the town.
+They marched in regular order, headed by Thomas Bosomworth, who, decked
+out in full canonical robes, with Mary by his side, was followed by
+the various chiefs according to their rank. The army of Indians made a
+formidable appearance as they marched into the town, and the inhabitants
+were terror-stricken at the sight. They marched to the parade ground,
+where they found the militia drawn up to receive them. Here they were
+saluted with fifteen guns, and then conducted to the president's house.
+When the Indians were assembled there, Thomas and Mary Bosomworth were
+ordered to withdraw. Then the president and council asked the Indian
+chiefs in a friendly manner why they visited the town in so large a
+body, not having been sent for by any person in lawful authority. The
+Indians replied that Mary, their empress, was to speak for them, and
+that they would abide by what she said. They had heard that she was to
+be made a prisoner and sent across the great waters, and they wanted to
+know why they were to lose their queen. They said they intended no harm
+to the whites, and begged that their arms might be restored to them.
+Then, after talking with Bosomworth and his wife, they would return and
+settle all public affairs. Their arms were restored to them, but orders
+were given that on no account should any ammunition be issued until the
+true purpose of their visit was made known.
+
+The Indians then had a conference with Mary Bosomworth, and on the
+following day began to conduct themselves riotously, running up and down
+the streets like madmen. As all the men were obliged to perform guard
+duty, the women were compelled to remain alone in their houses. They
+were in a constant state of terror and alarm, expecting every moment to
+be set upon and killed by the unruly savages. While the confusion was at
+its worst, a rumor was circulated that the Indians had cut off the head
+of the president of the council. The report was false; but the colonists
+were in such a state of excitement, that they could scarcely be
+restrained from firing on the Indians. The situation was very critical.
+Great prudence was necessary in order to prevent bloodshed, and save the
+town from destruction.
+
+At this crisis orders were given to the militia to lay hold of Thomas
+Bosomworth, and place him in close confinement. When this order was
+carried out, Mary became frantic, and made threats of vengeance against
+the whole Colony. She cursed General Oglethorpe, declared that his
+treaties were fraudulent, and ordered the colonists to depart from her
+territory. She raved furiously, and claimed control over the entire
+earth. But while engaged in cutting up these extraordinary capers, she
+kept an eye on the leading men among the Indians, who she knew could be
+easily bribed.
+
+The president of the Province, finding that nothing could be done with
+the Indians while they remained under the influence of their so-called
+empress, caused Mary to be privately arrested, and placed her under
+guard with her husband. When this was done, quiet was at once restored.
+The Indians ceased to be boisterous. When the time seemed to be ripe,
+the president of the Province employed men acquainted with the Creek
+language to entertain the chiefs and their warriors in the friendliest
+way. A feast was prepared; and in the midst of it the chiefs were told
+that Bosomworth had become involved in debt, and was anxious to secure
+not only all the lands of the Creeks, but also a large share of the
+bounty paid to them by the King of England, so that he might be able to
+pay his creditors in Carolina. He was also told that the King's presents
+were intended only for the Indians; that the lands near the town were
+reserved for them for their encampments; that the sea islands were
+reserved for them to hunt upon when they should come to bathe in the
+salt waters; and that neither Mary nor her husband had any right to
+these lands, which were the common property of the Creek nations.
+
+For the moment this policy was successful. Even Malatche, Mary's
+brother, seemed to be satisfied; and many of the chiefs declared that
+they were convinced that Bosomworth had deceived them, and that they
+would trust him no more. But Malatche, at his own request, had another
+talk with Thomas and Mary Bosomworth, and was again won over to support
+their wild pretensions; so that, when the Indians were gathered together
+to receive their shares of the royal bounty, Malatche stood up in the
+midst of them, and delivered a most violent speech in favor of the
+claims of Mary as the Empress of Georgia. He declared that she had three
+thousand warriors at her command, and that every man of them would take
+up arms in her defense. At the conclusion of his speech, Malatche drew
+forth a paper and presented it to the president of the council This
+paper was merely the sum and substance of Malatche's speech; and it
+was so clearly the production of Bosomworth, that the effect was far
+different from what the Indians had expected. The astonishment of the
+president and council was so apparent, that Malatche begged to have the
+paper again, so that he might deliver it to the person from whom he had
+received it.
+
+It was important that another conference should be had with the Indians.
+Accordingly they were called together again; and the president of the
+Province made an address, recalling to their minds the fact that when
+General Oglethorpe and his colony landed in Georgia, they found Mary,
+then the wife of John Musgrove, living in a hut at Yamacraw; that at
+that time she was comparatively poor and friendless, being neglected
+and despised by the Creeks, and going about in rags; that General
+Oglethorpe, finding that she could speak both the English and the Creek
+tongues, employed her as an interpreter, gave her rich clothes, and made
+her a woman of some consequence; that she was respected by the colonists
+until she married Thomas Bosomworth, but from that time forth they no
+longer had any confidence in her; that she had no lands of her own; and
+that General Oglethorpe had no treaty with her, but dealt with the old
+and wise leaders of the Creeks, who voluntarily surrendered their waste
+lands to the whites. The president then went on to show that Mary's
+claims had been invented by Thomas Bosomworth as an easy means of
+paying a debt of four hundred pounds which he owed in South Carolina for
+cattle, and that his quarrel with the colonists was due to the fact
+that they had refused to give him a third part of the royal bounty which
+belonged by right to the Indians.
+
+At this point the Creek chiefs begged the president to stop. They had
+heard enough to convince them, they said, and now they wanted to smoke
+the pipe of peace. Apparently this was a happy ending to a very serious
+dispute. But at the very moment when everything was serene, Mary
+Bosomworth made her appearance amongst those who were patching up their
+differences. She had escaped from her guards, and, having secured a
+supply of rum, now made her appearance drunk and furious. She filled the
+air with threats. The president told her, that, unless she ceased her
+efforts to poison the minds of the Indians, he would again order her
+into close confinement. Thereupon Mary turned to Malatche and told him
+what the president had said. In a rage, Malatche seized his arms, and,
+calling to the rest of the Indians to do the same, dared the whites to
+touch the empress. The uproar was great. Every Indian had his tomahawk
+in his hand, and the council expected nothing less than instant death.
+
+At this moment, Captain Noble Jones, who commanded the guard, ordered
+the Indians to deliver up their arms. The savages were overawed by the
+coolness and courage of this intrepid officer. They yielded up their
+arms, and Mary was shut in a private room, and a guard set over her.
+There she was securely kept, and while the Indians remained she had no
+further communication with them. Her husband was then sent for, and
+the president and council tried to reason with him; but he remained
+obstinate, declaring that he would stand up for his wife's rights to
+the last. Finding Bosomworth unreasonable, the council caused him to
+be seized and confined. This done, the authorities then set about
+persuading the Indians to leave the town peaceably and return to their
+own settlements. This the savages did after a while, leaving Savannah in
+small parties until all were gone.
+
+Finding himself no longer supported by the Indians, Thomas Bosomworth
+at last repented of his folly. He wrote to the president and council,
+apologizing for his wanton conduct. He acknowledged the title of his
+wife to be groundless, and relinquished all claim to the lands of the
+Province. Though his offense had been serious, the colonists pardoned
+him, and thus ended the career of Coosaponakesee as Empress of Georgia.
+
+And yet, after all, the Rev. Thomas Bosomworth had his way. Mary seems
+to have lived long; and her husband pressed her claims in London,
+so that, when Henry Ellis was made governor of the Province, he was
+authorized, in 1759, to sell the islands of Ossabaw and Sapelo, as well
+as other Indian lands near Savannah, and out of the moneys received to
+settle the demands of the Bosomworths, and to give them a title to
+the Island of St. Catharine, which they had settled and improved. Mary
+Bosomworth was given four hundred and fifty pounds for goods she had
+expended in the King's service, and it was provided also that she should
+be allowed sixteen hundred and fifty pounds for her services as agent.
+In addition, she was given two thousand pounds, the sum for which
+Ossabaw and Sapelo sold at auction. A grant of St. Catharine Island was
+also made to Mary Bosomworth; so that it may be considered that she was
+richly rewarded for the many good turns she did the colonists in
+her better days, before her mind had been poisoned by the Rev. Mr.
+Bosomworth.
+
+
+
+
+THE LIBERTY BOYS.
+
+[Illustration: The Liberty Boys 048]
+
+In 1765, what is known as the Stamp Act was passed by the Parliament of
+Great Britain, in spite of all the protests made by the agents of
+the Colonies. The people of the Colonies felt that taxation without
+representation was an exercise of power not to be tolerated.
+
+The Stamp Act itself was a very small matter; but many of the American
+Colonies had been setting up claims of independence in various matters.
+As Benjamin Franklin said, the British nation was provoked by these
+claims of independence, and all parties proposed by this piece of
+legislation to settle the question once for all. While the agents of the
+Colonies, and among them Franklin, protested against the Stamp Act, none
+of them supposed that it would be met by armed resistance; and yet the
+terms of the act were insolent and sweeping. It was provided that if the
+stamps were not used, "marriages would be null and void, notes of
+hand valueless, ships at sea prizes to the first captors, suits at
+law impossible, transfers of real estate invalid, inheritances
+irreclaimable." In spite of these sweeping terms, Benjamin Franklin did
+not doubt that the act would be carried into effect, and other patriotic
+Americans thought that the colonists should submit. Even James Otis of
+Boston, who was afterwards among the first to advocate the calling of an
+American congress to deliberate upon the propriety of the acts of Great
+Britain, was of this opinion.
+
+The Georgia authorities regarded the stamp duty as just as any that
+could be generally imposed on the Colonies, though the manner of
+imposing it greatly inspired alarm. But while the other Colonies were
+hesitating, a voice was heard in Virginia. Patrick Henry, speaking
+for the Virginians, made an eloquent protest against the law, and his
+boldness kindled into flames the spirit of opposition that had been
+smoldering in all the Colonies. The Sons of Liberty were organized
+North and South. In Georgia they were known as "Liberty Boys." "Liberty,
+property, and no stamps!" was the cry, and it was a cry that stirred the
+country from one end to the other.
+
+The congress suggested by James Otis of Boston assembled on Monday, the
+7th of October, 1765, Georgia had no delegates in the congress, but
+was represented by a messenger who was sent to obtain a copy of the
+proceedings. Such representation was not because the Colony of Georgia
+failed to sympathize with the purpose for which the congress was called,
+but was entirely due to the influence and popularity of Governor Wright,
+the royal governor, who was not only a good man personally, but wise,
+prudent, and far-seeing. Owing to his exertions, Georgia was not
+represented in the person of delegates. The speaker of the Georgia
+House of Assembly had indeed called a convention of the members for the
+purpose of selecting delegates to the Colonial Congress called to meet
+in New York, and sixteen members had responded to the call; but such
+was the influence of Governor Wright, that these members of the assembly
+were prevailed upon not to send delegates to the congress. But they
+could not be prevented from preparing and sending a response to the
+Massachusetts invitation. They had resolved, they said, to support
+heartily every measure that might be suggested for the support of the
+common rights of the Colonies.
+
+We learn from the letters of Governor Wright, written to the Earl of
+Halifax, that it was as much as he could do (and he was a very active
+as well as a very wise governor) to prevail on the people to maintain at
+least the outward show of loyalty to the King. And he was not successful
+even in this, for he informs another correspondent (Mr. Secretary
+Conway) on the 31st of January, 1766, that the same spirit of "sedition,
+or rather rebellion, which first appeared at Boston," had reached
+Georgia, and that he had been constantly engaged for the space of three
+months in trying to convince the people that they ought to submit to the
+King's authority until they could point out their grievances and apply
+for redress in a constitutional way. Governor Wright also states to
+the same correspondent that he has had much trouble in preserving from
+destruction at the hands of the people the stamp papers that had been
+forwarded for the collection of the tax. He received "incendiary"
+letters; he had to issue proclamations against riots and "tumultuous
+and unlawful assemblies;" and he had also to take measures against the
+Liberty Boys, who began to have private meetings, and who had formed
+themselves into a society to oppose and prevent the distribution of the
+stamp papers.
+
+In short, the good governor was kept in a constant state of alarm lest
+the Liberty Boys should seize some advantage and cause his Majesty the
+King of England to have a moment of grief. The Liberty Boys were so
+active, and made so many threatening demonstrations, that Governor
+Wright was driven to what he describes as extreme measures. He was
+compelled to send the obnoxious stamp papers to a place of safety to
+prevent the people from destroying them; and when he had the papers
+securely hidden, he was compelled to place men on duty day and night to
+protect the precious stamps. He was obliged to send a posse of men to
+protect the stamp distributer by hiding him, and was then moved to send
+him into the country for a season, in order to avoid the resentment of
+the people; and then, after all his trouble, the good governor found
+that the people had determined not to apply for any papers, stamped
+or unstamped, until the King had acted on the petitions sent from the
+Colonies. No wonder that he was moved to call it "a wretched situation."
+It was indeed a wretched situation for one who had no higher ideas of
+duty than to continue to serve the King and oppose the interests of the
+people.
+
+There was something more of an uproar in South Carolina than in Georgia;
+but the truth of history appears to be that the resistance offered to
+the Stamp Act in Georgia was much more serious than that displayed in
+Carolina. Although Governor Wright used all his influence to support the
+act, the people exercised so much vigilance in watching the stamp papers
+and the officer sent to issue them, that none of the papers found their
+way into use.
+
+The Colonies were bordering on a state of revolution, when, through the
+influence of the Earl of Chatham, the Stamp Act was repealed. There
+was great rejoicing among the people, and a general manifestation of a
+renewal of loyalty to the mother country. But the seeds of dissension
+had been sown. The Stamp Act unnecessary and uncalled for, had given the
+people cause to ponder over their real relations to the Crown; and out
+of the discussion that had taken place arose a spirit of independence
+that grew and thrived and spread day by day.
+
+In short, the repeal of the Stamp Act gave the people of the Colonies
+only momentary satisfaction. Their success in securing its repeal
+gave them a new taste for liberty of action, and a new sense of their
+importance as individuals. But King George III. was never satisfied with
+the repeal of the Stamp Act of 1765. He declared that it had wounded
+the Majesty of England. It fretted him, and the irritation that he felt
+extended like a contagion to his cabinet. When the Earl of Chatham died,
+there was no statesman to take his place. The mantle of his office fell
+on Charles Townshend, who was more anxious to please the King than to
+secure good government to the people of the Colonies. He was anxious
+for the British Government to assert with vigor its right to govern the
+Colonies as it saw fit.
+
+Meanwhile the spirit of independence in the Colonies continued to assert
+itself more openly day by day, and the determination grew among them
+not to submit to taxation without representation in Parliament. The
+organization of Sons of Liberty and Liberty Boys grew and spread both
+North and South. One of the most fruitful causes of discontent was the
+fact that Georgia and the other Colonies were compelled to depend upon
+the will of the British Government in all matters. Every act passed by
+a colonial assembly must receive the sanction of the British Parliament
+before it became a law. Petitions were disregarded. Frequently there
+was a delay of two years between the passage of an act by the Colonial
+General Assembly and its ratification. But every measure had to receive
+the approval of the Crown. While the affairs of the country were in this
+peculiar condition, the people became more and more dissatisfied.
+
+It is now known that Governor James Wright, loyal to the King as he
+proved himself to be, was fully sensible of the injustice to which
+the Colonies were compelled to submit. On the 15th of August, 1769, he
+addressed a letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, which was not read until
+fifteen months after it was written. In this letter the governor warned
+the British cabinet that the Colonies would never submit to taxation
+without representation. There was no disaffection, he said, toward the
+King or the royal family, but simply a determination on the part of the
+people to stand on their rights. But the governor's letter lay unread
+for fifteen months, and there was no reply to the numerous petitions
+sent from the Colonies. At last the Americans determined to appeal to
+the pockets instead of to the sentiments of the people of Great Britain.
+They determined to import no goods whatever that could be manufactured
+or produced at home.
+
+This determination, instead of causing the British people to conciliate
+the Americans by securing the repeal of unfriendly laws, turned the
+popular opinion against the Colonies; and this feeling was intensified
+by the Boston Tea Party. A bill was passed by both Houses of the British
+Parliament to close the port of Boston, and the discussion of the
+measure gave an opportunity to some of the statesmen of the mother
+country to show their spite. Another law was passed, limiting and
+cutting down the power of the representative assembly of Massachusetts,
+and providing that town meetings should not be held except on permission
+in writing from the royal governor. Another act was passed, giving the
+governor of the Province the power to send to Great Britain or to other
+Colonies persons indicted for murder or charged with capital crimes
+committed in aiding the government of Massachusetts. These acts,
+intended to humiliate the Colonies, had the effect of inflaming them,
+and the Liberty Boys grew in numbers and determination.
+
+[Illustration: Tondee's Tavern 055]
+
+On the 20th of July, 1774, "The Georgia Gazette," published at Savannah,
+contained an invitation to the people of the Province to meet at
+Tondee's Tavern on the 27th of July to take into consideration the
+unjust laws that had been passed by the British Parliament. The cause
+of Massachusetts was the cause of all. The meeting was held, and stood
+adjourned to the 10th of August, in order to give all the parishes an
+opportunity to be represented by delegates. Governor Wright, loyal to
+the last, issued a proclamation warning the people of the Province to
+avoid attending the meeting; but the proclamation was disregarded, and a
+meeting of the people of the Province was held at Tondee's Tavern on
+the 10th of August, 1774. Resolutions were adopted, declaring that
+his Majesty's subjects in America owed the same allegiance, and were
+entitled to the same rights and privileges, as their fellow-subjects
+in Great Britain; that the act lately passed for blockading the port
+of Boston was contrary to the British constitution; that the act for
+abolishing the charter of Massachusetts Bay tended to the subversion of
+American rights; that the Parliament of Great Britain had not, nor ever
+had, the right to tax his Majesty's American subjects; and that every
+demand for the support of government should be by requisition made to
+the several houses of representatives. The resolutions covered all the
+grievances of the people of the Colonies.
+
+Meanwhile, Governor Wright was not idle. He called a convention of
+Royalists, which met, and signed a protest against the resolutions.
+Copies of this protest were made, and sent into all the parishes, by the
+governor's friends. Under pressure, many timid men who were really in
+sympathy with the Liberty Boys signed the protest. The signatures of
+dead men were used, and other frauds practiced, in order to make the
+demonstration in favor of the King sufficient to overawe those who
+had pledged themselves to American independence. In all this, Governor
+Wright was aided by the fact that the only newspaper in the Province,
+"The Georgia Gazette," was under his control. He was also aided by the
+geographical situation of Georgia, and by his own personal popularity.
+He had made a good governor. He had worked as hard for the prosperity
+and progress of the Province as he now worked to prevent the people from
+joining the movement for independence.
+
+The governor was successful to the extent that he was able to prevent
+Georgia from sending duly accredited representatives to the First
+Continental Congress; and this fact has been taken by some writers of
+history to mean that the spirit of liberty and independence was not as
+earnest and as enthusiastic in Georgia as in the other Provinces. Later,
+when Georgia was overrun by British and Tory influences, and appeared to
+be conquered, ill-natured critics recalled the fact that her people were
+slow to join hands with those who advocated resistance to tyranny.
+
+When the South Carolina delegates to the First Continental Congress
+returned to their homes, bearing with them copies of the Declaration of
+Colonial Rights, the Liberty Boys of Georgia renewed their movement with
+great zeal. Copies of the Declaration were distributed throughout the
+Province. The result was, that the Liberty Boys grew steadily stronger
+in numbers, and more defiant in action. An idea of the situation at this
+time may be gathered from a letter written by Governor Wright to the
+Earl of Dartmouth on the 13th of December, 1774. He declared that the
+spirit of independence, or, as he called it, the spirit of enthusiasm,
+which many were possessed of before, "is raised to such a height of
+frenzy, that God knows what the consequences may be, or what man or
+whose property may escape their resentment."
+
+No doubt the amiable governor misunderstood the situation. What he
+regarded as "frenzy" was merely the eager desire and the determination
+of the Liberty Boys of Georgia to redeem themselves in the eyes of their
+brethren in the other Colonies. They were humiliated by their failure to
+send representatives to the Continental Congress, and they endeavored to
+redeem themselves by increased zeal and enthusiasm.
+
+They arranged to hold a provincial congress in Savannah on the 18th
+of January, 1775. Governor Wright, on hearing of this, determined to
+convene the Provincial General Assembly on the same day, hoping and
+believing that this would prevent a meeting of the Provincial Congress,
+or greatly hamper its action. But the governor was mistaken. The
+General Assembly met in response to the call, and so did the Provincial
+Congress. Governor Wright addressed the members, declaring to them the
+danger of the situation, and imploring them to be prudent and loyal.
+The upper house of the General Assembly made a response agreeable to the
+governor's expectations, but the lower house gave to its address a tone
+of independence that was not at all pleasing to the King's officer. He
+showed his displeasure, and placed a serious obstacle in the way of the
+Liberty Boys by adjourning the General Assembly until the 9th of the
+following May. The Assembly had met on the 18th of January, and was
+adjourned on the 10th of February; so that the Liberty Boys, who made up
+a majority of the lower house, had no time to appoint delegates to the
+Philadelphia congress soon to be held, nor to take any official action
+in behalf of the independence of Georgia.
+
+Governor Wright's plans were certainly very shrewdly laid. His
+adjournment of the General Assembly not only hampered the Provincial
+Congress (or convention) that had met at Savannah simultaneously with
+the legislature, but threw the delegates into confusion and disorder,
+and was the means of causing the convention to adjourn without taking
+such action as the friends of liberty hoped for. All that it did was
+to elect three representatives to the Philadelphia congress. This
+was something, but it was not enough. The Liberty Boys expected
+the Provincial Convention to adopt all the measures and resolutions
+suggested by the Continental Congress. They therefore felt mortified
+when the convention adjourned, and left Georgia still outside the
+continental association.
+
+This event was a serious embarrassment to the other Colonies, and
+aroused the anger of those friends of liberty who were unable to
+understand the peculiar conditions that surrounded the movement for
+independence in Georgia. The friends of liberty in South Carolina were
+so indignant, that they denounced the Georgians "as unworthy the
+rights of freemen, and as inimical to the liberties of their country."
+Throughout the Colonies, the partisans of American independence were
+deeply wounded by the apparent hesitation of the Georgians, while the
+Royalists were delighted.
+
+Though the Provincial Convention remained in session only seven days
+before adjourning, the delegates of St. John's Parish had withdrawn from
+the body. These delegates insisted on an emphatic indorsement of the
+acts of the Continental Congress, and they retired as soon as they
+found there would be some difficulty in bringing some of the hesitating
+members to their way of thinking. They retired, and selected Dr. Lyman
+Hall to represent St. John's in the Philadelphia congress. He took his
+seat in that body, and although he cast no vote, he made his voice heard
+in the discussions.
+
+In spite of all the drawbacks which the Liberty Boys in Georgia had
+experienced, their enthusiasm did not cool. They never ceased their
+efforts, and the independence movement continued to grow. The public
+mind became more and more inflamed with resentment against the tyranny
+of King George and his Parliament, as the people heard of the progress
+of events in the more northern Colonies. By the 10th of May the people
+of Savannah had heard of the shedding of American blood by British
+troops at Lexington and Concord. As the news spread from parish to
+parish, the people became aroused, and the response of public sentiment
+was all that American patriots could expect.
+
+[Illustration: Seisure of Ammunition in Savannah 060]
+
+The first response of the Liberty Boys at Savannah was to seize the
+ammunition stored in the magazine. This event occurred on the night of
+the 11th of May, and was planned and carried out by the members of the
+Council of Safety. About six hundred pounds of powder fell into the
+hands of the Liberty Boys. Some was sent to South Carolina, and the rest
+was hidden in the garrets and cellars of the patriots who had seized it.
+Tradition says that some of this powder was sent to Massachusetts, where
+it was used by the patriots who drove the British before them at the
+battle of Bunker Hill.
+
+Other events occurred that showed the temper of the Liberty Boys. On the
+4th of June, when Governor Wright came to fire salutes in honor of King
+George's birthday, he found the cannon had been spiked, dismounted, and
+rolled to the bottom of the bluff. On the 5th of June the first liberty
+pole in the Colony was set up at Savannah. A young man named Hopkins,
+who spoke contemptuously of the members of the Committee of Public
+Safety was seized by a mob, tarred and feathered, placed in an
+illuminated cart, and paraded up and down the streets of Savannah.
+
+As the days went by, the independence movement in Georgia became more
+enthusiastic, the Liberty Boys more active. The first vessel armed and
+equipped for naval warfare during the Revolution was fitted up by
+the Liberty Boys of Georgia under the authority of the Provincial
+Convention, which had assembled in Savannah on the 4th of July, 1775.
+This event is interesting. The Carolina Committee of Safety had heard
+that a British ship had sailed for Georgia with a cargo of powder
+intended for the Indians and for the use of the Royalists. The
+Carolinians at once resolved to capture the ship and seize the cargo.
+To that end, two barges, manned by forty well-armed men, were embarked
+from Beaufort, and went to the mouth of the Savannah River, where they
+encamped on a point that commanded a full view of Tybee Lighthouse. The
+Provincial Convention, hearing of this expedition, offered to assist the
+officers in every way possible. There was an armed British schooner in
+the river at that time; and the Liberty Boys of Savannah determined to
+join forces with the Carolinians at Tybee, and effect her capture. For
+this purpose a schooner was equipped by the Provincial Convention, and
+placed under command of Captain Bowen and Joseph Habersham. This vessel
+was armed with ten carriage guns and swivels, and carried fifty men. The
+British armed vessel was not inclined to enter into a contest, but,
+when the Georgia schooner appeared, weighed anchor and sailed away. The
+schooner then took position beyond the harbor bar, and waited for the
+ship carrying the cargo of powder. She had not long to wait. On the 10th
+of July, 1775, the powder ship, commanded by Captain Maitland, made her
+appearance. Before entering Tybee Inlet, however, Captain Maitland saw
+the armed schooner. Suspecting that he was about to fall into a trap, he
+brought his vessel round, tacked, and stood out to sea. But he had gone
+too far. The Georgia schooner gave chase, and soon overtook and captured
+the ship. It was a fortunate capture for the Colonies. Five thousand
+pounds of powder were sent to Philadelphia, and nine thousand fell to
+the share of Georgia.
+
+The convention that commissioned the first armed vessel of the
+Revolution did more important work than this. It placed the Province
+of Georgia in political union with her sister Colonies, and gave her
+fellowship with those struggling Provinces. She was welcomed into the
+United Colonies with joyful demonstrations by the Continental Congress.
+By the 15th of April, 1776, the Liberty Boys in Georgia were so strong
+that Governor Wright had taken refuge on one of the King's vessels at
+Tybee; and on that date the patriots took full charge of the government
+of the Province. Archibald Bulloch was the first republican president of
+Georgia.
+
+This is how the Liberty Boys took the Province of Georgia from his
+Majesty the King, and made a free and independent government. Their
+struggle did not end here, but the details of that struggle must be left
+to history to relate.
+
+
+
+
+A GROUP OF CHARACTERS
+
+The Revolutionary War in Georgia developed some very romantic figures,
+which are known to us rather by tradition than by recorded history.
+First among them, on the side of the patriots, was Robert Sallette.
+Neither history nor tradition gives us the place of his birth or the
+date of his death; yet it is known that he played a more important part
+in the struggle in the Colony than any man who had no troops at his
+command. He seems to have slipped mysteriously on the scene at the
+beginning of the war. He fought bravely, even fiercely, to the end,
+and then, having nothing else to do, slipped away as mysteriously as
+he came. "In Liberty County," says history, "there lived during the
+Revolution a man by the name of Robert Sallette, distinguished for
+his opposition to the Tories. It is not known with certainty to what
+particular command he was attached. He appears to have been a sort of
+roving character, doing things in his own way." Here is the mystery of
+romance to begin with. Here is the wanderer,--the character so dear to
+the imagination of youth.
+
+"The Tories," says history further, "stood very much in dread of him;
+and well they might, for never had they a more, formidable foe." Here,
+then, is the hero and the wanderer combined in one person, and
+that person fighting for the holiest cause in which man can take up
+arms,--the rights and liberties of the people. What more could be asked?
+
+Curious as we may be to know something of the personal history of Robert
+Sallette, it is not to be found chronicled in the books. The French
+twist to his name makes it probable that he was a descendant of those
+unfortunate Acadians who, years before, had been stripped of their lands
+and possessions in Nova Scotia by the British, their houses and barns
+burned, and they themselves transported away from their homes. They were
+scattered at various points along the American coast. Some were landed
+at Philadelphia, and some were carried to Louisiana. Four hundred were
+sent to Georgia. The British had many acts of cruelty to answer for in
+those days, but none more infamous than this treatment of the gentle and
+helpless Acadians. It stands in history to-day a stain upon the British
+name.
+
+Another fact that leads to the belief that Robert Sallette was a
+descendant of the unfortunate Acadians was the ferocity with which he
+pursued the British and the Tories. The little that is told about
+him makes it certain that he never gave quarter to the enemies of his
+country.
+
+His name was a terror to the Tories. One of them, a man of considerable
+means, offered a reward of one hundred guineas to any person who would
+bring him the head of Robert Sallette. The Tory had never seen Sallette,
+but his alarm was such that he offered a reward large enough to tempt
+some one to assassinate the daring partisan. When Sallette heard of the
+reward, he disguised himself as a farmer, and provided himself with
+a pumpkin, which he placed in a bag. With the bag swinging across his
+shoulder, he made his way to the house of the Tory. He was invited in,
+and deposited the bag on the floor beside him, the pumpkin striking the
+boards with a thump.
+
+[Illustration: The head of Robert Sallette 066]
+
+"I have brought you the head of Robert Sallette," said he. "I hear that
+you have offered a reward of one hundred guineas for it."
+
+"Where is it?" asked the Tory.
+
+"I have it with me," replied Sallette, shaking the loose end of the bag.
+"Count me out the money and take the head."
+
+The Tory, neither doubting nor suspecting, counted out the money, and
+placed it on the table.
+
+"Now show me the head," said he.
+
+Sallette removed his hat, tapped himself on the forehead, and said,
+"Here is the head of Robert Sallette!"
+
+The Tory was so frightened that he jumped from the room, and Sallette
+pocketed the money and departed.
+
+On one occasion Robert Sallette is known to have spared the lives of two
+Tories, at least for a little while. Once when he and Andrew Walthour
+(for whom Walthourville in Georgia is named) and another man were riding
+along a narrow trail late in the afternoon, they met three other
+riders whom they suspected to be Tories. The plan that Sallette and his
+companions adopted to capture the men was very simple. Andrew Walthour,
+who was riding in front, was to pass the first and second men, Robert
+Sallette to pass the first. As Walthour came to the third man when
+Sallette had come to the second, and their companion to the first, the
+Liberty Boys seized the guns of the three simultaneously. The men had no
+opportunity either to fight or escape.
+
+"Dismount, gentlemen!" said Sallette. Then he addressed himself to the
+leader. "What is your name?"
+
+In reply to this, a fictitious name was given, as Sallette and his
+companions afterwards found out.
+
+"Where is your camp?" asked Sallette.
+
+"We are from over the river," answered the man, meaning the Altamaha.
+
+"Where did you cross?"
+
+"At Beards Ferry." This was where the Whigs and the Liberty Boys were
+most numerous.
+
+"That is not true!" exclaimed Sallette.
+
+Then he turned to the second man, asked the same questions, and received
+the same replies. He turned to the third man, asked the same questions,
+and received the same replies.
+
+"If you do not tell me the truth," exclaimed Sallette to this last man,
+"I'll cut off your head!"
+
+The man persisted, and Sallette was as good as his word. The others
+begged for their lives, and declared that they would guide Sallette
+straight to their camp. This they did; and Sallette, aided by his
+prisoners, captured a large party of Tories.
+
+Once when Robert Sallette and Andrew Walthour were marching with the
+advance guard of the American troops, they suddenly met the advance
+guard of the British. A short but sharp skirmish followed, during which
+a very large man of the British guard was killed. Observing that the
+dead man wore a pair of good boots, Sallette determined to get them.
+While he was pulling them off in the midst of a furious fire from the
+enemy, his companions called out to him to come away or he would surely
+be killed. "I must have the boots!" cried Sallette to his companions. "I
+want them for little John Way!"
+
+Here was fun in the midst of tragedy; for it is said that little John
+Way could have put both his feet and his fists into one of the boots.
+
+One day Sallette dressed himself up as a British officer and accepted
+an invitation to dine with a party of the enemy. Suddenly, in the midst
+of the toasting and drinking, Sallette drew his sword, killed the men
+who sat to the right and left of him, sprang on his horse, and rode off
+unhurt, though he was in such a hurry that he had no time to throw the
+bridle reins over the horse's head.
+
+At the White House, near Sunbury, Major Baker, of the patriot army, with
+thirty men, attacked and defeated a party of Tories under command of
+Captain Goldsmith.
+
+Among the slain was Lieutenant Gray, whose head was almost severed from
+his body by a stroke of Robert Sallette's sword.
+
+On many occasions, when a battle was in progress, Sallette would detach
+himself from the American army, gain the rear of the enemy, and kill
+many men before he was discovered. If this brave man was indeed a
+descendant of the Acadians, he avenged the wrongs of many of his
+countrymen.
+
+Another character who attracted attention during the War of the
+Revolution was Patrick Carr, whose hatred of the Tories made his name
+celebrated among the Liberty Boys of Georgia. Paddy Carr, as he was
+called, lived and died in Jefferson County. He was born in Ireland, but
+came to Georgia before the Revolution. When the independence movement
+began, he threw himself into it with all the ardor of his race. Owing to
+the cruelty of the Tories, he conceived a special hatred against them.
+He showed them no quarter. History gives but a word or two to his
+achievements, but tradition still keeps his name alive in the region
+where he operated. Like Sallette, he was an independent partisan; but,
+unlike Sallette, his operations were among those who could remember well
+enough, but who would not take the trouble to preserve the particulars
+of even the least of his exploits. We know that Patrick Carr lived. We
+know that he became famous where recklessness and daring were common.
+But that is nearly all we know. It is said of him that during the war he
+killed one hundred Tories with his own hands. Once, when praised for his
+bravery, he smiled and shook his head, saying that he would have made
+a very good soldier, but the Lord had given him a heart that was too
+merciful. He no doubt remembered the atrocities of the Tories in the
+section that is now Jefferson, Columbia, Burke, and Wilkes counties. The
+cruelties they committed in that region during the Revolution have no
+parallel in civilized warfare.
+
+Among the adventurous characters of that time, on the side of the
+British, Daniel McGirth stands easily first. The history of his career
+during the war is a strange one. He was born in South Carolina,
+and entered into the struggle against the British with the utmost
+enthusiasm. He was a brave man, a hard fighter, and one of the most
+active of those who took up arms against the King. He was an expert
+woodsman, and was at home in the saddle. He was assigned to duty as a
+scout, and was better equipped for that service, perhaps, than any man
+in the American army. The ease with which he secured information of the
+enemy's movements and plans, and the energy that marked his movements,
+made his services of great value to the patriot cause. This was not
+thoroughly appreciated by some of the officers under whom McGirth acted.
+
+He brought with him into the army a mare which he called "The Gray
+Goose." She is said to have been an elegant animal, and McGirth was
+very proud of her. With this mare under him, he always felt safe
+from pursuit. One of the American officers, who was a good judge of
+horseflesh, and who probably wanted to "cut a dash," as the saying is,
+saw this beautiful mare, and coveted her. Finding that McGirth scorned
+all offers to sell her, the officer adopted various means to obtain her.
+These efforts were resisted by McGirth, mainly on the ground that the
+mare was his own private property, and that she was essential to the
+duties he was called on to perform. Failing to gain his ends in this
+way, the officer continued to worry McGirth in other ways. He no doubt
+did something to rouse the ire of the scout, who was an irritable man,
+and who felt the importance of the service he was rendering to the
+cause. It is not now known how McGirth insulted the officer,--whether
+in a moment of passion he struck him, or whether he merely used rough
+language to him.
+
+Whatever the offense, McGirth was placed under arrest, tried by a
+court-martial, found guilty of violating the articles of war, and
+sentenced to be whipped. He received this punishment, and was placed
+in confinement again, where he was to remain until he received another
+whipping. While thus held, he saw his mare picketed near the camp, and
+he immediately resolved to escape. He was successful in this. Once free,
+he secured The Gray Goose, leaped into the saddle, turned around, and,
+in the face of his pursuers, pronounced threats of vengeance against all
+the Americans for his ill treatment.
+
+There is no doubt that he was illtreated; but if he had not been an
+ignorant man, he would not have pronounced against the cause of liberty
+on account of the treatment he received at the hands of individuals.
+But the savage in his nature was aroused, and he carried out his fierce
+threats to the fullest extent. For the time being, he attached himself
+to another American command; but at the first opportunity he deserted
+to the enemy, and became the scourge and terror of those who opposed the
+British cause. He spared none. His field extended from the Florida line
+to the Savannah River, in what is now Elbert County, and far into South
+Carolina. He appeared when least expected, and carried destruction with
+him. His mare became as noted as her master. In what was then Upper
+Georgia, she was known as "The Bald-faced Pony." On many an occasion
+he owed his life to the fleetness of his mare. But his vengeance was
+never satisfied: it was always active, and thirsting for the blood of
+the American patriot. The whim of the officer to possess McGirth's mare
+was a foolish one at best. It was the cause of great public and private
+suffering.
+
+[Illustration: McGirth and his mare 072]
+
+When South Carolina was rescued from the British, McGirth retreated
+into Georgia, and finally into Florida. When the Spaniards regained
+possession of that territory, he became subject to their laws. For some
+reason or other he was thrown into one of the dungeons of the old fort
+at St. Augustine, where he was confined for five years. When released,
+his health was broken, and it was with great difficulty that he managed
+to return to Sumter District, in South Carolina, where his wife lived.
+
+A very queer and eccentric character in the Revolution was Captain Rory
+Mcintosh, of Mallow. Though Rory was a kinsman of General Lachlan and
+Colonel John Mcintosh, who were among the most active Liberty Boys in
+Georgia, he took up arms for the King, and a very devoted Tory he was.
+His eccentricities would have been called whims if he had not stuck
+to them with such constancy. He was a Highlander and a follower of the
+Stuarts. How and why he became loyal to the new line of British kings,
+history does not state; but his clan had a chief, and he no doubt
+thought that every government ought to have a monarch. When the
+Revolution began, he was over sixty years of age, and was living
+comfortably on his plantation at Mallow; but he volunteered, and fought
+through the war.
+
+A story is told of Rory Mcintosh that once when the Spaniards held
+East Florida, he carried to St Augustine a drove of cattle. He received
+payment in dollars, which he placed in a canvas bag behind him on his
+horse. When near his home, the bag gave way, and a part of the money
+fell out. He secured what was left and rode on, paying no attention to
+that which had fallen from the bag. When in need of money some years
+after, he returned to the place where the dollars had spilled, picked
+up as many as he wanted, and went back home. Whenever he could, he went
+about accompanied by a piper. Rory was a tall, finely formed man,'with
+bristling whiskers and a ruddy complexion: consequently when he appeared
+on parade, he attracted great attention.
+
+[Illustration: Captain Rory McIntosh 074]
+
+In 1778 two expeditions were sent from St. Augustine for the purpose
+of attacking Savannah,--one by sea, and one by land under command of
+Lieutenant Colonel Prevost. This land expedition had been joined by
+Captain Roderick Mcintosh, in the capacity of a volunteer. He attached
+himself particularly to the infantry company commanded by Captain
+Murray. When the British laid siege to Sunbury and the fort, Captain
+Murray's company was in the line near the fort. One morning when Captain
+Rory had had a dram too much, he determined to sally out and summon
+the fort to surrender. His comrades tried to restrain him, but he was
+determined. Finally he strutted out, a drawn claymore in his hand, with
+his trusty slave Jim. He approached the fort and cried out,--
+
+"Surrender, you miscreants! How dare you presume to resist his Majesty's
+arms?"
+
+Colonel Mcintosh, who commanded the fort, saw at once the condition of
+Captain Rory, and forbade the men to fire. Then he threw open the gate,
+and said,--
+
+"Walk in, Mr. Mcintosh, and take possession."
+
+"No," cried Rory, "I'll not trust myself among such vermin. I order you
+to surrender!"
+
+At that moment a rifle was fired by some one in the fort, and the ball
+passed through Captain Rory's face from side to side under the eyes.
+He fell backwards, but immediately recovered, and stood on his feet
+flourishing his claymore. Then he began to walk backward, his face to
+the fort. Several shots were fired at him, and Jim called out,--
+
+"Run, massa, run! dey kill you!"
+
+"Run!" cried Rory scornfully. "You may run, but I belong to a race that
+never runs!"
+
+It was at the siege of Sunbury that Colonel Mcintosh, when summoned by
+Colonel Prevost to surrender the fort, sent back the reply, "Come and
+take it!"
+
+
+
+
+AUNT NANCY HART.
+
+There lived in Georgia, during the Revolutionary struggle, the most
+remarkable woman in some respects that the country has produced. To find
+her match, we shall have to go to the fables that are told about the
+Amazons. The Liberty Boys called her Aunt Nancy Hart. The Indians,
+struck by her wonderful feats in behalf of her country, called her "The
+War Woman;" and there is a creek in Elbert County, where she lived, that
+was named by the Indians "War Woman's Creek."
