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UC 975.8 St4h v. I
15. 1131796
C-EUR2 RELI
GENE. ECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02341 967 1
GEN' OGLETHORPE
En eravand ingiving
1
HISTORY OF GEORGIA,
FROM ITS
FIRST DISCOVERY BY EUROPEANS
TO THE ADOPTION OF
THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION IN
MDCCXCVIII.
BY
REV. WILLIAM BACON STEVENS, M.D.,
PROFESSOR OF BELLES LETTRES, HISTORY, ETC., IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, ATHENS.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
NEW-YORK: D. APPLETON AND CO., 200 BROADWAY. SAVANNAH: WILLIAM THORNE WILLIAMS.
MDCCCXLVII.
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by REV. WILLIAM BACON STEVENS, M.D., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
E. O. JENKINS, PRINTER. No. 114 Nassau Street.
1131796 CONTENTS.
BOOK FIRST.
ANTE-COLONIAL HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
EARLY ENGLISH, FRENCH, AND SPANISH VOYAGES TO GEORGIA, 1
CHAPTER II.
TRAVELS AND DISCOVERIES OF FERDINAND DE SOTO. 15
CHAPTER III.
FRENCH AND SPANISH SETTLEMENTS AND DISCOVERIES, 30
CHAPTER IV.
ABORIGINES IN GEORGIA. 44
BOOK SECOND.
GEORGIA UNDER THE TRUSTEES.
CHAPTER I.
THE COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA, 57
CHAPTER II.
THE SETTLEMENT OF GEORGIA,
85
CHAPTER III.
PROGRESS OF COLONIZATION, 117
CHAPTER IV.
OGLETHORPE'S DESCRIPTION OF THE FORTIFICATIONS AT FREDERICA-
ATTACK ON ST. AUGUSTINE, 140
iv
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
SPANISH INVASION OF GEORGIA,
PAGE. 180
CHAPTER VI.
SKETCH OF OGLETHORPE AFTER LEAVING GEORGIA, . 200
CHAPTER VII.
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF GEORGIA,
:16
CHAPTER VIII.
REVIEW OF THE TRUSTEES' POLICY, 262
CHAPTER IX.
ORIGIN OF SLAVE LABOUR IN GEORGIA,
285
CHAPTER X.
RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF THE COLONY, 319
BOOK THIRD.
GEORGIA UNDER ROYAL GOVERNMENT.
CHAPTER I.
SETTLEMENT OF LIBERTY COUNTY, .
371
CHAPTER II.
ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR REYNOLDS,
385
CHAPTER III.
ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR ELLIS, 427
APPENDIX.
LIST OF TRUSTEES, WITH NOTICES OF THE SAME, 463
CHARTER OF THE COLONY OF GEORGIA, 476
ERRATA.
Owing to the inability of the author to superintend the first 170 or 180 pages, several errors of names, and construction of sentences, made in transcribing the original manuscript, have crept in ; in only one case, however, affecting the sense of the text. There are a few merely orthographical errors, which the reader will readily correct.
Page 6, line, 5, for himself, read he.
" 16, " 30, " N'icaiagua, " Nicaragua.
" Paraconsty, " Paracousty. " 23, " 20, " Talipe, .. Talisse.
.. .. .. 25. "
they.
.. the soldiers.
2. " found. .. founded .. 76.
" 27, " 13, erase not and but. Since the text was printed, I have had the privilege of examining the collection of Mr. E. G. Squier, whose most valuable observations on American Antiquities will soon be published by the Regents of the Smith- sonian Institnte ; and from conversations with him. and an examination of his valnable drawings and exceedingly rich collection, I am convinced that some of the works allnded to were for military as well as for civil and religions purposes. I am grati- fied to find that all my other views npon this subject are confirmed by Mir. Sqnier, who must now be considered the highest authority on this subject.
Page 28, line 3, for placed, read planned.
.. 36, " 34, 37, 8,
39. " 11. 71, in note,
" Spaniards " Jolial, ' Crocker. 77, line 17, " Haslemere, 81. " 29. " " 107, " ", " Vallenges,
·· 110, 8, " Gronan,
112 " 21,
"· 117, " 22. " Senanky,
" Vallenses. Gronau. .. .4 Sonauky
.. · 23, " Hillipili, " 122, " 24. Balthurst, Sponer, " Spener.
" Hillispilly
·· 123, .. 11.
" Bathurst.
125. .. 6. " Berthaldsdorf, " Bertholds- [dorf.
·· 126. " 26, " Stralbdean, " Strathldean.
" 170, " 25, " Flambo,
"' Flambro'.
..
66
" Croker. " Haslemere. 16
" Spaniard. " Josiah. .. .. .. 4, semicolon after rule, and not after arms.
PREFACE.