+
+There are other heroines to whom history has paid more attention, and
+whose deeds have been celebrated in song and story; but not one of them
+was more devoted to the high cause of freedom, or more courageous, or
+depended less on aid from others, than Aunt Nancy Hart. In this last
+respect, the War Woman of Georgia stands alone in history, just as she
+stood alone when the Tories were waging a war of extermination, sparing
+neither women nor children, in the region in which she lived. Invention
+and fable have kindly come to the aid of the most famous of the world's
+heroines, but neither fable nor invention has touched the character or
+the deeds of this heroine of the Revolution. She stands out on the
+pages of history rough, uncouth, hot-tempered, unmanageable, uneducated,
+impolite, ugly, and sharp-tongued; but, as her friends said of her,
+"What a honey of a patriot she was!" She loved the Liberty Boys as well
+as she loved her own children. It has been said that she was cruel; but
+this charge may as well be put out of sight. Before passing upon it,
+we should have to know what the War Woman's eyes had seen, and
+what terrible revelations her ears had heard. Standing for American
+independence in a region that swarmed with Tories, whose murderous deeds
+never have been and never will be fully set forth, Aunt Nancy Hart had
+to defend her own hearthstone and her own children.
+
+The maiden name of this remarkable woman was Morgan, and she was born in
+North Carolina. She married Benjamin Hart, a brother of Colonel Thomas
+Hart of Kentucky. Thomas Hart was the father of the wife of Henry Clay,
+and the uncle of the celebrated Thomas Hart Benton. Aunt Nancy and her
+husband moved to Georgia with the North Carolina emigrants, and settled
+on Broad River, in what is now Elbert County. She was nearly six feet
+high, and very muscular,--the result of hard work. She had red hair,
+and it is said that she was cross-eyed, but this has been denied on
+good authority. It matters little. Her eyes were keen enough to pierce
+through all Tory disguises, and that was enough for her. It is certain
+that her courage and her confidence kept alive the spark of liberty
+in hearts that would otherwise have smothered it, and was largely
+responsible for kindling it into the flame that finally swept the
+British out of that section, and subdued the Tories. When the Whigs and
+patriots who had been her neighbors were compelled to flee before the
+murderous Tories, she refused to go with them, but stood her ground and
+never ceased to speak her sentiments boldly. Nothing but the wholesome
+dread with which she had inspired them prevented the Tories from
+murdering her and her children. When General Elijah Clarke moved the
+women and children of the Broad River region to an asylum in Kentucky,
+and the Liberty Boys had taken refuge in South Carolina, Aunt Nancy Hart
+remained at home, and for a long and dismal period she was unprotected
+save by her own remarkable courage.
+
+At that period the houses were built of logs, and the chimneys were
+built of sticks plastered with clay. They were called "stack chimneys."
+One evening Aunt Nancy and her children were sitting around the fire, on
+which a pot of soap was boiling. Now, a pot of soap must be constantly
+stirred, and for this the strong, muscular arms of Aunt Nancy were
+peculiarly fitted. So she stirred the soap, and, as she stirred, told
+the youngsters the latest news of the war. Presently one of her children
+chanced to discover some one peeping through the crack of the chimney,
+eavesdropping. By a gesture or a nod of the head Aunt Nancy was informed
+of what was going on. She smiled, and grew more spirited in her talk,
+rattling away and laughing as she gave exaggerated accounts of the
+recent defeats of the Tories. As she talked, she stirred the bubbling
+soap, and kept her keen eyes on the crack where the eavesdropper had
+been seen. Suddenly she dashed a ladleful of boiling soap through the
+crack full into the face of the intruder. It was so quickly and deftly
+done, that the eavesdropper had no time to dodge the scalding stuff. He
+received the full benefit of it Blinded and half crazed by the pain,
+he howled and screamed at a tremendous rate. Aunt Nancy went out,
+and, after amusing herself at his expense, bound him fast and held
+him prisoner. The probability is that the next day she H tucked up her
+petticoats, shouldered her gun, and compelled the unlucky Tory to ford
+the river ahead of her; and that, once on the other side, she kept in
+constant communication with the Clarkes and with other partisans of the
+American cause.
+
+[Illustration: Aunt Nancy Hart 079]
+
+Her husband, whom she sometimes jokingly described as "a poor stick,"
+assisted her in her communications. A conch shell was kept at the
+spring, some distance from the house. On this conch shell the children
+were taught to blow the blasts that gave Mr. Hart information. One
+signal was, "The enemy is at hand;" another was, "Keep close;" another,
+"Make tracks for the swamp;" and still another was that he and his
+friends were wanted at the cabin.
+
+At the very darkest hour of the Revolution in Georgia, Aunt Nancy
+performed one of her most remarkable feats,--one that brought into play
+all the courage and devotion of her strong nature, and all the tact and
+audacity that belonged to her character.
+
+Brigadier General Andrew Williamson, with three hundred men, was
+encamped near Augusta. When Charleston fell, this officer, who was
+already a traitor, though his treachery had not been avowed, called his
+officers together, and expressed the opinion that it would be foolish
+to further resist the King. He therefore advised them to return to their
+homes, and there accept the protection which would be offered them. He
+then abandoned his command, which was immediately disbanded. Shortly
+afterwards Colonels Brown and Garrison, two partisans of the King's army
+who had made themselves notorious by their cruelty to Americans, seized
+Augusta. Brown had been tarred and feathered in Augusta just before the
+breaking-out of the Revolution, and he made the patriots of that town
+and of the country roundabout pay dearly for the indignities that
+had been heaped upon him on account of his loyalty to the Crown. He
+confiscated the property of the patriots, and issued an order banishing
+all Whig families beyond the borders of Georgia.
+
+Raiding parties were sent into the region in the neighborhood of Augusta
+to compel the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance to the King.
+One of these parties entered the house of Colonel John Dooly, a gallant
+officer, and murdered him in cold blood in the presence of his wife and
+children. Colonel Dooly was the father of Judge Dooly, who became famous
+in Georgia after the war.
+
+A detachment of this murdering party found its way to Aunt Nancy Hart's
+cabin. There were five Tories in the detachment, and Aunt Nancy received
+them coldly enough. They told her they had come to inquire into the
+truth of a report they had heard to the effect that she had aided a
+well-known rebel to escape from a company of King's men by whom he
+was pursued. With a twinkle of malice in her eyes, Aunt Nancy boldly
+declared that she had aided her Liberty Boy to escape, and then she
+described the affair.
+
+She said that one day she heard the gallop of a horse. Looking out, she
+saw a horseman approaching, and at once knew him to be a Whig flying
+from pursuers. She let down the bars near her cabin, told him to ride
+his horse right through her house, in at the front door and out at the
+back, to take to the swamp, and hide himself the best he could. She then
+put up the bars, entered her house, closed the doors, and went about her
+business. In a little while a party of Tories rode up, and called to her
+with some rudeness. She muffled her head and face in a shawl, opened
+the door slowly, and asked in a feeble voice who it was that wanted to
+pester a sick, lone woman. The Tories said they had been pursuing a man,
+and had traced him near her house. They wanted to know if any one had
+passed that way. "I told 'em," said Aunt Nancy to the listening Tories,
+"that I had seen a man on a sorrel horse turn out of the road into the
+woods a little ways back. So they went back and took to the woods, and
+my Whig boy got off safe and sound."
+
+Naturally this story, boldly told, did not please the five Tories who
+heard it; but something in the War Woman's eye prevented them from
+offering her any personal injury. Instead, they ordered her to give them
+something to eat.
+
+"I never feed King's men if I can help it," she replied. "The scamps
+have fixed me so that I can't feed my own family in a decent manner.
+They have run off with all my pigs and poultry except that old gobbler
+you see in the yard there."
+
+"Well, you shall cook the old gobbler for us," exclaimed one who seemed
+to be the leader of the party. Suiting the action to the word, he raised
+his musket and shot the gobbler. One of his men brought it into the
+house and gave it to Aunt Nancy, with orders to clean and cook it at
+once. This, of course, made that stanch patriot very angry, and she gave
+the Tories a violent tongue lashing.
+
+It is probable that while she was dressing the turkey for the pot, the
+Tories let some hint drop about the outrageous murder of Colonel John
+Dooly, who was a warm friend of Aunt Nancy's. At any rate, she suddenly
+changed her tactics. She ceased to storm and quarrel, the scowl left
+her face, and she soon seemed to be in high good humor. She went about
+getting the meal ready with great good will. She sent her little girl
+to the spring after water, but told her to sound on the conch shell the
+signal to "keep close," so that her husband and his neighbors who were
+with him might know there were Tories in the cabin.
+
+While the daughter was gone after water, one of the Tories volunteered
+to take her place in helping to get everything ready. Aunt Nancy
+accepted his services, and joked with him with great freedom and
+familiarity. Like all women of spirit and independence, Aunt Nancy
+possessed a considerable fund of humor, and it stood her in good stead
+now. She contrived to thoroughly interest the Tories, and it was not
+long before they were in the most jovial frame of mind imaginable. They
+had expected to find a bad-tempered, ill-conditioned woman; and they
+were agreeably surprised when they found, instead, a woman who could
+match their rude jests, and make herself thoroughly entertaining.
+
+The Tories had brought a jug with them, and they were so pleased with
+Aunt Nancy's seeming friendliness that they invited her to drink with
+them. "I'll take one swig with you," said Aunt Nancy, "if it kills every
+cow on the Island," meaning a neck of land at the junction of river and
+creek where the Whig families of the neighborhood pastured their cattle
+and hid them. The Tories laughed and drank, and then they laughed and
+drank again. They kept this up until the old gobbler had been cooked to
+Aunt Nancy's satisfaction; and by the time they were ready to sit down
+to table they were in a very merry mood indeed.
+
+They had stacked their arms within easy reach of where they had been
+sitting and drinking; but Aunt Nancy had moved her table to the middle
+of the floor, so as to be able to walk around it on all sides while
+waiting on the Tories. In helping the men to the turkey and other
+eatables that she had prepared, she frequently came between them and
+their muskets. The Tories had hardly begun to eat before they called for
+water. Aunt Nancy, expecting this, had used up in cooking all that had
+been brought: consequently her daughter had to take the piggin and go
+to the spring after a fresh supply. She went with instructions to signal
+her father, and the neighbors who were with him, to come immediately to
+the cabin. While her daughter was at the spring, Aunt Nancy managed to
+pull off one of the boards that filled the space between the logs of the
+house, and through this crack she slipped two of the muskets. She was
+slipping the third through when her movements caught the eye of one of
+the Tories. Instantly the men sprang to their feet, but Aunt Nancy
+was now in her element. Quick as a flash she clapped the musket to her
+shoulder, and threatened to shoot the first man that approached her. The
+men, knowing her reputation as a fighter, and awed by her appearance,
+hesitated. At last one bolder than the rest began to advance toward her.
+She fired promptly, and at the report of the gun the man fell dead on
+the floor.
+
+Before the others could recover from their consternation, Aunt Nancy
+had seized another musket, and held it in readiness to fire again. Her
+daughter had now returned from the spring with the information that her
+father and his neighbors would soon arrive. Directed by her mother,
+the girl took the remaining musket and carried it out of the house. The
+Tories, seeing that no time was to be lost in recovering their arms,
+proposed to rush upon Aunt Nancy in a body and overpower her. But the
+War Woman was equal to the occasion. She fired again, and brought down
+another Tory. As she did so, the daughter, acting on her orders, handed
+her another musket. Then, taking position in the doorway, she called on
+the men to "surrender their ugly Tory carcasses to a Whig woman."
+
+[Illustration: Aunt Nancy captures the Tories 085]
+
+The Tories agreed to surrender, and wanted to shake hands to make the
+bargain binding; but Aunt Nancy kept her position in the doorway until
+her husband and his friends made their appearance. The Whigs wanted
+to shoot the Tories; but Aunt Nancy, whose blood was up, declared that
+shooting was too good for them. "They've murdered John Dooly," she
+exclaimed; "now let them hang for it!" Thereupon the Tories were taken
+out and hanged. The tree from which they swung was still standing as
+late as 1838, and was often pointed out by old people who had lived
+through the troubled times of the Revolution.
+
+One day Aunt Nancy met a Tory going along the highway. She engaged him
+in conversation, diverted his attention, and suddenly seized his gun and
+wrenched it away from him. She then ordered him to take up the line of
+march for a fort not far distant. Not daring to disobey, the man marched
+before her, as many others had been compelled to do, and she turned him
+over to the commander of the fort.
+
+When Augusta was in the hands of the British, and their raiding parties
+had been driven in by the Americans under Colonel Elijah Clarke, it
+became necessary for that commander to get some positive information
+in regard to the intentions of the British. At this juncture Aunt Nancy
+came to the rescue. She disguised herself as a man, and went boldly into
+the British camp. She remained there for several days, pretending to be
+crazy. In this way she secured a great deal of important information,
+and made haste to carry it to Colonel Clarke.
+
+Aunt Nancy was once left in a fort with several other women and a number
+of small children, her own among the rest. The men had gone out in
+search of supplies. They had not expected an attack, and had left only
+one of their number, a young man, to protect the women and children.
+Suddenly a party of Tories and Indians made its appearance, and
+surrounded the fort, which was nothing more than a stockade. The
+yelling of the savages threw all the women and children into the utmost
+confusion,--all except Aunt Nancy. That wonderful woman, who never knew
+what fear was, only became more energetic in the face of danger. There
+was a small cannon in the fort, but it was not in position to reach
+the enemy with its fire. After trying her best to lift the cannon into
+position, Aunt Nancy remembered the young man who had been left in
+the fort, and looked about for him; but he was not to be seen. A close
+search discovered him hiding under a cowhide. Aunt Nancy pulled him
+out by the heels, and vowed she would make mince-meat of him unless he
+helped her to move the cannon. The fellow knew perfectly well that Aunt
+Nancy was not to be trifled with when her blood was up. He gave her the
+necessary assistance. She aimed the cannon and fired it, and the Tories
+and savages promptly took to their heels.
+
+On another occasion when the river was high, it became necessary for the
+Americans on the Georgia side to know what was going on on the Carolina
+side; but no one could be induced to venture across. Hearing of the
+difficulty, Aunt Nancy promptly undertook to go.
+
+The freshet had swept away all the boats, but to Aunt Nancy this was
+a trifling matter. She found a few logs, tied them together with
+grapevines, and on this raft made the voyage across the river. She
+gathered the necessary information, and made haste to communicate it to
+the Georgia troops.
+
+Aunt Nancy was the mother of eight children,--six sons and two
+daughters. Her eldest daughter, Sally, married a man named Thompson,
+who was as quicktempered as his mother-in-law. After the war, Aunt Nancy
+moved to Brunswick. Sally and her husband followed a year or two later.
+In passing through Burke County, they camped for the night by the
+roadside. The next morning Thompson ordered a white man, who had been
+hired as a teamster, to perform some duty. Thompson's tone was so
+peremptory that the man returned an insolent answer, and refused. In a
+fit of rage, Thompson drew his sword, and severed the man's head from
+his body with one swinging stroke. He then drove the team himself until
+he came to the first house, where he gave information that he had cut
+off a fellow's head at the camp down the road, and that they "had best
+go and bury him." He then drove on, but was overtaken, arrested,
+and lodged in jail at Waynesboro. As soon as Aunt Nancy heard of the
+trouble, she made her appearance in the upcountry again. Within a few
+days after her return, the jail was found open one morning, and
+Thompson was gone. Speaking of this afterwards, Aunt Nancy was heard to
+exclaim,--
+
+"Drat 'em! that's the way with 'em all. When they get into trouble, they
+always send for me!"
+
+Not long after this episode, Mr. Benjamin Hart died. Aunt Nancy mourned
+his loss for a while, and then married a young man. Then, as the saying
+is, she "pulled up stakes," and moved to what is now the State of
+Alabama, on the Tombigbee. There she had the French and the Spaniards
+for neighbors, and she felt at home with neither race. She was bluntly,
+emphatically, and unaffectedly American. To add to her troubles, a big
+rain flooded the river, destroyed her crops, and surrounded her house.
+This, with the French and Spaniards, was too much for her. She returned
+to Georgia, but, finding her old home occupied by others, she settled in
+Edgefield, S.C.
+
+A Methodist society was formed in her neighborhood, and its influence
+became so active that Aunt Nancy's conscience began to trouble her. She
+listened to the preaching of the Word from a distance until she became
+worried about her future state. She went to the meetinghouse, but found
+the door closed against intruders. The deacon and members were holding
+a class meeting. The closed door was no obstacle to Aunt Nancy. She cut
+the fastening and walked in without ceremony. Once in, she found what
+she wanted. She became an enthusiastic Methodist, and is said to have
+fought Satan and sin as manfully as she fought the Tories and the
+British.
+
+When Governor George R. Gilmer of Georgia was in Congress, in 1828-29,
+the members were very anxious to attract the notice of General Jackson,
+who had been elected President. A proposal was made to fill the vacant
+niches in the rotunda with paintings descriptive of the battle of New
+Orleans and the general's other victories. Governor Gilmer offered as an
+amendment a resolution to fill one of the niches with a painting of Aunt
+Nancy Hart wading Broad River, her petticoats held up with one hand,
+a musket in the other, and driving three Tories before her, to deliver
+them up to Colonel Elijah Clarke.
+
+Governor Gilmer's proposition was a more sensible one than he intended
+it to be. Georgia has perpetuated Aunt Nancy's name by calling a county
+after her; but the Republic owes something to her memory.
+
+
+
+
+TWO SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION.
+
+The pen of the historian is not always as impartial as it should be. It
+has its spites and prejudices; and it frequently happens that the men
+who wield the pen with which history is written, have their whims,
+their likes, and their dislikes. It is certain that two of the hardest
+fighters in the War for Independence--two of the most distinguished
+officers that Georgia gave to the cause--have had tardy justice done
+to their valor. The names of these men are General James Jackson and
+General Elijah Clarke. The independence and the individuality of these
+men stand clearly out in all the records that we have of them, and it
+is no doubt true that these qualities made them to some degree unpopular
+with those who inspired the early chroniclers of the Revolution in the
+South. Neither of these officers was capable of currying favor with his
+superiors, or of doing injustice to the humblest of his comrades. They
+were not seekers after the bubble reputation, but had their minds and
+all their energies bent on liberating Georgia and her sister Colonies.
+
+General James Jackson was born in the county of Devon, England. He
+came to this country in 1772, landing at Savannah penniless and almost
+friendless. He began the study of law; but when the Liberty Boys began
+their movement for resisting British oppression, he placed his books
+on their shelves, and gave himself entirely to the cause of the people.
+When only nineteen years old, he was one of the volunteers that fired
+the British armed vessels sent to attack Savannah by water, while Major
+Maitland and Major Grant attacked it by land. The crews of these vessels
+were compelled to escape without their clothes and arms. General Jackson
+served in the lower part of Georgia until the fall of Savannah in 1778,
+when he and his friend John Milledge made their way to the patriot
+troops, commanded by General Moultrie. Such was the condition of these
+men, both of whom afterwards became governors of Georgia, that they
+were compelled to make the greater part of their journey barefoot and in
+rags. Their appearance was so much against them that they were arrested
+as spies by some American soldiers, and would have been hanged but for
+the timely arrival of a gentleman who knew them.
+
+General Jackson was at the siege of Savannah, and, after the disastrous
+result of that affair, returned to South Carolina. The victory of the
+Americans at Blackstock's House, in South Carolina, was almost wholly
+due to the Georgians who were there. Sumter commanded at the beginning
+of the action, but a severe wound compelled him to retire from the
+field. The command then devolved upon the oldest Georgia officer,
+General John Twiggs, who was assisted by Jackson, Clarke, and Chandler.
+In this engagement Tarleton, the famous leader of the British dragoons,
+was defeated for the first time, and he was never able to recover the
+prestige he had lost. Tarleton fled from the field, and Jackson was
+ordered to pursue him. It was owing only to the fleetness of his horse
+that Tarleton escaped.
+
+[Illustration: General James Jackson 093]
+
+At the battle of The Cow-pens, Jackson again distinguished himself.
+"Major Jackson," says General Andrew Pickens, "by his example, and firm,
+active conduct, did much to animate the soldiers and insure the success
+of the day. He ran the utmost risk of his life in seizing the colors of
+the 71st British Regiment, and afterwards introducing Major Mc-Arthur,
+commanding officer of the British Infantry, as a prisoner of war to
+General Morgan." His services brought him to the attention of General
+Greene, and he was sent on a tour of difficult duty through North
+Carolina. He was so successful in this, that the commanding general
+authorized him to raise a partisan legion of infantry and cavalry for
+service in Georgia. By means of his native eloquence, which was said
+to be almost irresistible, he succeeded in raising the legion in a very
+short time. Wherever he addressed the people, there were loud cries of
+"Liberty and Jackson forever!" When his legion had been organized, he
+was appointed lieutenant colonel. His dragoons were clothed and armed by
+themselves, with the exception of their pistols. Their coats were made
+of dressed deerskins, and faced with the little blue that could be
+procured.
+
+Just before the siege of Augusta, Jackson was called upon to employ
+his eloquence in preventing the militia from giving up in despair
+and returning to their homes. These men were utterly worn out. Being
+ignorant men, they could see no ray of hope. They lacked every necessary
+of life. Jackson roused their drooping spirits, restored their hopes,
+and revived their old-time enthusiasm. At the siege of Augusta these men
+fought fiercely. Jackson himself led one of the advance parties. After
+the surrender of the town, he was ordered to level the fortifications,
+and he was appointed commandant. He was afterwards ordered to take
+position midway between Augusta and Savannah. While he held this
+position, a conspiracy was formed in the infantry to kill him in
+his bed. A soldier named Davis, who waited in the commander's tent,
+suspected that something was wrong. So he mingled among the men, and
+applied many harsh epithets to Jackson. Thinking to make Davis useful to
+them, the conspirators told him their plans, which he made haste to lay
+before his superior officer. Shortly afterwards the infantry were drawn
+up in line, and the ringleaders in the conspiracy arrested, tried, and
+executed.
+
+After the war the Legislature gave Davis a horse, saddle, and bridle,
+and five hundred acres of land, as a reward for his fidelity.
+
+Jackson was with General Wayne in his Georgia campaign, and was
+intrusted by him with many hazardous duties. When Savannah surrendered,
+General Wayne issued an order in which he said, "Lieutenant Colonel
+Jackson, in consideration of his severe and fatiguing service in the
+advance, is to receive the key of Savannah, and is allowed to enter the
+western gate."
+
+In 1786, Jackson was made brigadier general, and had command of the
+forces operating against the Indians. Between 1788 and 1806 General
+Jackson held almost every high office within the gift of the people of
+the State,--member of the Legislature, governor when only thirty-one
+years old, member of the first Congress held under the Federal
+Constitution, member of the State Constitutional Convention,
+presidential elector, and United States senator.
+
+With General Jackson in many of his engagements was General Elijah
+Clarke, who in many respects was the most remarkable soldier
+that Georgia contributed to the War for Independence. With fairer
+opportunities than he had, he would have made a great commander. He had
+small knowledge of tactics, but he had what is better,--the skill to
+take advantage of quickly passing events, and the coolness that made him
+complete master of all his resources. He was a man of the most striking
+characteristics, and he came out of the war with many bitter enemies
+among those with whom he came in contact. This feeling was perpetuated
+by the political campaigns in which his son, John Clarke, took part
+after the war. A trace of this is to be seen in the sketch which
+Governor Gilmer gives to Elijah Clarke in his curious book entitled
+"Georgians." It is undoubtedly true that Elijah Clarke was ignorant of
+what is called book knowledge, but he was not much worse off in this
+respect than the famous Confederate General Forrest, who is thought by
+some high military critics to have been the most remarkable commander
+on the Southern side in the civil war. Elijah Clarke, as well as General
+Forrest, had something that served them a better turn than a mere
+knowledge of books. They had a thorough knowledge of men, and a quick
+eye for the situations that follow each other so rapidly in a skirmish
+or battle.
+
+[Illustration: Elijah Clarke 097]
+
+Elijah Clarke was born in North Carolina, but moved to Georgia in 1774.
+He was among the first of the inhabitants of Upper Georgia to take
+up the cause of American independence; and his example, for he was a
+notable man even in private life, did much to solidify and strengthen
+those who leaned to that cause. When the British troops marched from the
+coast into Upper Georgia, Elijah thought the time had come to take
+his gun from the rack over the door, and make at least some show of
+resistance. His courage, and the firmness and decision of his character,
+made him the natural leader of those of his neighbors whose sympathies
+were with the Liberty Boys in other parts of the State, and he soon
+found himself a commander without commission or title. He cared less
+for these things than for the principles of liberty for which he was
+fighting.
+
+For a while Elijah Clarke and his followers fought as partisan rangers,
+but he soon drew around him a compact and disciplined body of men who
+were ready to go wherever he might lead them. He did not confine his
+efforts to his new neighborhood We hear of him with Howe's ill-fated
+expedition against East Florida, where, at Alligator Creek, he was asked
+to perform the impossible feat of storming with a troop of horse a camp
+intrenched behind logs and brushwood. He was no doubt amazed at the
+stupidity of General Howe in issuing such an order, but he attempted to
+carry it out with his usual courage. He did succeed in floundering over
+the logs with his troops, but he came to a ditch that was too wide for
+his horses to leap, and too deep to be ridden through. At this moment he
+and his men were saluted with a heavy fire from the enemy, and they were
+compelled to retire in confusion. In this attempt Elijah Clarke was shot
+through the thigh. Later he was in South Carolina, at Blackstocks, and
+at The Cowpens.
+
+In some quarters an effort has been made to blacken the reputation of
+General Clarke by comparing his treatment of the Tories with the mild
+and humane policy pursued by Francis Marion. There was, indeed, some
+misunderstanding between the two men in regard to the methods that might
+be adopted. The policy of Marion was undoubtedly the correct one, so far
+as South Carolina was concerned; but if the Tories in that Province had
+been guilty of the crimes committed by their brethren in Wilkes and the
+surrounding region, General Marion's policy would not have been very
+different from that of General Clarke. The Tories with whom Clarke was
+familiar were guilty of murder, rapine, pillage, and incendiarism. The
+Tories in South Carolina were kept under by the presence of Marion and
+his men. Clarke went wherever his services were needed; and during his
+absence, the Tories of the Broad River region were free to commit
+every excess. Marion refused to leave the region where he made his name
+famous, and thus kept the Tories in constant fear and dread.
+
+Who shall say that Marion would not have been as ready to exterminate
+the Tories as Clarke was, or that Clarke would not have been as humane
+as Marion, if each of these distinguished patriots had been in the
+other's place?
+
+At the battle of Kettle Creek, in what is now Wilkes County, Elijah
+Clarke distinguished himself by his readiness and skill as a commander.
+The Americans under Colonel Pickens were in pursuit of the British under
+Colonel Boyd. Their line of march was the order of battle, and following
+the vanguard came the right and left wings. The left wing was commanded
+by Elijah Clarke. The center was led by Colonel Pickens, who was in
+command of the expedition. Colonel Boyd, the British commander, appeared
+to be unconscious of pursuit. He had halted on a farm on the north side
+of Kettle Creek. His horses were left to forage on the young cane that
+grew on the edge of the swamp; and his men were slaying cattle and
+parching corn, preparing for a feast after their short rations. The
+British encampment was formed near the creek, on a piece of open ground
+flanked on two sides by a canebrake. Colonel Boyd was in utter ignorance
+of the approach of the Americans, who advanced at once to the attack.
+The British colonel formed his line in the rear of his encampment, and
+there received the assault. The battle was hotly contested for more than
+an hour, and then the Tories retreated through the swamp.
+
+Elijah Clarke, seeing a piece of rising ground on the farther side
+of the creek, on which he suspected the Loyalists would try to form,
+ordered the left wing to follow him, and was about to cross the stream
+when his horse was shot under him. Mounting another, he soon crossed
+the creek, followed by not more than a fourth of his division. There had
+been some mistake in sending the order along the line. Clarke gained the
+hill that had attracted his eye just in time to attack Major Spurgen, a
+brave British officer, who was forming his command. The firing attracted
+the notice of the rest of Clarke's division, and they soon joined their
+leader. Pickens and Dooly also pressed through the swamp, and the battle
+was renewed with great vigor. For a while the result was in doubt,
+but at the end the Americans held the hill. The Tories fled in all
+directions, leaving seventy dead on the field, and seventy-five wounded
+and captured. Of the Americans, nine were slain, and twenty-three
+wounded. To Elijah Clarke must be given the credit for this victory,
+which, coming at the time it did, revived the hopes and courage of the
+Liberty Boys in all parts of the country.
+
+The Tories, on the other hand, were so depressed by it, that many
+of them left that part of the State, and those who remained became
+comparatively quiet. The situation was so encouraging, that many of the
+people of Georgia, who had been driven from their homes by the cruelty
+of the Tories, returned with their families. They were not long left in
+peace, however. The British and the Tories had their active agents among
+the Creeks and Cherokees, urging these tribes to take up arms and attack
+the Americans. In view of this, Clarke was sent to guard the frontier
+forts. Then the Tories again began to pillage and devastate the Broad
+River region. Some of the crimes they committed would have disgraced
+savages. Clarke's house was burned, and his family ordered to leave
+the State. Mrs. Clarke and her two daughters started on their perilous
+journey with nothing but a small pony of little value, and even this was
+taken from them before they had gone very far. This only served to renew
+the activity of Clarke in behalf of the American cause. He defeated
+the Tories wherever he met them; and if he gave them no quarter, it was
+because they had shown no mercy to the Americans. The savage character
+of the warfare waged by the Tories against men, women, and children,
+must ever stand as an explanation and as an excuse for the fierce spirit
+displayed by Clarke and the Americans who lived in the Broad River
+region.
+
+In the battle near Musgrove's Mill, Clarke defeated the British, killing
+sixty-three men, and wounding and capturing one hundred. During the
+battle he was twice severely wounded on the head and neck; and once he
+was surrounded by the enemy, captured, and placed in charge of two men.
+One of these he knocked down with a blow of his fist, and the other
+fled. At one time, acting without orders, he was near taking Augusta,
+and was only prevented by the desire of his men to see their families.
+After this he returned to Wilkes County, where he was compelled to take
+under his protection nearly four hundred women and children who had been
+driven from their homes by the savage Tories. He resolved to carry
+these to a place of safety, and, with a sufficient guard, set out for
+Kentucky. Cornwallis, hearing of this movement, and taking for granted
+that it was a retreat, sent one hundred men under Captain Ferguson to
+cut Clarke off, the supposition being that the great partisan fighter
+would march through South Carolina, but he had re-crossed the mountains
+in the Piedmont region. Hearing of this movement, Clarke detached
+Major Chandler and Captain Johnston with thirty men to take part in
+the operations against Ferguson. Thus it was the pursuit of Clarke that
+brought on the memorable battle of Kings Mountain, which resulted in
+a great victory for the cause of American independence; and although
+Clarke was not there in person, his heroic spirit animated the brave men
+who won the day.
+
+He was the first to teach the militia to stand against the bayonets of
+the British; and at Blackstocks, in South Carolina, at the head of his
+Wilkes riflemen, he charged and drove the British light infantry in an
+open field,--a movement that turned the enemy's right flank, and insured
+the victory of the Americans. At the siege of Augusta, Clarke had
+anticipated the movement of Colonel "Light Horse Harry" Lee, and had
+confined the British garrison to their works for weeks before Colonel
+Lee's arrival.
+
+At the close of the Revolution, Clarke led the movement against the
+Indians. He defeated the Creeks in the battle of Jacks Creek. After
+peace was declared, Clarke, who had been made a general by a grateful
+State, settled on lands that had been reserved to the Indians. For this
+he has been criticised very severely; but it is curious that the policy
+for which he was attacked, shortly afterwards became the policy of the
+whole people. The States and the United States have made treaties
+with the Indians, only to break them. Having personal knowledge of the
+Indians, and having been made the victim of some of their raids, he had
+no respect for them or for their rights. To this view the whole country
+afterwards came, and the red men disappeared before it.
+
+It will be well to bear in mind, that, whatever failings he may have
+had, there was not a more heroic figure in the Revolution than General
+Elijah Clarke.
+
+
+
+
+A WAR OF EXTERMINATION.
+
+[Illustration: A War of Extermination 104]
+
+Some of the barbarous features of the Revolutionary War in Georgia have
+been briefly noted.
+
+History has turned her eyes away from the more horrible details; but
+by reading between the lines, and taking advantage of the hints and
+suggestions, it is not hard to get a tolerably fair idea of the methods
+that were pursued on both sides. Even Colonel Charles C. Jones, jun.,
+whose "History of Georgia" is thus far the most complete that has been
+written, touches lightly on the cruelties practiced in the efforts of
+the British and Tories to wrest Upper Georgia from the control of the
+Americans. There are matters that History cannot deal with and maintain
+her dignity.
+
+There can be no doubt that the British and the Tories began their
+cruelties without considering the results to which their acts would
+lead. It is an easy matter at this late day to see how naturally the
+war, in the region tributary to Augusta, degenerated into a series of
+crimes and barbarities foul enough to cause History to hold her hands
+before her eyes. When Colonel Campbell, assisted by Colonel Brown,
+advanced to attack Augusta, it was the only American post that had
+not surrendered to the King's men, and its capture would complete the
+subjugation of Georgia from a military point of view. The city fell
+without a struggle, and the American forces retreated across the river.
+It was natural that the British, and the Tories who were acting with
+them, should take advantage of this victory to bring the whole region
+above and around Augusta to terms. The sooner this was done, the sooner
+would all Georgia be restored to her relations with his Majesty George
+III. No time was to be lost. Therefore Colonel Campbell, the British
+commander, tarried in Augusta but a few days. He left Colonel Brown
+in charge, and marched in the direction of Wilkes County. Those of the
+inhabitants who had Tory sympathies were to be encouraged; but those who
+were disaffected were to be dealt with summarily, so as to put an end,
+at once and forever, to the disloyalty that had been active in that
+region. This plan was carried out promptly and violently. The severest
+punishment was the portion of those who refused to take the oath of
+allegiance. Plunder and the torch were the portions of those who chanced
+to be away from home, fighting for their country. Their helpless
+wives and children were left homeless, and destitute of provisions.
+Fortunately a great many stanch Liberty Boys had carried their families,
+their household effects, and their cattle, into South Carolina as soon
+as they heard of the fall of Augusta; but many had remained at home, and
+the sufferings of these were severe.
+
+Another explanation of the extreme cruelty with which the war in Upper
+Georgia was waged after the fall of Augusta, was the fact that Colonel
+Brown, who had been left in command by Colonel Campbell, had some old
+scores to settle. At the very beginning of the struggle he had been
+arrested in Augusta by some of the Liberty Boys, tarred and feathered,
+and paraded through the public streets, on account of his outspoken
+loyalty to the King. Still another reason was the fact that Daniel
+McGirth, who had been maltreated by an American officer, was among the
+officers who had accompanied Colonel Brown. McGirth held every American
+responsible for the treatment he had received, and he spared few that
+fell into his hands. Thus, between the anxiety of the British to conquer
+Georgia completely, and the desires of Brown and McGirth to revenge
+themselves, the Americans in Upper Georgia were made the victims of the
+most inhuman barbarities.
+
+The Americans under Elijah Clarke lost no time in retaliating, and
+thus was begun a contest that may be aptly described as a war of
+extermination. Clarke was enabled to defeat the British and the Tories
+wherever they opposed him on anything like equal terms, and this fact
+added to the rigor with which they treated the Americans who were so
+unfortunate as to fall into their hands. Shortly after the affair at
+Musgrove's Mill, in which Clarke defeated the British and the Tories,
+Lord Cornwallis addressed a circular letter to the officers commanding
+the advanced posts. He declared, "The inhabitants of the Provinces who
+have subscribed to and taken part in this revolt shall be punished
+with the utmost rigor; and also those who will not turn out shall be
+imprisoned, and their whole property taken from them or destroyed. I
+have ordered," he goes on to say, "in the most positive manner, that
+every militiaman who has borne arms with us, and afterwards joined the
+enemy, shall be immediately hanged. I desire you will take the most
+vigorous measures to punish the rebels in the district in which you
+command, and that you obey in the strictest manner the directions I have
+given in this letter relative to the inhabitants in this country."
+
+Here was authority broad enough to cover every crime that the British
+and the Tories might see fit to commit, and they stretched it to the
+utmost limit. They burned houses and destroyed property. They insulted
+and inhumanly treated women and children. They hanged the innocent. They
+went about the country practicing every barbarity that their savage and
+bloodthirsty natures could suggest. It was no wonder that the Americans
+retaliated whenever they had the opportunity. It was no wonder that
+Elijah Clarke, naturally independent and irritable, should fail to see
+the justice or necessity of treating the Tories he captured as prisoners
+of war.
+
+The situation of the Americans became so serious that Clarke determined
+to strike a heavy blow. He returned from Carolina to Wilkes County in
+September, 1780, and in two days succeeded in placing in the field
+three hundred and fifty men. With this force, strengthened by eighty men
+recruited in Carolina, he boldly marched on Augusta. The movement was so
+unexpected, that, but for the fact that the advance guard fell in with
+an Indian camp which it was compelled to attack, Colonel Brown would
+have been taken completely by surprise. But the retreating Indians gave
+him notice, and he took refuge with his command in a strong building
+known as the White House. The siege began on the 14th. By daylight on
+the 16th Clarke had succeeded in cutting the garrison off from its water
+supply. The sufferings of the men, especially the wounded, became most
+intense. The Americans could hear their cries for water and for medical
+aid. Brown appears to have been as brave as he was cruel. Though he was
+shot through both thighs, he remained at the head of his men; and his
+great courage sustained the spirits of his followers. Clarke summoned
+him to surrender on the 17th. He not only refused, but warned the
+American commander that the demonstration he was making against the
+King's men would bring destruction to the western part of Georgia.
+
+Meanwhile some of Clarke's men had gone to visit their families, and
+others were more interested in securing plunder than in forwarding
+the cause of independence. Colonel Brown, as soon as he heard of the
+approach of the Americans, had sent several messengers by different
+routes to inform Colonel Cruger of the state of affairs. Cruger, who was
+in Carolina at Ninety-six, promptly set his men in motion, and on the
+morning of the 18th appeared on the bank of the Savannah, opposite
+Augusta. Under the circumstances, Clarke was compelled to retreat. He
+had suffered a loss of sixty, killed and wounded. In retreating, he was
+compelled to leave twenty-nine of his wounded men behind. Among these
+was Captain Ashby, one of the bravest and most humane of the officers
+of the American army. This unfortunate officer and the men with him fell
+into the hands of the enemy. Colonel Brown was so severely wounded that
+he was unable to move about; so he ordered Captain Ashby and twelve of
+the wounded prisoners to be hanged on the staircase of the White House,
+where he might see their sufferings and gloat over their agonies. These
+men were cruelly strangled before Brown's eyes. But their fate was a
+happy one compared with that of their wounded companions. Those men were
+turned over to the red savages, who were the allies of the British. The
+Indians received the prisoners with howls of delight, and began at once
+to torture them in every conceivable way. They formed a circle, and
+marched around the Americans, cutting and slashing them with their
+knives. The end of the unfortunates was most horrible. They were ripped
+with knives, scalped, and then burned. No doubt, Colonel Brown enjoyed
+this scene more thoroughly than he did the tame and commonplace
+spectacle of strangling Captain Ashby and his companions.
+
+Before raising the siege, Elijah Clarke paroled the officers and men
+whom he had captured,--fifty-six men, all told. This fact is mentioned
+to show that the Georgia militia had not then begun those acts of
+retaliation which have attracted the notice of historians. They had
+had, as we know, abundant provocation; but after the horrible crimes
+perpetrated by Brown reached their ears, they threw off all restraint.
+Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and the men who acted
+with Elijah Clarke thought that the best way to preserve the lives of
+themselves and their families was to destroy the Tories as fast as they
+caught them. The fact is chronicled by Colonel Jones, and it is worth
+noting, that the officers and men paroled by Clarke, in utter disregard
+of their obligations, took up their arms as soon as the Americans
+had departed. The probability is that they were driven to this by the
+commands of Brown.
+
+It is well known, that, as soon as Clarke and his men had retreated,
+Colonel Brown sent detachments of troops in all directions, with orders
+to arrest all persons who had taken part in the siege, or who had
+sympathized with the efforts of the Americans to recapture Augusta.
+Under this sweeping order, men of all ages and conditions were dragged
+from their homes and thrown into prison. Those who were suspected of
+taking part in the siege, or of belonging to Clarke's command, were
+seized and hanged out of hand. Old men, no longer able to bear arms,
+were imprisoned for welcoming the return of members of their families
+who had fought on the American side. One instance out of many that
+might be cited was the arrest of the father of Captains Samuel and
+James Alexander. In the seventy-eighth year of his age, this old man
+was arrested at his home, tied to the tail of a cart, and dragged forty
+miles in two days. When caught leaning against the cart to rest his
+feeble limbs, he was whipped by the driver. It was at this time that
+in the region round about Augusta the hopes of the patriots grew very
+faint. The women and children assembled, and begged Elijah Clarke to
+take them out of the country; and in response to the appeals of these
+defenseless ones, he undertook the movement that culminated in the
+glorious victory of Kings Mountain.
+
+[Illustration: Old man whipped at the tail of a cart 111]
+
+The winter of 1780 was the darkest hour of the Revolution in Upper
+Georgia. There was no trade. Farming was at a low ebb. The schoolhouses
+were closed. Many of the patriots had carried off their families.
+Many had gone with Elijah Clarke to Kentucky. The patriots had betaken
+themselves to South Carolina, though the services they rendered there
+have been slurred over by the historians of that State.
+
+When General Greene began his Southern campaign, and gradually rid South
+Carolina of the British and the Tory element, the patriots of Upper
+Georgia ventured to return to their homes. Captain McCall, who was among
+them, says, in his history, that they returned in parties of ten and
+twelve, so as to attract as little attention as possible. They appointed
+Dennis's Mill, on Little River, as a place of meeting. "When these small
+parties entered the settlements where they had formerly lived," says
+Captain McCall, "general devastation was presented to view; their aged
+fathers and their youthful brothers had been murdered; their decrepit
+grandfathers were incarcerated in prisons where most of them had been
+suffered to perish in filth, famine, or disease; and their mothers,
+wives, sisters, and young children had been robbed, insulted, and
+abused, and were found by them in temporary huts more resembling a
+savage camp than a civilized habitation." Though Captain McCall was
+an eyewitness of some of the scenes he describes, the picture he draws
+might seem to be too highly colored were it not supplemented by a great
+mass of evidence. One more instance out of many may be given. In a
+skirmish with the Americans under Colonel Harden, Brown captured several
+prisoners. Among them was a youth only seventeen years old named Rannal
+McKay, the son of a widow who was a refugee from Darien. Being told that
+her son was a prisoner in the hands of Brown, Widow McKay, providing
+herself with some refreshments that she thought might suit the taste of
+the British commander, went to Brown's headquarters, and begged that
+her son might be set free. The cruel wretch accepted the present she
+had brought him, but refused even to let her see her son, and caused the
+sentinels to put her out of the camp by force. Next day young McKay and
+four other prisoners were taken out of the rail pen in which they had
+been confined. By Brown's order they were hanged upon a gallows until
+they were nearly strangled. They were then cut down and turned over to
+the tender mercies of the Indians, by whom they were mutilated, scalped,
+and finally murdered in the most savage manner.
+
+The cruelty of Colonel Brown and the Tories acting under him was so
+unbearable that the patriots of that region felt that their existence
+depended on the capture of Augusta. They decided on an aggressive
+movement when they met again at Dennis's Mill, on Little River.
+
+Colonel Clarke, who was suffering from the results of smallpox, was
+too feeble to lead them. His place was taken for the time by Lieutenant
+Colonel Micajah Williamson; and on the 16th of April, 1781, the
+Americans moved to the vicinity of Augusta. They were there reenforced
+by a detachment from southern Georgia under Colonel Baker, and by a
+number of recruits from Burke County. A few days afterwards they were
+joined by some Carolina militiamen under Colonel Hammond and Major
+Jackson.
+
+With this force, Colonel Williamson took up a position twelve hundred
+yards from the British works, and fortified his camp. The Americans were
+compelled to wait nearly a month for the aid they expected from General
+Greene. The militia, worn out with waiting for the reenforcements, were
+about to withdraw from the camp in despair, when Jackson, that truly
+great Georgian, made them an address full of the most passionate and
+patriotic eloquence, and this appeal changed their purpose. Jackson's
+voice was afterwards heard in the halls of Congress; but we may be sure
+that he was never more in earnest or more truly eloquent than when he
+pleaded with the faint-hearted Americans to stand to their cause and
+their arms. Jackson's address revived their courage; and when, on
+the 15th of May, Elijah Clarke rode into camp, restored to health
+and accompanied by one hundred fresh recruits, the confidence of the
+militiamen was fully renewed.
+
+It was at this time that General Pickens and "Light Horse Harry" Lee
+(the father of General Robert E. Lee) were ordered by General Greene to
+march on Augusta and capture that post When Lee reached the neighborhood
+of Augusta, he learned, from a party of light horse which he had sent on
+ahead to collect prisoners and gain information, that the annual royal
+present intended for the Indians had arrived at Fort Galphin, some
+distance below Augusta. The present comprised blankets, liquor, salt,
+small arms, powder, and ball. There was a great lack of these articles
+in the American camp, and Lee resolved to capture them. The supplies
+were so valuable, that Brown, the British commander, had sent two
+companies from Augusta to garrison Fort Galphin. This was the situation
+when "Light Horse Harry" arrived on the ground. The British in Augusta
+had not yet discovered his approach, and promptness was necessary.
+Leaving Eaton's battalion, the artillery, and the footsore men of the
+legion, to follow more slowly, Lee mounted a detachment of infantry
+behind his dragoons, and made a forced march to Fort Galphin.
+
+This point he reached on the 21st of May, 1781. The weather was
+extremely hot, and for miles the troopers and their horses had been
+unable to find a drop of water: consequently neither the men nor the
+animals were in a condition to make the attack when the command was
+brought to a halt under the pines that skirted the field surrounding
+the fort. The British within the fort were resting quietly, and were
+not aware that an enemy was at hand. A prompt and decisive movement was
+necessary; and when his men and horses had rested a little while, Lee
+dismounted the militiamen he had brought with him, and ordered them to
+make a demonstration against the fort on the side opposite the position
+he had taken. This famous commander reasoned, that, as soon as the
+militiamen appeared before the fort, the garrison would sally from the
+stockade. The militia would retreat, the garrison pursuing, and he would
+seize upon that moment to assault and capture the post left defenseless.
+To carry out this plan, Captain Rudolph (who was supposed to be some
+great general in disguise), with a detachment of picked infantry, was
+held in readiness to rush upon the fort; while the rest of the troops,
+supported by the dragoons, were placed where they could shield the
+militia from the pursuit of the British.
+
+The affair took place just as Lee had foreseen. The garrison sallied out
+to the attack. The militia, before making a show of resistance, began
+a retreat. The garrison gave pursuit. Captain Rudolph dashed across the
+field, and captured the fort without any trouble, The end came, when the
+militia rallied, and the foot soldiers and dragoons closed around the
+soldiers of the garrison. During the engagement the Americans lost one
+man from sunstroke. The enemy lost only three or four men. The rest,
+together with the valuable stores in the stockade, fell into the hands
+of the patriots.
+
+Following this successful affair, which was of more importance than it
+seems now to be, Lee formed a junction with General Pickens; and these
+two then joined their forces with those of Clarke, who commanded the
+Georgia militia, and the siege of Augusta began. The first movement
+was the capture of Fort Grierson, so called in honor of the man who
+commanded its garrison. Grierson, hard pressed, threw open the gates of
+the fort, and endeavored to escape. Thirty of his men were killed, and
+forty-five wounded and captured. Grierson was made a prisoner, but was
+killed by a Georgia rifleman. He was as cruel and vindictive as Brown
+himself. He was a monster who had made himself odious to the followers
+of Clarke. In his history, Captain McCall strongly hints that Grierson
+was shot by one of the sons of the aged Mr. Alexander, who had been made
+prisoner and dragged to Augusta tied to the tail of a cart. A reward
+was offered for information that would lead to the arrest of the man who
+shot Grierson, but the reward was never claimed. The whole army probably
+knew who had fired the fatal shot, and no doubt the commanders knew,
+but their knowledge was not official. No further notice was taken of the
+matter.
+
+The capture of Fort Grierson cheered the hearts of the besiegers, and
+gave them renewed courage. Fort Cornwallis was next invested. This
+stronghold was commanded by Colonel Brown himself, who was as bold as
+he was cruel. He was mean enough to expose to the American fire the aged
+Mr. Alexander and other unfortunate patriots who had long been held as
+prisoners. Captain Samuel Alexander commanded one of the companies close
+to the fort, and could see and recognize his venerable father, who had
+been placed in an exposed position by Brown.
+
+It is not necessary to describe all the events of the siege. Brown held
+out as long as he could, but was finally compelled to surrender. On the
+5th of June, 1781, Brown, with three hundred men, marched out of Fort
+Cornwallis, and that stronghold was immediately taken possession of by
+Captain Rudolph. A strong guard was detailed by the American commanders,
+to protect Brown from the just anger of the Georgia soldiers, under
+Clarke, Williamson, and Jackson. To insure his safety, he was carried
+to the quarters of "Light Horse Harry" Lee. The next day he and a few of
+his officers were paroled and sent down the river in charge of a party
+of infantry instructed to guard him. Ramsay, in his "History of the
+Revolution of South Carolina," says that Brown was recognized at Silver
+Bluff by Mrs. McKay, who thus addressed him: "Colonel Brown, in the late
+day of your prosperity I visited your camp, and on my knees supplicated
+for the life of my son; but you were deaf to my entreaties. You hanged
+him, though a beardless youth, before my face. These eyes have seen him
+scalped by the savages under your immediate command, and for no better
+reason than that his name was McKay. As you are now prisoner to the
+leaders of my country, for the present I lay aside all thoughts of
+revenge; but when you resume your sword, I will go five hundred miles to
+demand satisfaction at the point of it, for the murder of my son." The
+probability is that Mrs. McKay used no such stately language. No doubt
+she walked up to Brown, shook her finger in his face, and exclaimed,
+"You miserable villain! I can't get at you now; but if the day ever
+comes, I'll flay you alive for the murder of my poor boy."
+
+The fall of Augusta was received with rejoicings by the patriots
+everywhere, and the British and the Tories were correspondingly
+depressed. Men who had been overawed by the cruelty of the Tories, now
+came out boldly for the cause of independence, and the forces of the
+Americans were rapidly strengthened. Preparations were made for an
+aggressive campaign in Georgia by the Liberty Boys; and in this purpose
+they had the active aid and sympathy of General Greene, whose skill and
+ability as a commander were not greater than the wisdom he displayed in
+dealing with the people.
+
+In January, 1782, General Greene ordered General Anthony Wayne to take
+charge of the campaign in Georgia. At the same time he wrote a letter
+to Governor Martin that displays better than any document now extant
+the sagacity and conservatism that were the basis of General Greene's
+character and the source of his great success as a commander. "I cannot
+help recommending to your Excellency," he wrote to the governor of
+Georgia, "to open a door for the disaffected in your State to come
+in, with particular exceptions. It is better to save than to destroy,
+especially when we are obliged to expose good men to destroy bad. It
+is always dangerous to push people to a state of desperation; and the
+satisfaction of revenge has but a momentary existence, and is commonly
+succeeded by pity and remorse. The practice of plundering, which, I am
+told, has been too much indulged with you, is very destructive to the
+morals and manners of the people. Habits and dispositions founded
+on this practice soon grow obstinate, and are difficult to restrain;
+indeed, it is the most direct way of undermining all government, and,
+never fails to bring the laws into contempt, for people will not stop at
+the barriers which were first intended to bound them after having tasted
+the sweets of possessing property by the easy mode of plunder. The
+preservation of morals and an encouragement to honest industry should be
+the first objects of government. Plundering is the destruction of both.
+I wish the cause of liberty may never be tarnished with inhumanity, nor
+the morals of people bartered in exchange for wealth." This letter was
+intended to put an end to the war of extermination that the Tories of
+Upper Georgia had begun, and to prevent the patriots from carrying out
+their plans of revenge. The letter did great good. It was turned over
+to the Legislature by the governor, and thus made public; and its
+sentiments were taken to heart by hundreds who had suffered the most
+cruel wrongs at the hands of the Tories. General Greene's letter was
+also made the basis of two proclamations, both issued by the governor
+after conference with General Wayne. One opened the door to disaffected
+Georgians who might desire to return to the ranks of the republicans,
+and the other was addressed to the Hessian troops who had already
+begun to sympathize with the Salzburghers at Ebenezer. Stevens, in his
+"History of Georgia," says that many citizens who had been compelled
+from various reasons to seek protection under the British Government,
+and who had even joined the armies of the enemy, took advantage of the
+proclamation which referred to them, returned to their State allegiance,
+and joined the forces of General Wayne, where they proved their
+sincerity by making the most zealous efforts to merit the pardon and
+protection that had been promised them by the governor.
+
+After a brilliant campaign, lasting from January to July, 1782, General
+Wayne, assisted by Elijah Clarke, James Jackson, and other bold spirits
+who had never suffered the fires of liberty to go out in Georgia,
+cleared the State of the British. Savannah was occupied on the 11th of
+July, the keys having been surrendered to James Jackson. This was the
+end of British rule in Georgia.
+
+
+
+
+A NEGRO PATRIOT.
+
+[Illustration: A Negro Patriot 122]
+
+Along with the emigrants from North Carolina who first settled Wilkes
+County, there came a man named Aycock. He brought with him a mulatto boy
+named Austin. This boy passed as Aycock's slave; but when the conflict
+between the Liberty Boys and the Tories in that part of the country
+became desperate,--when the patriots were fighting for their lives as
+well as for the liberties of their country,--Aycock's neighbors called
+on him to do his part. According to all accounts, Aycock was not much
+of a warrior. His sympathies were with his liberty-loving neighbors;
+but his enthusiasm did not invite him to expose himself to the fire of
+musketry. It is said that he joined the neighbors, and strove to be a
+faithful militiaman, but he was in a state of constant fear. Governor
+Gilmer says of Aycock, that, from the time he was required to fight, he
+saw a terrible Tory constantly pointing a loaded gun at him. His alarm
+finally became so extreme that he offered as his substitute the mulatto
+boy Austin, who had then grown to be a stout and serviceable lad.
+
+Objection was made that Austin was a slave, and could not therefore be
+received as a soldier. At this, Aycock acknowledged that Austin was no
+slave; that, although he was a mulatto, he had been born free. This fact
+was made so clear to the patriots, that they willingly received Austin
+as a soldier, and he was mustered into the service under the name of
+Austin Dabney. He fought under Elijah Clarke, being under the command of
+Colonel John Dooly, who was afterwards so foully murdered by the Tories.
+Of all the brave men that fought under the heroic Clarke, there was none
+braver than Austin Dabney, none that did better service.
+
+He was in the battle of Kettle Creek, and was foremost among those who
+followed Clarke. Toward the close of this the bloodiest battle fought in
+Georgia between the patriots and Tories, Austin Dabney was shot through
+the thigh, and so dangerously wounded that he became a cripple for life.
+He was taken by his comrades to the house of a Mr. Harris, where he was
+carefully nursed until his wound healed. He was not able to do military
+duty after that, but he devoted himself to Harris and his family more
+faithfully than any slave could have done. It may be said of him that
+gratitude became the ruling passion of his heart.
+
+After the Americans had won their independence, and peace with it,
+Austin Dabney became prosperous. Being a quick-witted man, with an
+instinct for business, he accumulated property. He finally moved to
+Madison County, taking with him his benefactor and family, to whose
+wants and desires he continued to minister with as much devotion as he
+displayed at the beginning of his service. It was in Madison County
+that Austin Dabney became noted for his fondness for horse-racing. He
+attended all the races in the neighboring counties. He was the owner of
+some of the finest race horses to be found in the country; and such was
+his popularity, that he always found prominent men to stand for him.
+
+Shortly after he removed to Madison County, he received a pension from
+the United States Government. He sent Harris's oldest son to school,
+and afterwards to college. When the young man graduated from Franklin
+College, now the State University, Austin Dabney supported him while
+he studied law with Hon. Stephen Upson at Lexington, Oglethorpe County.
+When young Harris was undergoing his examination for admission to the
+bar, Austin Dabney stood leaning against the railing that inclosed the
+court, listening to the proceedings with great anxiety. When the young
+man was sworn in, and was shaking hands with the members of the bar,
+Austin, unable to control himself, burst into a flood of tears, happy
+that he had been able to make a gentleman of the son of the man who had
+nursed him so long and patiently while his wound was healing.
+
+When the public lands in Georgia were distributed among the people by
+lottery, the Legislature gave to Austin Dabney a lot of land in Walton
+County. The next year the voters of Madison County were in a condition
+bordering on distraction, being divided into Dabney and anti-Dabney
+parties. Austin had not been permitted to have a chance in the lottery
+with other soldiers of the Revolution. Consequently Stephen Upson, one
+of Georgia's most prominent men at that time, employed his influence
+with such effect that a law was passed giving Dabney a valuable lot.
+One of the members of the Legislature from Madison County voted for
+this law. At the next election the constituents of this member divided
+themselves into two parties, one faction indorsing the vote, and the
+other denouncing it. Those who denounced the vote did it on the ground
+that it was an indignity to white men for a mulatto to be put on an
+equality with them in the distribution of the public land, though, as
+Governor Gilmer bluntly puts it, not one of them had served his country
+so long or so well. Governor Gilmer, from whose writings all facts about
+Austin Dabney are taken, tells a very interesting anecdote about him. In
+order to collect the pension which the United States Government allowed
+on account of his broken thigh, Austin went once a year to Savannah.
+Once when he was on his way to draw what was due him, he fell in with
+Colonel Wiley Pope, his neighbor, who was also journeying to Savannah.
+They were very intimate and social on the road, and until they found
+themselves in the streets of Savannah. When they reached the fashionable
+part of the city, Colonel Pope observed to his companion that he was
+a sensible man, and knew the prejudices that prevented them from
+associating together in the city. Austin Dabney replied that he
+understood it very well, and with that he checked his horse and fell in
+the rear of Colonel Pope after the fashion of a servant following
+his master. Their way led them in front of the house of General James
+Jackson, who was at that time governor of the State. The governor was
+standing in his door at the time. Colonel Pope passed on unrecognized,
+but, chancing to glance around, he saw Governor Jackson run from the
+house into the street to greet Austin Dabney. The governor seized the
+negro's hand, shook it heartily, drew him from his horse, and carried
+him into the house, where he remained a welcome guest during his stay in
+the city. Colonel Pope (so Governor Gilmer says) used to tell this story
+with great glee, but owned that he felt put out when he realized, that,
+whilst he was a stranger at a tavern, Austin Dabney was the honored
+guest of the governor of the State. The explanation was, that Governor
+Jackson had seen Dabney's courage and patriotism tested on the field
+of battle, and he knew that beneath the tawny skin of the mulatto there
+beat the heart of a true man.
+
+Austin Dabney was always popular with those who knew of his services in
+the Revolutionary War. Governor Gilmer says that he was one of the
+best Chroniclers of the stirring events of that period. His memory was
+retentive, his understanding good, and he had a gift of description
+possessed by few. He moved to the land the State had given him, taking
+with him the family of the man who had nursed him. He continued to serve
+them while he lived, faithful to the end, and when he died left them the
+property he had accumulated.
+
+
+
+
+THE YAZOO FRAUD
+
+Some writers on the early history of Georgia have been under the
+impression that the speculation known as the Yazoo Fraud had its
+beginning in the efforts of General Elijah Clarke and his followers to
+settle on the Indian reservation lying west of the Oconee River; but
+this is not the case at all. General Clarke's movement was the result
+of an enterprise which was aimed against the Spaniards; and, though the
+facts have no real connection with the Yazoo speculation, they may
+be briefly told here, especially since Stevens, in his "History of
+Georgia," turns them all topsy-turvy.
+
+Genet was the first envoy sent to represent the wild and revolutionary
+republic of France,--the republic of Robespierre and the Jacobins. He
+represented, as well as any man could, the ideas and purposes of those
+who had wrought such havoc in France. He was meddlesome, wrong-headed,
+unreasonable, and bold with it all. He sailed from France in a
+ship which he commanded himself; and instead of going straight to
+Philadelphia (then the seat of government), where his business called
+him, he landed at Charleston in South Carolina. War was then pending
+between France and Spain; and Genet, after landing in Charleston, found
+ready sympathizers in the French Huguenots of South Carolina, and indeed
+in all those who had fought for American liberty. There were two reasons
+why the fiery appeals of Genet to the people of Carolina to take up
+arms against Spain were received enthusiastically. One was, that the
+Spaniards in Florida had been at constant war with the people of Georgia
+and Carolina, and had committed many crimes and depredations. The other
+was, that the people felt grateful to France for the aid she had given
+the American Colonies in their efforts to shake off the yoke of Great
+Britain.
+
+Genet's plan was to raise in this country an army large enough to seize
+the Spanish possessions in Florida, and to reconquer Louisiana. For
+the reasons stated, Genet found the people enthusiastic in favor of his
+enterprise. The enthusiasm was intense. It crossed the Savannah,
+and found General Elijah Clarke, with his strong nature and active
+sympathies, ready to embrace it. His military prestige in the South
+commended him to Genet as the man to lead the military enterprise
+against the Spanish settlements in the South. Accordingly he was given
+command of the army that was to be raised, and was made a major general
+in the French service with a pay of ten thousand dollars.
+
+Having secured a commander whose courage and resources in the field
+could be depended on, Genet went from Charleston to Philadelphia
+overland, stirring up sympathy for his enterprise and enlisting men. His
+success was greater than he had dreamed of. He found but one thing in
+his way, and that was the firmness and vigilance of George Washington.
+This great man set his face sternly against the project; but such was
+the enthusiasm of the people--artfully stirred by Genet, who was as
+accomplished as he was unscrupulous,--that a French party was formed.
+Genet took advantage of the formation of this party to arouse prejudice
+against Washington; and such was his success, that John Adams, who
+was afterwards President, says that there was a multitude of men in
+Philadelphia ready to drive Washington from the executive chair.
+
+A considerable army was raised, recruits reported to General Clarke from
+the Ohio River to the St. Mary's, and everything was ready for action.
+At that moment the heavy hand of Washington descended on the enterprise.
+The recall of Genet was demanded, the French party went to pieces,
+the project collapsed, and Elijah Clarke was left without resources,
+surrounded by a considerable force of men who had come at his bidding
+to take part in the attack on the Spanish possessions. These men were on
+his hands, expecting the fulfillment of promises that had been made to
+them. What was to be done? It was at this critical period that the eyes
+of General Clarke turned to the Indian reservation west of the Oconee.
+He marched his men to these lands, and took possession. He, and those
+who engaged in the movement for settling the lands, had risked their
+lives for their country on a hundred battlefields. They thought that
+the lands that had been claimed by the King belonged to those who had
+conquered the King's armies. They were right in principle, but wrong
+in action. The lands that had belonged to the King now belonged to
+the people, not as individuals, but as a corporate body,--to the whole
+people represented by the State government. These principles had not
+been made as clear by discussion in General Clarke's day as they have
+been made since. He engaged in no speculation. He boldly settled the
+lands, and was prepared to boldly hold his position. The settlement was
+made in 1794. On the 28th of July, Governor George Matthews issued a
+proclamation forbidding the settlement, and likewise directed one of
+the judges to issue a warrant for the general's arrest. At the Superior
+Court of Wilkes County, Clarke surrendered himself to the judge, who
+referred the case to the county justices. These judges made a decision,
+setting forth the fact that Elijah Clarke had surrendered himself into
+custody; that, being desirous to do speedy justice to the State as well
+as to the party charged, they had proceeded to maturely consider the
+case; and that after examining the laws of the State, and the treaties
+made and laws passed by the United States, they gave it as their
+"decided and unanimous opinion that the said Elijah Clarke be and
+is hereby discharged." Encouraged by this decision, General Clarke
+returned to his settlement with the intention of holding the lands; but
+finally both the Federal and the State governments moved against
+him, and he abandoned the enterprise. The policy that Clarke began in
+settling the Indian lands without regard to the rights of the savage has
+since become the policy of the government. It is not a wholesome
+policy, nor is it authorized by the moral or civil law; but it has been
+unblushingly carried out nevertheless.
+
+The Yazoo Fraud was a far different matter. The very name of it was
+foreign to Georgia. It was borrowed from the Indian name of a small
+stream which empties itself into the Mississippi River. When the
+Colony of Georgia was first settled, the land granted to Oglethorpe was
+described as lying along the Savannah River, extending southward along
+the coast to the Altamaha, and from the head waters of these rivers
+westward to "the South Seas." Afterwards Great Britain changed the line
+which he had established. She carried the boundary line of West Florida,
+a part of her possessions, higher up. The new line started from the
+Mississippi at the mouth of the Yazoo River, and ran due east to the
+Chattahoochee at a point near where the town of West Point now stands.
+As the upper boundary of British West Florida this line came to be known
+as the Yazoo line, and the country above and below it to an indefinite
+extent came to be known as the Yazoo country. No boundary can now be
+fixed to the region then known as the Yazoo country. At the close of
+the Revolutionary War, Great Britain made a treaty which has been
+interpreted as vesting in the United States and in Georgia the right
+and title to these lands, reaching from the Chattahoochee to the Yazoo
+River, and extending on each side of this line to a distance that has
+never been estimated.
+
+The Yazoo Fraud itself had a somewhat vague beginning. From the best
+information that can now be obtained, it may be said that it was set on
+foot in 1789, shortly after the close of the Revolution, by a sharper
+who was famous in that day. He was known as Thomas Washington, but his
+real name was Walsh. Washington, or Walsh, is described as being a very
+extraordinary man. He had fought in the service of Georgia, but he
+had the instinct of a speculator; and when the war was ended, he gave
+himself up to the devices of those who earn their living by their
+wits. He was a man of good address, and his air of candor succeeded in
+deceiving all whom he met. Those who dealt with him always had the worst
+of the bargain.
+
+When Washington, or Walsh, began to operate in Georgia through agents,
+he found the way already prepared for him. The War for Independence
+had barely closed, when certain individuals, most of them men of some
+influence, began to look on our Western possessions with a greedy
+eye. They had an idea of securing these lands and setting up a new
+government,--a sort of Western empire. To further their designs they
+began by forming themselves into an association called the "Combined
+Society," the members of which were bound to secrecy by oaths and other
+solemn pledges. The purpose of the Combined Society became known, and
+the force of public opinion compelled the members to disband. Some of
+them were men of aristocratic pretensions.
+
+Thus Washington, or Walsh, found a great many sympathetic people in
+Georgia. He was too well known in the State to undertake any scheme to
+which his name was attached: so he worked through an agent, a man named
+Sullivan. This man Sullivan had been a captain in the patriot army; but
+he had headed the Philadelphia mob which insulted Congress, and he was
+compelled to flee to the Mississippi to save his neck. When the old
+Congress went out, Sullivan felt free to return. He came to Georgia,
+representing, or pretending to represent, the Virginia Yazoo Company, of
+which the celebrated Patrick Henry was a member, and made application to
+the State Legislature for the purchase of the Western lands. Sullivan's
+description of the Yazoo lands was so glowing that another company
+was formed in Georgia. Some of the members of the new company formerly
+belonged to the Combined Society, but others were men of good standing.
+This company employed active agents; but no corrupt means were used so
+far as is now known, though some members of the General Assembly were
+interested. The efforts of the company were successful. Their act was
+passed, and the sale made. Immediately the people began to oppose the
+scheme, and to demand the repeal of the act The demand grew into a State
+issue, and the new Legislature declared the sale null and void.
+
+[Illustration: The Yazoo Scheme 134]
+
+For a while the land grabbers were quiet; but in 1794 it seemed to the
+most eager of the speculators that the time had come for them to make
+another effort to secure the rich Western lands that belonged to the
+State. They were evidently afraid, that, unless they made haste to get
+hold of the lands, the people's Legislature would divide them out or
+sell them to the Federal Government. So they formed another conspiracy,
+and this time they laid their plans very deep. Acting on the principle
+that every man has his price, they managed, by bribery and other
+underhanded schemes, to win the sympathy and support of some of the
+most prominent men in the State,--men whose names seemed to be far
+above suspicion. Some of the highest judges lent their aid to the land
+grabbers. Members of Congress were concerned in the scheme. Generals
+and other high officers of the militia took part in it. Nothing was left
+undone that was calculated to win the support of men who, up to that
+time, had enjoyed and deserved the confidence and respect of the
+State. The extent of the bribery and corruption that existed would be
+altogether beyond belief if the records were not left to show it. The
+swindlers were both bold and cunning, and in one way or another sought
+to win the support of all the leading men in the State. And they came
+very close to succeeding.
+
+The Legislature held its session in Augusta at that time; and while the
+Yazoo land sale was up for discussion, the agents of the land grabbers
+swarmed around it, coaxing, bribing, and bullying the people's
+representatives. Among these agents was a judge of the Supreme Court of
+the United States, from Pennsylvania, with twenty-five thousand dollars
+in his hands. There was a judge of the United States District Court for
+Georgia, paying shares in the land company for the votes of members. A
+United States senator from Georgia, James Gunn, who had neglected to
+return to his post of duty in Congress, was seen bullying members with a
+loaded whip, to secure their support for the land-sale scheme. A judge
+of the State courts was also present, with other prominent citizens,
+buttonholing the members of the Legislature, offering them shares,
+sub-shares, and half sub-shares to secure their votes. General James
+Jackson, who was then a United States senator from Georgia, was told by
+a prominent judge of the State that he might have any number of acres he
+pleased up to half a million, without the payment of a dollar, if he
+would use his influence in behalf of the corrupt schemes of the land
+grabbers. In reply, General Jackson said he had fought for the people of
+Georgia; that the land belonged to them and to their children; and that,
+should the conspirators succeed, he, for one, would hold the sale to be
+void. Many weak men in the Legislature were intimidated by threats; and
+some who could not be persuaded to vote for the sale, were paid to go
+home, and remain away from the Legislature.
+
+In this way the representatives of the people were persuaded and bribed
+to support the scheme of the land grabbers. In 1795 the bill was passed,
+selling to four companies--the Georgia Company, the Georgia
+Mississippi Company, the Upper Mississippi Company, and the Tennessee
+Company--thirty-five million acres of land for $500,000. Nothing was now
+wanting to complete the fraud but the signature of the governor. If he
+put his name to the bill, it became a law. If he refused to sign it,
+the scheme of the swindlers would fail. General George Matthews was the
+governor at that time, and, though two of his sons had been made members
+of the land-grabbing companies, it was hoped that he would refuse to
+sign the bill. The hope was justified by the fact that he had refused to
+sign a similar bill, and had given some very good reasons for it. It
+was known, too, that he was a man of great courage, and honest in his
+intentions; but the influence brought to bear on him was too great. His
+judgment was weakened by the clamor of the prominent men around him, who
+had become the paid agents of the swindlers. He resisted for some time,
+but finally agreed to sign the bill. The secretary of Governor Matthews,
+a man named Urquhart, tried to prevent the signing of the bill by
+working on the governor's superstitions. He dipped the pen in oil,
+thinking that when Matthews came to write with it, and found that the
+ink refused to flow, he would take it as an omen that the bill should
+not be signed. The governor was startled, when, after several efforts,
+he found the pen would not write; but he was not a man to let so
+trifling a matter stand in his way. He directed his secretary to make
+another pen, and with this he made the land-steal bill a law. By a
+stroke he made the bill a law, and also signed away his own popularity
+and influence. The people of Georgia never trusted him afterwards; and
+he left the State, finding it unpleasant and uncomfortable to live among
+those who had lost their respect for him. Yet no charge of corruption
+was ever made against him.
+
+When the people learned that the Yazoo Fraud had become a law, they rose
+up as one man to denounce it. Those who lived in the neighborhood of
+Augusta determined to put to death the men who had betrayed them. They
+marched to the legislative halls, and were only prevented from carrying
+out their threats by the persuasion of the small minority of the members
+that had refused to be coaxed, bullied, or bribed into voting for the
+Yazoo Fraud. But the indignation of the people continued to grow as
+they learned of the corrupt methods that had been employed to pass the
+measure. Meetings were held in every county; and public opinion
+became so strong that those who had voted for the Yazoo Fraud found it
+dangerous to remain in the State. A senator from Hancock County became
+so alarmed that he fled to South Carolina. He was followed by one of his
+neighbors, found in a lonely cabin at night, and shot to death. Except
+in one or two counties, the men who voted for the Yazoo Fraud were
+compelled to hide themselves until the anger of the people had cooled.
+
+In his "Sketches of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia," Governor
+George R. Gilmer tells a little story that will serve to show the state
+of feeling in Georgia at that time. After the Yazoo Fraud was passed,
+the people of the counties held indignation meetings. A meeting was
+called in Oglethorpe County, and on the morning of the day, a citizen on
+his way to town stopped at the gate of a neighbor to wait until he could
+get ready to go. The man who was getting ready was named Miles Jennings.
+The citizen, waiting, saw Mr. Jennings put a rope in his pocket.
+
+"What is that for?" the citizen asked.
+
+"To hang Musgrove!" replied Mr. Jennings, Musgrove being the name of the
+member of the Legislature.
+
+When the two neighbors arrived at the courthouse, all the people had
+assembled. Mr. Jennings hitched his horse and went into the crowd,
+pulled the rope from his pocket, and, holding it above his head where
+all could see it, cried out,--
+
+"Neighbors! this rope is to hang Musgrove, who sold the people's land
+for a bribe!"
+
+[Illustration: Rope to hang Musgrove 138]
+
+The words of Jennings and the sight of the rope made the people furious.
+Musgrove had been given a hint by Jennings's neighbor, and he had made
+good his escape. But for that, no human power could have saved him.
+
+The whole State was in a condition of excitement that is hard to
+describe. Grand juries made presentments, county and town meetings
+passed resolutions, and petitions were sent from hand to hand, and
+signed by hundreds of people. A State convention, called to alter the
+constitution, had been chosen to meet in May, 1795, but the members had
+been chosen at the same time that the members of the corrupt Legislature
+had been elected; and a majority of them had been "tarred with the same
+stick," as the saying goes. The presentments, resolutions, and petitions
+crowded so fast upon the convention, that it was decided to postpone the
+changing of the constitution to a time when the people were in a better
+humor. The convention referred all the papers it had received to the
+next Legislature, and adjourned in some confusion.
+
+This added to the excitement and anger of the people. They were in doubt
+how to act. Delay would give the land grabbers time to sell the lands
+they had secured through bribery and corruption. But whom could the
+people trust? They had been betrayed by many of their highest judges,
+by one of their United States senators, and by a large majority of their
+Legislature. A great many believed that all the powers of government had
+come to an end.
+
+During the troubled times of the Revolution it had been the custom of
+military officers having the confidence of the people to convene the
+Legislative Assembly when an emergency seemed to call for it. In the
+midst of their doubt and confusion, the people applied to General
+Twiggs, the senior major general, to convene the Legislature in order
+that action might be taken before the swindlers sold the lands they had
+obtained by fraud; but General Twiggs refused to act in a case in which
+he had no clear right and power, so the people remained for the time
+being without a remedy.
+
+From the very beginning of this scheme to defraud the people of the
+State, it had been bitterly opposed by General James Jackson, who was
+representing Georgia in the United States Senate. He denounced it in the
+Senate. He corresponded with the most eminent men in the State, he wrote
+to the newspapers, and in every possible way held up to the scorn and
+contempt of the public the men who were trying to defraud the State of
+its rich Western lands. On the other hand, the conspirators left nothing
+undone to injure the reputation of General Jackson. His character was
+attacked, and his life was several times threatened. As early as the
+spring of 1795, he took occasion in full Senate, and in the presence
+of General James Gunn (the Georgia senator who was representing the
+swindlers), to denounce the scheme as "a speculation of the darkest
+character and of deliberate villany."
+
+By his bold, even violent opposition to the Yazoo sale, General Jackson
+had made himself the leader of the people. Therefore in 1795, while he
+was still senator, many of the people requested him to resign, so that
+he might use his influence and great talents in bringing about the
+repeal of the obnoxious law. He tendered his resignation at once, and
+returned home. He was elected a member of the Legislature, and devoted
+all his time and all his energy to blotting out the odious law. He
+became a member of the committee appointed to investigate the means used
+to pass the law, and under his leadership the whole scandalous affair
+was probed to the bottom.
+
+In electing the new Legislature, the only issue was Yazoo and
+anti-Yazoo. The people were successful in electing men who favored
+the repeal of the law. There was no other business before the General
+Assembly until this matter was disposed of. The body was flooded with
+the petitions and remonstrances that had been sent to the convention.
+The Legislature had met in January, 1795. At once a day was set to
+"consider the state of the Republic." On that day the petitions and
+presentments were considered, and referred to a committee, of which
+General Jackson was appointed chairman. On the 22d of January the
+committee reported not only that the act was unconstitutional, but that
+fraud had been practiced to secure its passage. On these grounds they
+declared that the act was a nullity, and not binding on the people of
+the State.
+
+The bill declaring the sale void was drawn up by General Jackson. It
+passed both Houses by large majorities, and was signed by Governor
+Irwin. The feeling of the Legislature was so strong, that, after the
+Yazoo act had been repealed, it was decided to destroy all the records
+and documents relating to the corruption. By order of the two Houses a
+fire was kindled in the public square of Louisville, which was then the
+capital. The enrolled act that had been secured by fraud was brought out
+by the secretary of state, and by him delivered to the President of the
+Senate for examination. That officer delivered the act to the Speaker
+of the House. The Speaker in turn passed it to the clerk, who read the
+title of the act and the other records, and then, committing them to the
+flames, cried out in a loud voice, "God save the State and preserve her
+rights, and may every attempt to injure them perish as these wicked and
+corrupt acts now do!"
+
+The flames in which the records were burned were kindled by means of
+a sun glass, so that it might be truly said that fire came down from
+heaven to destroy the evidences of corruption. There is a tradition that
+when the officers of the State had met to destroy the records, an old
+man, a stranger to all present, rode through the multitude, and made
+his way to where the officials stood. Lifting up his voice, he declared,
+that, feeble as he was, he had come there to see an act of justice
+performed, but he thought the fire in which the records of corruption
+were to be destroyed should come from heaven. The people watched him in
+silence. He drew from his bosom with trembling hands a sun glass, and in
+this way burned the papers. Then, says tradition, the white-haired old
+man mounted his horse and rode away, and was never seen again.
+
+
+
+
+GEORGE MATTHEWS AND JOHN CLARKE.
+
+[Illustration: George Matthews and John Clarke 143]
+
+In giving the history of the Yazoo Fraud, mention has been made of
+General George Matthews, who was governor at the time, and who was
+compelled to leave the State because he had been persuaded to sign the
+bill. General Matthews was one of the most remarkable characters of his
+time. Governor Gilmer has drawn a very interesting portrait of him.
+It is not a pleasing picture in some respects, but it gives a very
+interesting glimpse of a man who in his day was one of the strongest
+characters in the State.
+
+He was the son of an Irishman named John Matthews, who settled in
+western Virginia in 1737. George Matthews began to fight the Indians at
+an age when most boys are at school. In 1761 the Indians attacked and
+murdered a family not far from his father's home. He heard the guns, and
+thought that a shooting match was going on. With some companions of his
+own age, he rode forward to join in the sport; but the youngsters saw
+the dead bodies of their neighbors lying in the yard where they had been
+left by the murderous savages, and at once turned their horses' heads
+and fled. They were not a moment too soon; for the Indians, who had
+been lying in ambush, rose and fired at the boys. Matthews had a narrow
+escape; for a bullet cut off the wisp of hair (known as a queue) that
+hung dangling from the back of his head. The danger that he had passed
+through, and the sight of his murdered neighbors, roused young Matthews
+to action. He collected a party of men, put himself at the head of them,
+followed and overtook the savages, and killed nine of their number.
+
+In the greatest battle that ever took place between the Virginians and
+the Indians, Matthews commanded a company, and bore a very conspicuous
+part. The battle took place at the junction of the Ohio River with the
+Kanawha, on what was called Point Pleasant. The fight began at sunrise,
+and was kept up all day, with no great success on either side. The
+Indians held their ground, and refused to give way before the most
+stubborn attacks of the Virginians. Near sundown, Matthews, with two
+other captains, made a strategic movement. The three companies were
+withdrawn from the battle. Out of sight of the enemy, they got into the
+bed of a creek. Hidden by the banks of the stream, they marched to the
+rear of the Indians, and from this point made an attack. The movement
+had been so cleverly carried out, that the savages were taken completely
+by surprise, and driven across the Ohio.
+
+Early in the Revolutionary War, General Washington, who knew well the
+value of the training Matthews had received on the frontier, ordered him
+and the regiment which he commanded to join the main army. He took part
+in the battle of the Brandywine; and at the battle of Germantown he
+led his regiment against the British opposing him, drove them back, and
+pushed on to the center of the town, where he captured a regiment of the
+enemy. Shortly after this, while engaged in a skirmish, his courage led
+him too close to the British. He was knocked down, severely wounded by
+a bayonet thrust, and taken prisoner. He was sent to the British prison
+ship in New York Harbor. He was there treated with so much cruelty that
+he appealed to his government for relief. In response to that appeal,
+Thomas Jefferson, who was then governor of Virginia, wrote him a
+personal letter, in which he said, "We know that the ardent spirit and
+hatred of tyranny which brought you into your present situation
+will enable you to bear up against it with the firmness which has
+distinguished you as a soldier, and look forward with pleasure to the
+day when events shall take place against which the wounded spirit of
+your enemies will find no comfort, even from reflections on the most
+refined of the cruelties with which they have glutted themselves."
+
+General Matthews was not exchanged until the close of the war. He then
+joined the Southern army under General Greene, and commanded the Third
+Virginia Regiment. While in the South, he bought a tract of land on
+Broad River, known as the Goose Pond. He settled there with his family
+in 1784. The fame he had won as a soldier made General Matthews at that
+time the principal man in Georgia. He was elected governor in 1786. When
+his term expired, he was sent to Congress. In 1794-95 he was again made
+governor; and it was at this time, that, contrary to all expectations,
+he was prevailed on to sign the Yazoo Act. No charge of corruption was
+ever made against him. No thief or swindler was ever bold enough to try
+to bribe such a high-spirited and fearless man. But excitement in
+the State ran so high, that General Matthews was ruined so far as his
+influence was concerned. He left Georgia, and never afterwards made the
+State his home for any long period.
+
+In 1811 a lot of runaway negroes, ruffians, and lawless men congregated
+in Florida in such numbers that they were able to get control of
+affairs. They formed a government of their own, and then petitioned
+the United States to make Florida one of their territories. President
+Madison appointed General Matthews the agent of the United States to
+negotiate with the "constituted authorities" for the annexation of
+Florida. General Matthews made a treaty with those who were in control
+of Florida; but Spain protested, and the President finally declared that
+the treaty had not been made with the "constituted authorities."
+
+General Matthews was not a learned man (he knew nothing of books),
+and he could not understand the fuss that was made over the term
+"constituted authorities." He became very angry with the President, said
+that that officer had a cowardly fear of Spain and Great Britain, and
+declared that he would go to Washington to "thrash" the President. He
+actually set out on that errand; but the fatigue and exposure which he
+had experienced in Florida, and the high state of excitement under
+which he labored, threw him into a fever while he was on his journey to
+Washington, and he died in Augusta in March, 1812.
+
+Previous to his Florida appointment, General Matthews had been nominated
+to be governor of the Territory of Mississippi by President Adams; but
+the opposition was so great that the President withdrew the nomination.
+When General Matthews heard of this, he promptly set out for
+Philadelphia to call the President to account. He rode to Mr. Adams's
+house, gave a loud knock on the door, and told the servant he wished
+to see the President. The servant said the President was engaged; but
+General Matthews bristled with anger at the bare thought that any man,
+even the President, could be engaged in any business more important
+than talking to George Matthews, late colonel of the Virginia line, and
+governor of the State of Georgia. Therefore he told the servant to go at
+once and tell the President that a gentleman wished to speak to him;
+and he added, that, if the message was not carried at once, the servant
+would find his head taken from his shoulders. General Matthews wore his
+Revolutionary sword and cocked hat, and he succeeded in convincing the
+servant that he was not to be trifled with. He was promptly admitted
+into the presence of Mr. Adams, and, with the touch of Irish brogue he
+had caught from his father, he made himself and his business known. He
+introduced himself, and then said to the President,--
+
+"Now, sir, I understand that you nominated me to the Senate of these
+United States, to be governor of the Territory of Mississippi, and that
+afterwards you took back the nomination. Sir, if you had known me, you
+would not have taken the nomination back. If you did not know me, you
+should not have nominated me to so important an office. Now, sir, unless
+you can satisfy me, your station as President of these United States
+shall not screen you from my vengeance."
+
+Mr. Adams at once made himself agreeable, for he had nothing but good
+will for the stanch Georgia Federalist. The outcome of the meeting was
+that the President promised to appoint the general's son John to be
+supervisor of the revenue, and this promise he carried out.
+
+Governor Gilmer, in his racy reminiscences of the people who settled
+in the Broad River region, draws an interesting portrait of General
+Matthews. He describes him as a short, thick man, with stout legs, on
+which he stood very straight. "He carried his head rather thrown back.
+His features were full and bluff, his hair light red, and his complexion
+fair and florid. He admitted no superior but General Washington. He
+spoke of his services to his country as unsurpassed except by those of
+his great chief. He wore a three-cornered cocked hat, top boots, a shirt
+full ruffled at the bosom and wrists, and sometimes a long sword at
+his side. To listen to his talk about himself, his children, and his
+affairs, one would have thought that he was but a puff of wind. Trade
+or talk of history with him, and he was found to be one of the shrewdest
+of men. Fight with him, and he never failed to act the hero. He was
+unlearned. He spelled 'coffee' k-a-u-g-h-p-h-y. He wrote 'Congress' with
+a K."
+
+When it is considered that he had small opportunity to train himself in
+any direction except rough fighting, General Matthews must be regarded
+as one of the most remarkable men of his time.
+
+Another remarkable man who figured largely in both the military and
+political history of the State was General John Clarke, son of the
+famous Elijah Clarke. John Clarke became a soldier in the Revolutionary
+War when a mere boy. He had followed his father to camp, and remained
+with him. He took part in many skirmishes; but at the battle of Kettle
+Creek, in Wilkes County, he distinguished himself by his coolness and
+courage. He fought through the war. He was made a lieutenant at sixteen
+years of age, and when the war ended he was a major. After the war he
+was made a brigadier, and then a major general of the militia. After
+aiding to run the British out of the State, and subduing the Tories,
+General Clarke turned his attention to the Indians. At the battle
+of Jacks Creek, in Walton County, in 1787, he greatly distinguished
+himself, having charge of one of the wings of the Georgia forces.
+
+It was natural that a man raised in camp, and brought up in the midst of
+the rough and tough elements that are collected together there, should
+possess qualities not calculated to fit him for the polite transactions
+that take place in drawing rooms and parlors. General Clarke's
+self-reliance was extreme. Having commanded men from the time he was
+sixteen, it was natural that his temper and his manners should be
+offensive, to some extent, to those who were not thoughtful enough to
+make due allowance for these things. It thus happened that when peace
+came, John Clarke's methods and practices made him many bitter enemies.
+On the other hand, the sterling qualities of his character made him many
+strong friends.
+
+Coming out of the war with neither trade nor profession, and with only
+the rudiments of an education, John Clarke was compelled to turn his
+attention to politics. With him politics was simply a modified form of
+war. He had never given any quarter to the Tories, and he gave small
+quarter to his political enemies. But he was as faithful to his friends
+in politics as he had been to the cause of American liberty. He was
+uncompromising, whether dealing with friends or enemies, and his temper
+was such that he regarded his opponents as his personal enemies. Of
+his political career, mention will be made in another place. It is
+sufficient to say that a quarrel he had with a judge divided the people
+of the State into two parties, and the contest between them was carried
+on for several years. The prejudices that sprang up in that contest
+lasted for more than a generation, and strong traces of them are to be
+found in estimates of General Clarke's character written long after he
+was dead.
+
+Only a man of the strongest character, and possessing the most
+remarkable qualities, could have made such a marked impression on the
+political history of a commonwealth.
+
+
+
+
+
+AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
+
+[Illustration: After the Revolution 152]
+
+The Revolution came to an end in Georgia when, on the 11th of July,
+1782, Savannah was taken possession of by the American troops under
+General Anthony Wayne. It ended for the whole country when, on the 30th
+of November of the same year, the treaty of peace was signed at Paris
+between the United States and Great Britain. The King of Great Britain
+acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen States, and declared them
+free and sovereign. This was a very happy event for the country, and
+had been long looked forward to by the people, sometimes doubtfully, but
+always hopefully.
+
+But the great victory that had been won found the people of Georgia
+prostrate. The little property that they possessed when the war
+began had either been spent in maintaining the struggle, or well-nigh
+destroyed by the raids of the British and Tories. In the larger
+communities of Savannah and Augusta, the citizens had the resources of
+trade and commerce to fall back on, but in the smaller settlements
+and rural districts the condition of the inhabitants bordered on
+destitution.
+
+At the time that Savannah was surrendered to the American troops, there
+was almost a famine in the land. The soldiers were without shoes, and
+sometimes they were without supplies. The crops were short on account
+of the lack of farmers. The condition of the people was quite as bad as
+that of the troops, especially when the disbanded militia returned to
+their homes. Houses, barns, and fences had been burned; stock and cattle
+had been slaughtered or driven away; and there was a great lack of even
+the necessities of life.
+
+But those whose energy and spirit upheld them through the long struggle
+for independence were not the men to surrender to the hard circumstances
+that surrounded them. They went to work as bravely as they had fought;
+and the sacrifices they made to peace were almost as severe, though
+not so bloody, as those they had made to war. Slowly, but surely and
+steadily, they reclaimed their waste farms. Slowly, but surely and
+steadily, they recovered from the prostration that the war had brought
+on their industries. Slowly, but surely and steadily, the people worked
+their way back to comparative prosperity. There may have been a few
+drones in the towns, but there were no idle hands in the country places.
+
+The men built for their families comfortable log cabins; and these,
+with their clean sanded floors, are still the fashion in some parts of
+Georgia. This done, they went about the business of raising crops, and
+stocking their farms with cattle. The women and children were just as
+busy. In every cabin could be heard the hum of the spinning wheel, and
+the thump of the old hand loom. While the men were engaged in their
+outdoor work, the women spun, wove, and made the comfortable jeans
+clothes that were the fashion; while the girls plaited straw, and made
+hats and bonnets, and in many other ways helped the older people. In
+a little while peddlers from the more northern States began to travel
+through Georgia with their various wares, some with pewter plates and
+spoons, and some with clocks. The peddlers traveled in wagons instead
+of carrying their packs on their backs, and in this way brought a great
+deal of merchandise to the State.
+
+As was natural, the political development of Georgia was much more rapid
+than its industrial progress. In January, 1783, Lyman Hall was elected
+governor. He was distinguished for the patriotic stand he took at the
+very beginning of the controversy between the Colony and the King. The
+Legislature met in Savannah after the evacuation of the town by the
+British; but it was so far from the central and upper portions of the
+State, and there was so much dissatisfaction among the people on this
+account, that in May Augusta was made the capital. In that town the
+General Assembly met July 8, 1783. Measures were at once taken to seize
+land, and confiscate the property of those Royalists who had lived
+in Georgia. This property was sold for the benefit of the public. In
+November of the same year a new cession of land was obtained from the
+Creek nation by treaty. This was divided into the counties of Franklin
+and Washington, and the land distributed in bounties to the soldiers of
+the war.
+
+It is worthy of note that about this time, when the State had hardly
+begun to recover from the effects of the war, the representatives of
+the people began to move in the matter of education. The Constitution
+of 1777 had declared that "schools shall be erected in each county, and
+supported by the general expense of the State." On the 31st of July,
+1783, the Legislature appropriated one thousand acres of land to each
+county for the support of free schools. In 1784, a short time after
+the notification of the treaty of peace, the Legislature passed an
+act appropriating forty thousand acres of land for the endowment of a
+college or university. A year later the charter for this university was
+granted; and the preamble of the act declares it to be the policy of the
+State to foster education in the most liberal way. It so happened that
+some of the provisions that had been made for public education were
+not carried out at once, and the people of the various settlements
+established schools of their own. Many of the best teachers of the
+country came to Georgia from the more northern States; and some of them
+won a reputation that has lasted to this day. Later, more than one
+of these teachers established schools that became famous all over the
+country. In this way the reign of the "old field schoolmaster" began,
+and continued for many years.
+
+[Illustration: Early Cultivation of Cotton 156]
+
+The people had been cultivating cotton on a small scale before 1791; but
+the staple was so difficult to handle, that the planting was limited.
+Those who grew it were compelled to separate the seed from the lint by
+hand, and this was so tedious that few people would grow it. But in
+1793, Eli Whitney, who was living on the plantation of General Greene,
+near Savannah, invented the cotton gin. The machine was a very awkward
+and cumbrous affair compared with the gins of the present day; but in
+that day and time, and for many years after, the Whitney was sufficient
+for the needs of the people. It was one of the most important inventions
+that have ever been made. It gave to the commerce of the world a staple
+commodity that is in universal demand, and it gave to the people of the
+South their most valuable and important crop. But for this timely
+invention, the cultivation of cotton would have been confined to the
+narrowest limits. The gin proved to be practicable, and it came into use
+very quickly. The farmers prospered, and gradually increased the cotton
+crop.
+
+The population also increased very rapidly. The rich lands were
+purchased and settled on by farmers from Virginia and the Carolinas. The
+colony that had been planted by Oglethorpe had never ventured very far
+from the seacoast. A few probably followed the course of the Savannah
+River, and made their homes in that region; but the people brought
+over by Oglethorpe were not of the stuff that pioneers are made of. The
+experience they had undergone in the mother country had tamed them
+to such a degree that they had no desire to brave the future in the
+wilderness. Adventures of that kind were left for the hardy North
+Carolinians and Virginians who first settled what was then known as
+Upper Georgia. After the Revolution, this tide of immigration increased
+very rapidly, and it was still further swelled by the profits that the
+Whitney gin enabled the planters of Georgia to make out of their cotton
+crops.
+
+The settling of Georgia began with the charitable scheme of Oglethorpe.
+The making of Georgia began when the North Carolinians and Virginians
+began to open up the Broad River region to the north of Augusta. It was
+due to the desperate stand taken by these hardy pioneers that Georgia
+continued the struggle for American independence. To Upper Georgia
+came some of the best families from Virginia and North Carolina,--the
+Grattons, the Lewises, the Clarkes, the Strothers, the Crawfords,
+the Reeses, the Harrises, the Andrewses, the Taliaferros (pronounced
+Tollivers), the Campbells, the Barnetts, the Toombses, the Doolys,
+and many other families whose names have figured in the history of
+the country. Here also settled James Jack, the sturdy patriot who
+volunteered to carry the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence to
+Philadelphia. The Congress then in session chose to shut its eyes to
+that declaration, but it was the basis and framework of the Declaration
+afterwards written by Thomas Jefferson.
+
+After the Revolution, when the Cherokees went on the warpath, the
+Virginia settlement was in a state of great alarm. Men, women, and
+children met together, and decided that it would be safer to camp in
+the woods in a body at night rather than run the risk of being burned to
+death in houses that they could not defend. They went into the depths
+of the woods and made an encampment. One night while they were around a
+fire, cooking their supper, suddenly the report of a gun was heard, and
+then there was a cry of "Indians!" The men seized their guns; but they
+hardly knew where to turn, or what to do. Suddenly a lad who had not
+lost his head emptied a bucket of water on the fire. This was the
+thing to do, but no one else had thought of it. The name of the lad
+was Meriwether Lewis. He went into the regular army, became the private
+secretary of President Jefferson, and was selected to head the party
+that explored the Territory of Louisiana, which had been bought from
+France. Meriwether Lewis selected for his companion Captain Clark, an
+old army friend and comrade. Leading the party, Lewis and his friend
+Clark left St. Louis, and pushed westward to the Pacific coast, through
+dangers and obstacles that few men would have cared to meet. The famous
+expedition of Lewis and Clark has now become a part of the history of
+the country. Lewis took possession of the Pacific coast in the name of
+the United States. There was a controversy with Great Britain some years
+afterwards as to the title of Oregon, but that which Lewis and Clark had
+established was finally acknowledged to be the best.
+
+Meriwether Lewis won a name in history because the opportunity came to
+him. His name is mentioned here because he was a representative of the
+men who settled Upper Georgia,--the men who kept the fires of liberty
+alive in the State, and who, after helping to conquer the British and
+the Tories, became the conquerors of the wilderness that lay to the west
+of them. From Wilkes, Burke, Elbert, and the region where Clarke and his
+men had fought, the tide of emigration slowly moved across the State,
+settling Greene, Hancock, Baldwin, Putnam, Morgan, Jasper, Butts,
+Monroe, Coweta, Upson, Pike, Meriwether, Talbot, Harris, and Muscogee
+counties.
+
+Some of the more adventurous crossed the Chattahoochee into Alabama, and
+on into the great Mississippi Valley and beyond. Their descendants live
+in every part of the South; and Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas have had
+Georgians for their governors, and their senators and representatives in
+Congress,--men who were descended from the Virginia and North Carolina
+immigrants. One of the most brilliant of these was Mirabeau B. Lamar,
+scholar, statesman, and soldier, the president of Texas when that
+Territory had declared itself a free and an independent republic.
+
+
+
+
+THE COTTON GIN.
+
+Brief mention has been made of Whitney's invention of the cotton gin.
+The event was of such world-wide importance that the story should be
+told here. Whitney, the inventor of the gin, was born in Massachusetts
+in 1765, in very poor circumstances. While the War of the Revolution was
+going on, he was earning his living by making nails by hand. He was such
+an apt mechanic that he was able to make and save enough money to pay
+his way through Yale College, where he graduated in 1792. In that year
+he engaged himself to come to Georgia as a private tutor in the family
+of a gentleman of Savannah; but when he reached that city, he found that
+the place had been filled.
+
+While in Savannah, Whitney attracted the attention of the widow of
+General Nathanael Greene, who lived at Mulberry Grove, on the river at
+no great distance from the city. Mrs. Greene invited the young man to
+make his home on her plantation. He soon found opportunity to show his
+fine mechanical genius, and Mrs. Greene became more interested in him
+than ever.
+
+The story goes, that soon after the young man had established himself on
+the Mulberry Grove Plantation, several Georgia planters were dining with
+Mrs. Greene. During their conversation the difficulty of removing the
+seed from the cotton fiber was mentioned, and the suggestion was made
+that this might be done by machinery. At this Mrs. Greene mentioned the
+skill and ingenuity of young Whitney, and advised her guests that he
+should be given the problem to solve. This advice was followed. The
+planters had a talk with the young man, and explained to him the
+difficulty which they found in separating the seed from the lint.
+
+At that time one pound of lint cotton was all that a negro woman could
+separate from the seed in a day; and the more cotton the planters
+raised, the deeper they got in debt. The close of the war had found them
+in a state of the utmost poverty, so that they had been compelled to
+mortgage their lands in order to get money on which to begin business.
+Cotton was the only product of the farm for which there was any constant
+demand; but, owing to the labor of separating the lint from the seed,
+it could not be raised at a profit. Thus, in 1791, the number of pounds
+exported from the South to Europe amounted to only about 379 bales of
+500 pounds each.
+
+When the planters went to Whitney with their problem, he was entirely
+ignorant of the whole matter. He knew nothing of cotton or of cotton
+planting; but he at once set himself at work. He made a careful study of
+the cotton plant. He shut himself in a room with some uncleaned cotton,
+and worked at his task during a whole winter. He made his own tools at
+the plantation blacksmith shop; and all day long, and sometimes far into
+the night, he could be heard hammering and sawing away.
+
+In 1793 he called together the planters who had asked him to solve the
+problem, and showed them the machine, which he called a cotton gin. When
+they saw it work, their surprise and delight knew no bounds. They
+knew at once that the problem had been solved by the young genius from
+Massachusetts. Little calculation was needed to show them that the
+cotton gin could clean as much cotton in a day as could be cleaned on
+a plantation during a whole winter. What before had been the work of a
+hundred hands for several months could now be completed in a few days.
+
+[Illustration: Whitney and his Cotton Gin 163]
+
+But it seems to be the fate of the majority of those who make wonderful
+inventions never to enjoy the full benefits of the work of their genius.
+Eli Whitney was not an exception to the general rule. While he was
+working on his cotton gin, rumors of it went abroad; and by the time it
+was completed, public expectation was on tiptoe. When the machine was
+finished, it was shown to only a few people; but the fact, of such
+immense importance to the people of the State, was soon known throughout
+the State, and the planters impatiently waited for the day when they
+would be able to put it in use.
+
+One night the building in which Whitney's cotton gin was concealed
+was broken into, ransacked, and the machine carried off. It was a bold
+robbery, and a very successful one. The inventor made haste to build
+another gin; but before he could get his model completed, and obtain
+a patent right to the invention, the machine had been manufactured at
+various points in the South by other parties, and was in operation on
+several plantations. Whitney formed a partnership with a gentleman who
+had some capital, and went to Connecticut to manufacture his gin; but he
+was compelled to spend all the money he could make, fighting lawsuits.
+His patent had been infringed, and those who sought to rob him of the
+fruits of his labor took a bold stand. The result of all this was, that
+the inventor never received any just compensation for a machine that
+revolutionized the commerce of the country, and added enormously to the
+power and progress of the Republic. Lord Macaulay said that Eli Whitney
+did more to make the United States powerful than Peter the Great did to
+make the Russian Empire dominant. Robert Fulton declared that Arkwright,
+Watt, and Whitney were the three men that did more for mankind than any
+of their contemporaries. This is easy to believe, when we remember that
+while the South shipped 6 bags of cotton to England in 1786, and only
+379 in 1791, ten years after the cotton gin came into use, 82,000
+bales were exported. The very importance of Whitney's invention made
+it immensely profitable for the vicious and the depraved to seize and
+appropriate the inventor's rights. These robberies were upheld by those
+who were anxious to share in the profits; and political demagogues made
+themselves popular by misrepresenting Whitney, and clamoring against
+the law that was intended to protect him. It was only by means of this
+clamor, half political and wholly dishonest, that the plain rights
+of Whitney could be denied and justice postponed. His invention was
+entirely new. It was distinct from every other. It had no connection
+with and no relation to any other invention that had been made. It stood
+alone, and there could be no difficulty whatever in identifying it. And
+yet Whitney had just this difficulty. In his efforts to prove that he
+was the inventor of the cotton gin, and that he was entitled to a share
+of the immense profits that those who used it were reaping, he had to
+travel thousands of miles, and spend thousands of dollars in appearing
+before Legislatures and in courts that denied him justice. The life
+of his patent had nearly expired before any court finally enforced
+his right, and Congress refused to grant him an extension beyond
+the fourteen years that had then nearly expired. Associations and
+combinations had been formed for the purpose of defrauding Whitney, and
+these were represented by the ablest lawyers that could be hired. It is
+no wonder that Whitney, in writing to Robert Fulton, a brother inventor,
+declared that the troubles he had to contend with were the result of a
+lack of desire on the part of mankind to see justice done. The truth is,
+his invention was of such prime importance that the public fought for
+its possession, and justice and honesty were for the moment lost sight
+of. At one time but a few men in Georgia were bold enough to go into
+court and testify to the simplest facts within their knowledge;
+and Whitney himself says, that in one instance he had the greatest
+difficulty in proving that the machine had been used in Georgia,
+although at that very moment three, separate gins were at work within
+fifty yards of the building in which the court sat. They were all so
+near, that the rattle and hum of the machinery could be heard from the
+court-house steps.
+
+In December, 1807, a judge was found to affirm the rights of Whitney
+under his patent. The judge's name was Johnson; and in his decision he
+said, "The whole interior of the Southern States was languishing, and
+its inhabitants emigrating for want of some object to engage their
+attention and employ their industry, when the invention of this machine
+at once opened views to them which set the whole country in active
+motion. From childhood to age it has presented to us a lucrative
+employment. Individuals who were depressed with poverty, and sunk in
+idleness, have suddenly risen to wealth and respectability. Our debts
+have been paid off. Our capital has increased, and our lands have
+trebled themselves in value. We cannot express the weight of the
+obligation which the country owes to this invention. The extent of it
+cannot now be seen."
+
+The language of the learned judge was high-flown; but he was a just
+judge, and he had a faint and glimmering idea of the real importance of
+this remarkable invention. It was a very simple affair. The principle
+came to Whitney in a flash, and he had a model constructed within ten
+days after the despairing planters had gone to him with their problem.
+But it may be doubted whether any other individual, by one simple
+invention, ever did so much for the progress and enrichment of human
+interests, and for the welfare and the comfort of the human race. This
+little machine made the agriculture of the South the strongest and the
+richest in the world, and gave to this section a political power that
+was for years supreme in the nation, and was only surrendered as the
+result of a long and exhausting war. By means of the cotton gin, towns
+and cities have sprung up, and a vast network of railways has been
+built; and yet the most that Whitney received was a royalty on his gin
+in North Carolina, and a donation of fifty thousand dollars from the
+State of South Carolina. In Georgia his right to his invention was
+stolen, and all that he got out of it was a number of costly lawsuits.
+
+After struggling for five years against the overwhelming odds that
+avarice and greed had mustered to aid them, Whitney turned his attention
+in another direction, and made a still more remarkable display of his
+genius. This part of his career does not belong directly to the history
+of Georgia, but it is interesting enough to be briefly recorded here.
+The United States Government was in want of arms, and this want various
+contractors had failed to meet. Through the influence of the secretary
+of the treasury, Whitney was given a contract to make ten thousand
+muskets at $13.40 apiece. He had no capital, no works, no machinery, no
+tools, no skilled workmen, no raw material. In creating a part of these
+and commanding the rest, he called into play an inventive genius, the
+extent of which must always excite wonder and admiration.
+
+Within ten years he created his own works, and invented and made his own
+tools, invented and made his own machinery. More than this, he invented
+and applied a wholly new principle of manufacture,--a principle that
+has done more to advance human industry and increase wealth all over the
+world than any other known effort of the human mind to solve material
+problems. He invented and developed the principle or system of making
+the various parts of a musket or any other complex manufactured
+article, such as the sewing machine, so absolutely uniform as to be
+interchangeable. This principle has been carried out in hundreds of
+thousands of different ways. It has entered into and become a feature of
+a vast range of manufactures. The principle was established by a series
+of inventions as wonderful as any that the human mind ever conceived,
+so that Whitney has been aptly called the Shakespeare of invention. His
+inventions remain practically unchanged. After ninety years of trial,
+they are found to be practically perfect.
+
+It was his peculiar gift to be able to convey into inanimate machinery
+the skill that a human being could acquire only after years of study and
+practice.
+
+It is almost like belittling the greatest of marvels to call it a
+stroke of genius. He made it possible for the most ordinary laborer
+to accomplish a hundred times as much in an hour, and with the most
+exquisite perfection, as a skilled laborer could accomplish in a day.
+
+On these wonderful inventions Whitney took out no patents. He gave them
+all to the public. In this way he revenged himself on those who had
+successfully robbed him of the fruits of his labor and genius in the
+invention of the cotton gin. Perhaps if he had been more justly treated
+in Georgia, he might have set up his works in this State, and this fact
+might have made the South the seat of great manufacturing industries.
+Who knows?
+
+
+
+
+SOME GEORGIA INVENTIONS.
+
+The credit of inventing the steamboat is by general consent given to
+Robert Fulton. Every schoolboy is taught that such is the case, and yet
+the fact is at least very doubtful. There is preserved among the papers
+in the Archives of Georgia a document that indicates, that, while Robert
+Fulton has won the credit for an invention that has revolutionized
+the commerce of the world, the real inventor may have been William
+Longstreet of Augusta, an uncle of General James B. Longstreet, and the
+father of Judge A. B. Longstreet, author of "Georgia Scenes." On the
+26th of September, 1790, William Longstreet sent the following letter to
+Edward Telfair, who was then governor of Georgia:--
+
+ Sir,--I make no doubt but you have heard of my steamboat
+ and as often heard it laughed at. But in this I have only
+ shared the fate of all other projectors, for it has
+ uniformly been the custom of every country to ridicule even
+ the greatest inventions until use has proved their utility.
+
+ My not reducing my scheme to practice has been a little
+ unfortunate for me, I confess, and perhaps for the people in
+ general, but until very lately I did not think that either
+ artists or material could be had in the place sufficient.
+ However, necessity, that grand science of invention, has
+ furnished me with an idea of perfecting my plans almost
+ entirely with wooden materials, and by such workmen as may
+ be got here, and from a thorough confidence of its success,
+ I have presumed to ask your assistance and patronage.
+
+ Should it succeed agreeable to my expectations, I hope I
+ shall discover that source of duty which such favors always
+ merit, and should it not succeed, your reward must lay with
+ other unlucky adventurers.
+
+ For me to mention to you all the advantages arising from
+ such a machine would be tedious, and, indeed, quite
+ unnecessary, Therefore I have taken the liberty to state in
+ this plain and humble manner my wish and opinion, which I
+ hope you will excuse, and I will remain, either with or
+ without approbation,
+
+ Your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant,
+
+ William Longstreet.
+
+There are two features of this letter that ought to attract attention.
+One is that William Longstreet has the name of "steamboat" as pat as if
+the machine were in common use. The second is his allusion to the fact
+that his conception of a boat to be propelled by steam was so well known
+as to be noised abroad.
+
+Credit is sometimes given to John Fitch, who, it is said, invented a
+boat propelled by steam, that carried passengers on the Delaware River
+in 1787. An Englishman named Symington is said to have run a steamboat
+in 1801, while Robert Fulton's success was delayed until 1806. All these
+men have received credit for their efforts to benefit humanity, but
+history is silent in regard to William Longstreet. In one book about
+Georgia the remark is made that "James Longstreet is said to have
+invented the steamboat in 1793," but in this instance neither the name
+nor the date is correct.
+
+In old St. Paul's churchyard in Augusta there is a tombstone which
+bears the inscription, "Sacred to the memory of William Longstreet, who
+departed this life September 1, 1814, aged 54 years, 10 months, and
+26 days." Below this runs the pleasant legend, "All the days of the
+afflicted are evil, but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual
+feast." We are thus left to infer that William Longstreet was a man of a
+merry heart; and that fact is certified to by the cleverness with which
+his son, the author of "Georgia Scenes," has preserved for us some of
+the quaint characters that lived and moved and had their being on the
+borders of Georgia society directly after the Revolution.
+
+[Illustration: William Longstreet and his Steamboat 172]
+
+Being an inventor, a man of ingenious ideas, and somewhat ambitious of
+serving the public in that way, William Long-street certainly had need
+of a merry heart; for, as he himself says, the way of the projector
+is hard. The term itself is used in Georgia to this day to express a
+certain sort of good-natured contempt. Go into the country places and
+ask after some acquaintance who has not prospered in a worldly way, and
+the answer will be, "Oh, he's just a prodjikin around."
+
+It is certain that William Longstreet knew that steam could be used as
+a motive power long before it was so applied; and because he employed
+a good deal of his time in trying to discover the principle, he was
+ridiculed by his neighbors and friends, and the more thoughtless among
+them didn't know whether he was a crank, a half-wit, or a "luny." From
+all accounts, he was a modest, shy, retiring man, though a merry one. He
+had but little money to devote to the experiments he wished to make, and
+in this was not different from the great majority of inventors.
+
+For a long time Longstreet's zeal and enthusiasm attracted the attention
+of a few of his wealthy friends, and these furnished him such money as
+he wanted; but no very long time was needed to convince those who
+were spending their money that the idea of propelling a boat by steam,
+instead of by sails or oars, was ridiculous. Longstreet made many
+experiments, but he had not hit upon the method of applying the
+principle he had in mind: consequently his rich friends closed their
+purses, and left him entirely to his own resources. A newspaper
+publication, in giving some of the facts in regard to Longstreet's
+efforts, says that he and his steamboat were made the subject of a comic
+song:--
+
+ "Can you row the boat ashore,
+ Billy boy, Billy boy?
+ Can you row the boat ashore,
+ Gentle Billy?
+
+ Can you row the boat ashore
+ Without a paddle or an oar,
+ Billy boy?"
+
+Though he had failed many times, Longstreet was not disheartened. He
+continued his experiments, and at last succeeded in making a toy boat,
+which he exhibited to a few friends. His idea at this time, it seems,
+was not to construct a steamboat, but merely to convince some of his
+friends that steam could be used as a motive power. But in this he was
+not very successful. His toy boat did all that he wanted it to do; but
+his friends declared, that while steam might be used to move a small
+boat, it could never be used to move a large one. The experience of a
+new generation showed that there was one wise man in Augusta and a great
+many fools. Nevertheless William Longstreet determined to show that
+a large boat could be moved by a large amount of steam as easily as a
+small boat could be moved by a small volume.
+
+Now, while he was making his experiments; and trying to overcome the
+difficulties that presented themselves, Robert Fulton was living in
+Paris with Joel Barlow. He was in Paris when Napoleon became first
+consul. At that time he was experimenting with his diving boat and
+submarine torpedo. Napoleon was so much interested in this work that
+he gave Fulton ten thousand francs to carry it on. The inventor was
+in France in 1803 when Napoleon organized his army for the invasion of
+England. He was surrounded by influential friends, and he had money at
+his command.
+
+Compared with William Longstreet, Robert Fulton was "in clover."
+Longstreet was compelled to work without money, and in the midst of a
+community whose curiosity had developed into criticism and ridicule.
+Thus it was not until 1806 that he succeeded in completing a steamboat
+that would accommodate twenty or twenty-five persons. He went on board,
+accompanied by such of his friends as he could persuade, and in the
+presence of a curious and doubting crowd the first real steamboat was
+launched on the Savannah River. Some of the friends of those on board,
+feeling anxious for their safety if the "contraption" should explode,
+secured a skiff, and followed the steamboat at a safe distance, ready
+to pick up such of the passengers as might survive when the affair had
+blown to pieces. Longstreet headed the boat down the river, and went in
+that direction for several miles. Then he turned the head of the little
+boat upstream; and, although the current was swift, he carried his
+passengers back to the wharf, and several miles above.
+
+From that hour William Longstreet became a man of some consequence in
+the community. Those who had ridiculed him now sang his praises, and
+those who had doubted that steam could be used as a motive power were
+now convinced. His friends tried hard to get him to go to Washington and
+secure the benefits of a patent for his invention; but he persistently
+refused to take any steps to profit by the results of his genius, or
+indeed to make his invention known. His constant reply to all those who
+tried to persuade him to go to Washington was, that he had carried
+on his experiments simply to prove the truth of his theory to his own
+satisfaction, and to convince those whose respect he coveted that he was
+neither a fool nor a crank.
+
+Some of his friends and admirers were themselves preparing to go to
+Washington in behalf of the inventor, but they had put off their journey
+until the year after the exhibition was made in Augusta, and at
+that time they heard that Robert Fulton had exhibited his steamboat
+"Clermont" on the Hudson River. They then gave up their design, and
+William Longstreet continued to remain in the seclusion that was so
+pleasant to him.
+
+It is a noteworthy fact, that twelve years after William Longstreet made
+his successful experiments on the Savannah River, Georgia enterprise
+built, launched, and managed the first steamship that ever crossed the
+ocean. This great enterprise was organized in Savannah in 1818. The
+Georgia Company contracted to have the ship built in New York; and when
+completed, it was named the "Savannah." The vessel was finished and
+brought to Savannah in April, 1819. In May the steamship left Savannah
+bound for Liverpool. From Liverpool it went to St. Petersburg, and then
+returned to Savannah, having made the voyage in fifty days.
+
+The first sewing machine was invented by Rev. Frank R. Goulding, a
+Georgian who has won fame among the children of the land as the author
+of "The Young Marooners." He invented the sewing machine for the purpose
+of lightening the labors of his wife; and she used it for some years
+before some other genius invented it, or some traveler stole the idea
+and improved on it.
+
+Dr. Crawford W. Long, in 1842, when twenty-seven years of age, performed
+the first painless surgical operation that is known to history. In 1839,
+Velpeau of Paris declared that the attempts to find some agent by which
+to prevent pain in surgical operations was nothing less than chimerical;
+and as late as 1846 Sir Benjamin Brodie said, "Physicians and surgeons
+have been looking in vain, from the days of Hippocrates down to the
+present time, for the means of allaying or preventing bodily pain." And
+yet three years after the declaration of Velpeau, and four years before
+the statement of Sir Benjamin Brodie, the young Georgia physician had
+removed a tumor from the neck of a patient, and that patient had felt no
+pain.
+
+The story is very interesting. Dr. Crawford W. Long was born in
+Danielsville, Madison County, Ga., on the 1st of November, 1815. He
+graduated at the University of Georgia, studied medicine, and graduated
+at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He then
+went to Jefferson, Jackson County, where he opened an office, and
+practiced medicine for many years.
+
+[Illustration: Laughing Gas 177]
+
+In those days the young men living in the country districts, for want
+of something better to amuse them, were in the habit of inhaling
+nitrous-oxide gas, or, as it was then popularly known, "laughing gas."
+The young people would gather together, and some of them would inhale
+the gas until they came under its influence. The result was in most
+cases very amusing. Some would laugh, some would cry, and all in
+various ways would carry out the peculiarities of their characters and
+dispositions. Thus, if a young man had an inward inclination to preach,
+he would, under the influence of "laughing gas," proceed to deliver a
+sermon. As these "laughing-gas" parties were exhilarating to the young
+people who inhaled the gas, and amusing to those who were spectators,
+they became very popular.
+
+But it was not always easy to secure the gas. On one occasion a company
+of young men went to Dr. Long's office and asked him to make them a
+supply of "laughing gas." There was no apparatus in the office suitable
+for making it, but Dr. Long told the young men that the inhalation of
+sulphuric ether would have the same effect. He had become acquainted
+with this property of ether while studying medicine in Philadelphia.
+The young men and their friends were so well pleased with the effects
+of ether inhalation, that "ether parties" became fashionable in that
+section, as well as in other parts of the State. At these ether parties,
+Dr. Long noticed that persons who received injuries while under its
+influence felt no pain. On one occasion a young man received an injury
+to his ankle joint that disabled him for several days, and he told Dr.
+Long that he did not feel the slightest pain until the effects of the
+ether had passed off. Observing these facts, Dr. Long was led to believe
+that surgical operations might be performed without pain.
+
+Dr. Long's theory was formed in 1841, but he waited for some time before
+testing it, in the hope that a case of surgery of some importance--the
+amputation of an arm or a leg--might fall in his practice. On the 30th
+of March, 1842, Dr. Long removed a tumor from the neck of Mr. James
+M. Venable. On the 6th of June, the same year, another small tumor was
+removed from the neck of the same patient, and both operations were
+painless. Mr. Venable inhaled sulphuric ether, and the effect of it was
+to render him insensible to the pain of cutting out the tumors.
+
+Dr. Long had told Mr. Venable that he would charge little or nothing for
+removing the tumors under the influence of ether. The bill rendered
+for both operations amounted to $4.50; but, small as the bill was,
+it represented the discovery and application of ether in surgical
+practice,--one of the greatest boons to mankind. Up to that time no
+patient under the surgeon's knife had ever been able to escape the
+horror and pain of an operation.
+
+Dr. Long did not at once print the facts about his discovery. He wanted
+to make assurance doubly sure. He waited in the hope of having an
+important case of surgery under his charge, such as the amputation of
+a leg or an arm. But these cases, rare at any time, were still rarer at
+that time, especially in the region where Dr. Long practiced. He finally
+satisfied himself, however, of the importance of his discovery, but,
+having waited until 1846, found that at least three persons--Wells,
+Jackson, and Morton--had hit on the same discovery, and had made
+publication of it. Morton patented ether under the name of "Letheon,"
+and in October, 1846, administered it to a patient in the Massachusetts
+General Hospital.
+
+In 1844, Horace Wells, a native of Vermont, discovered that the
+inhalation of nitrous-oxide gas produces anaesthesia. He was a dentist.
+He gave it to his patients, and was able to perform dental operations
+without causing pain. Thus we may see how the case stands. Long produced
+anaesthesia in 1842; that is to say, he caused his patients to inhale
+sulphuric ether in that year, whenever he had a painful operation to
+perform, and in each case the operation was painless.
+
+In 1846, when the surgeons of the Massachusetts General Hospital
+performed painless operations on patients, after administering to them
+Morton's patented "Letheon," which was his name for sulphuric ether,
+there came about a great war of pamphlets, and it ended tragically.
+Long had never made any secret of the substance which he used. He gave
+information of it to all the surgeons and doctors with whom he came in
+contact; and he was not in any way concerned in the conflict that was
+carried on by Jackson, Morton, and Wells. He simply gathered together
+the facts of his discovery, proved that he was the first physician to
+perform painless operations in surgery, and that was the end of it so
+far as he was concerned.
+
+Wells became insane, and committed suicide in New York in 1848. Morton
+died in New York City of congestion of the brain. Jackson ended his days
+in an insane asylum.
+
+In Boston a monument has been erected to the discoverer of anaesthesia.
+The name of Crawford W. Long should stand first upon it, and should be
+followed by the names of Wells, Morton, and Jackson.
+
+[Illustration: Early Progress of the State 181]
+
+
+
+
+THE EARLY PROGRESS OF THE STATE.
+
+After the invention of the cotton gin, the progress of the people
+and the development of the agriculture of the State went forward very
+rapidly. The population began to increase. The movement of families from
+Virginia and North Carolina grew constantly larger. In Virginia, and
+in settled portions of North Carolina, it was found that the soil
+and climate were not favorable to the growth of the cotton plant:
+consequently hundreds of families left their homes in these States, and
+came to Georgia.
+
+When Oglethorpe settled the Colony, the charter under which he acted
+prohibited the introduction and use of negro slaves in the Colony. It
+is hard to say at this late day whether this portion of the charter was
+dictated by feelings of humanity, especially when we remember that
+in those days, and in most of the Colonies, there were many white
+people--men, women, and children--employed and used as slaves. From
+the very first, many of the Georgia colonists were anxious to introduce
+negro slaves, but the trustees firmly refused to allow it. There was a
+strong party in favor of introducing negroes, and those who opposed
+the movement presently found themselves in a very small and unpopular
+minority. By 1748 the excitement over the question had grown so great,
+that those colonists who were opposed to negro slavery were compelled to
+abandon their position. Rev. Mr. Whitefield, the eloquent preacher, had
+already bought and placed negro slaves at his Orphan House at Bethesda,
+near Savannah. The colonists had also treated this part of the charter
+with contempt. They pretended to hire negroes' homes in South Carolina
+for a hundred years, or during life. They paid the "hire" in advance,
+the sum being the full value of the slaves. Finally negroes were
+bought openly from traders in Savannah. Some of them were seized; but
+a majority of the magistrates were in favor of the introduction of
+negroes, and they were able to postpone legal decisions from time to
+time.
+
+Rev. George Whitefield, whose wonderful eloquence has made his name
+famous, and Hon. James Habersham, had great influence with the trustees;
+and it was mainly due to their efforts that the colonists were legally
+allowed to purchase and use negro slaves. Mr. Habersham affirmed that
+the Colony could not prosper without slave labor. Rev. Mr. Whitefield,
+on the other hand, was in favor of negro slavery on the broad ground of
+philanthropy. He boldly declared that it would be of great advantage
+to the African to be brought from his barbarous surroundings and placed
+among civilized Christians. When we remember what has happened, who
+can deny that the remark of the eloquent preacher was not more to the
+purpose, and nearer to the truth, than some of the modern statements
+about American slavery? What really happened (as any one may discover by
+looking into impartial history) was, that thousands of negroes who had
+been captured in battle, and made slaves of in their own country,
+were taken from that dark land and brought into the light of Christian
+civilization. Their condition, mentally and morally, was so improved,
+that, in little more than a century after White-field made his
+statement, the government of the United States ventured to make citizens
+of them. The contrast between their condition and that of the negroes
+who remained in Africa is so startling, that a well-known abolitionist,
+writing twenty years after emancipation, has described slavery as a
+great university, which the negroes entered as barbarians, and came out
+of as Christians and citizens.
+
+The efforts of the Colony to secure a repeal of the act prohibiting
+slavery were successful. The trustees in London concluded that it would
+be better to permit slavery, with such restrictions and limitations as
+might be proper, than to permit the wholesale violations that were then
+going on; and so in 1749 the colonists of Georgia were allowed by law to
+own and use negro slaves.
+
+Thus, when the cotton gin came fairly into use, slavery had been legally
+allowed in Georgia for nearly half a century. The rest of the Colonies
+had long enjoyed that privilege. The cotton gin, therefore, had a
+twofold effect,--it increased the cotton crop and the value of the
+lands, and it also increased the use of negro slaves. The Virginians and
+North Carolinians, who came to Georgia, brought their slaves with them;
+and the Georgians, as their crops became profitable, laid out their
+surplus cash in buying more negroes. The slave trade became very
+prosperous, and both Old England and New England devoted a large amount
+of capital and enterprise to this branch of commerce.
+
+As the population increased, and the cotton crop became more valuable,
+the demand for land became keener. To this fact was due the intense
+excitement kindled by the Yazoo Fraud in 1794. The cotton gin had been
+introduced the year before, and the people were beginning to see and
+appreciate the influence the invention would have on their prosperity.
+Instead of selling land to speculators, they wanted to keep it for
+themselves and children, or at least to get something like its real
+value.
+
+The cotton gin had increased not only the demand for negro slaves, but
+also the demand for land; and indirectly it was the cause of the various
+troubles the State had with the Indians after the close of the War for
+Independence. The troubles with the Indians also led finally to serious
+misunderstandings between the United States Government and that of
+Georgia. In May, 1796, a treaty was made between the United States and
+the Creeks. This treaty created some indignation among the people, and
+was denounced as an interference by the General Government with State
+affairs. The lands which the Indians ceded to the United States were a
+part of the Territory of Georgia, and the transaction gave rise to much
+discussion and considerable bad feeling.
+
+In ten years, from 1790 to 1800, the population in Georgia had increased
+more than eighty thousand. During the next ten years the increase in the
+population was more than ninety thousand. This increase meant a still
+greater demand for farm lands. Westward the Territory of Georgia
+extended to the Mississippi River. The agitation which began over this
+rich possession when the Yazoo Fraud was attempted, was kept up until
+1800, when Georgia appointed four of her most prominent citizens to
+meet with commissioners appointed by the United States; and settle all
+questions that had arisen. The result was, that Georgia ceded to the
+General Government all her lands belonging to the State, south of
+Tennessee and west of the Chattahoochee River. These lands were to be
+sold, and out of the proceeds the State was to receive $1,250,-000. It
+was also provided that the United States, at its own expense, should
+extinguish the Indian titles to the lands held by the Creeks between
+the forks of the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers, and that in like manner the
+General Government should extinguish the Indian title to all the other
+lands within the State of Georgia. Under this agreement, and the Indian
+treaty based upon it, nearly all of the lands lying between the Oconee
+and Ocmulgee rivers were opened up for occupation and cultivation.
+
+All the Territory of Georgia was looked upon by the people as a public
+domain, belonging to the State for distribution among the citizens. The
+lands east of the Oconee were divided among the people under the plan
+known as the "Head Right System." By this system every citizen was
+allowed to choose, and survey to suit himself, a body of unoccupied
+land. This done, he received a title called a "head right land warrant,"
+which was issued to him when he paid a small fee and a nominal price
+for the land. If no one had previously appropriated the same land, the
+warrant was his title. But much confusion arose in the distribution of
+titles, and serious disputes grew out of it. The poorer sections of land
+were neglected, and only the most fertile sections surveyed.
+
+When the lands west of the Oconee were acquired, the clumsy Head Right
+System was given up for what is known as the "Land Lottery System." "All
+free white males, twenty-one years of age or older, every married man
+with children under age, widows with children, and all families of
+orphan minors," were allowed to draw in the lottery. Lists of these
+persons were made out in each count, and sent to the governor. The
+lottery was drawn under the management of five responsible persons. The
+tickets to be drawn were marked with the numbers of the land lots, and
+these were put into boxes with numerous blanks. Those who were fortunate
+enough to draw numbered tickets were entitled to plats and grants of
+their lots, signed by the governor.
+
+The lots were not all of the same size. Some contained 202 1/2 acres,
+others 490 acres. Twelve months after the drawing was completed, the
+fortunate person was required to pay into the State treasury four
+dollars for every hundred acres contained in his lot.
+
+Many of those who had the good fortune to draw prizes in the
+land-lottery scheme paid the necessary amount of money, and received
+titles to their land lots; but many others neglected to pay in the
+money, and thus forfeited their titles.
+
+It has been said that the land hunger of the people at this time was
+both selfish and sordid; but if we come to look at the matter closely,
+selfishness is behind much of the material progress that the world has
+made. The selfishness of individuals is not more conspicuous than the
+selfishness of communities, commonwealths, and nations. In history we
+find the rumseller, the land grabber, and the speculator following
+hard upon the heels of the missionary. The selfishness of nations is
+frequently given the name of "patriotism," and rightly so, since it is a
+movement for the good of all.
+
+When Georgia had fairly begun to recover from the disastrous results of
+the War for Independence, the troubles that resulted in the War of 1812
+began to make themselves felt. France and England were at war; and the
+United States Government tried to remain neutral, giving aid to neither
+the one nor the other. But this was not pleasing to either of these
+great powers. Both were interested in the trade and commerce of this
+country, and both issued orders affecting American affairs. The United
+States resented the interference, and protested against it Great
+Britain, with an arrogance made bitter by the remembrance of her
+humiliating defeat at the hands of a few feeble Colonies, replied to the
+American protest, declaring that American ships would still be searched,
+and American sailors impressed into the service of the British, wherever
+found on the high seas. In 1807 a British man-of-war fired on an
+American merchant vessel as it was leaving harbor. Three men were
+killed, eighteen wounded, and four sailors seized. This outrage inflamed
+the whole country, and in December of that year Congress passed a law
+preventing American vessels from leaving their ports to trade with
+foreign nations. This law was deeply resented by the New England States,
+and they held at Hartford, Conn., the first secession convention that
+ever met in this country.
+
+[Illustration: British Impressement of Americans 188]
+
+Georgia was foremost among the States to denounce and resist the
+aggressive acts of Great Britain. In 1808 the Legislature sent an
+address to the President of the United States, approving the measures he
+had taken, and declared that the people of Georgia were strong in their
+independence, and proud of their government, and that they would never
+wish to see the lives and property of their brethren exposed to the
+insult and rapacity of a foreign power; but if the war should come, they
+would, in proportion to their number and resources, give zealous aid to
+the government of their choice.
+
+The British, meanwhile, made arrangements to force a cotton trade with
+Georgia and South Carolina, and for the purpose fitted out a number
+of vessels of from ten to fifteen guns each. These vessels were to
+be employed in opening the ports of Georgia and Carolina. A war brig
+anchored at Tybee, and two of its officers went to Savannah. When they
+had made known their purpose, they were peremptorily ordered away. They
+returned to their vessel and put to sea; but as they were leaving, they
+fired at a pilot boat in the harbor, and committed other outrages.
+
+This incident and others aroused the indignation of the people. The
+Legislature passed resolutions, addressed to the President of the
+United States, declaring that all hope of a peaceful termination of
+the difficulty had been lost, that the duty of the United States was to
+maintain its sovereign rights against the despots of Europe, and that
+the citizens of Georgia would ever be found in readiness to assert the
+rights and support the dignity of the country whenever called on by the
+General Government. By the time the treaty of peace was made, the day
+before Christmas in 1814, the war spirit in Georgia had been roused
+to the highest pitch by the numerous outrages committed by the Indian
+allies of the British.
+
+But the story of the Indian troubles belongs to a chapter by itself.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CREEKS AND THE CREEK WAR
+
+[Illustration: The Creek War 191]
+
+If all the stories of the troubles of the early settlers of Georgia with
+the Indians could be written out, they would fill a very large book. All
+the whites with whom the red men came in contact in Georgia were not as
+just, as generous, and as unselfish as James Edward Oglethorpe. On the
+other hand, not all the Indians with whom the whites had dealings were
+as wise and as honest as old Tomochichi. Consequently misunderstandings
+arose, and prejudices grew and developed. This was greatly helped by
+dishonest traders and speculators, who were keen to take advantage of
+the ignorance of the Indians.
+
+The controlling influence among the Indians in Georgia was the Creek
+Confederacy (or nation); and this, in turn, was practically controlled
+by the Muscogees.
+
+North of the Creeks, Broad River being the dividing line, lived the
+Cherokees, a nation even more warlike than the Creeks. The impression
+made upon the Indians by Oglethorpe and some of his more prudent
+successors, made them the strong friends of the British. Of course, the
+red men were unable to appreciate the merits of the quarrel between
+the Georgia settlers and King George: but, even if matters had been
+different, they would probably have remained on friendly terms with the
+Royalists; for Governor Wright, who was a wise as well as a good man,
+took great pains, when the Liberty Boys began their agitations against
+the Crown, to conciliate the Indians, and to show them that the King was
+their friend. What was known as "the royal presents" were promptly
+sent from England, and promptly delivered to and distributed among the
+Indians. The governor sent for the chiefs, and had conferences with
+them; so that when the Revolution began, the Upper and the Lower Creeks,
+and the Cherokees as well, were the firm friends of the British.
+During the Revolution, as we have already seen, they made constant and
+unprovoked attacks on the patriots, burning their houses, carrying off
+their cattle, and murdering their helpless women and children. These
+raids were continued even after the Americans had compelled Great
+Britain to recognize their independence, and hundreds of incidents
+might be given to show the ferocity with which the savages attacked the
+whites. In many cases the settlements were compelled to build stockades,
+in which the people took shelter, for safety as well as defense,
+whenever there was an alarm.
+
+On one occasion shortly after the close of the war, the Indians attacked
+the family of a man named William Tyner, who was living in what is known
+as Elbert County. Tyner himself was absent, and his family was entirely
+without protection. Mrs. Tyner was killed, the brains of her youngest
+child were dashed out against a tree, and another child was scalped and
+left for dead. A young boy named Noah, the son of Mr. Tyner, escaped in
+the general confusion, and hid himself in a hollow tree. This tree was
+for many years known as "Noah's Ark." Mary and Tamar, two daughters,
+were suffered to live; but the Indians carried them off to the Coweta
+towns on the Chattahoochee. These children remained with the Indians
+several years. John Manack, an Indian trader, saw them there, and
+purchased Mary. He then brought her to Elbert County, and afterwards
+made her his wife. He returned to the Indian nation shortly afterwards,
+and tried to purchase Tamar; but, as she was useful to the Indians in
+bringing wood and fuel for their fires, they refused to sell her. When
+Manack went away, an old Indian woman, who was fond of Tamar, learned
+that the Indians, suspecting the girl was preparing to escape, had
+decided to burn her at the stake. The old woman helped her to escape
+by providing her with provisions and a canoe. She also gave Tamar
+directions how to go down the Chattahoochee. By day the fleeing girl hid
+herself in the thick swamps along the banks of the river, and by
+night she floated down the river in her canoe. She finally reached
+Apalachicola Bay, took passage on a vessel, and shortly afterwards
+arrived at Savannah. Here she was assisted to her home in Elbert County
+by the citizens. She married a man named Hunt, and no doubt many of her
+descendants are still living in Georgia.
+
+There was once an Indian village in Troup County, on the west bank of
+the Chattahoochee, where the Indians who lived on the Alabama side of
+the river were in the habit of meeting before and after their raids upon
+the white settlements. Before the raids they would meet there to arrange
+their programme; and afterwards they would assemble at the village to
+count the scalps they had taken, dispose of their prisoners, and divide
+the spoils. On one occasion, after a very destructive raid into the
+white settlements, the Indians returned to this village, and began to
+celebrate the success with which they had been able to creep upon the
+settlements at dead of night, murder the unsuspecting whites, burn their
+dwellings, and drive off their horses and cattle. This time, however,
+the Indians had been followed by a few hundred men, under the leadership
+of General David Adams, who was at that time a major in the militia,
+and a scout. Major Adams had taken part in the closing scenes of
+the Revolution when quite a young man. When the Creeks renewed their
+depredations after the war, Major Adams, both as a scout and as a
+leader, fought the Indians with such success as to win distinction.
+
+He followed the Indians on this occasion with a few hundred men, who had
+volunteered to accompany him. His pursuit was not active. The men under
+him were not seasoned soldiers; and even if they had been, the force
+of Indians was too large to justify an attack. Major Adams followed the
+Indians in the hope that he and his men would find an opportunity to
+surprise them. The Indians marched straight for the village on the west
+bank of the Chattahoochee, about eight miles beyond the point where La
+Grange now stands. At this village, which was the central point of the
+Lower Creek nation at that time, there were many Indians--men, women,
+and children--awaiting the return of the raiders. It was in the late
+afternoon when they reached the village, and as the sun went down they
+began the celebration of their victories; and in this they were joined
+by the Indians, who had been waiting for their return.
+
+Major Adams had halted his command a few miles from the river, where he
+waited until night fell. He then advanced silently to the banks of the
+stream, which was not so wide that he and his men could not see the
+Indians dancing around their fires, and hear their whoops and yells. On
+one bank stood the men whose families and friends had been murdered; on
+the opposite shore, and almost within a stone's throw, the red murderers
+danced and howled in savage delight.
+
+For half the night, at least, the orgies were kept up by the Indians;
+but at last they grew weary of the song and dance. Their fires slowly
+died out, and there came a moment when the whites, who were watching and
+waiting, could hear nothing but the murmur of the flowing water, as it
+rippled over the shoals or lapped the bank. The time had come to strike
+a blow, if a blow was to be struck. It was characteristic of Major
+Adams, that, instead of sending one of his little party to find out the
+position of the village and its surroundings, so as to be able to make a
+swift, sudden, and an effective attack, he himself proposed to go.
+
+[Illustration: Major Adams scouting and Indian camp 197]
+
+It was a hazardous undertaking, and required a bold heart to undertake
+it. Major Adams knew there was a ford near the point where his men lay.
+The trail led into the river; but, once in the river, it was lost. He
+had to find the ford for himself, and it proved to be a very narrow and
+difficult one. It led in a direct line across the river nearly halfway,
+and then turned down the stream in an oblique direction. A part of the
+ford was over a slippery shoal. At some points the water was knee-deep,
+at others it was chin-deep.
+
+With great difficulty Major Adams reached the opposite bank in safety.
+The paths leading from the ford into the swamp that lay between the
+Indian village and the river were so numerous that the stout-hearted
+scout hardly knew which one to take. He chose one almost at random, and,
+after following it through the thick underbrush, he found that it had
+led him some distance below the village. He followed the margin of
+the swamp back again, and soon found himself in the outskirts of the
+village. There he paused to listen. A dog somewhere in the settlement
+barked uneasily and sleepily.
+
+Pushing forward, but moving with the utmost caution, Major Adams soon
+found himself in the center of the village. In every hut the Indians
+were sleeping; and, in addition to these, the ground seemed to be
+covered with warriors, who lay stretched out and snoring, their rifles
+and tomahawks within easy reach. The brave Georgian went through the
+village from one end to the other. Once a huge Indian, near whom he
+was passing, raised himself on his elbow, grasped his gun, and looked
+carefully in every direction. Having satisfied himself, he lay down,
+and was soon snoring again. Fortunately, Major Adams had seen the Indian
+stir, and sank to the ground near a group of sleeping warriors, where he
+remained until he was sure the savage was asleep.
+
+He had examined every point of attack and defense in the village, and
+was returning to the river, when he saw a pony tethered to a sapling.
+Thinking that the little animal would be able to find the ford without
+trouble, and could thus be used as a safe guide, Major Adams resolved
+to capture it. He approached the pony with that intention, but not until
+too late did he discover that it had a bell hung on its neck. The pony,
+frightened at the sight of a white man, broke the rope by which he was
+tied, and went scampering through the village, arousing and alarming
+warriors, squaws, children, and dogs with the jingling bell.
+
+At the sound of the bell, Major Adams knew that there would be a
+tremendous uproar in the village, and he made an instant rush toward
+the river, but soon found himself entangled in the briers and thick
+underbrush of the swamp. It was fortunate that he missed the path
+leading to the ford; for a party of Indians ran in that direction,
+either to catch the pony, or to find out whether they were about to be
+attacked. Some of them passed within a few feet of the spot where Major
+Adams stood.
+
+In a short time the Indians returned to the village, and it was not long
+before everything was as quiet and as peaceful as before the uproar.
+Major Adams, instead of hunting for the path, made his way directly
+to the river, slipped into the water, and swam straight across to the
+opposite bank. He soon found his men, and told them of his adventure
+and of the plans he had matured. Up to this moment he had been second in
+command. A colonel of militia was with the party, and it was his right
+to be the leader of the expedition; but now the men declared that they
+would cross the river under the leadership of no one but Adams. It was
+Adams or nobody; and the militia colonel, as gracefully as he could,
+yielded to the demand.
+
+Major Adams led the volunteers safely across the treacherous ford and
+into the Indian town. The surprise was complete. Scarcely a warrior
+escaped. The women and children were spared as far as possible, but the
+village was burned to the ground. In retreating from that point, which
+was the center of the famous Muscogee nation, Major Adams made long
+marches during the day, and camped without fires at night, and in this
+way brought his command out of the Indian country without the loss of a
+man.
+
+But Adams's excursion to the center of the Muscogee (or Creek) nation
+did not settle matters. The troubles continued. The temper of the people
+was not improved by the efforts of the United States Government to take
+affairs into its own hands. In some instances the agents of the General
+Government sought to stir up active strife between the people of the
+State and the Indians, and it was their habit to belittle the State
+government by speaking of it contemptuously before the Indians. In many
+instances the United States stepped in between the agents of the State
+and the Indians, and prevented settlements and treaties that would have
+been of lasting benefit to both the whites and the Indians. This was not
+due to any purpose or desire of the General Government to trample on the
+rights of the State, but grew altogether out of the folly of the agents,
+who wanted to put on airs and advertise their importance.
+
+In 1796 there was a treaty of peace arranged between the Creek nation
+and the United States. Three commissioners represented the General
+Government, and Georgia also had three present; but the business was
+conducted without regard to the wishes of the Georgia commissioners,
+and, as the commissioners thought, without regard to the interests of
+the State. Seagrove was the name of the agent representing the General
+Government at that time, and his attitude toward Georgia was not
+calculated to give the Indians any respect for the commonwealth. After
+the treaty was signed, General James Jackson, on the part of Georgia,
+made an eloquent speech, in which he showed that the Creeks had not
+faithfully observed the treaties they had made with the State. He
+exhibited two schedules of property which they had stolen, amounting in
+value to $110,000, and demanded its restoration. When General Jackson
+had concluded, one of the prominent chiefs of the Creeks remarked that
+he could fill more paper than Jackson showed with a list of outrages of
+the Georgians upon his people. There was something more than a grain of
+truth in this; but on that very account the Indians and the Georgians
+should have been allowed to settle their difficulties in their own way,
+without the interference of the United States.
+
+The result of the treaty at Coleraine, in 1796, was, that the Georgia
+agents were offended with Seagrove (the Indian agent for the United
+States), offended with the Indians, and displeased with the United
+States commissioners. To these last the Georgians presented a protest
+in which the Federal commissioners were accused of disregarding the
+interests of Georgia. Charges were brought against Seagrove, who, it was
+claimed, had influenced the Creeks not to cede the lands as far as the
+Ocmulgee. A bitter controversy grew out of this. It was, in fact, very
+nearly the beginning of the discussion that has continued from that day
+to this, in some shape or other, over the rights of the States and the
+power of the General Government. Pickett, in his "History of Alabama
+and Georgia," says that General Jackson, and Seagrove the Indian agent,
+became enemies, and afterwards fought a duel.
+
+Other treaties were made with the Creeks up to 1806, but all these were
+violated when the Indians became the allies of the British during the
+War of 1812. It is only fair to the Indians to say that the leader in
+whom they placed the greatest confidence was a man who for many years
+nourished hot resentment against the United States, and especially
+against Georgia. This man was General Alexander McGillivray, who became
+famous as an opponent of the Americans and the Georgians in all their
+efforts to come to a just, fair, and peaceable understanding with the
+Creeks.
+
+As has been stated, when the War of 1812 began, the Creeks became the
+allies of the British, and the attacks they made on the unprotected
+settlements were so numerous and so serious as to call for some action
+on the part of the General Government. In September, 1813, Congress
+called for a levy of Georgia troops, and, the State authorities ordered
+3,600 men to assemble at Camp Hope, near Fort Hawkins, on the Ocmulgee
+River. The ruins of Fort Hawkins may be seen to this day on the
+Ocmulgee, in the city of Macon.
+
+The men who assembled at Camp Hope were volunteers, and all eager for
+service. The command of this force fell to General John Floyd, who made
+haste to take charge, and endeavored to make arrangements for taking the
+field at once. He found his men assembled according to orders, and all
+anxious to be led against the hostile Indians. But the little army could
+not march. The Federal Government had failed to supply the necessary
+funds. What is called "red tape" stood in the way of prompt action. A
+dispute arose. Federal officials placed the blame on the contractors
+who were to furnish supplies, and the contractors placed it on the
+officials, who had failed to furnish the necessary money. While this
+dispute was raging, General Floyd, who was a brave and gallant spirit,
+applied to the State Legislature, then in session, for a loan of
+$20,000. The request was granted, and he was able to equip his troops,
+procure supplies, and march into the country of the Creeks, by the
+middle or latter part of November.
+
+Meanwhile the hostile Creeks had already challenged Georgia and begun
+their attack. On the 30th of August, seven hundred and twenty-five
+Creek Indians attacked Fort Mims on the Chattahoochee. The attack was as
+sudden as it was unexpected. It was made at twelve o'clock in the day,
+and the inmates of the fort were taken entirely by surprise. The savages
+massacred nearly three hundred men, women, and children in the most
+cruel manner. This horrible outrage spread consternation on the
+frontier, and aroused indignation in all parts of the country. Hundreds
+of frontier settlers fled from their homes, and sought safety in the
+more thickly settled regions.
+
+It was owing to this massacre that the troops commanded by General Floyd
+were called out. This active and energetic leader began his campaign
+by building a line of forts and blockhouses from the Ocmulgee to the
+Alabama River, and in this way completely protected the northern part of
+the State from invasion by the Creeks. General Floyd accomplished this
+work in spite of the failure of the United States officials to supply
+with provisions and transportation the troops they had called out.
+
+He completed his line of defense by building Fort Mitchell. Leaving a
+sufficient garrison in this fort, General Floyd placed himself at the
+head of nine hundred and fifty men, and marched on Autossee, one of the
+most populous towns of the Creek nation, situated on the left bank of
+the Tallapoosa River, and near the town of Tallassee, which was nearly
+as large. The distance from Fort Mitchell to Autossee was sixty miles,
+and General Floyd made it by forced night marches, resting his troops
+during the day. He was accompanied on this expedition by General William
+Mcintosh, the famous Indian chief, who led four hundred friendly Creeks.
+
+Arriving at Autossee and Tallassee at daybreak on the 29th of November,
+1813, General Floyd arranged and ordered a simultaneous attack on both
+towns. By nine o'clock the Indians had been defeated and driven from the
+towns, and their houses burned. Four hundred houses were burned, with
+all the provisions and stock. Two hundred Indians were killed, including
+the kings of both towns. The pipe which the old chief of Tallassee had
+smoked at a treaty forty years before, was taken and presented to the
+governor, who placed it in the executive office of the State Capitol.
+Eleven whites were killed, and fifty-four wounded; among them, General
+Floyd himself, who had received a ball in the knee early in the fight.
+He refused to have his wound dressed, and continued on horseback,
+directing his troops, until after the battle was over. He never entirely
+recovered from the effects of this wound. After the towns had been
+entirely destroyed, the troops returned to Fort Mitchell, having marched
+a hundred and twenty miles in bitter cold weather, and fought a severe
+engagement on five days' provisions.
+
+In January, 1814, General Floyd heard that the Upper Creeks had
+collected in great force at the Indian town of Hothlewaulee. By that
+time his wound had so far healed that he was able to ride a horse,
+and he determined to make an attack on the town. For this purpose he
+detached from the troops at Fort Mitchell a force of fifteen hundred
+men. The weather was cold, and the winter rains had so obstructed the
+roads that the troops found the march a weary and a difficult one; but
+they pressed on, nevertheless, cheered by the energy and enthusiasm of
+their gallant leader. They marched to within fifteen or twenty miles of
+the town, and there encamped. Between midnight and day a large body
+of Indians, led by the warrior Weather-ford and Colonel Woodbine, an
+English officer, attacked General Floyd's camp. His troops were taken by
+surprise, but they were not demoralized. They had been fighting for six
+months, and were seasoned to all the dangers of Indian warfare. Above
+all, they had a leader who possessed in a wonderful degree a genius for
+war.
+
+No sooner had the alarm been sounded than General Floyd rallied his
+little army, formed it in a square, the baggage in the center, and held
+the savages at bay until daylight. There was no faltering in any part
+of the line or on any side of the square. The dauntless courage of Floyd
+himself seemed to control every man, down to the humblest private. When
+day dawned, a charge was sounded, and Floyd's troops drove the Indians
+before them at the point of the bayonet. Within a quarter of an hour
+after the charge was made, the battle was won. The loss of the Indians
+was never discovered, as they had an opportunity to carry off their
+killed and wounded up to the moment the charge was sounded. Seventeen
+Georgians were killed, and a hundred and thirty-two wounded. Floyd's
+camp was known as Camp Defiance, but in the official report the fight is
+called the battle of Chalibbee. The attack was made on Floyd in order
+to prevent a junction between his troops and those of General Andrew
+Jackson, who was fighting the Indians in the lower part of Alabama. The
+result of the fight made a junction unnecessary; and shortly afterwards
+the term for which Floyd's Georgia troops had enlisted expired, and they
+were discharged.
+
+In 1814, when peace was declared between the United States and Great
+Britain, the Creeks remained quiet for some time.
+
+
+
+
+TWO FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS.
+
+Among the Indian leaders who made Georgia the scene of their operations,
+the most celebrated were General Alexander McGillivray and General
+William Mcintosh. If these men had been born and brought up among the
+whites, both of them would have won lasting renown. They possessed the
+energy and the genius: all they lacked was the opportunity to direct
+their gifts into channels that would have benefited humanity.
+
+Alexander McGillivray was one of the most remarkable men of his time,
+whether we regard him as a leader of the Indians or simply as an
+individual. His father, Lachlan McGillivray, being a lad of adventurous
+turn, ran away from a home in Scotland where he enjoyed all the
+advantages and comforts that wealth could give him, took passage on
+a ship bound for South Carolina, and shortly afterwards landed at
+Charleston. Wandering about in that city, and enjoying the sights that
+were new to his experience, he soon found himself in the suburbs of the
+city. There he found the headquarters of the Indian traders, who came to
+Charleston with their pack horses to carry merchandise of all kinds to
+the red men. One of these traders persuaded young McGillivray to go with
+him. His Scotch eye and mind were quick to appreciate the possibilities
+of this new business, and in a few years he became one of the most
+enterprising and prosperous of the Indian traders. He pushed his trade
+farther than any of his predecessors had ever dared to go. He went,
+indeed, to the neighborhood of Fort Toulouse. A few miles above that
+fort, where Wetumpka, Ala., now stands, he met Sehoy Marchand, a
+beautiful girl of about sixteen years. This girl was the daughter of
+Captain Marchand, who had commanded at Fort Toulouse, but who had been
+killed by his own soldiers in August, 1722. The soldiers rose against
+the officers of the garrison on account of the failure of France to
+forward money and supplies to the troops in her American settlement.
+The girl's mother was a Creek woman of the tribe of The Wind, the most
+powerful and influential family in the Creek nation. The young Scotchman
+fell in love with the dark-haired maiden, and she fell in love with the
+blue-eyed Scotchman, with his fair skin and red hair. Lachlan
+McGillivray built him a trading house on the Coosa, not far away, and
+soon married Sehoy, and carried her home. He became very wealthy. He
+owned two plantations on the Savannah River, which were well stocked
+with negroes, and stores filled with merchandise in both Savannah and
+Augusta. When Lachlan McGillivray's son Alexander reached the age of
+fourteen, he was carried to Savannah and placed at school, and in a few
+years was made a clerk in a counting-house at Savannah.
+
+But the humdrum business of buying, selling, and adding up long rows of
+tiresome figures, did not please him, and so he neglected his duties to
+read books, mainly histories. His father, taking the advice of friends,
+placed young Alexander under the tutorship of a clergyman in Charleston,
+where the lad learned Latin and Greek, and in that way became well
+grounded in what our dear old grandfathers called polite literature. But
+one day word came to the young man that the chiefs of the Creek nation,
+who were getting into trouble with the people of Georgia, were waiting
+for the moment when he, as a descendant of the tribe of The Wind, should
+return and take charge of the affairs of the nation. So he departed
+suddenly from Charleston, and turned his horse's head toward the
+wilderness.
+
+[Illustration: McGillavray joins the Indians 208]
+
+On his way to the Creek nation, he fell in with Leclerc Mil-fort, an
+adventurous Frenchman, who afterwards wrote a book of travels, and
+was made a general of brigade by Napoleon. Milfort married one of
+McGillivray's sisters, was made Tustenug-gee (or grand war chief), and
+was the right-hand man of his powerful brother-in-law. The first that
+was heard of McGillivray after he left Charleston, he was presiding at
+a grand national council of the Creeks at the town of Coweta on the
+Chattahoochee. When Alexander arrived among the Creeks, Colonel Tait of
+the British army was stationed on the Coosa, and he used all his tact
+and influence to prevail upon the young man to take the side of the
+English in the war that was then going on between the Colonies and
+the mother country. To this end Colonel Tait pursued McGillivray with
+attentions, loaded him with favors, and finally caused him to be given
+the rank and pay of a colonel in the army. The result was that the great
+chief was throughout the war devoted to the cause of the British.
+This would have been natural in any event, for his father was a stanch
+Royalist. During the war, McGillivray frequently acted in concert with
+the notorious Daniel McGirth, sometimes leading his Indians in person;
+but his main dependence was on his brother-in-law Milfort, who was
+possessed of the most daring spirit. McGillivray preferred to plan and
+engage in intrigue, which gave the remarkable powers of his mind full
+play.
+
+There is no doubt that the authorities of Georgia made a great mistake,
+after the war, in neglecting to win the friendship of McGillivray. Such
+a course would have prevented much suffering and bloodshed. The father
+of the great chief, Lachlan McGillivray, was living in Savannah at the
+close of the Revolution; and when the British were compelled to evacuate
+the city, he scraped together an immense amount of money and other
+valuables, and sailed for Scotland. He abandoned his plantations and
+negroes, in the hope that his wife and three children might be permitted
+to inherit them; but the Georgians confiscated the whole of the valuable
+estate, and thus the Creek leader had another reason for entertaining a
+bitter prejudice against the Whigs.
+
+The result was, that until the day of his death, which occurred in
+1792, he succeeded in baffling all the efforts of the Federal and State
+authorities to come to an understanding with the Creek nation. He was
+perhaps the most accomplished diplomat in the country,--a veritable
+Talleyrand, able to cope with the most distinguished statesmen among the
+Americans. Such of his letters as have been preserved do not suffer by
+comparison with the writings of even the greatest of the Americans. The
+most of these depended on a stately and scholarly diction to attract
+attention. McGillivray paid little regard to diction; but his letters
+possess the distinction of style, and in this particular but one
+American writer can be compared to him,--Benjamin Franklin. There is,
+in fact, a modern touch and flavor about McGillivray's letters that
+even the writings of Franklin do not possess. He wrote thus to
+Andrew Pickens, who had addressed him on behalf of the United States
+Government:--
+
+"When we found that the American independence was confirmed by the
+peace, we expected that the new government would soon have taken some
+steps to make up the differences that subsisted between them and the
+Indians during the war, to have taken them under their protection
+and confirmed to them their hunting grounds. Such a course would have
+reconciled the minds of the Indians, and secured the States their
+friendship, as they considered your people their natural allies. The
+Georgians, whose particular interest it was to conciliate the friendship
+of this nation, have acted in all respects to the contrary. I am sorry
+to observe that violence and prejudice have taken the place of good
+policy and reason in all their proceedings with us. They attempted to
+avail themselves of our supposed distressed situation. Their talks to us
+breathed nothing but vengeance, and, being entirely possessed with the
+idea that we were wholly at their mercy, they never once reflected that
+colonies of a powerful monarch were nearly surrounding us, to whom, in
+any extremity, we might apply for succor and protection, and who, to
+answer some ends of their policy, might grant it to us. However, we yet
+deferred any such proceeding, still expecting that we could bring them
+to a true sense of their interest; but still finding no alteration
+in their conduct towards us, we sought the protection of Spain, and
+treaties of friendship and alliance were mutually entered into; they
+guaranteeing our hunting grounds and territory, and granting us a free
+trade in the ports of the Floridas.
+
+"How the boundary and limits between the Spaniards and the States will
+be determined, a little time will show, as I believe that matter is
+now on foot. However, we know our limits and the extent of our hunting
+grounds. As a free nation, we have applied, as we had a right to do,
+for protection, and obtained it. We shall pay no attention to any
+limits that may prejudice our claims, that were drawn by an American
+and confirmed by a British negotiator. Yet, notwithstanding we have
+been obliged to adopt these measures for our preservation, and from real
+necessity, we sincerely wish to have it in our power to be on the same
+footing with the States as before the late unhappy war, to effect which
+is entirely in your power. We want nothing from you but justice. We want
+our hunting grounds preserved from encroachments. They have been ours
+from the beginning of time, and I trust that, with the assistance of our
+friends, we shall be able to maintain them against every attempt to take
+them from us."
+
+Undoubtedly McGillivray was unscrupulous, and the probability is that
+he was mercenary; but such charges may be brought against some of the
+ablest men who have figured in history. When all is said, the fact
+remains that Alexander McGillivray was one of the most accomplished and
+ingenious of the politicians of his time. If he had been on the side of
+the whites, and had managed their interests with the skill and ability
+which he displayed in behalf of the Creeks, history would have written
+him down as a great statesman. It was only by an accidental suit at law
+that some of his most characteristic letters were brought to light; but
+those that have been rescued from oblivion show that in wielding the
+pen he was more than a match for the many able men who corresponded with
+him.
+
+In September, 1789, Washington sent General Andrew Pickens, with three
+other commissioners, to treat with McGillivray. They found the great
+chief at Rock Landing, on the Oconee, with two thousand Creek warriors,
+where he had been encamped more than a week. The Indian camp was on the
+western bank of the river. The commissioners pitched their tents on the
+eastern bank. They were received by McGillivray with great courtesy.
+Everything progressed favorably, so much so that the commissioners read
+to the assembled chiefs a copy of the treaty which they had drawn up.
+This treaty was all in favor of the whites. The Indians were offered
+no equivalent for the terms proposed. It is worthy of note that Andrew
+Pickens wholly dissented from the terms of the proposed treaty. He knew
+that the Indians would have to be paid for the valuable land which the
+Georgians were then cultivating in the neighborhood of the Oconee, and
+the commissioners had been advised by the Federal authorities to pay
+for these lands. McGillivray broke up his encampment and retired to
+the Ocmulgee, nor could he be induced at that time to renew the
+negotiations.
+
+President Washington was urged by the Georgia delegation in Congress to
+declare war against the Creeks, and this indeed was his first impulse;
+but when he found, from a careful estimate, that the expenses of such
+a war would amount to fifteen millions of dollars, he prudently gave
+up the idea. He took the matter in hand in a more conservative way. He
+appointed Colonel Marinus Willett a secret agent to visit Mc-Gillivray,
+and urge him to visit President Washington in New York. In this Colonel
+Willett was entirely successful. Accompanied by McGillivray and a number
+of the leading men of the Creeks, Willett set out on his return journey.
+At Guilford Court House, McGillivray attracted great attention on
+account of a very pathetic incident that occurred there some years
+before. A man named Brown had been killed by the Creeks, and his wife
+and children captured and made slaves. Their unfortunate condition came
+to the notice of Alexander McGillivray, and, as he had done in the case
+of many other captive white women and children, he paid their ransom and
+redeemed them from slavery. He maintained them at his house for over a
+year, and finally assisted them to return to their friends. Mrs. Brown,
+hearing that McGillivray had arrived, went to see him. At that moment
+he was in the courthouse, the center of a large assembly of ladies
+and gentlemen who had gathered to pay their respects. But this was no
+obstacle to Mrs. Brown. She rushed through the assembly, and, in a flood
+of tears, expressed her gratitude to him for saving her life and the
+lives of her children. She also expressed her strong admiration for his
+character.
+
+In due course, McGillivray arrived in New York, where he was treated
+with great consideration. He had long private conferences with
+Washington and other officials of the government, and was finally
+induced to make a treaty which was satisfactory to the United States,
+and would have been satisfactory to Georgia if it had been carried out,
+but in fact the terms of it were never fulfilled. While in New York,
+McGillivray made a secret treaty with Washington, a fact that was not
+discovered for many years. It provided, that after two years from date
+(August, 1790) the commerce of the Creek nation should be carried on
+through the ports of the United States, and in the mean time through
+the present channels; that a number of chiefs of the Creeks and of the
+Seminole nation should be paid one hundred dollars a year each, and
+be furnished with handsome medals; that the United States should feed,
+clothe, and educate Creek youth at the North, not exceeding five at one
+time; and that Alexander McGillivray should be constituted agent of the
+United States, with the rank of brigadier general, and the pay of twelve
+hundred dollars a year. In 1792, McGillivray was a British colonel, an
+American brigadier general, an agent of the United States, and an
+agent of Spain. This extraordinary man died in Pensacola on the 17th of
+February, having been seized with a fatal illness while returning from
+one of his plantations on Little River in Putnam or Baldwin.
+
+Another famous Creek was General William Mcintosh, a half-breed. His
+father was Captain William Mcintosh, and his mother was an Indian
+of unmixed blood. He was not so brilliant a man intellectually as
+McGillivray; but he had a native force of character, and an inborn sense
+of justice, that McGillivray seems to have been a stranger to. History
+tells us little enough of Mcintosh, but that little is all to his
+credit. Almost from the days of Oglethorpe, there were two parties in
+the Creek nation, and the issue on which they divided was the
+treatment that should be accorded to the whites. The party division was
+geographical as well as political. The Upper Creeks, living upon the
+Alabama, Coosa, and Tallapoosa rivers, were not present at the Coweta
+town when James Oglethorpe treated with the Lower Creeks in August,
+1730. At that time they were under the influence of the French, and
+afterwards they sought the protection of the Spaniards. They refused to
+recognize any of the treaties made by the Lower Creeks with the English,
+and the great body of them remained to the end the bitter enemies of
+the Georgians. On the other hand, the majority of the Lower Creeks
+were friendly with the English from the days of Oglethorpe; and that
+friendship continued, with but few interruptions, down to the days of
+Governor Troup.
+
+Now, McGillivray, in his day and time, represented the Upper Creeks
+of the Tallapoosa country and their policy, while William Mcintosh
+represented the Lower Creeks of the Coweta country and their policy. The
+division in the Creek nation was so serious, that, when the Upper Creeks
+took sides with the British in the War of 1812, they found themselves
+opposed in the field by a large party of Lower Creeks under the command
+of Mcintosh. Thus, at the battle of Autossee, William Mcintosh led a
+large band of Lower Creeks against those who were making war on the
+whites. He made himself so conspicuous in that affair, that General
+Floyd mentions him in the official report of the battle.
+
+The treaty at Indian Spring, and the results that followed, cannot be
+clearly understood unless we bear in mind the political differences that
+existed between the Upper and the Lower Creeks. The Creek chiefs and the
+commissioners met at Indian Spring on the 15th of February, 1825. The
+chiefs and warriors of the Upper Creeks declared that no treaty could
+be made for a cession of lands, and on the night of the 11th they went
+home. On the 12th a treaty was signed with the Mcintosh party. Colonel
+John A. Crowell, agent for the Creek Indians, sent a letter to the
+secretary of war, in which he declared that the treaty was in direct
+opposition to the letter and spirit of the instructions to the
+commissioners; but the treaty was sent to Washington, and was ratified
+on the 3d of March, 1825. When the Indians of the Upper Creeks and their
+party learned that the treaty had been ratified, they became very much
+excited. Mcintosh and his party went to Milledgeville, and told the
+governor that they expected violent treatment at the hands of the
+Upper Creeks. They begged the protection of the State and of the United
+States, and this was promised them.
+
+Out of this treaty grew a very serious conflict between the Federal and
+State governments. After a good deal of discussion, the President asked
+Congress to reconsider the treaty of Indian Spring, and presented a
+new one as a substitute, which was ratified and proclaimed; but popular
+indignation ran so high in Georgia, that Governor Troup felt justified
+in paying no attention to this new treaty. He proceeded to carry out the
+terms of the Indian Spring treaty. Charges were brought against Crowell,
+the Indian agent. The governor informed T. P. Andrews, the special
+agent, that he would hold no further correspondence with him. The
+conduct of General Gaines had been such that Governor Troup requested
+the Federal Government to recall, arrest, and punish him. In 1826 the
+State Legislature declared that the attempt to repeal the treaty of
+Indian Spring by the substitution of another treaty was illegal and
+unconstitutional. In September, 1826, Governor Troup ordered the
+districts ceded by the treaty of Indian Spring to be surveyed. When the
+Indians complained of this, the secretary of war wrote to Governor Troup
+that the President felt himself compelled to employ all the means under
+his control to maintain the faith of the nation by carrying the treaty
+into effect, meaning the treaty made at Washington, and intended to be
+a substitute for the Indian Spring treaty. In his reply, Governor Troup
+declared that he would feel it to be his duty to resist to the utmost
+any military attack which the President of the United States should
+think proper to make upon the Territory, the people, or the sovereignty
+of Georgia. "From the first decisive act of hostility," he wrote to the
+secretary of war, "you will be considered and treated as a public
+enemy. You have referred me, as the rule of my conduct, to the treaty
+of Washington. In turn I refer you to the treaty of prior date and prior
+ratification, concluded at the Indian Spring."
+
+The President issued orders that the surveyors appointed by the State
+be prosecuted. Governor Troup thereupon ordered the proper officers, in
+every instance of complaint made of the arrest of any surveyor, to take
+all necessary and legal measures to effect their liberation, and to
+bring to justice all the parties concerned in such arrests, as violators
+of the peace and personal security of the State. He also ordered
+the major generals of the militia to hold the various regiments and
+battalions in readiness to repel any hostile invasion of the State. But
+no acts of violence were committed. The surveyors were not arrested, the
+surveys were made, and the lands ceded by the treaty of Indian Spring
+were divided by lottery in 1827.
+
+The Upper Creeks, who had always been unfriendly to the Georgians,
+were so angry at the signing of the treaty of Indian Spring, that they
+determined to assassinate General William Mcintosh. They had never
+forgiven him for leading his party of Lower Creeks against them in the
+campaign that was made necessary by the terrible massacre of Fort Mims,
+and they now determined to rid themselves of him at once and forever.
+
+We have seen that General Mcintosh, and his party of Lower Creeks,
+suspecting that an attack would be made on them by the powerful tribes
+on the Tallapoosa, went to Milledgeville to beg the governor to protect
+them. Protection was promised, but never given. Meanwhile the Upper
+Creeks held a secret council, and selected a hundred and seventy of the
+boldest warriors in the nation to murder Mcintosh. They marched in the
+most cautious way. They reached the neighborhood of Mcintosh's home,
+and concealed themselves, to wait for night to fall. About sundown, or
+a little before, the Indians saw from their hiding place two persons
+riding along a trail. One was Mcintosh, and the other a man named
+Hawkins, who had married one of Mcintosh's daughters. It would have been
+an easy matter for the savages to have killed Mcintosh at this time; but
+they had made up their minds to kill him upon his own premises, so that
+his blood might stain the land that had been granted him by the State.
+While still in sight of the men who had been sent to slay him, Mcintosh
+bade Hawkins good evening, wheeled his horse, and rode back on the trail
+toward his home. Although he was now alone, the Indians would not kill
+him. They had fixed up a different plan, and they carried it out.
+
+Before dark the Indians gathered together a supply of "fat lightwood,"
+as the resinous pine was called. This they split into convenient length,
+and made up into three bundles to be carried on the backs of their
+warriors. They remained hidden within half a mile of Mcintosh's house
+till three o'clock in the morning, and then silently and swiftly marched
+to the place. They had taken along with them a man named James Hutton to
+act as interpreter, the reason for this being that Mcintosh was in the
+habit of entertaining travelers.
+
+It was to be Hutton's duty to assure such as might be found there that
+they would not be disturbed in any manner. Guests of Mcintosh were
+commonly lodged in an outhouse in the yard; and Hutton, accompanied by
+two Indians, went to this building to see who might be sleeping there.
+They found a peddler in one bed, and Chilly, a son of General Mcintosh,
+in another.
+
+Young Mcintosh, as if instinctively understanding the nature of the
+visit, sprang from the bed and leaped out at a window. He was fired upon
+by the Indians, but was not touched, and succeeded in making his escape.
+The peddler was nearly scared out of his wits; but his pack of goods
+was removed to a place of safety, and the house in which he had been
+sleeping was soon in flames.
+
+[Illustration: Indian Attack 220]
+
+Meanwhile most of the Indians had surrounded Mcintosh's house, and
+torches of the fat pine were used to set it on fire. The red men danced
+around the burning building, yelling, and crying out, "Mcintosh, we have
+come, we have come! We told you if you sold the land to the Georgians
+we would come. Now we have come!" At the first alarm Mcintosh had
+barricaded his front door. He stood near it; and when it was broken
+down, he fired upon his assailants. At that moment, one of his firmest
+friends, Toma Tustenuggee, who had thrown himself upon the party at the
+door, fell on the threshold, riddled with bullets. General Mcintosh then
+retreated to the second story with four guns, which he continued to fire
+from the windows.
+
+The flames drove him from the second story to the first floor again. He
+fought bravely to the end, but was soon compelled to expose himself to
+the fire of his enemies. He fell to the floor, pierced by many bullets,
+and was dragged into the yard by his heels. He breathed defiance to
+the last, and was finally stabbed to death. After this savage deed, the
+Indians plundered the houses, killed such cattle as they could find,
+and committed other outrages. A small party of the Indians had followed
+Hawkins the evening before. His house was surrounded about daybreak the
+next morning, and he was ordered to come out. He refused, and defended
+himself the best he could; but he was finally taken prisoner and tied,
+until the fate of Mcintosh was known. Then he was murdered, and his body
+thrown into the river near where he lived. The Indians marched back
+to the Tallapoosa country with the scalps of these unfortunate men.
+Mcintosh's scalp was suspended from a pole in the public square of
+Ocfuskee, and young and old danced around it with shouts of joy.
+
+General Mcintosh was a cousin of Governor Troup, being the son of
+Governor Troup's uncle, Captain William Mcintosh, who was frequently on
+the Chattahoochee before the breaking-out of the Revolution.
+
+
+
+
+REMOVAL OF THE CHEROKEES.
+
+When Georgia had begun to recover its breath, after the difficulties
+with the Creeks, the people had time to discover that they had a much
+more serious problem to deal with in the Cherokee nation, which occupied
+all the northwestern portion of the State. Those who mingled thrift with
+their benevolence, and had the courage to think about the future of
+the whites as well as the future of the savages, thought that both
+ends would be attained by making a permanent settlement for the Indians
+beyond the Mississippi River. Those whose benevolence was a mixture of
+sentimentality and romantic misinformation thought the Indians ought
+to be left where contact with the whites would tend to civilize
+and Christianize them. Consequently there were two parties to the
+discussion, and a good deal of practical selfishness at the bottom of it
+all. There used to be an old song running in this wise,--
+
+ "All I want in this creation,
+ Is a pretty little wife and a big plantation
+ Away up yonder in the Cherokee nation,"--
+
+and this song no doubt represented the real feeling behind the whole
+matter. The big plantation was what was really wanted. At the same time
+it should not be forgotten that it was for the benefit of the Indians as
+well as the whites that they should be settled in a section where they
+would remain undisturbed. This policy has been proven by time to be the
+true one.
+
+Travelers and romancers have done no end of harm by exalting the Indian
+character, covering up its faults, and exaggerating its merits. Romance
+has made great heroes of the Indians; but in the whole history of the
+red men, so far as it has been faithfully chronicled, the names of the
+Indians of unmixed blood who are worth remembering can be counted on the
+fingers of two hands.
+
+Sequoia, or George Guess, who invented the Cherokee alphabet, was the
+grandson of a white man. This invention, however, was a very remarkable
+achievement, and it is worthy of a word here. Sequoia was altogether
+illiterate. He could neither write nor speak English, but he saw that
+the whites could talk with each other by means of pieces of paper. So
+he set himself to work to examine his own language. He found that sixty
+monosyllables could be so combined as to represent every word in
+the Cherokee language, and for each of these syllables he formed a
+character. Many of these characters were taken from an English spelling
+book which he managed to get hold of. Some are Greek characters, and
+others are letters of the English alphabet turned upside down; but
+each character in the Cherokee alphabet stands for a monosyllable. It
+happened, too, from the structure of the Cherokee language or dialect,
+that the syllabic alphabet is also in the nature of a grammar; so that
+those who know the language by ear, and master the alphabet, can at once
+read and write. Owing to the extreme simplicity of this system, it can
+be acquired in a few days. Some have learned it even in one day. Thus
+it happened that the Cherokees, who were at the beginning of one year
+ignorant and illiterate, had become in the course of a few months able
+to read and write their own language. They accomplished this without
+going to school, and without expense of time or money.
+
+This curious and useful invention is dwelt on here because it stands
+alone. The Indian grandson of a white man remains to-day the only man,
+in the long history of the aborigines, who has done anything for the
+real and lasting benefit of his race.
+
+When the people of Georgia insisted on the removal of that nation to the
+Far West, the Cherokees were neither better nor worse than the rest of
+the Indians. Some of the half-breeds had indeed begun to put on the airs
+of civilization, and many of them had put off their barbarian garbs; but
+from time to time they gave evidence that contact with the whites had
+only whetted their savage appetites for cruelty. The Indian in Cooper's
+novels and the Indian in real life are two different creatures. They
+were tall and straight because they refused to do manual labor. The
+drudgery was left to the women, who hoed the corn when at home, and
+carried the burdens when the warriors were moving about. They cultivated
+the passion of revenge. Those who know them best have declared in
+a thousand ways that they never found in the red men any solid
+substantial, or agreeable quality. They were brave, but so is a bulldog.
+
+There is no wonder that Georgia wanted to get rid of them as neighbors.
+The people showed their anxiety in this matter when, in 1802, they
+conveyed to the United States Government all the valuable lands that now
+form the States of Alabama and Mississippi; the consideration being that
+the General Government would secure from the Indians, and open up to
+settlement, the lands which they then held in the State. In 1808 the
+Cherokees asked the United States to allow them to examine the public
+land west of the Mississippi, and, if pleased, to settle on it.
+Permission was given, and the Cherokees sent a party to explore
+the lands. The country suited them so well that many of the Indians
+emigrated at once. The General Government thus had an opportunity to
+carry out the contract of 1802, but failed to do so. It had another
+opportunity in 1814, when the conquered Creeks sued for peace. The
+General Government had the right to demand of them the cession of the
+land they occupied in Georgia. Instead, it took land in Alabama, which
+it sold for its own benefit.
+
+And so the matter went on from year to year, and the people waited
+patiently; for they had become aware, from costly experience, that one
+of the prices they have to pay for popular government is the occasional
+rule of the political demagogue.
+
+In 1827, when the people of Georgia began to grow restive under the
+failure of the government to carry out its contracts, the Cherokees
+had declared themselves to be an independent state. They had their own
+printed constitution and code of laws. So that here in the limits of
+Georgia there were three governments going on at one and the same
+time. The United States prohibited any person from settling on Indian
+territory, or trading with any Indian, without a special license from
+the proper authority. In addition to this, the State of Georgia had
+found it necessary to extend her criminal courts over the Cherokee
+territory, in order to protect her own citizens.
+
+The half-breeds among the Cherokees were very shrewd and unscrupulous.
+They had caused some of their tribe to take possession of lands ceded
+to Georgia by the Creeks, and in this way sought to add confusion to the
+discussion that was then going on. The Indians took possession by force.
+They were armed and painted, and led by Chief Ridge. Fourteen or fifteen
+houses were burned by these savages, and the white women and children
+were left exposed to the weather, the ground being covered with snow.
+
+The great trouble with the Cherokees then and afterwards was, that the
+government of their nation had fallen into the hands of half-breeds,
+whose education only gave them fresh opportunities to gain wealth
+and power at the expense of the rest of the tribe. They owned trading
+houses, big plantations, numbers of slaves, had charge of the ferries,
+and controlled all the traffic between the whites and the Indians. As
+these half-breeds became wealthier, the rest of the tribe became poorer.
+They had forsaken their primitive habits and customs, and taken up those
+of the most depraved whites who lived among them. It is worthy of note
+that the most progressive spirits among the Cherokees were in favor
+of emigration beyond the Mississippi. The leaders of this party were
+natives of unmixed blood, who saw that the control of the corrupt
+half-breeds was carrying the nation to ruin. Several of these leaders
+were waylaid and shot down by the agents of those whose policy they were
+opposing. The alarm in some sections was very great. The citizens met,
+and adopted resolutions requesting the government to station troops at
+suitable points, for the protection of the lives and property of the
+whites and friendly Indians.
+
+Under an act of the Legislature, a body of militia had been organized,
+under the name of the "Georgia Guard." It was the duty of the Guard to
+protect the citizens of Georgia and the friendly Cherokees. John Howard
+Payne, the famous author of "Home, Sweet Home," was arrested by this
+Guard. The poet was traveling among the Cherokees for information, and
+was no doubt ignorant of the state of feeling then existing. He was
+finally suspected by the vigilant Georgia Guard of writing improper
+papers. He had been seen making notes, and when he was arrested his
+papers were searched. The commander of the Georgia Guard, Colonel
+William N. Bishop, reported to the governor that he had examined some
+of Mr. Payne's papers, and found some very improper and indiscreet
+statements about the President, the government, and the State
+authorities, and many bitter remarks concerning Cherokee matters.
+Evidently, Colonel Bishop was of the opinion, that, while a politician
+or a newspaper editor might be allowed to indulge in improper and
+indiscreet statements about Presidents and other public men, a poet
+had no such rights. But the colonel finally discharged Mr. Payne from
+custody, and the very foolish proceeding was condemned by a resolution
+of the General Assembly.
+
+In 1835 two parties had developed in the Cherokee nation. One was in
+favor of removal to the Western lands, and the other was opposed
+to removal. John Ridge headed the removal party, and John Ross the
+opposition. In February of that year these men went to Washington at
+the head of deputations, and entered into negotiations with the General
+Government. After a great deal of talk, excitement, confusion, and
+trouble, the Cherokee people finally concluded to hold a meeting at Red
+Clay in October, 1835. There was a good deal of angry feeling between
+those of the Cherokees who were in favor of a treaty of removal and
+those who were opposed to it. Major Ridge, John Ridge, and David Vann
+were impeached for holding opinions contrary to those held by the
+Cherokee authorities. On the other hand, many of those in favor of
+removal met, and passed resolutions, in which they declared that their
+people could not prosper in the midst of a white population, and that,
+while they loved the lands of their fathers, and would leave the place
+of their birth with regret, they considered that it would be better to
+become exiles than to submit to the laws of the State.
+
+At the Red Clay meeting, arrangements were made for discussing with the
+United States authorities the terms of a treaty of removal. The Ross
+party was still violently opposed to removal. John Ross, the leader of
+this party, was only one fourth Indian, the other three fourths
+being Scotch and American. Ross was very shrewd and thrifty, and had
+accumulated a great deal of property, with the prospect of accumulating
+more. He had many sympathizers and admirers in all parts of the country.
+It seems to have been thought a wonderful thing in that day, that a man
+one quarter Indian should be able to read and write English, and make
+political speeches. When everything had been arranged for the final
+treaty, and while negotiations were going forward, Ross and his party
+put an end to them, and went to Washington, where they hoped to delay
+matters. But the Ridge party met the United States commissioners at New
+Echota on the 21st of December, 1835, according to appointment, and on
+the 29th the treaty was concluded. On May 23, 1836, it was ratified.
+
+By the terms of this treaty, the Cherokees, in consideration of the sum
+of five million dollars, relinquished all claims to lands east of the
+Mississippi. In addition to the money to be paid, they were to receive
+seven million acres of land west of the Mississippi. Should this
+territory be found to be insufficient, the United States, in
+consideration of five hundred thousand dollars, was to convey to them
+an additional body of land. The land thus granted was not to be included
+within the limits of any State at any future time. The Cherokees were
+guaranteed protection against domestic strife and foreign enemies, and
+it was provided that the tribe should be entitled to a delegate in the
+House of Representatives whenever Congress passed a law to that effect.
+The United States authorities were to remove the Cherokees to their new
+homes, and to provide for their support for one year after they were
+settled. There were other provisions, all in favor of the Cherokees. The
+Indians were to be removed within two years after the ratification of
+the treaty.
+
+Ross, and other leaders opposed to removal, had gone to Washington.
+While there they were informed, by Major Ridge and others, of the treaty
+at New Echota. Ross refused to make any reply to the communication, but
+tried to make a new treaty. He was told that he could not be received to
+make a new treaty. The attitude of the Ross party, together with certain
+threats that had been made by their followers, led many citizens
+of Georgia to believe that the Indians opposed to removal would, in
+accordance with their character and history, revenge themselves by
+making night attacks on the unprotected people. Consequently those most
+likely to be the victims of such attacks petitioned the governor for
+arms, ammunition, and troops; and these petitions were granted. A
+battalion of militia was raised, and placed at Lashley's Ferry on the
+Coosa River, with orders to keep the Cherokees in check, and also to
+prevent the Creeks from coming into Georgia. Many of the Cherokees were
+disarmed; and five hundred muskets, with ammunition, were sent into
+Cherokee County, for the use of the people in the event of any hostile
+movement on the part of the Indians.
+
+The State of Georgia was to take possession of the territory ceded by
+the treaty on the twenty-fourth day of May, 1838, and the military were
+got in readiness for removing the Indians. General Scott, of the United
+States army, called on the governor of Georgia for two regiments, and to
+this call there was a prompt response. By the 18th of May enough men had
+arrived at New Echota, where the troops were to assemble, to organize a
+regiment; and on the morning of the 24th the troops took up the line of
+march for the purpose of collecting the Indians. This continued until
+the 3d of June, when the troops and the Indians started for Ross's
+Landing on the Tennessee River. About fifteen hundred Indians had been
+collected by the Georgia troops, and these troops were then dismissed
+from the service of the United States.
+
+The rest of the work was done by the regular army, which, being
+divided into small detachments, went about the Cherokee country, making
+prisoners of family after family, and carrying them to the camps. The
+most careful arrangements had been made to prevent cruelty or disorder,
+and there has never been any complaint as to the manner in which the
+troops performed their duty. Nearly the whole nation had been gathered
+into camps by the end of June. At that time some of the Indians began
+their march to the West; but the great body of the tribe, fourteen
+thousand in number, did not begin their westward journey until
+September, owing to the hot weather. Every arrangement that could be
+suggested was made for the comfort of the Indians in their march; but
+from May, when the removal began, to the time when the last company had
+completed its journey, more than four thousand persons died.
+
+One year afterwards, on the 22d of June, 1839, Major Ridge, John Ridge,
+and Elias Boudinot, all of whom had taken an active part in negotiating
+the treaty of removal, were assassinated.
+
+Since their removal the Cherokees have prospered to a greater extent
+than any other Indian tribe. They have a government of their own,
+flourishing schools, and books and newspapers printed in their own
+language. It is the only tribe of American Indians that has shown any
+desire or ability to share in the benefits of civilization.
+
+
+
+
+THE BEGINNING OF PARTIES IN GEORGIA.
+
+The first serious political division in Georgia after the Revolution had
+a very curious beginning. There is always, of course, a division among
+the people on great public questions as they arise. But the War of the
+Revolution had so solidified public sentiment that nothing occurred to
+jar it until the Yazoo Fraud created some division. Even then public
+sentiment was so overwhelmingly opposed to the sale of the lands to
+the speculators, that the few who favored it were not numerous nor
+respectable enough to be called a party.
+
+On the 24th of February, 1806, Mr. Josiah Glass, having come all the way
+from North Carolina in search of a Mr. Robert Clary, went to the town of
+Sparta with a warrant which he requested Judge Charles Tait to indorse.
+This Judge Tait did in due form. The warrant was for negro stealing,
+and was directed against Mr. Robert Clary. Mr. Clary was arrested by
+Mr. Josiah Glass in Washington County, and was carried to Greene County
+Superior Court. On the first day of the court, Mr. Josiah Glass wrote
+a letter to Judge Tait, and requested him to attend, and take the
+examination of a man then in his custody, who would make confessions
+highly interesting to the State and the United States. Judge Tait,
+accompanied by Squire Oliver Skinner, attended that night, and took
+a part of the confessions of Mr. Robert Clary, and completed them the
+following night. Then he gave Mr. Josiah Glass a certified copy of the
+same to take with him to North Carolina, to which State he was taking
+Mr. Robert Clary, on a warrant charging him with negro stealing.
+
+Now, it seems that the warrant against Clary was merely intended as
+a scheme to get him to North Carolina to testify against a man named
+Collins. History has suppressed the confessions made by Mr. Robert
+Clary; but it is certain that they contained a most offensive charge
+against General John Clarke, whose patriotic services in behalf of the
+people during the Revolution gave him great fame and popularity. No
+sooner did John Clarke hear of this affair than he proceeded to act with
+his usual promptness. When he learned the particulars about the taking
+of the affidavit at night, he at once jumped to the conclusion that
+he had been made the victim of a conspiracy. There had been some
+disagreement between him and Hon. William H. Crawford; and as Judge
+Tait had been the partner of Mr. Crawford, and was his firm friend,--for
+Crawford was a man great enough to command and deserve friends,--General
+Clarke suspected that Clary and Glass had been made tools of to damage
+his reputation. General Clarke acted at once. He presented a memorial to
+the Legislature, making certain charges against Judge Tait with respect
+to the taking of the "dark-lantern affidavits," as they were called by
+his friends. The Legislature found, as it ought to have done, that the
+charges made in the memorial of General Clarke were unsupported by fact
+or evidence. In the very nature of things, it could not be shown that
+an honorable judge of the Superior Court of Georgia, in certifying to an
+affidavit containing the confession of a mere adventurer, was engaged
+in a conspiracy; but the question with which General Clarke had to
+deal was, how did the offensive and malicious matter, contained in
+an affidavit taken by a judge and one witness at night, become public
+property? If General Clarke had been a more thoroughgoing politician, he
+would have found a better way to confound his enemies than that which he
+adopted; but he was deeply wounded by a foul charge made at night, and
+put in circulation by means of nods and winks and whispers. His first
+recourse was to the Legislature, consequently it had the effect of
+strengthening both his friends and his enemies. His friends were
+indignant at the action of the Legislature. His enemies professed to
+be astonished that arrogance should fly so high as to bring before the
+Legislature unfounded charges against a judge of the superior courts.
+
+The legislative record is not as full as it might be. There was
+something behind the Clary business that does not appear on the records
+of the House and Senate. General Clarke wrote a pamphlet entitled "A
+Legacy for My Children," in which, according to Judge Garnett Andrews
+(see "Reminiscences of an Old Georgia Lawyer"), the matter of his
+memorial to the Legislature is differently stated. According to Judge
+Andrews, who bases his authority on General Clarke's pamphlet and on the
+testimony of those who were familiar with the facts, Clary was arrested
+and carried before Judge Tait on a charge of stealing horses. Clary
+charged General Clarke with complicity. Mr. Crawford was the prosecuting
+attorney. General Clarke accused Judge Tait and Mr. Crawford with
+instigating Clary to make the charge.
+
+The truth seems to be, that Clary, knowing the differences that existed
+between these distinguished men, sought to help his own case by making
+the charge against General Clarke, and that the latter was quite ready
+to believe that his two opponents had originated the charges for the
+purpose of doing him a mortal injury. Feeling assured of the justice
+of his cause, he appealed to the Legislature. This failing, he took the
+matter into his own hands. He challenged Mr. Crawford, shot him through
+the wrist, and then challenged him again. A little later, cantering
+along a street in Milledgeville on his fine sorrel horse, General Clarke
+saw Judge Tait before him in a sulky. He spurred his horse forward, and
+laid his whip across the judge's shoulders two or three times.
+
+[Illustration: General Clarke whips Judge Tait 237]
+
+These events created great excitement throughout the State. There had
+already been controversy and division caused by the duel between Mr.
+Crawford and Van Allen, a cousin of President Van Buren, and at that
+time attorney-general of the State. Van Allen was killed; and there was
+a great controversy in Georgia, in consequence, as to who was right
+and who was wrong. This excitement became furious in the course of the
+contest between Clarke and Crawford. Crawford was fortunately lifted out
+of it by being made a United States senator in 1807. His distinguished
+career afterwards is well known. He was minister to France, secretary of
+the treasury, Vice-President of the United States, and would have been
+elected President but for reports circulated throughout the country that
+he had been stricken down with a fatal illness. But the contest between
+the Clarke and Crawford parties continued to rage. Whatever issue the
+Clarke men were favorable to, the Crawford men opposed. Whatever scheme
+the Clarke men suggested, the Crawford men fought. There was nothing
+polite about the contest. People who wore gloves pulled them off.
+In cold weather the voters were warm, and in hot weather they were
+steaming. The contest went on before elections, and was kept up with
+just as much energy after elections. No vote could settle it, and no
+success could quiet it. It was in the nature of a political squabble,
+covering the whole State, dividing districts, counties, cities, towns,
+villages, settlements, beats, crossroads groceries, and families. It
+was a knock-down-and-drag-out fight, in which hair pulling, gouging, and
+biting were allowed.
+
+While Crawford was advancing step by step in national politics, his
+party in Georgia took up George M. Troup, one of the most brilliant and
+aggressive men in the State. The contest had been going on for twenty
+years when Troup came upon the scene, in 1830, as a candidate
+for governor. He had been a member of the State Legislature, a
+representative in Congress, and a United States senator: therefore in
+1820, when he was nominated for governor by the Crawford party, he was
+ripe in experience. He was forty years old, and full of the fire and
+energy that marked his whole career. The Crawford party now became the
+Troup party, and the contests that followed were the most exciting
+that ever took place in the State before, or that have ever taken place
+since.
+
+At that time the General Assembly elected the governor, the people
+selecting members favorable to the candidates they preferred. As the
+result of the first campaign between the Clarke and Troup parties,
+General John Clarke was elected by a majority of thirteen legislative
+votes. When Governor Clarke's term expired, he was again opposed by
+Troup, and was again elected, but this time by a majority of only two
+legislative votes. In 1823, Matthew Talbot represented the Clarke party,
+but was defeated by Troup. In 1825, General Clarke again entered the
+contest. The election was no longer in the hands of the Legislature, but
+was by popular vote. Governor Troup's treatment of the Indian question,
+and the firm stand he had taken in favor of the rights of the State, had
+materially increased his influence, and he was elected over Clarke by a
+majority of 683 votes.
+
+Curious to relate, the old Clarke party became the Union party, and
+in 1840 was the Democratic party. The Crawford party became the States
+Rights party, and in 1840 was the Whig party. Such was the evolution of
+parties in Georgia.
+
+
+
+
+A QUEER CASE.
+
+[Illustration: A Queer Case 241]
+
+A very queer, not to say mysterious case, was brought to trial in Jones
+County in 1837, at the April term of the Superior Court. It has had no
+parallel in Georgia before or since, and had none in any other country,
+so far as the present writer is aware, until the celebrated Tichborne
+case was brought to trial in England a few years ago. The Bunkley case
+created quite as much excitement, and caused quite as much division in
+public opinion in Georgia, as the Tichborne case did in England.
+
+Jesse L. Bunkley belonged to a good family in Jones County, and when
+he came of age would have fallen heir to an estate worth forty thousand
+dollars. An effort was made to give him all the advantages of education,
+but these he refused to accept. He was a wild boy, and was fonder
+of wild company than of his books. He went to school for a while in
+Eatonton, but got into some scrape there and ran away. He was afterwards
+sent to Franklin College, now the State University, where he entered the
+grammar school. Such discipline as they had in those days was irksome to
+young Bunkley, and he soon grew tired of it. He left the college, and,
+after roving about for a while, returned to his home in Jones County.
+In his twentieth year, 1825, being well supplied with money, he left his
+home for the purpose of traveling. He went to the Southwest, and in that
+year wrote to his mother from New Orleans.
+
+No other letter was received from him during that year or the next, and
+in 1827 word was brought to Jones County that Jesse Bunkley was dead.
+The rumor, for it seems to have been nothing more, was regarded by the
+family as true. At any rate, no attempt was made to investigate it.
+Jesse was the black sheep of the family; he had been away from home a
+good deal; his conduct when at home had not been such as to commend
+him to the affections of his people; and his mother had married a third
+husband, a man named Lowther: consequently the vague news of the young
+man's death was probably received with a feeling of relief. There was
+always a probability that such a wild and dissipated youngster would
+come to some bad end; but with his death that probability ceased to
+be even a possibility, and so, no doubt with a sigh of relief, young
+Bunkley's people put aside the memory of him. He was dead and buried.
+Those who survived him were more than willing to take the care and
+trouble of managing the estate which young Bunkley would have inherited
+had he returned and claimed it.
+
+But in 1833, Major Smith of Jones County received a letter purporting to
+be from Jesse L. Bunkley, and it related to matters that both Smith and
+Bunkley were familiar with. In December, 1833, Mrs. Lowther, his mother,
+received a letter from a person claiming to be her son Jesse. The letter
+was dated at the New Orleans prison. It appears from this letter that
+the family of Bunkley had already taken steps to disown the person who
+had written to Major Smith, and who claimed to be Jesse Bunkley. The
+letter to Mrs. Lowther was very awkwardly written. It was misspelled,
+and bore no marks of punctuation; and yet it is just such a letter
+as might be written by a man who took no interest in his books when a
+schoolboy, and had had no occasion to look into them or to handle a pen.
+He said in this letter that he wrote to convince his mother that he was
+her own child, though it appeared that she wished to disown him. This,
+he declared in his awkward way, he knew no reason for, unless it was on
+account of his past folly. He then went on to relate some facts about
+the family and his own school days. The mother did not answer this
+letter, because, as she said afterwards on the witness stand, she did
+not consider that it was from her son. She was satisfied, she said, that
+the letter was not in her son's handwriting.
+
+The person claiming to be Jesse L. Bunkley reached Jones County some
+time afterwards. His case, in the nature of things, excited great public
+interest. Hundreds of people who had known Jesse recognized him in this
+claimant. On the other hand, hundreds who had also known Bunkley when
+a boy failed to recognize him in the claimant. Meanwhile those who had
+charge of the Bunkley property took prompt action. They went before the
+grand jury, and had the claimant indicted for cheating and swindling;
+and thus began the celebrated case of the State against Elijah Barber,
+alias Jesse L. Bunkley.
+
+The claimant came to Jones County in 1836, was indicted in that year,
+and his case was brought to trial in the Superior Court in April, 1837.
+A great deal of time was taken up in the investigation. More than one
+hundred and thirty witnesses were examined. Ninety-eight, the majority
+of these being disinterested persons, declared that they believed
+the claimant to be an impostor. More than forty disinterested persons
+declared under oath that they believed the claimant to be Jesse L.
+Bunkley, and the majority of these last witnesses had known Bunkley long
+and intimately.
+
+The efforts of the prosecution were directed to showing that the man
+claiming to be Jesse Bunkley was in reality Elijah Barber, who in
+1824-25 was a wagoner who hauled lumber from Grace's Mill near Macon,
+who was also known in Upson County, and who had served in the Florida
+war. Some of the witnesses who had never known Bunkley recognized the
+claimant as a man who had called himself Barber. Some of the witnesses
+who had known Jesse from his boyhood testified that they recognized the
+claimant as Bunkley on sight. Bunkley had various scars on his face,
+neck, and body. The claimant exhibited all these to the jury. One of the
+witnesses remembered that Bunkley bore the marks of a snake bite on one
+of his legs. The claimant immediately showed these marks. Hundreds of
+questions had been put to the claimant to test his memory. A great many
+he answered correctly, a great many others he failed to answer; but his
+replies to all vital questions were wonderfully clear and satisfactory.
+The jury was out but a short time before it returned, bringing in a
+verdict of guilty; and the claimant was sentenced to the penitentiary,
+where he served out his term.
+
+[Illustration: The Bunkley Trial 245]
+
+This verdict and sentence settled the case in law, but it remained as
+unsettled as ever in the public mind. The writer of this has heard it
+discussed on more than one occasion among old ladies and gentlemen who
+knew Bunkley, and who saw the claimant; and, without exception, they
+declared that the verdict of the jury was cruelly unjust.
+
+And yet, if any wrong was done, Bunkley himself was to blame for it.
+Being a young man of fortune and of the fairest prospects, he owed it to
+himself, his family, his friends, and to society at large, to become
+a good citizen, so that his ample means might be properly employed.
+Instead of that, he became a rowdy and a rioter, spending his days and
+his nights in evil company and in dissipation. If the claimant in this
+mysterious case was really Jesse Bunkley, it may be said of him that his
+sins had found him out.
+
+
+
+
+GEORGIA WIT AND HUMOR.
+
+The wit and humor of Georgia stand by themselves. They have no
+counterpart in any other section of the country. Many attempts have been
+made to imitate them, but there is always something lacking. The flavor,
+the "bouquet," the aroma, is gone. The sun, the soil, the air, and
+even the spring water, seem to have something to do with it. Just what,
+nobody knows. Wit and humor are elusive,--they are unsubstantial. On the
+other hand, the Georgia watermelon is something solid. It may be handled
+and felt. It may be "thumped" and "plugged" and tested. Those who know
+what a watermelon is and should be, know that there is none to compare
+with the melons that are grown in Georgia, no matter what the variety.
+The same may be said of the wit and humor that belong to Georgia. An old
+man--Uncle Tom Norris he was called, on account of his gray hairs--was
+once heard to say (speaking professionally), "Let me clap a drop of
+the low-wines to my tongue, and I'll tell you what branch the fire was
+kindled on." He was a distiller, and knew his business. One need not
+be an expert to say the same of Georgia humor. It is almost possible to
+tell the very militia district in which it originated. It carries not
+only the flavor, but the color.
+
+For a hundred years Georgia has remained the most democratic part of the
+country. The sons of the richest men were put in the fields to work
+side by side with the negroes, and were thus taught to understand the
+importance of individual effort that leads to personal independence.
+It thus happened that there was a cordial, and even an affectionate,
+understanding between the slaves and their owners, that perhaps had no
+parallel elsewhere. The poorer whites had no reason to hold their heads
+down because they had to work for their living. The richest slave owners
+did not feel themselves above those who had few negroes or none. When
+a man called his neighbor "Colonel," or "Judge," it was to show his
+respect, nothing more. For the rest, the humblest held their heads as
+high as the richest, and were as quick, perhaps quicker, in a quarrel.
+
+The Virginians and North Carolinians who settled in the Broad River
+region intermarried, and spread out over middle Georgia. Those who were
+not akin were bound to each other by ties of long acquaintanceship; but
+the homogeneousness of the people, complete and thorough as it was, was
+not marked by any monotony. On the contrary, character and individuality
+ran riot, appearing in such strange and attractive shapes as to puzzle
+and bewilder even those who were familiar with the queer manifestations.
+Every settlement had its peculiarities, and every neighborhood boasted
+of its humorist,--its clown, whose pranks and jests were limited by
+no license. Out of this has grown a literature which, in some of its
+characteristics, is not matched elsewhere on the globe; but that which
+has been preserved by printing is not comparable, either in volume or
+merit, with the great body of humor that has perished because of the
+lack of some one industrious enough to chronicle it.
+
+One of the most perfect types of the Georgia humorist was the late John
+M. Dooly. Judge Dooly was a remarkable man in other respects, but it is
+his wonderful fund of humor that has made his name famous in Georgia and
+throughout the country. It has been told in these pages how Colonel John
+Dooly was dragged from his bed by the Tories and murdered. This Colonel
+Dooly was the father of John M., who was hid under the bed when the
+Tories dragged his father out and murdered him. It might be supposed
+that such an event would have a tendency to give a boy a very serious
+view of life. Judge Dooly's views were no doubt serious enough; but they
+were overwhelmed and overpowered by a temperament which found cause for
+laughter in almost every person and passing event, and was the cause of
+innocent mirth in others.
+
+Judge Dooly was born in what he called the "Dark Corner" of Lincoln
+County, which had not then been cut off from Wilkes. After the murder of
+his father, the family was left in poverty. When he went to Washington,
+the county seat of Wilkes County, to read law with Mr. Matthews, the
+clothes he wore were in such a condition that he was compelled to
+confine himself to the office in the daytime. He was very poor and
+very bright. Old people who knew him when a boy, described him to Judge
+Garnett Andrews as "a sallow, piney-woods-looking lad." "Piney-woods
+people" was the local name for the tackies, the clay eaters, the
+no-accounts, that had settled about on the poorer lands in that section
+of Georgia, and given themselves over to thriftlessness for good and
+all. But young Dooly had that within him which made him superior to the
+conditions and limitations of poverty. Apart from his remarkable gift of
+humor, he had a native brilliancy of mind that gave him an easy mastery
+over the principles of law that he found in the books. He was admitted
+to the bar in 1798, and was immediately successful as a lawyer. His
+education had been limited to that which he found in the "old field
+schools," and in that day they were not of the best; but such a mind as
+his needed only the rudiments, the rest came as by instinct.
+
+[Illustration: Judge Dooly 250]
+
+Judge Dooly was not a student while practicing at the bar. He had
+thoroughly mastered the principles, the groundwork, of the law; and his
+mind, as logical as it was brilliant, fitted these principles to every
+case he had charge of. His love of humor, and his fondness for the
+society of those who preferred fun and frolic, placed many temptations
+in his way, and some of these he did not always resist; but the faults
+he had were the faults of the time in which he lived, the faults of the
+society in which he was brought up and by which he was surrounded. Judge
+Dooly has been described by a contemporary as having a large head,
+with a bold, high forehead, heavy eyebrows, prominent nose, a small
+compressed mouth, and large, vivid, sparkling eyes, which, when the
+spirit of humor had possession of him, illuminated his countenance as if
+an electric battery were in play.
+
+On one occasion, Judge Dooly had been challenged by Judge Tait,--the
+same Judge Tait who had made himself so obnoxious to General John
+Clarke. Judge Tait had a wooden leg; and Judge Dooly, in replying to the
+challenge, referred to this fact, and said he did not think they could
+fight on equal terms. He hoped his refusal would not be interpreted as a
+reflection on the misfortunes of Judge Tait. This reply made Judge Tait
+more indignant than ever. He wrote a severe reply, suggesting to Judge
+Dooly that his refusal to fight was the result of cowardice rather than
+a desire not to shed the blood of an unfortunate cripple. In answer to
+this insinuation, Judge Dooly declared boldly that he was ready to fight
+his adversary on anything like equal terms. He announced that he would
+meet Judge Tait anywhere, on any day, and exchange a shot with him,
+provided he (Judge Dooly) was allowed to stand on the field of honor
+with one leg in a bee-gum! The bee-gums of that day were made of
+sections of hollow trees. Naturally this remarkable proposition made
+Judge Tait madder than ever, and he wrote to Judge Dooly that he
+intended to publish him as a coward. Judge Dooly calmly informed Judge
+Tait by letter that he had no sort of objection to the publication,
+provided it was at Tait's expense. He declared, that, for his part, he
+would rather fill a dozen newspapers than one coffin. These unexpected
+strokes of humor disarmed the anger of Judge Tait, and set the whole
+State in a roar. They did more: they cleared the political atmosphere,
+and took the edge off of party rancor, which was at that time very
+fierce and keen.
+
+Once, when dining at a public table, Dooly said something or did
+something to irritate Major Freeman Walker. The latter, remarking that
+he had borne with the liberties taken by Judge Dooly quite long enough,
+said he proposed to resent them then and there. The attack on his
+feelings had been made in public, and he proposed to resent it in
+public. Seizing a chair, he advanced on Judge Dooly. The judge seized a
+carving knife, and braced himself for defense. Several gentlemen caught
+hold of the judge to prevent him from using the knife, while only one
+held Major Walker. Surveying the scene, Judge Dooly calmly remarked,
+"Gentlemen, one of you will be sufficient to prevent me from doing any
+mischief. The rest of you had better hold Walker." The explosion that
+this remark created put even Major Walker in good humor, and he and the
+judge settled their differences in the most amiable and rational manner.
+
+When the Legislature passed severe laws against gaming, Judge Dooly
+enforced them rigidly. Some of the gamblers were brought to trial and
+fined, and others were only saved from arrest by the fact that they kept
+out of the way when court was in session.
+
+But one night in Washington, Wilkes County, after the judge had been
+holding court all the week and had closed the term, he went to his room
+in the hotel and made all preparations to retire. He had barely settled
+himself in bed, when he heard a noise in an adjoining room, and soon
+discovered that a game of faro was going on. The noise disturbed him so,
+that he dressed himself, went to the room, and told the players, that,
+having tried all legal methods to break them up, and failed, he was
+now determined to try another plan. He thereupon seated himself at the
+table, and before the night was spent broke the bank. He then told the
+gamblers to clear out, and be more careful in future how they interfered
+with the court.
+
+Once when sitting up late at night, trying a very complicated case, the
+sheriff voluntarily placed on the bench beside the judge a small pitcher
+half filled with toddy. When he had finished the toddy, the judge called
+to the officer, "Mr. Sheriff, fetch in some more water out of the same
+spring." A murder case was once tried before him. The point in the case
+was whether the prisoner had shot in self-defense. There was a good deal
+said by the lawyers about the right to shoot. The jury, intending to
+justify the prisoner, brought in this verdict: "The prisoner has a right
+to shoot." When this verdict was read to the court, the judge held up
+his hands in pretended alarm, and cried out, "Mr. Sheriff, don't let him
+shoot this way!"
+
+A story is told of Judge Dooly and Tom Peter Carnes, another rare
+humorist, that fairly illustrates the statement made in the beginning
+of this chapter in regard to the plain and democratic character of the
+people who settled Middle Georgia. Dooly and his friend Carnes were
+traveling to court, having gone without breakfast in order to be up and
+on their way at an early hour. At last they reached the place where they
+were to get breakfast, and called for it with some show of impatience.
+The lady of the house, however, was in no hurry. She said that they
+should have breakfast the moment Charles came. So she called for
+Charles, blew the horn for Charles, and finally sent for Charles. When
+Charles put in an appearance, the two travelers found that he was a big
+negro, so black and fat that he fairly glistened when the sun shone on
+him. Naturally Dooly and Carnes were surprised. They were still more
+surprised when the negro's mistress said in a coaxing tone, "Now,
+Charles, I do wish you would sit down and let the gentlemen eat, as they
+are in a hurry to go to court." Charles didn't like so much company;
+but he finally sat down to the table, on which there was a big bowl of
+clabber, three "hunks" of corn bread, and three pewter spoons. "Now,
+Charles," said the woman, "do eat, and then the gentlemen will begin."
+Making the best of the situation, and somewhat enjoying the humor of it,
+Dooly and Carnes sat down at the table and began to eat. Carnes shook
+his big spoon at the negro, and cried out, "Now, Charles, you must
+spoony on your own side;" and he kept on warning him, "Spoony on your
+own side, Charles, spoony on your own side." The two lawyers ate until
+Charles's spoon began to make raids on their side of the bowl, and then
+they abandoned the feast to him and went on their way.
+
+A landlord of a hotel, having heard some of the lawyers, among them
+Judge Dooly, bragging about the toothsomeness of a baked pig they had
+tasted, probably at Milledgeville during the session of the Legislature,
+concluded that he would surprise and please them by having something in
+that line himself.
+
+He was either ignorant or ill-advised; for, instead of baking a suckling
+pig, he roasted a half-grown pig, stuffed him, put an apple in his
+mouth, and stood him upon his stumps in a dish. In those days the seat
+of honor at the head of the hotel table was reserved for the judge of
+the court At the head of the table Mr. Pig was placed, facing Judge
+Dooly's seat. The judge and the lawyers came in, sat down, and ate
+dinner in comparative silence. They were overawed by Mr. Pig. Though
+the carving knife lay handy, and the landlord and his wife were watching
+with impatience and uneasiness to see what the lawyers would say when
+they had tasted this particular roast pig, no one dared to touch it. At
+supper Mr. Pig was still standing defiantly in his place. He presided at
+every meal during the day following. On the morning of the second day,
+when Judge Dooly came to the table, Mr. Pig was in his old position.
+Thereupon the judge bowed to him gravely. "Good-morning, sir!" he said.
+"I am afraid you have lost your appetite, seeing you have not eaten that
+apple yet. I presume you are tired attending court.--Mr. Sheriff, you
+may discharge him on his own recognizance, until court in course, seeing
+we shall have no further use for him at this session, and return him the
+thanks of the court for his prompt and faithful attendance."
+
+[Illustration: The Roast Pig 255]
+
+Judge Dooly was a member of the Clarke party; but on one occasion,
+when he was a candidate for reelection to the judgeship of the northern
+circuit, some of the Clarke men declared that Governor Troup's warlike
+message was an evidence that he was mad. Judge Dooly made the comment,
+"If he is mad, I wish the same mad dog that bit him would bite me." This
+happy remark came to the ears of the Troup men in the Legislature, and
+it so pleased them that they put an end to all opposition to the judge
+in the election.
+
+Judge Dooly was one of the most charitable of men. He once refused to
+give alms to an unfortunate woman in Savannah, and the refusal haunted
+him all his life He declared that it taught him never to let Satan cheat
+him out of another opportunity to help the unfortunate; that he had
+determined to err on the safe side ever after.
+
+Just before he died, a friend called to ask after his condition. His
+reply was that he had a bad cold without any cough to suit it. And so,
+humor bubbling from his lips to the last, there passed away, on the 26th
+of May, 1827, the rarest humorist that Georgia, the especial mother
+of humorists, has ever produced. Judge Dooly had a humor that was as
+illuminating as it was enlivening. It stirred to laughter or it moved to
+tears, according as this wonderful man chose to direct it.
+
+A great deal of the humor that originated in Georgia has been printed
+in books. We find it in Judge Long-street's "Georgia Scenes," in Major
+Jones's "Travels," in Colonel Richard Malcolm Johnston's "Stories
+of Georgia Life," and in other volumes that have attracted public
+attention. But the best of it has been lost. It originated when the
+lawyers were riding about on horseback or in buggies from court to
+court, and tradition has only preserved a small part of it.
+
+
+
+
+SLAVERY AND SECESSION.
+
+The dispute over slavery, which had been going on for many years, grew
+furious in 1850; and its fury increased until, in 1860-61, it culminated
+in the secession of the Southern States from the Union. Some of those
+who have written the history of the secession movement contend that
+slavery had little or nothing to do with the matter; that the South
+seceded because the North had refused to grant her people their rights
+guaranteed under the Constitution. This is true as far as it goes; but
+the fact remains, that secession and the war grew out of the efforts of
+the abolitionists of the North, and those who sympathized with them, to
+keep slavery out of the Territories, and to prevent the new States then
+forming from becoming slave States. There is no doubt that these efforts
+were illegal and unconstitutional; and yet, in the minds of those who
+made them, constitutionality was not a sufficient excuse for slavery,
+which, whatever might be its political status, was morally wrong: that
+is to say, they believed that such a wrong as slavery could not be
+justified by paper constitutions and the like. Some of the more extreme
+abolitionists of the North were just as ready to secede from the Union
+that recognized slavery as the Southerners were to break up a Union
+whose constitutional guaranties meant nothing.
+
+It must be borne in mind that the antislavery movement began in the
+South. While slavery was in full blast both North and South, Thomas
+Jefferson, the greatest political leader the South has ever produced,
+was at the head of an emancipation movement, and in all parts of the
+South there were men whose minds revolted at the possibilities that
+swarmed about human slavery. Georgia was the only one of the Original
+Thirteen Colonies in which slavery was prohibited, and we have seen
+how this prohibition was repealed at the demand of the planters. Seven
+Northern States, finding slavery unprofitable, abolished the system,
+and a majority of the slaves were sold to the Southern States. But the
+emancipation movement went on in the South. There were more than fifty
+thousand free negroes in Virginia in 1856, and there were a great many
+in Georgia. A number of planters in Georgia, the most prominent among
+them being Alfred Cuthbert, emancipated their slaves, and arranged to
+send them to Liberia.
+
+Nevertheless the invention of the cotton gin did more to strengthen
+the cause of slavery than all other events combined. It became more
+profitable than ever to own slaves; and in this way, and on this
+account, all the cotton-growing States became interested in the system.
+They had the excuse not only that slavery was profitable, but
+that self-interest combined with feelings of humanity to make it a
+patriarchal institution. And such, in fact, it was. It is to the glory
+of the American character and name, that never before in the history of
+the world was human slavery marked by such mildness, such humanity, as
+that which characterized it in the United States.
+
+But all such considerations as these, as well as the moral objections
+to slavery of any sort, humane or cruel, were lost sight of in the great
+controversy that grew so furious in 1850. In that controversy some of
+Georgia's ablest men took part,--men who were famous as statesmen all
+over the country. There were Alexander H. Stephens, who afterwards
+became the Vice-President of the Confederacy; Robert Toombs, whose fiery
+and impetuous character and wonderful eloquence made him a man of mark;
+Howell Cobb, who was speaker of the House of Representatives; Herschel
+V. Johnson, who was a candidate for Vice-President on the ticket with
+Stephen A. Douglas in 1860; Benjamin H. Hill, who was just then coming
+into prominence; and Joseph E. Brown, whose influence on the political
+history of the State has been more marked than that of any other
+individual.
+
+The controversy growing out of the slavery question became so warm that
+it led to the breaking-up of parties in 1850. Stephens and Toombs,
+who had been Whigs, united with Howell Cobb, who was a Democrat. Other
+Southern Whigs united under the name of the American party. At the North
+the Whigs either joined the Republican party or united with the American
+party. The spirit of disunion was rampant in all parts of the South.
+In Georgia the Legislature had called a State convention, and a great
+effort was made by some of the politicians to commit the State to
+secession. Both Toombs and Stephens were strong Union men, and they
+opposed the spirit and purpose of the call for the convention.
+The speeches that Toombs had made in Congress were garbled by the
+newspapers, and he was made to appear as favoring immediate secession.
+He made short work of that scheme, however. He returned to Georgia in
+the fall of 1850, and immediately began one of the most extraordinary
+campaigns that has ever taken place in the State. He was in the prime
+of life. His fiery energy, his boldness, his independence, and his
+dauntless courage, were in full flower. He took issue with what seemed
+to be the unanimous sentiment of the State. He declared that the call
+for the convention had dishonored the State. He sent out a ringing
+address to the people, urging the South to stand by the Constitution and
+the laws in good faith.
+
+By the time the convention was held, the efforts of Toombs, supplemented
+by those of Stephens and other conservative men, had turned the tide of
+disunion. Whigs united with Democrats. When the returns of the election
+were made known, it was found that a large majority of the members
+were for the Union. "With no memory of past differences," said Toombs,
+"careless of the future, I am ready to unite with any portion or all of
+my countrymen in defense of the integrity of the Republic." So it was
+that the convention met, and adopted what is known in our political
+history as "The Georgia Platform." This platform said that Georgia held
+the American Union secondary in importance to the rights and principles
+it was bound to perpetuate; that, as the Thirteen Colonies found union
+impossible without compromise, the thirty-one of that day would yield
+somewhat in the conflict of opinion and policy, to preserve the Union;
+that Georgia had maturely considered the action of Congress in adopting
+the compromise measures, and, while she did not wholly approve that
+action, would abide by it as a permanent adjustment of this sectional
+controversy; that the State would in future resist, even to the
+disruption of the Union, any act prohibiting slavery in the Territories,
+or a refusal to admit a slave State into the Union.
+
+Thus the Union was saved in 1850 by the very man who had been charged
+with trying to break it up. The eyes of the whole South were turned to
+Georgia during that campaign; and when the people, under the leadership
+of Toombs, Stephens, and Howell Cobb, voted to save the Union, the tide
+of disunion was turned everywhere. The Georgia platform was made the
+platform of the constitutional Union party in the Southern States. In
+Mississippi, Henry S. Foote, the Union candidate, defeated Jefferson
+Davis for governor. The action of Georgia strengthened the Union
+sentiment in all parts of the country.
+
+For a while the situation was secure and satisfactory; but, in the
+nature of things, this could not last. The politicians were busy while
+the people were asleep. The Know-nothing party sprang up in a night,
+and divided the people again; and in Congress the slavery discussion was
+renewed with extreme bitterness over the bills to admit the Territories
+of Kansas and Nebraska as States. This controversy was even more
+exciting than that which resulted in the Compromise Laws of 1850.
+Following close upon this agitation came John Brown's raid into
+Virginia, and his attack on Harpers Ferry. In ordinary times this raid
+would have been regarded with contempt by the Southern people. It was
+a ridiculous affair,--the act of a man who had worked himself up into
+a frenzy of folly. If the people themselves had not been influenced by
+passion cunningly played on by the smaller politicians in both sections,
+poor old John Brown would not have been regarded as a murderer by the
+South nor as a martyr by the North. He would have been an object of pity
+to the sensible men of both sections.
+
+But the state of public opinion was such at that time, that this
+ridiculous venture of a crazy old man was a tremendous shock to the
+South. It contributed more largely than any other event to alarm the
+people of this section, and to turn their minds to secession as a relief
+from, and a remedy for, such attacks upon the peace and good order of
+society. It was a great stimulant to those who had long been in favor of
+disunion, as well as to those at the North who were ready to get rid of
+slavery by violence. Following this raid, public opinion both North and
+South became so violently agitated, that the voices of conservative men
+could not be heard above the storm. It was the hour of the agitator and
+the extremist, and they made the most of it. The Democratic Convention,
+to nominate a candidate for President and Vice-President, met in
+Charleston on the 23d of April, 1860, and remained in session until the
+second day of May. The confused state of public opinion was shown by the
+turbulent division in that convention.
+
+At a moment when the wise men of the Democratic party, or of any party,
+ought to have taken hold of affairs and made their influence felt, they
+seemed to be unequal to the occasion. The members of the convention
+could not agree, and the body adjourned to meet in Baltimore. But the
+division continued and grew wider. The differences could not be settled.
+One faction nominated Douglas and Johnson, and the other nominated
+Breckinridge and Lane. The result was the election of Lincoln and Hamlin
+as the candidates of the Republican party.
+
+[Illustration: Georgia Politics 264]
+
+In Georgia three of the ablest men still stood for the Union,--Alexander
+H. Stephens, Herschel V. Johnson, and Benjamin H. Hill. But they were
+unable to stem the tide. The vote of the State for members of the
+convention that passed the ordinance of secession showed a majority
+of only thirteen thousand for disunion; but Toombs, Thomas R. R. Cobb,
+Howell Cobb, and others seized the advantage that events gave them, and,
+in a whirlwind of passion, swept aside all the arguments and appeals
+of the more conservative men. But, of all those who were in favor of
+secession, Toombs was at that time the most powerful and influential.
+He so managed matters in Congress as to make the secession of Georgia
+follow the inevitable failure of measures that he proposed in that body.
+
+With the people of the South, and indeed with the people of the whole
+country, divided between three parties, the election of a Republican
+candidate was a foregone conclusion. Following this came secession, with
+all the terrible disasters of a war in which the South could not have
+hoped to succeed if reason and common sense had ruled. If the South
+had fought for her constitutional rights in the Union and under the
+old flag, the result might have been different. She would have had
+the active sympathy and support of that large and influential body
+of Northern men who were sincerely anxious to see the terms of the
+Constitution faithfully carried out. But disunion was more than these
+constitutional Democrats could stand. Daniel Webster had solidified
+their love for the Union, and no consideration of party could affect it.
+
+The course of the South, considering all that was involved, should have
+been conservative; but it was not. It is perfectly well known now that
+Abraham Lincoln was willing to sacrifice the abolition party on the
+altar of the Union. He was prompt to announce his policy in this
+respect. But secession came, and with it came the doom of slavery. That
+all was ordered by Providence, it would be foolish to deny; and yet it
+is impossible not to regret the great sacrifice of blood and treasure
+that was demanded by the unhappy war that followed secession.
+
+
+
+
+THE FARMER BOY OF GADDISTOWN.
+
+In 1857, when Bob Toombs was looking after his large landed possessions
+in Texas, and bringing the squatters to terms, he received a letter
+from one of his political friends, announcing that the Democratic State
+Convention had adjourned after nominating Joseph E. Brown as a candidate
+for governor. Toombs was traveling with a party of friends, and to one
+of them he read the letter. Then in a dazed way he asked, "Who is Joe
+Brown?" His friend knew no more about Joe Brown than Senator Toombs did,
+and all the way home the travelers were puzzling themselves with the
+question, "Who is Joe Brown?" They were destined to find out; for the
+convention that nominated Joe Brown for governor brought to the front
+in Georgia politics one of the most remarkable men the State has ever
+known.
+
+Shortly after his return to Georgia from Texas, Toombs was compelled to
+meet Joe Brown to consult in regard to the details of the campaign in
+which both were interested. It must have been an interesting meeting. It
+was as if Prince Charlie and Cromwell had met to arrange a campaign.
+It was a meeting between Puritan and Cavalier. Toombs was full-blooded,
+hotheaded, impetuous, imperious. Joe Brown was pale, angular, awkward,
+cold, and determined. It was as if in a new land the old issues had been
+buried. Toombs was a man of the people, but in his own way, and it was
+a princely and a dashing way. Brown was a man of the people, but in
+the people's way; and it was a cold, calculating, determined, and
+common-sense way. Howell Cobb had written to Toombs to go to the aid of
+Brown, expressing a fear that the nominee, being a new and an untried
+man, would not be able to hold his own against Ben Hill, who was the
+candidate of the American or Know-nothing party for governor. So the
+dashing and gallant senator sought out the new and unknown Democratic
+candidate for governor, and had a conference with him. Toombs found the
+young man strangely cold and placid, and yet full of the determination
+that martyrs are made of. He found that Joe Brown had already mapped
+out and arranged the plans for his campaign, and the more experienced
+politicians saw nothing to change in them. They were marked by
+shrewdness and sagacity, and covered every detail of party organization.
+This was satisfactory; but how could the young man sustain himself on
+the stump against such a speaker as Ben Hill, who, although a young
+man, was a speaker of great force and power? Toombs thought it would be
+better to meet Hill himself, and he started out with that purpose;
+but when he heard Joe Brown make two or three speeches, and saw the
+tremendous effect he produced on the minds of the audiences that
+assembled to hear him, the older campaigner went home, satisfied that
+young Brown needed no instruction and no coaching in the difficult art
+of influencing the people and winning their votes.
+
+The personal history and career of Joseph E. Brown should be studied by
+every ambitious boy in the land, especially by those who imagine they
+cannot succeed because they lack opportunities that money and friends
+would obtain for them. From 1857 to the close of the war, and after,
+the political history of Joe Brown is the history of the State; but that
+history, attractive as it is, is not so interesting as his struggle
+to make a name for himself in the world. Joseph E. Brown was born in
+Pickens County, South Carolina, and was the eldest of eleven children.
+His family was English. His grandfather fought manfully against the
+British and Tories in the Revolutionary War. His father fought under
+Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812, and was at the battle of New
+Orleans on the 8th of January, 1815.
+
+Joe Brown was born in 1821. His parents were not so well off as to be
+able to send the lad continuously to school as he grew up. He had to
+"take his chances." He was compelled to work in the fields in season,
+and was permitted to go to school only when there was nothing for him
+to do on the little farm. He did farm labor from the time he was eight
+until he reached the age of nineteen, and the schooling he had received
+was only of the most haphazard kind.
+
+Before he was grown, his father moved from South Carolina into Georgia,
+settling in Union County, near a little valley named Gaddistown. Up to
+this time, though young Brown was nineteen years of age, he had learned
+nothing but reading, writing, and arithmetic, and very little of
+these. He was now compelled to work harder than ever. Settling in a new
+country, and on new land that had to be cleared before it would yield a
+crop, the Browns had as much as they could do to get the farm in order
+in time for the planting season; and in this severe work, Joseph E.,
+being the eldest son, was the chief reliance of the family. He had a
+pair of small steers with which he plowed; and when he wasn't plowing
+on the farm, he was hauling wood and butter and vegetables to the small
+market at Dahlonega, and taking back in truck and trade some necessary
+article for the family. In this way he learned the lessons of patience,
+self-control, and tireless industry that all boys ought to learn,
+because they are not only the basis of content and happiness, but of all
+success.
+
+When Joe Brown was twenty years old, his father allowed him to seek an
+education. All he could do for the industrious and ambitious boy was
+to give him his blessing and the yoke of steers with which he had been
+plowing. With these young Brown returned to South Carolina and entered
+an academy in Anderson district He gave the steers for eight months'
+board, and went into debt for the tuition fee. In the fall of 1841 he
+returned to Georgia and taught school for three months, and with the
+money he received for this he paid for the schooling he had gone in debt
+for. He returned to the Carolina academy in 1842, and went into debt not
+only for his schooling, but for his board. His patience and his untiring
+industry enabled him to make such rapid progress that within two years
+he had fitted himself to enter an advanced class in college. But the
+lack of means prevented him from entering college. Instead he returned
+to Georgia and opened a school at Canton, Cherokee County. He opened
+this school with six pupils, and the number rapidly increased to sixty,
+so that he was able in a short time to settle the debts he had made
+in Carolina. He taught school all day, and at night and on Saturdays
+devoted himself to the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1845,
+and was at once successful. He made no pretense of oratory; but his
+simple and unpretending style, his homely and direct way of putting
+a case, and his faculty of applying the test of common sense to all
+questions, were as successful with juries as they afterwards proved to
+be with the people; and before the people he was irresistible.
+
+[Illustration: Joe Brown and his Steers 270]
+
+But he was not yet through with his studies. A friend advanced him
+the money necessary to enter the Law School of Yale; and there, from
+October, 1845, to June, 1846, when he graduated, he took the lead in all
+his classes, and had time to attend lectures in other departments of
+the college. He returned home, began active practice, and was soon
+prosperous. He became a State senator, and was afterwards made a judge
+of the superior courts.
+
+When the Democratic Convention met in Milledgeville in 1857, for the
+purpose of nominating a candidate for governor, it had so many popular
+candidates to choose from, and these candidates had so many and such
+strong friends, that the members found it impossible to agree on a
+man. A great many ballots were taken, and there was a good deal of
+"log-rolling" and "buttonholing," as the politicians call it, on behalf
+of the various candidates by their special friends. But all this did no
+good. There was a deadlock. No one of the candidates was able to obtain
+a two-thirds majority, which, according to Democratic law, was the
+number necessary to a nomination. Twenty-one ballots had been taken with
+no result, and the convention had been in session three days. Finally
+it was decided to appoint a special committee made up of three delegates
+from each congressional district. It was the duty of this committee to
+name a candidate on whom the convention could agree. When this committee
+retired, it was proposed that a ballot be taken, each committeeman
+writing the name of the candidate of his choice on a slip of paper, and
+depositing the slip in a hat. This was done; but before the ballots were
+counted, Judge Linton Stephens, a brother of Alexander H., stated that
+such a formality was not necessary. He thereupon moved that Judge Joseph
+E. Brown of Cherokee be selected as the compromise man, and that his
+name be reported to the convention. This was agreed to unanimously, and
+Joseph E. Brown was nominated; and yet, if the written ballots had
+been counted, it would have been found that Alfred H. Colquitt, who
+afterwards became so distinguished in Georgia, had been nominated by
+the committee. He received a majority of one of the written ballots
+when they were afterwards counted through curiosity. Twenty-three years
+later, Colquitt, who was then governor, made Joseph E. Brown a United
+States senator under circumstances that aroused strong opposition, and
+immediately afterwards Brown aided Colquitt to a reelection in one of
+the bitterest contests the State has ever witnessed.
+
+The unexpected nomination of Brown by the convention of 1857 introduced
+into State politics the most potent element that it had ever known. The
+nomination, surprising as it was, was not half so surprising as some
+of the results that have followed it. At the moment the convention
+nominated him, Joe Brown was tying wheat in one of his fields near
+Canton, in Cherokee County. He was then judge of the Blue Ridge Circuit;
+and on the day that his name was placed before the Democratic Convention
+at Milledgeville, he had returned home. After dinner he went out into
+his farm to see how his men were getting on. He had four men cutting
+wheat with cradles, and he found the binders very much behind. About
+half-past two o'clock he pulled off his coat and ordered the binders to
+keep up with him. It was on the 15th of June, 1857. The weather was very
+warm, but he kept at work all the afternoon. About sundown he went home,
+and was preparing to bathe, when a neighbor, who had been to Marietta
+and heard the news, rode to his house and told him about the nomination,
+which had been made at three o'clock that afternoon. Telling about the
+incident afterwards, Joe Brown, with a twinkle in his eye, said that he
+had heard that a good many men were anxious to buy that wheat field,
+so as to have an opportunity to tie wheat in it while a nominating
+convention was in session.
+
+The great majority of the people of the State were as much puzzled about
+Joe Brown as Toombs was. Either they had not heard of him before, or
+they had forgotten him. In those days a man who made a reputation in the
+Cherokee country was not known to the rest of the State for a long time.
+The means of communication were slow and uncertain. But the whole State
+found him out just as Toombs did. He was prompt to begin the campaign.
+Toombs had already left the Whig party, and was acting with the
+Democrats. Stephens had left the Whigs, but had not become a Democrat.
+He was an Independent. He was, as he expressed it, "toting his own
+skillet." Ben Hill was Joe Brown's opponent, and these two met in debate
+before the people on two or three occasions. It was thought at first
+that Mr. Hill had the advantage of the tall and ungainly candidate from
+Cherokee, but the end of the contest showed that the advantage was all
+the other way. Mr. Hill was a man of very marked ability. He was one
+of the few good speakers who could write well, and one of the few
+fine writers who could speak well. He had courage, he had wit, he had
+learning, he had eloquence; he had everything, in fact, to attract
+popular approval and entice a popular following; but somehow, and until
+the very latest years of his life, he fell far short of being a popular
+idol. He was showy and effective before a mixed crowd, he never failed
+to attract applause, and it was supposed that Brown was making a losing
+campaign; but the campaign was going just the other way. Hill, in
+the course of his discussion, said hundreds of things that the
+people applauded; while Brown said hundreds of things that the people
+remembered, and carried home with them, and thought over. Joe Brown was
+not only a man of the people, but a man of the country people; and
+he pleased the city people who had formerly lived in the country. The
+result of the campaign was that Know-nothingism was buried out of sight
+in Georgia. Joe Brown was elected by more than ten thousand majority,
+and the Democratic majority in the Legislature was overwhelming.
+
+Although he was only thirty-six years old when he became governor, the
+people began to call him "Old Judg_ment_." This was due no less to his
+peculiar gift of hard common sense than to his peculiar pronunciation.
+His speech and his ways were "countrified," and they remained so all
+the days of his life. His voice was not musical, and he had a peculiar
+drawling intonation, which, if it had been a little more nasal, would
+have been an exact reproduction of the tone and manner of the Down-east
+Yankee. He shared these peculiarities with hundreds of the descendants
+of the Puritans who settled in the mountains of East Tennessee and North
+Georgia. He had no wish for the luxuries of life; and though he lived
+comfortably, he never, even when by close economy he had accumulated one
+of the largest fortunes in Georgia, cared to live finely. He was a plain
+man at first and a plain man at last, always temperate, industrious, and
+economical.
+
+His term of office in the governor's chair was for two years, and at
+the end of that time he had almost entirely remolded and refashioned his
+party. He had stamped his own personality and character upon it, and it
+became in truth and in fact the party of the people,--the common people.
+In his management of State affairs he had introduced the plain business
+methods suggested by common sense; he dispensed with all unnecessary
+officials; he shook off all the hangers-on; he uprooted all personal
+schemes: so that when the time came to nominate a man to succeed him, it
+was found that the people had no other choice. His party thought of no
+other name.
+
+The year of Joe Brown's second nomination, as we have seen, was the year
+that witnessed John Brown's ridiculous raid into Virginia. The people of
+the South, however, thought it was a very serious matter, and the people
+of Georgia were not different from those of the rest of the South. Some
+very wise men allowed themselves to be led away by their passions. Even
+Joe Brown, as Alexander Stephens once said, "tucked his judgment under
+the bed" for the time being. Back of the indignation created by the John
+Brown raid was the unconfessed and half-formed fear that the Northern
+abolitionists would send their agents to the South and organize a negro
+insurrection. Many of the Southern people remembered the horrors of San
+Domingo, and there was a vague and an undefined but constant dread that
+such a rising of the blacks would take place in the South. But there
+never was any such danger in Georgia. The relations between the slaves
+and their masters were too friendly and familiar to make such an
+uprising possible. The abolitionists did send agents to the South to
+stir the negroes to rebellion, and some of them came to Georgia, but
+in every instance their mission became known to the whites through the
+friendliness of the blacks. There was always some negro ready to tell
+his master's family when the abolition agents made their appearance.
+Still the people resented to the utmost the spirit that moved certain
+so-called philanthropists of the North to endeavor to secure the freedom
+of the negroes by means of the torch and midnight murder.
+
+Consequently in 1859, when Joe Brown was nominated for governor the
+second time, the people were greatly stirred. Sectional feeling ran
+high. In that year began the active movement that led to secession and
+the civil war. If all our statesmen had been as wise as Mr. Stephens
+and Mr. Hill, war would have been averted. Slavery itself, in the very
+nature of things, was doomed. It had accomplished its providential
+mission. It had civilized and christianized millions of savages who had
+been redeemed from slavery in their own land. It had justified its own
+ends, and would have passed away in good time, no matter what compromise
+may have been made.
+
+Mr. Stephens and Mr. Hill were opposed to secession. They were for
+fighting, if there must be a fight, in the Union, and this was the true
+policy. For a while the people of Georgia were earnestly in favor
+of this; but the efforts of the abolitionists to stir the negroes to
+insurrection, and the inflammatory appeals of some of the leading
+men, led them to oppose a policy which was at once just, wise, and
+considerate. Even Joseph E. Brown, cool, calculating, placid, and not
+easily-swayed by emotion, became a disunionist, demonstrating once again
+that beneath the somber and calm exterior of the Puritan is to be
+found a nature as combative and as unyielding as that which marks the
+Cavalier.
+
+Joe Brown was reelected in 1859, and did everything in his power as
+governor to hasten the event of secession. The National Democratic
+Convention met in Charleston, and the meeting showed that the
+differences between the Democrats could not be settled; and it so
+happened, that, while the South was opposed by the solid and rapidly
+growing Republican party, the people of the South were divided among
+themselves. What is most remarkable, the people of the South, after
+making the election of the Republican candidate certain by dividing
+among themselves, seemed to be amazed at the result. In some instances
+county meetings were held in Georgia, and resolutions sent to the
+Legislature declaring the election of Lincoln and Hamlin "a violation of
+national comity." Nothing could show more clearly that the minds of the
+voters were upset.
+
+On Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union, and the event
+was made the occasion for great rejoicing by the secession element in
+Georgia. Bonfires were kindled, guns were fired, and people seemed to
+be wild with enthusiasm. Georgia did not secede until Jan. 19, 1861; but
+Governor Brown did not wait for that event. He committed the first overt
+act of the war. He seized Fort Pulaski, on the Savannah, Jan. 3, 1861.
+
+On the 22d of January, ten cases of muskets belonging to a firm in Macon
+were seized by the New York police after they had been placed on board a
+vessel. Governor Brown sent a telegram to Governor Morgan, demanding
+the release of these arms. Governor Morgan hesitated some time before he
+made any response. Meanwhile, Governor Brown waited three days, and then
+ordered the seizure of every ship in the harbor of Savannah belonging to
+citizens of New York. Two brigs, two barks, and a schooner were seized
+and held by the State troops. When this seizure was made known, Governor
+Brown received official notification that the arms had been released. He
+therefore ordered the release of the vessels. But when the agents of the
+Macon firm made an effort to get the arms, they were refused. Promptly
+Governor Brown seized other vessels, and caused them to be advertised
+for sale.
+
+This was merely the beginning of those greater events that cast a shadow
+over the whole country. The farmer boy of Gaddistown was reelected
+governor in 1861, and continued to hold the office until 1865.
+
+
+
+
+GEORGIA IN THE WAR.
+
+[Illustration: Georgia in the War 279]
+
+When the Southern Confederacy was organized at Montgomery, Ala., there
+was great enthusiasm all over the South, especially in Georgia; and this
+feeling kept up until the State had given to the Confederate armies
+a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers, twenty thousand more than its
+voting population. By reason of the fame and number of its public men,
+Georgia had a controlling influence in the organization of the new
+government. Howell Cobb was president of the convention of the seceded
+States that met in Montgomery on the fourth day of February, 1861;
+and it is well known that the convention itself was in favor of making
+Robert Toombs president of the provisional government that was there
+formed. Mr. Toombs, however, expressly forbade the use of his name.
+The Georgia delegates then concluded to support Jefferson Davis of
+Mississippi for president, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia for
+vice-president.
+
+Only a few men doubted that the South would conquer the North, and
+among these was Herschel V. Johnson. There was an idea abroad, that one
+Southerner could whip a dozen Northerners. Nobody knows how this idea
+got out, nor why the absurdity of it was not plain to all; but the
+newspapers were full of it, and the speech makers insisted on it so
+roundly that the people began to believe it. One orator declared that he
+could take one company of "Southrons," arm them with popguns, and run a
+regiment of Yankees out of the country. Another stated that he would
+be willing to drink all the blood that would be shed as the result
+of secession. It is said that both of these orators were asked for an
+explanation by their constituents after the war was over. The first
+said that the reason he didn't run the Yankees out of the country with
+popguns was because they wouldn't fight that way. The second one, who
+had promised to drink all the blood, said that exposure in camp had
+interfered with his digestion, and his appetite wasn't as good as it
+ought to be.
+
+At this time and afterwards there was an overwhelming sentiment in favor
+of the Union in some parts of North Georgia. The people of that section
+had few slaves, and the arguments in favor of the protection of slavery
+in the Territories did not appeal to them: consequently they were
+opposed to secession. There was but one thing that prevented serious
+trouble between these Union men and the State government, and that
+was the fact that Joe Brown was governor. He knew the North Georgians
+thoroughly, and he knew precisely how to deal with them. General
+Harrison W. Riley, a leading citizen of Lumpkin County, declared that
+he intended to seize the mint at Dahlonega, and hold it for the United
+States. This threat was telegraphed to Governor Brown by some of the
+secession leaders in that part of the State, and they appealed to him to
+send troops to Dahlonega at once, and seize the mint by force. But the
+governor knew Riley and the people of North Georgia too well to make any
+show of force. He knew that any such demonstration would excite sympathy
+for Riley, and inflame the Union sentiment there.. So Governor Brown
+wrote to some of Riley's friends, telling them what he had heard, and
+saying that he had known General Riley too long, and had too high an
+opinion of his good sense and patriotism, to believe the report. At the
+same time the governor informed the superintendent of the mint that the
+State of Georgia now held that institution. The superintendent said he
+was willing to act under the orders of the governor.
+
+At Jasper, the county seat of Pickens County, the feeling of loyalty to
+the Union was very strong. The delegate from that county to the State
+convention had refused to sign his name to the ordinance of secession.
+Soon after the State had seceded, the citizens of Jasper planted a pole,
+and raised on it a United States flag, and kept it floating there for
+several weeks in open defiance of the Confederate and State authorities.
+This was an event to be delicately handled. The slightest mistake would
+have created a state of feeling in North Georgia that would have given
+no end of trouble during the whole war. But the Union flag floating in
+Pickens County irritated the rest of the State; and hundreds of appeals
+were made to Governor Brown to send troops to Jasper, and have the flag
+taken down by force. To these appeals he made but one response, and then
+turned a deaf ear to all criticism. "Let the flag float there," he said.
+"It floated over our fathers, and we all love the flag now. We have only
+been compelled to lay it aside by the injustice that has been practiced
+under its folds. If the people of Pickens desire to hang it out and keep
+it there, let them do so. I shall send no troops to interfere with it."
+
+While this wise management on the part of Governor Brown did not change
+the sentiments of the Union men of North Georgia, it prevented any
+serious outbreak, and kept them soothed and quieted throughout the war.
+Matters were managed differently in East Tennessee; and the result
+was, that the Union men of that section went into the business of
+bushwhacking, and created a great deal of trouble. While Governor Brown
+exercised authority without regard for precedent, the time and the
+occasion being without precedent, he was very wise and very prudent in
+meeting such emergencies as those that arose in North Georgia.
+
+By the time the election for governor came on, Joe Brown had aroused a
+good deal of opposition. He had had a controversy with the Confederate
+authorities because the latter had enrolled troops from Georgia without
+first making a requisition on the governor. He had seized several
+cargoes of salt which the speculators had been holding for higher
+prices. There was at that early day, and all during the war, a salt
+famine in the South. The farmers found it difficult to save their meat,
+owing to the scarcity of salt. It is a curious fact, that, when the
+famine was at its height, a pound of salt was worth a pound of silver.
+Foreseeing this famine, a great many shrewd business men had laid in
+large stocks of salt, storing it about in large warehouses in different
+parts of the State. They were about to realize immense fortunes out of
+the sufferings of the people, when Governor Brown stepped in and seized
+all the salt the State authorities could lay hands on, and prohibited
+the shipment of the article out of the State. The Legislature afterwards
+came to the support of the governor; but if the matter had been
+discussed in the Legislature in advance of the action of the executive,
+the speculators would have had timely notice, and the State authorities
+would have found no salt to seize.
+
+[Illustration: The Salt Famine 284]
+
+This salt famine was almost as serious as any result of the war, and
+it hung over the State until the close of the contest. In thousands of
+instances the planters who had been prodigal of salt before the war, dug
+up the dirt floors of their smokehouses, and managed to extract a small
+supply of the costly article. The Legislature was compelled to
+organize a salt bureau, and for that purpose half a million dollars was
+appropriated. The State, in self-defense, took into its own hands the
+monopoly of manufacturing salt and of distributing it to the people.
+
+The next difficulty with which the people of Georgia had to contend was
+the Conscription Act. This act passed the Confederate Congress in April,
+1862. It had been recommended by Mr. Davis in a special message, and
+Congress promptly passed it. Nobody in Georgia could understand why
+such a law had been recommended, or why it had passed. It was the most
+ruinous blunder of the Confederate Government during the war. If such a
+law was necessary, it showed that the Confederacy had fallen to pieces.
+If it was not necessary, its enactment was a stupendous piece of
+folly; and such it turned out to be. Under the last call for troops
+for Confederate service, Governor Brown had no difficulty in furnishing
+eighteen regiments. He could have gone on furnish ing troops as long as
+there was any fighting material left in the State; but as soon as the
+Conscript Act went into operation, the ardor of the people sensibly
+cooled. The foolish law not only affected the people at home, but hurt
+the army in the field. It was a reflection on the patriotism of the
+whole Southern population. The law was the occasion of a controversy
+between Governor Brown and President Davis, in which Brown, in the
+nature of things, had a decided advantage; for the Conscript Act wiped
+out the whole theory of State rights, on which the people of the South
+depended to justify secession. But Georgia did not stand in the way of
+the law. It was enforced, and the terms of its enforcement did the work
+of disorganization more thoroughly than the hard times and the actual
+war were doing it.
+
+In March, 1863, the governor issued a proclamation convening the
+Legislature in special session to discuss the subject of bread. This was
+a very important subject at that time. In his message, the governor said
+that the time had come for the farmers to raise bread instead of cotton.
+He also laid before the Legislature' the reports of the distribution of
+the fund of two and a half millions of dollars for the support of the
+indigent families of soldiers. These reports showed what havoc the war
+had created among the people of a State which, not much more than two
+years before, was one of the most prosperous in the country. The fund
+had been distributed among more than eighty-four thousand people.
+Of this number, about forty-six thousand were children, twenty-four
+thousand were kinswomen of poor living soldiers, eight thousand were
+orphans, four thousand were widows of dead soldiers, and five hundred
+were soldiers disabled in service. Governor Brown, out of his own barn,
+gave the people of Cherokee County four thousand dollars' worth of corn.
+These events show the straits to which the people had been reduced by
+two years of actual war.
+
+It should be borne in mind, however, that the people had to fight the
+Union army in front, and the speculators and extortioners in the
+rear. Governor Brown tried hard to make the lives of this latter class
+entirely miserable, and he succeeded in a way that delighted the people.
+Wherever he could get his hands on a speculator or extortioner, he shook
+him up. He made many seizures, and confiscated the hoards of a great
+many men who had influence with some of the newspapers; and in this way
+life in the State was made almost as exciting as the experience of the
+soldiers at the front.
+
+In 1863, Governor Brown wanted to retire from office. The strain on
+his health and strength had been very severe, and he felt that he was
+breaking down. He wanted to make Toombs, who was then a general in the
+army, his successor. But Brown's friends insisted that he should make
+the race. The public opinion of Georgia and of the whole South
+insisted on it. So he became a candidate for a fourth term. He had two
+opponents,--Joshua Hill, who had been a strong Union man; and Timothy
+Furlow, who was an ardent secessionist and a strong supporter of the
+Confederate administration; but Governor Brown was elected by a large
+majority over both candidates.
+
+The war went steadily on, and during the year 1864 Georgia became the
+battle ground,--the strategic point. This fact the Union commanders
+realized very early, and began their movements accordingly. Virginia
+was merely the gateway to the Confederacy, but Georgia was very near
+the center of its vitality. This was shown by the fact that when Atlanta
+fell, and Sherman began his destructive march to the sea, it was known
+on all sides that the Confederate Government was doomed. This movement,
+strange to say, was hastened by the Confederate authorities. General
+Joseph E. Johnston, one of the greatest commanders of the war, was
+removed at a critical moment, when his well-disciplined army had reached
+Atlanta. He was ordered from Richmond to turn his army over to the
+command of General Hood, and within a very few days the fate of
+the Confederacy had been decided. Hood at once ordered an attack on
+Sherman's lines. He was repulsed, and then compelled to evacuate the
+city. General Sherman detached General Thomas from his main army to
+follow Hood on his march toward the Tennessee, and moved across the
+State to Savannah. Within a very few months thereafter the war was
+brought to a close. Colonel I. W. Avery, in his "History of Georgia,"
+says that on the thirty-first day of December, 1864, one dollar in gold
+was worth forty-nine dollars in Confederate money. The private soldier
+received eleven dollars of this money for a month's service. He could
+buy a pound of meat with his month's pay. He could buy a drink of
+whisky, and have one dollar left over. With four months' pay he could
+buy a bushel of wheat. General Toombs once humorously declared that
+a negro pressman worked all day printing money, and then until nine
+o'clock at night to pay himself off. There was a grain of truth in this
+humor,--just enough to picture the situation as by a charcoal sketch.
+
+
+
+
+A DARING ADVENTURE.
+
+On the 12th day of April, 1862, the anniversary of the firing on Fort
+Sumter by the Confederates, a passenger train pulled out of the old car
+shed in Atlanta. It was a "mixed" train, being composed of three freight
+cars, a baggage car, and the passenger coaches. The train started
+from Atlanta at an early hour, arrived at Marietta about daylight,
+and stopped at Big Shanty, about seven miles north of Marietta,
+for breakfast. At Marietta, early as the hour was, quite a crowd of
+passengers were waiting to take the train. This excited no remark. There
+was a good deal of travel and traffic on the State Road at that time,
+for it was the key to the Confederacy--the one artery that connected the
+army at the front with its source of supplies.
+
+The conductor of the train was Captain William A. Fuller, of Atlanta.
+Captain Fuller's title was not one of courtesy. He was a captain in the
+Confederate Army, on detached service. The engineer in charge of the
+locomotive was Jeff Cain. Mr. Antony Murphy, an employee of the road,
+was also on the train. At Big Shanty the passengers were allowed
+twenty minutes for breakfast, but the train men were in the habit of
+dispatching their meal a little quicker than this, so as to see that
+everything about the locomotive was shipshape when the conductor tapped
+the bell. Captain Fuller, sitting at a table near a window, had a
+full view of the train. He had hardly begun to eat before he saw the
+locomotive (the now famous "General") and the three freight cars pull
+out, and heard the gong sound as the cord snapped. He rose instantly and
+rushed from the breakfast room, followed by Engineer Cain and Antony
+Murphy. He saw the "General" going at full speed up the road with
+three freight cars attached. Without hesitation Captain Fuller started
+after the flying train on foot, followed by Cain and Murphy. Hundreds of
+soldiers were idling about the station. They had no idea what was taking
+place. They thought either that the locomotive had been carried up the
+track to take on or leave a freight car, or that some practical joker
+was playing a prank. They showed their enjoyment of the situation by
+laughing and cheering loudly when Captain Fuller, followed by Engineer
+Cain and Mr. Murphy, started after the "General "on foot.
+
+[Illustration: Capture of the Locomotive 289]
+
+The locomotive had been captured, and had the plan of its captors been
+successful, a paralyzing, perhaps a fatal, blow would have been struck
+at the Confederacy. The way the capture had come about was this: Early
+in 1862 the Federal commanders planned an advance on Chattanooga; but
+the fact that stood in their way was, that at various points along the
+line of railroad leading from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Confederate troops
+had been posted: consequently the moment an advance on Chattanooga was
+made, soldiers and war supplies could be hurried forward to the relief
+of the city. It was General Mitchell of the Federal army who planned the
+advance; and it was J. J. Andrews, an active spy in the Union service,
+who planned a raid by means of which it was intended to burn the bridges
+on the road north of Marietta, cut the telegraph wires, and thus destroy
+for a time the lines of transportation and communication between Atlanta
+and Chattanooga, and make the capture of the last-named point an easy
+matter. Andrews suggested to General Mitchell that a party of bold men
+could make their way to a station on the Western and Atlantic Railway
+(called the State Road because it was owned by the State), capture a
+locomotive, and then steam towards Chattanooga, burning the bridges and
+cutting the telegraph lines as they went along. Although there seemed
+to be small chance for the success of such a daring adventure, General
+Mitchell gave his consent to it, agreeing to pay Andrews sixty thousand
+dollars if he succeeded. To aid him, Andrews was allowed to select a
+number of young men who had already made a reputation in the Federal
+army for intelligence and bravery.
+
+There were twenty-four men in this small expedition when it started for
+Chattanooga. They were under the command of Andrews, who was a tall,
+handsome man with a long black beard. He was cold, impassive, and had
+the air of one who is born to command. He was bold as a lion, and never
+once lost his coolness, his firmness, or his decision. He and his men
+pretended to be Kentuckians who had become disgusted with the Lincoln
+government and were making their way South, where they might find more
+congenial company than that of the ardent Union men who were their
+neighbors at home. This story was plausible on the face of it, for many
+Southern sympathizers had fled from Tennessee and Kentucky when the
+Federals began to take possession of those sections.
+
+Andrews and his men tramped southward more than a hundred miles before
+they reached Chattanooga. Before going into that city, they divided into
+smaller squads, and all but two succeeded in eluding guards, sentinels,
+and patrols, and passing into the town. They left Chattanooga on a train
+bound for Atlanta, buying tickets for Marietta. They reached Marietta in
+safety, and went to different hotels for the night. They had arranged
+to meet again at four o'clock the next morning and take the north-bound
+train. Two of the men were not called by the clerk of the hotel at which
+they stopped: consequently they overslept, and their companions had to
+go on without them when the train arrived. They had learned that Big
+Shanty had no telegraph office, and that it was a breakfast station. At
+that point Andrews determined to capture the locomotive. It was not long
+before the brakeman put his head in at the door of the car and yelled
+out, "Big Shanty! Twenty minutes for breakfast!"
+
+Andrews and his men looked out of the windows of the car as the train
+drew up at the station, and the sight they saw was not calculated to
+make them feel certain of success. Opposite the station was a field
+covered with the tents of soldiers, and in and around the station
+thousands of soldiers were loitering and standing about. When the train
+stopped, Andrews, the leader, and Knight, an engineer who had come with
+the party, rose and left the coach on the side opposite the depot, and
+went to the locomotive, which they found empty. They also saw that the
+track was clear. Andrews and Knight then walked back until they came to
+the last of the three box cars. Andrews told his engineer to uncouple
+the baggage car from the box car, and then wait for him. Knight did as
+he was told, while Andrews walked leisurely back to the passenger coach,
+opened the door, and said quietly, "Now is our time, boys! Come on!"
+
+The men rose at once and went out of the coach. Knight, as soon as he
+saw them coming, climbed into the locomotive, cut the bell rope, and
+stood with his hand on the throttle, waiting for the word. Andrews stood
+near the locomotive, and motioned with his hand for the men to get into
+the box cars, the doors of which were slid back. All the men were now in
+the box cars except Andrews, Knight, and another engineer named Brown,
+who ran forward and climbed into the locomotive. While this was going
+on, a sentinel stood within half a dozen yards of the train, but he
+had no idea what was occurring. Andrews gave the signal to go ahead.
+Instantly Knight pulled the throttle valve open, and the locomotive
+started forward with a jerk. It went puffing and snorting out of Big
+Shanty without let or hindrance.
+
+But the train had not gone very far before the speed of the locomotive
+began to slacken. The fire in the furnace refused to burn, and the
+steam was low. While the engineer was trying to discover what was wrong,
+Andrews ordered the men to cut the telegraph wire and tear up a rail
+from the track. By the time the rail had been torn up and the wire
+cut, the engineer had discovered that the dampers of the fire box were
+closed. With these open, the boiler began to make steam again, and
+the locomotive was soon rattling over the rails once more. It was
+the intention of Andrews to run the captured train on the time of the
+regular passenger train, so that he would have only one train to meet
+and pass before reaching the Resaca River, where he intended to burn the
+bridge. This done, it would have been an easy matter to burn the bridges
+over the Chickamauga. This crooked stream winds about the valleys so
+unexpectedly, and in such curious fashion, that the railroad crosses it
+eleven times within a few miles. These eleven bridges Andrews intended
+to burn as he went along, and then he would not fear pursuit. His
+success seemed to be certain.
+
+The captured locomotive, an old-fashioned machine with a big heavy
+smokestack, went clanking and clattering along the road, and reeling
+and rumbling through the towns, dragging after it the three box cars
+containing the men whom Andrews had brought with him. After passing
+a station, the locomotive would be stopped and the wire cut. When the
+train reached Cassville, wood and water were running low, and a stop was
+made to get a fresh supply. The doors of the box cars were closed, and
+the men inside could not be seen. The station agent at this place was
+very inquisitive. He wanted to know why so small and insignificant a
+freight train was running on the time of the morning passenger train.
+Andrews promptly told the agent that the train was not a freight, but an
+express, and that it was carrying three cars of gunpowder to Beauregard.
+The agent believed the story, and furnished Andrews with a train
+schedule.
+
+[Illustration: Tearing up the Rails 295]
+
+From Cassville the distance to Kingston was seven miles, and at that
+point a freight train was to be passed. When Andrews reached the place,
+he found that the freight had not arrived. He therefore switched his
+train into a siding to wait for the freight train, and repeated his
+powder story for the benefit of the inquisitive. When the freight
+arrived, he saw that it carried a red flag. This meant another train
+was on the road. After another long half hour's wait, the second freight
+train came in sight, and Andrews was dismayed to see another red flag
+displayed. The railroad men said another train was following. The men
+on the captured train were compelled to wait more than an hour. To those
+shut up in the box cars this was a very trying time. They had no means
+of knowing what had happened, or what was about to happen, until Knight,
+the engineer, found an opportunity to saunter by and tell them what the
+trouble was. At the end of an hour the long wait was over. The freight
+trains had passed, and the captured locomotive, dragging the box cars,
+went swiftly out of Kingston. A short distance beyond, the usual stop
+was made, and the wires cut An attempt was made to tear up the track by
+some of the men, while others loaded the box cars with railroad ties.
+While engaged in this work, the men heard the screaming whistle of
+a locomotive in full pursuit. They were more than amazed: they were
+paralyzed. If a pursuing locomotive had sprung out of the ground at
+their feet with a full head of steam on, they could not have been more
+astonished. They had just passed three freight trains headed in the
+opposite direction, and now here was a pursuing locomotive coming
+after them at full speed, and with a full head of steam on. Making one
+spasmodic effort, they broke the rail they were trying to tear up.
+
+Reaching Adairsville, Andrews and his men found that the passenger train
+had not arrived. But it was no time for waiting. They resolved to take
+every chance. The engineer had orders to send the locomotive along at
+full speed. He was very willing to do this. Calhoun was nine miles away,
+and if that station could be reached before the passenger train left,
+all would be well; if not, there was danger of a collision. But Andrews
+took all the chances. The throttle of the locomotive was pulled wide
+open, and the train started so suddenly and so swiftly that the men in
+the box cars were thrown from their feet. The distance to Calhoun was
+nine miles, and the train bearing Andrews and his men made it in seven
+minutes and a half,--pretty swift traveling, when it is remembered that
+the track was full of short curves, and not in the best condition.
+
+As the locomotive neared Calhoun, Engineer Knight gave several loud
+blasts on the whistle; and it was well he did so, for the passenger
+train had just begun to pull out of Calhoun on its way to Adairsville.
+If the whistle had been blown a moment later than it was, the passenger
+train would have been under full headway, and the signal would not have
+been heard; but the passenger train had just begun to move, and was
+going slowly. The whistle was heard, and the engineer backed his train
+to Calhoun again. But when Andrews and his men arrived, they found a new
+difficulty in the way. The passenger train was such a long one that the
+rear end blocked the track. Andrews tried to get the conductor to move
+on to Adairsville and there meet the upbound passenger train; but that
+official was too badly scared by the danger he had just escaped to take
+any more chances, and he refused to budge until the other train should
+arrive. This would be fatal to the plans of Andrews, and that bold
+adventurer made up his mind that the time had come for force to be used.
+The conductor was finally persuaded to allow Andrews to go ahead with
+his powder train. He ran a little more than a mile beyond Calhoun,
+stopped his train, ordered the wire cut and another rail torn up. While
+they were busily engaged in this work, they were both amazed and alarmed
+to see a locomotive approaching from the direction of Calhoun. They had
+only bent the rail, and were compelled to leave it and get out of the
+way of their pursuers.
+
+Andrews and his men were bold and intrepid, even reckless; but the man
+who had charge of the pursuit had all these qualities and more. Captain
+Fuller was possessed of an energy and a determination that allowed
+nothing to stand in their way.
+
+We have seen how Captain Fuller sprang from the breakfast table at Big
+Shanty, and went running after the flying locomotive. Engineer Jeff Cain
+and Mr. Murphy followed after. The soldiers loitering about the station
+laughed and cheered at the queer spectacle of a conductor giving chase
+on foot to his locomotive which, with a part of his train, was running
+away under a full head of steam. All of Captain Fuller's energies were
+aroused to their highest pitch, and he easily distanced his companions.
+He ran fully three miles, and then came upon a squad of section hands
+who had been engaged in repairing the track. They were now very much
+excited. The captured locomotive had stopped with them long enough for
+the men on the box cars to seize all their tools and cut the telegraph
+wire, being careful to take away about fifty feet, so that the wire
+could not be promptly joined. From the demoralized section hands Captain
+Fuller learned of the number of men on the locomotive, and was given
+reason to suspect that they were Federals in disguise. The section hands
+had what was then called a pole car, a small affair which they pushed
+with poles from point to point. It had been derailed to make way for the
+up passenger train. Conductor Fuller had it lifted upon the track,
+and then debated with himself as to whether he should go back for his
+engineer, Jeff Cain, who, with Mr. Antony Murphy, had been left far
+behind. Concluding that it would be well to have his engineer with
+him, Captain Fuller pressed some of the section hands into service, and
+pushed down the road the way he had come, going more than a mile before
+he met Cain and Murphy. Once on the old hand car, Captain Fuller turned
+and again began the pursuit as energetically as before, although he knew
+that valuable time had been lost. Something of their leader's energy
+and dauntless spirit was imparted to the men with him, and they made
+tolerable speed with the pole car; but, suddenly, while they were poling
+along at a great rate, the car tumbled from the track. They had now come
+to the place where the would-be bridge burners had torn up the first
+rail. The pursuers were not hurt by the fall. They jumped to their feet,
+pushed the car over the obstruction, and were soon on their way again,
+going even more rapidly than before. In this way the pursuit led by
+Captain Fuller came to Etowah Station. Here he found the old "Yonah," a
+locomotive belonging to the Mark A. Cooper Iron Works. The "Yonah" was
+a superannuated engine, but Captain Fuller pressed it and its crew into
+his service. The rickety old "Yonah" seemed to enter into the spirit of
+the pursuit, for the distance to Kingston--thirteen miles--was made in
+twelve minutes.
+
+As Andrews and his men had been delayed at Kingston for more than an
+hour waiting for the freight trains to allow him to pass, the pursuers,
+led by Captain Fuller, arrived at Kingston only ten minutes after the
+raiders left. The tracks were crowded with these freight trains when the
+"Yonah" arrived, and Captain Fuller saw at a glance that the locomotive
+would be of no further service in the chase. He leaped from the engine,
+and ran about two miles to the north angle of the Rome railway, where
+he knew he would find the locomotive of the Rome road standing at this
+hour. He pressed the engine and crew into service, and again took up the
+pursuit of the fleeing raiders.
+
+Andrews and his men, in the meantime, had stopped and loaded their box
+cars with old cross-ties and discarded rails These they began to throw
+out of the rear end of their hindmost car as a measure of safety. They
+did not suspect pursuit at this time, but they took the precaution
+to obstruct the track in this manner. Six miles north of Kingston the
+raiders stopped and tore up several rails. Captain Fuller rode on the
+pilot of his engine, and removed such of the obstructions as were not
+knocked off by the cowcatcher.
+
+When Captain Fuller reached the point where the rails had been removed,
+his locomotive was useless. But his blood was now up. He abandoned the
+engine, and ran on foot towards Adairsville, where he knew he would find
+a through freight train. In fact he met it after he had run about three
+miles, flagged it down, reversed it, and carried it back to Adairsville.
+There, taking the engine, tender forward, with its crew, he renewed the
+pursuit. The locomotive was run at an extraordinary rate of speed;
+but Captain Fuller felt it to be his duty to ride on the bumper of
+the tender, a precarious position even when there is no danger of
+obstructions. Beyond Calhoun, Andrews and his men stopped to cut the
+telegraph wire and tear up more rails. They had pried a rail above the
+stringers when they heard the pursuing locomotive, and saw it rounding
+a curve half a mile away. They scrambled into their cars in a hurry,
+leaving the rail bent but not removed. Captain Fuller saw the bent rail,
+but he had also seen the game, and he allowed his engine to be driven
+over it under a full head of steam.
+
+From this point the chase was the most thrilling and reckless of which
+there is any record. Andrews resorted to his old trick of dropping
+cross-ties, but he soon saw that this would not do. Then he uncoupled
+one of his box cars. Captain Fuller picked it up, and pushed it ahead.
+Andrews uncoupled another. This was served the same way, and at Resaca
+the cars were run on a siding. The "General," commanded by Andrews,
+was now forward, with one car, while the "Texas," commanded by Captain
+Fuller, and driven by Peter Bracken, was running tender forward, with
+Fuller standing on the brake board, or bumper. The locomotives were
+about evenly matched. Both had five-foot ten-inch drivers, and both were
+running under all the pressure their boilers could carry.
+
+All thought of danger was lost sight of. The pursued had no time to
+hatch any scheme calculated to delay pursuit. The pursuers forgot to
+look for obstructions. On one side it was capture or die; on the other
+it was escape at all hazards. The people of the towns and villages
+through which the road passes knew not what to make of the spectacle.
+Before they could recover from the surprise of seeing a locomotive with
+one box car dash wildly past the station, they were struck dumb with
+amazement by the sight of another locomotive thundering by, tender
+forward, a tall man standing on the bumper and clinging to the brake
+rod.
+
+They were going at a terrific rate of speed, but Peter Bracken, the
+brave engineer of the "Texas," knew his locomotive so well, and handled
+her with such a nice eye for her weak as well as her strong points,
+that the pursuers gradually shortened the distance between them and the
+raiders. The "General" was a good locomotive in its day and time, but
+it was in unfamiliar hands. Any locomotive engineer will tell you that a
+man must be thoroughly acquainted with his machine, and somewhat in
+love with it to boot, to get the best speed out of it, when speed is
+necessary.
+
+The raiders were pushed so closely that they soon found it necessary to
+abandon their engine and car. Three miles north of Ringgold, they slowed
+down a little, and, seizing a favorable opportunity, tumbled out, and
+fled through the woods in all directions. It might be supposed that
+Captain Fuller would be satisfied with recapturing his locomotive, which
+was in all respects a remarkable achievement. But he had other views. He
+knew that there would be no safety for the road with the bridge burners
+at large, and so he made up his mind to be satisfied with nothing less
+than their capture. In passing through Ringgold, three miles back, he
+had noticed a company of militia drilling in an old field. So he sent
+word to the commanding officer by his engineer, Peter Bracken (who, with
+his fireman, took the two locomotives back to Ringgold), to mount his
+men as promptly as possible, and join in the chase of the fugitives.
+This message dispatched, Captain Fuller and two of his men, Fleming Cox
+and Alonzo Martin, ran into the woods after the fleeing raiders.
+Jeff Cain, the engineer of the "General," had been left with the Rome
+locomotive. Mr. Antony Murphy remained in the chase until the "General"
+was recaptured, and returned to Ringgold with the two locomotives.
+
+All the raiders were caught and imprisoned. Andrews was known to be a
+spy, and he, with seven of his men who could establish no connection
+with the Federal army in any branch of the service, was hanged.
+Six escaped, and made their way to the Federal lines. The rest were
+regularly exchanged.
+
+Perhaps those that were hanged deserved a better fate. They were brave
+to recklessness, and were engaged in the boldest adventure of the war.
+Their scheme was most skillfully planned, and courageously undertaken,
+and if it had succeeded,--if the bridges had been burned and the door
+of the Confederate granaries closed,--the result would have been what
+it was when Sherman, with a large army, and at the sacrifice of many
+men and much treasure, closed the State Road to the Confederates in
+Virginia.
+
+Andrews and his men came near accomplishing, by one bold stroke, pretty
+much all that Sherman accomplished in crippling the Confederates. It was
+only by the merest chance that they had such a man as Captain Fuller to
+oppose them. If they had arrived at Marietta the day before or the day
+after, the probability is that they would have succeeded in their daring
+venture. Captain Fuller was more than the equal of Andrews in all those
+qualities that sustain men in moments of great emergency, and greatly
+his superior in those moral acquirements that lead men to take risks and
+make sacrifices on behalf of their convictions, and in the line of their
+duty.
+
+
+
+
+THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD.
+
+The people of the State had not recovered from the chaos and confusion
+into which they had been thrown by Sherman's march to the sea, when the
+news came that Lee had surrendered in Virginia, and General Joseph E.
+Johnston (who had been restored to his command) in North Carolina. Thus
+a sudden and violent end had been put to all hopes of establishing a
+separate government. General Sherman, who was as relentless in war as
+he was pacific and gentle when the war was over, had, in coming to terms
+with General Johnston, advanced the theory that the South never had
+dissolved the Union, and that the States were restored to their old
+places the moment they laid down their arms. This theory was not only
+consistent with the views of the Union men of the North, but with
+the nature and character of the Republic itself. But in the short
+and common-sense cut that Sherman had made to a solution, he left the
+politicians out in the cold, and they cried out against it as a hideous
+and ruthless piece of assumption on the part of a military man to
+attempt to have any opinions after the war was over. Any settlement that
+left the politicians out in the cold was not to be tolerated. Some of
+these gentlemen had a very big and black crow to pick with the South.
+Some of them, in the course of the long debate over slavery, had had
+their feelings hurt by Southern men; and although these wrangles had
+been purely personal and individual, the politicians felt that the whole
+South ought to be humiliated still further.
+
+The politicians would have been entirely harmless if the life of
+President Lincoln had been spared. During the war, Mr. Lincoln was
+greatly misunderstood even at the North; but it is now the general
+verdict of history, that, take him for all in all, he was beyond all
+comparison the greatest man of his time, the one man who, above all
+others, was best fitted to bring the people of the two sections together
+again, and to make the Union a more perfect Union than ever before. But
+unfortunately Mr. Lincoln fell by the hands of an assassin, and never
+had an opportunity to carry out the great policy of pacification which
+could only have been sustained at that time by his great influence, by
+his patience, that was supreme, and by his wisdom, that has proved to be
+almost infallible in working out the salvation of the Union. After Lee's
+surrender, the interests of the South could have sustained no severer
+blow than the death of Lincoln. His successor, Andrew Johnson, was a
+well-meaning man, but a very narrow-minded one in some respects, and a
+very weak one in others. It is but justice to him to say that he did his
+best to carry out Lincoln's policy of pacification, and his failure was
+no greater than that of any other leading politician of his time would
+have been.
+
+It would be impossible to describe the condition of the people at this
+time. There was no civil law in operation, and the military government
+that had been established was not far-reaching enough to restrain
+violence of any sort. The negroes had been set free, and were supported
+by means of a "freedmen's bureau." They were free, and yet they wanted
+some practical evidence of it. To obtain this, they left the plantations
+on which they had been born, and went tramping about the country in the
+most restless and uneasy manner.
+
+[Illustration: The Negroes Freed 306]
+
+A great many of them believed that freedom meant idleness, such as they
+had seen white folks indulge in. The country negroes flocked to the
+towns and cities in great numbers, and the freedmen's bureau, active
+as its agents were, had a great deal more than it could attend to. Such
+peace and order as existed was not maintained by any authority, but grew
+naturally out of the awe that had come over both whites and blacks at
+finding their condition and their relations so changed. The whites could
+hardly believe that slavery no longer existed. The negroes had grave
+doubts as to whether they were really free. To make matters worse, a
+great many small politicians, under pretense of protecting the negroes,
+but really to secure their votes, began a crusade against the South in
+Congress, the like of which can hardly be found paralleled outside of
+our own history. The people of the South found out long ago that the
+politicians of the hour did not represent the intentions and desires of
+the people of the North; and there is much comfort and consolation to
+be got out of that fact, even at this late day. But at that time the
+bitterest dose of reconstruction was the belief that the best opinion of
+the North sustained the ruinous policy that had been put in operation.
+
+The leading men of the State were all disfranchised,--deprived of
+the privilege of voting, a privilege that was freely conferred on the
+negroes. A newspaper editor in Macon was imprisoned, and his paper
+suppressed, for declaring, in regard to taking the amnesty oath, that
+he had to "fortify himself for the occasion with a good deal of Dutch
+courage." The wife of General Toombs was ordered by an assistant
+commissioner of the freedmen's bureau to vacate her home with only two
+weeks' provisions, the grounds of the order being that the premises were
+"abandoned property," and, as such, were to be seized, and applied
+to the uses of the freedmen's bureau. The superior officer of this
+assistant commissioner, being a humane and kindly man, revoked the
+order.
+
+These were the days when the carpet-bagger and the scalawag
+flourished,--the camp followers of the Northern army, who wanted money
+and office; and the native-born Southerner, who wanted office and money.
+There is no doubt that the indignities heaped on the people led to acts
+of retaliation that nothing else could excuse; but they were driven
+to desperation. It seemed, in that hour, that their liberties had been
+entirely withdrawn. Governor Brown, who had formerly been so popular,
+was denounced because he advised Georgians to accept the situation. He,
+with other wise men, thought it was a waste of time and opportunity to
+discuss constitutional questions at a moment when the people were living
+under bayonet rule. Joe Brown's plan was to accept the situation, and
+then get rid of it as quickly as possible. Ben Hill's plan was to
+fight it to the last. There was a fierce controversy between these
+two leaders; and such strong expressions were used on both sides, that
+General Pope made them the subject of a curious letter to his commander
+in chief, General Grant.
+
+General Pope seemed to be afraid that war was about to break out again,
+and he assumed charge of everything. He removed and appointed mayors of
+cities, solicitors, and sheriffs. He closed the State University because
+a student made a speech which was in effect a defense of civil law.
+After a while the general said he would reopen the institution if the
+press of the State would say nothing about the affair. In 1867, General
+Pope ordered an election to be held for delegates to a State convention.
+The polls were kept open five days, and voters were allowed to vote
+in any precinct in any county upon their making oath that they were
+entitled to vote. The convention met, but, in the nature of things,
+could not be a representative body. Thousands of the best and most
+representative men of the State were not allowed to vote, and thousands
+of other good men refused to take part in an election held under the
+order of a military commander: consequently, when the convention met,
+its membership was made up of the political rag-tag-and-bobtail of
+that day. There were a few good men in the body, but they had little
+influence over the ignorant negroes and vicious whites who had taken
+advantage of their first and last opportunity to hold office.
+
+The authority of this convention was not recognized by the State
+government, and this contest gave rise to a fresh conflict between the
+State officials and the military dictators who had been placed over
+them. The convention needed money to pay its expenses, and passed an
+ordinance directing the treasurer of the State to pay forty thousand
+dollars for this purpose to the disbursing officer of the convention.
+General Pope issued an order to the treasurer to pay this amount. The
+treasurer declined to pay out the money, for the simple reason that
+he was forbidden by law to pay out money except on an order or warrant
+drawn by the governor, and sanctioned by the comptroller general.
+
+About this time General Meade was appointed to rule in Georgia in place
+of General Pope, and he found this matter unsettled when he took charge.
+So he wrote to Governor Jenkins, and requested him to draw his warrant
+on the treasury for forty thousand dollars. The governor could find no
+authority in law for paying over this sum, and he therefore refused.
+But civil government was not of much importance to the military at that
+time; so, when he had received the governor's letter, General Meade drew
+a sheet of paper before him, called for pen and ink, and issued
+"General Order No. 8," in which the announcement is made that "the
+following-named officers are _detailed for duty_ in the district of
+Georgia: Brevet Brigadier General Thomas H. Ruger, Colonel 33d Infantry,
+_to be Governor of the State of Georgia_; Brevet Captain Charles F.
+Rockwell, Ordnance Corps U. S. Army, _to be Treasurer of the State of
+Georgia_."
+
+In this way the rag-tag-and-bobtail convention got its money, but it
+got also the hatred and contempt of the people; and the Republican
+party,--the party that had been molded and made by the wise policy of
+Lincoln,--by indorsing these foolish measures of reconstruction, and
+putting its influence behind the outrages that were committed in the
+name of "loyalty," aroused prejudices in the minds of the Southern
+people that have not died away to this day. Some of the more vicious
+of the politicians of that epoch organized what was known as "The Union
+League." It was a secret political society, and had branches in every
+county of the State. Through the medium of this secret organization,
+the basest deception was practiced on the ignorant negroes. They
+were solemnly told that their old masters were making arrangements to
+reenslave them, and all sorts of incendiary suggestions were made to
+them. It was by means of this secret society that the negroes were made
+to believe that they would be entitled to forty acres and a mule for
+voting for the candidates of the carpet-baggers.
+
+The effect of all this was to keep the blacks in a constant state of
+turmoil. They were too uneasy to settle down to work, and too suspicious
+to enter into contracts with the whites: so they went wandering about
+the State from town to town and from county to county, committing all
+sorts of crimes. As the civil system had been entirely overthrown by the
+military, there was neither law nor order; and this condition was very
+seriously aggravated by the incendiary teachings of The Union League.
+The people, therefore, in some parts of the South, offset this secret
+society with another, which was called the "Ku Klux Klan." This
+organization was intended to prevent violence and to restore order
+in communities; but the spirit of it was very frequently violated
+by lawless persons, who, acting in the name of the "Klan," subjected
+defenseless negroes to cruel treatment.
+
+There is no darker period in the history of the State than that of
+reconstruction. The tax payers were robbed in the most reckless way,
+and the rights of citizens were entirely disregarded. Even when the
+Republican Congress, responsive to the voice of conservative Northern
+opinion, turned its back on the carpet-bag government of Georgia,
+these men made a tremendous effort to extend their rule unlawfully. The
+carpet-bag Legislature was in session three hundred and twenty-eight
+days, and cost the State nearly one million dollars; whereas the cost of
+legislation from 1853 to 1862, nine years, was not nine hundred thousand
+dollars. In one year the State Road took in a million dollars and a
+half; and of this immense sum, only forty-five thousand dollars was paid
+into the treasury. Added to this, the road had been run into debt to the
+amount of six hundred thousand dollars, and it had been run down to
+such an extent that five hundred thousand was needed to place it in good
+condition.
+
+During this trying period, Joseph E. Brown, who had been so popular
+with the people, was under a cloud. He had advised accepting the
+reconstruction measures in the first instance, so that they might be
+carried out by men who had the confidence and the esteem of the State;
+but this wise proposition brought upon his head only reproaches and
+abuse. The public mind was in such a state of frenzied uneasiness, the
+result of carpetbag robbery and recklessness, that the people would
+listen to no remedy except passionate defiance and denunciation. When
+the name of Brown was mentioned only as a handle of abuse, Benjamin H.
+Hill became the leader and the idol of the people. When, in 1870, Hill
+issued an address declaring that the reconstruction must be accepted by
+the people, he was at once made the object of the most violent attacks.
+But Brown was right in 1864, and Hill was right in 1870, and the people
+were wrong. They paid dearly for their blindness in the wrongs imposed
+on them by men who were neither Republicans nor reconstructionists at
+heart, but public plunderers.
+
+In 1871 the carpet-bag government began to totter. The governor left the
+State, and staid away so long that the State treasurer, a man of stern
+integrity, refused to pay warrants that were not signed by a resident
+governor. Finally the governor returned, but almost immediately
+resigned. In a short time the real representatives of the people took
+charge of affairs, and since that time the State has been in a highly
+prosperous condition.
+
+
+
+
+"THE NEW SOUTH"
+
+When the people of Georgia had once more gained control of their State
+government, the political tempest that had been raging slowly quieted
+down. A pot that has been boiling furiously doesn't grow cool in a
+moment, but it ceases almost instantly to boil; and though it may cool
+slowly, it cools surely. There was not an end of prejudice and unreason
+the moment the people had disposed of those who were plundering them,
+but prejudice began to lose its force as soon as men had the opportunity
+to engage in calm discussion, and to look forward hopefully to the
+future. In the midst of bayonet and carpet-bag rule, the State could
+not make any real progress. It is only during a time of peace and
+contentment that the industrial forces of a community begin to display
+their real energy.
+
+No State in the South had suffered so severely as Georgia during the
+war. She placed in the field more than a hundred and twenty thousand
+soldiers,--twenty thousand more than her voting population at the
+beginning of the war. The taxable wealth of the State in 1867 was more
+than four hundred and eighty-one millions less than it was in 1861,--a
+loss of more than three fourths. After the reconstruction period,
+all the State had to show, in return for the treasure that had been
+squandered by the carpet-bag politicians, was a few poorly equipped
+railroads that had been built on the State's credit. In some instances
+railroad bonds were indorsed when there was no road to show for them;
+in others, bonds were issued in behalf of the same road under different
+names; so that the people lost by fraud as much or more than the amount
+of improvement that had been made. The "developers" who had connected
+themselves with the bayonet administration were much more interested in
+"developing" their own private interests than they were in developing
+the resources of the State.
+
+But when the bayonet administration had been driven out, not less
+by Northern opinion, which had become disgusted with the reckless
+dishonesty that was practiced under the name of republicanism, than by
+the energetic opposition of all good citizens of the State, there came a
+welcome end to the bitter controversy that had been going on. The fierce
+rancor and prejudice that had been aroused gradually died out; so that
+in 1872, shortly after the State had been rescued from misrule, Horace
+Greeley, the great abolition editor, received in Georgia a majority of
+more than seventy-one thousand votes over the straight-out Democratic
+candidate. This, more than any other event, showed the improving temper
+of the people, and their willingness to make compromises and concessions
+for the purpose of restoring the Union and burying the spirit of
+sectionalism.
+
+With this improved temper there came an improvement in the material
+conditions of the State. Free negro labor was a problem which the
+planters had to meet. For a time it presented many difficulties. It
+was hard to make and enforce contracts with the negroes, who had been
+demoralized and made suspicious by The Union League and by the harsh and
+unjustifiable acts of men who acted under the name, but not under the
+authority, of the Ku Klux Klan. But gradually all these difficulties
+were overcome. The negroes settled down to work, and with them a good
+many white men who had been left adrift by the fortunes of war and the
+prostration of industries. This vast change was not brought about in a
+day or a month, or even in a year, but was the gradual outgrowth of a
+bitter feeling,--the slow awakening to the fact that matters were not as
+bad on a better acquaintance as they had seemed. There was, of course,
+the negro problem; but the wiser men soon saw that this problem, such
+as it was, would settle itself sooner or later. The result was that
+everybody began to take a day off from politics occasionally, and devote
+themselves to the upbuilding of the resources of the State.
+
+At first, and for several years, the negro problem seemed to be a very
+serious matter indeed. All the statesmen, all the politicians, all the
+historians, and all the newspaper editors, discussed it morning, noon,
+and night for a long time. Some wanted it settled one way, and some
+another. At the North the men who had indorsed and approved the bayonet
+governments of the South thought that laws ought to be passed giving the
+negroes social equality with the whites. Finally a compromise was made
+with what is called the "Civil Rights Law," which was intended to give
+the negroes the same privileges at the hotels, theaters, and other
+public places, that the whites had. The Northern politicians pretended
+to believe that the efforts they were making were for the benefit of the
+negroes, though no doubt the majority of them knew better. Of course,
+the Southern people resisted the pressure thus brought to bear by
+the Northern sectionalists, and the result was what might have been
+expected. The condition of the negro was made more uncomfortable
+than ever, and the color line was more closely drawn. To show how
+shortsighted the politicians were and are, it is only necessary to call
+attention to one fact, and it is this: that while the Civil Rights Law
+has kept negroes out of public places both North and South, they ride
+on the street cars side by side with the white people, and it frequently
+happens that an old negro woman who comes into a crowded car is given
+a seat by some Southerner who has tender recollections of his negro
+"mammy."
+
+[Illustration: Streetcar in the South 318]
+
+It is worthy of note, that while the politicians on both sides were
+fighting the shadows that the "negro problem" called up, the problem was
+solving itself in the only way that such vast problems can be settled
+in the order of Providence,--by the irresistible elements of time and
+experience. A great deal of misery, suffering, and discontent would have
+been spared to both races, if, after the war, the conservative men of
+the North had either insisted on the policy that Abraham Lincoln
+had mapped out, or had said to the pestiferous politicians who were
+responsible for carpet-bag rule, "Hands off!" No doubt some injustice
+would have been done to individuals if the North had permitted the
+negroes to work out their political salvation alone, but the race itself
+would be in a better condition every way than it is today; for outside
+interference has worked untold damage and hardship to the negro. It has
+given him false ideas of the power and purpose of government, and it
+has blinded his eyes to the necessity of individual effort. It is by
+individual effort alone that the negro race must work out its destiny.
+This is the history of the white race, and it must be the history of all
+races that move forward.
+
+When Georgia, with the rest of the Southern States, had passed safely
+through the reconstruction period, the people, as has been seen, found
+themselves facing new conditions and new possibilities. Slavery had been
+abolished utterly and forever; and wise men breathed freer when they
+saw that a great obstacle to progress and development had been
+abolished with it. Instinctively everybody felt that here was cause for
+congratulation. A few public men, bolder than the rest, looking out on
+the prospect, thanked God that slavery was no more. They expected to be
+attacked for such utterances, but they were applauded; and it was soon
+discovered, much to the surprise of everybody, that the best sentiment
+of the South was heartily glad that slavery was out of the way. Thus,
+with new conditions, new prospects, and new hopes,--with a new fortune,
+in fact,--it was natural that some lively prophet should lift up his
+voice and cry, "Behold the New South!"
+
+And it was and is the new South,--the old South made new by events;
+the old South with new channels, in which its Anglo-Saxon energies may
+display themselves; the old South with new possibilities of greatness,
+that would never have offered themselves while slavery lasted. After
+these hopes, and in pursuit of these prospects, Georgia has led the way.
+Hundreds of miles of new railroads have been built in her borders since
+the dark days of reconstruction, hundreds of new factories have been
+built, immense marble beds and granite quarries have been put in
+operation, new towns have sprung into existence, and in thousands of new
+directions employment has been given to labor and capital. In short, the
+industrial progress the State has made since 1870 is more than double
+that of the previous fifty years.
+
+It was natural, that, out of the new conditions, new men should arise;
+and, as if in response to the needs of the hour and the demands of the
+people, there arose a man who, with no selfish ends to serve and no
+selfish ambition to satisfy, was able to touch the hearts of the people
+of both sections, and to subdue the spirit of sectionalism that was
+still rampant long after the carpetbag governments in the South had been
+overthrown by the force of public opinion. That man was Henry Woodfin
+Grady. He took up his public work in earnest in 1876, though he had been
+preparing for it since the day that he could read a school history. In
+that year he became one of the editors of the "Atlanta Constitution,"
+and at once turned his attention to the situation in which his State
+had been left by the war, and by the rapacity of those who had come into
+power by means of the bayonet. Whether he used his tongue or pen, the
+public soon found out that he had control of that mysterious power which
+moves men. Whether he wrote or whether he spoke, he had the gift and
+the inspiration of eloquence; and from first to last he could never be
+induced to use this great gift for his personal advancement, nor could
+he be induced to accept a political office. With a mind entirely sincere
+and unselfish, he addressed himself to the work of restoring unity
+between the North and South, and to putting an end to the sectional
+strife which the politicians were skillfully using to further their own
+schemes. He was asked to be a United States senator, and refused; he was
+asked to be a congressman, and refused. For the rest, he could have had
+any office within the gift of the people of Georgia; but he felt that
+he could serve the State and the South more perfectly in the way that he
+had himself mapped out. He felt that the time had come for some one to
+say a bold and manly word in behalf of the American Union in the ear of
+the South, and to say a bold and manly word in behalf of the South in
+the ear of the North. He began this work, and carried it on as a private
+citizen; and the result was, that, though he died before he had reached
+the prime of his life, he had won a name and a popularity in all parts
+of the country, both North and South, that no other private citizen had
+ever before succeeded in winning.
+
+It was Henry Grady that gave the apt name of "The New South" to the
+spirit that his tireless energy and enthusiasm had called from the dark
+depths of reconstruction. Of this spirit, and the movement that sprang
+from it, he was the prophet, the pioneer, the promoter. He saw the South
+poor in the midst of the most abundant resources that Providence ever
+blessed a people with, and he turned aside from politics to point them
+out. He saw the people going about in deep despair, and he gave them the
+cue of hope, and touched them with his own enthusiasm. He saw the mighty
+industrial forces lying dormant, and his touch awoke them to life.
+He saw great enterprises languishing, and he called the attention of
+capital to them. Looking farther afield, he saw the people of two great
+sections forgetting patriotism and duty, and reviving the prejudices and
+issues that had led to the war, and that had continued throughout
+the war; and he went about among them, speaking words of peace and
+union,--appealing to the spirit of patriotism which held the Northern
+and Southern people together when they were building the Republic, when
+they stood side by side amid the sufferings of Valley Forge, and when
+they saw the army of a mighty monarch surrender to the valor of American
+soldiers at Yorktown. With the enthusiasm of a missionary and the
+impetuous zeal of an evangelist, he went about rebuking the politicians,
+and preaching in behalf of peace, union, and genuine patriotism.
+
+Such was the mission of Henry W. Grady, and the work that he did will
+live after him. "The New South" will cease to be hew, but the people
+will never cease to owe him a debt of gratitude for the work that he did
+in urging forward the industrial progress of this region, and in making
+peace between the sections. He was the builder, the peacemaker.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Stories Of Georgia, by Joel Chandler Harris
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF GEORGIA ***
+
+***** This file should be named 24728.txt or 24728.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+ http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/2/24728/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+ the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+ you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
+ owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+ has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+ Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
+ must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+ prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+ returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+ sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+ address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+ the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+ you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+ does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+ License. You must require such a user to return or
+ destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+ and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+ Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+ money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+ electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+ of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+ distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+ Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+ Chief Executive and Director
+ gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+ http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/24728.zip b/24728.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..62247eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/24728.zip
Binary files differ
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c3763f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #24728 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24728)