A HISTORY OF GEORGIA has long been needed : the pres- ent work is an attempt to supply the deficiency. In 1779, a History of South Carolina and Georgia was published in London, which, though brought out anonymously, was known to be written by the Rev. Dr. Hewitt, a Presbyterian min- ister of Charleston, who left the country just before the war, and died soon after in England. It has been republished by Mr. Carroll, in his valuable " Historical Collections of South Carolina," and embraces much important matter relating to the Colony of Georgia. Dr. Hewitt was almost a contemporary of our early settlers ; and, being a near neighbour, was enabled to write under favourable circumstances, and generally with great accuracy, though it must be acknowledged that he some- times allowed himself to be biased by his peculiar ecclesiastical views, on the one hand, and by his local prejudices, on the other. The first attempt to write a history of this State alone, originated with Mr. Edward Langworthy. This gentleman was first a pupil, then a teacher at Whitefield's Orphan House ; but on the occurrence of the Revolution, he became warmly inter- ested in the rebel cause-was one of the prominent " Liberty boys "-was Secretary of the Provincial Congress of Georgia, and ultimately a representative of the State in the Congress of the United States. Mr. Langworthy had collected a variety of papers, and, from his peculiar position during the period of our difficulties with England, must have been possessed of rare
viii
PREFACE.
materials for our revolutionary history. He left Georgia after the establishment of the Constitution, and settled in Maryland, where he died, and his papers have never been recovered.
Rev. Mr. Smith, of the Episcopal Church, next undertook the task, but his efforts ended in the mere gathering of a few papers, which his death caused to be lost to the community.
Of M'Call's History of Georgia, it is unnecessary to say much. His volumes are mostly made up from Hewitt and other authors, from whom he has borrowed ten, twenty, and thirty pages at a time, without the slightest acknowledgment. The revolutionary portion of his work is valuable, but many of his statements are not trust-worthy, and his errors can only be pardoned by a consideration of the difficulties under which he compiled his history. Made a cripple by his exposure as a military officer during the last war, he composed his work upon a bed of pain, writing with his port-folio on his knees, between the paroxysms of suffering which embittered and eventually de- stroyed his life. Major M'Call deserves far more credit than he has received for this undertaking. It was, for him, a great effort ; and, under all the trials and drawbacks of his situation, was well accomplished. But for his pages, much pertaining to the history of Georgia, particularly during the period of the Revolution, would have been irrevocably lost; and though he has not effected all that we might have wished, let us award him honour, that, under afflictions which would have borne to the earth the spirit of many men, he was enabled to triumph over his sufferings, and give to the world, from his bed of pain, his valuable and instructive pages.
Following M'Call, was the effort of Mr. Joseph V. Bevan, who gathered many valuable materials, having received pecu- niary aid from the Legislature " for the purpose of collecting, arranging, and publishing all papers relating to the original settlement or political history of this State now in the Executive
ix
PREFACE.
or Secretary of State's office." He died, however, almost at the beginning of his labours.
Entering a field of enquiry which has been reaped by four predecessors, I could scarcely expect to do more than glean here and there a sheaf which the sickle had spared, or the , reaper neglected. My success in collecting materials has more than equalled my most sanguine expectations, and enabled me to present a fuller and more authentic work than could have been written at any former time.
By virtue of a resolution of the Georgia Legislature, passed December 23d, 1837, the Governor appointed the Rev. Charles Wallace Howard an agent of the State, "to repair to London, for the purpose of procuring the colonial records, or copies thereof, now in the Colonial Departments of Great Britain, that relate to the history and settlement of this State."
By the further liberality of the same body, the papers which were the result of his mission, were placed in my library, for the purpose of preparing this history.
These documents fill twenty-two large folio volumes, averag- ing over two hundred closely written pages each. Fifteen are from the office of the Board of Trade ; six from the State Paper Office, and one from the King's Library.
By the exertions of the Georgia Historical Society there have also been placed in my hands complete journals of the Proceed- ings of the Trustees and the minutes of the Common Council of that body, from their organization in 1732 to the period of their dissolution. These, however, are mere minutes-few re- ports or papers of importance being spread upon their pages. Most of my remaining materials consist of manuscript letters, journals, despatches, &c., which have never before been published.
In 1841, I was, through a Committee of the Georgia Histori- cal Society, requested to prepare a new and complete History of Georgia ; and, as illustrating the views of the Society and
X
PREFACE.
myself in this matter, I introduce here the report of that Com- mittee :-
" The Committee appointed at the last meeting of the Society, authorized to confer with Dr. Wm. B. Stevens, upon the sub- ject of his preparing and publishing a new and complete History of Georgia, beg leave to offer, as their report, the following Correspondence and Resolutions :-
" SAVANNAH, 11th March, 1841.
" DEAR SIR-The undersigned, Committee of the Georgia Historical Society, take pleasure in communicating to you, that the Society, deeming it of the utmost importance that a History of the State of Georgia should be given to the public in a more detailed, connected, and satisfactory manner than has hitherto been done, have, by a resolution, unanimously adopted at their meeting on the 8th instant, selected you as one in whose talents and ability they have every confidence, and request that you would undertake to prepare such a work, under the auspices of the Georgia Historical Society.
" We have, therefore, in obedience to the desire of the So- ciety, to ask, whether you can, consistently with your profes- sional avocations, devote yourself to the writing of a new and complete History of Georgia ? And, in such an event, we are authorized to proffer to you the use of the abundant materials in the archives of the Society, and every aid which their Li- . brary will afford.
" We cordially unite in the views of the Society, and sin- «cerely hope that you will undertake a task, which, we believe, will result in infinite credit to yourself and honour to the State.
" We are, very respectfully, yours, W. B. BULLOCH, CHARLES S. HENRY, Committee. JOS. W. JACKSON,
" To DR. WM. B. STEVENS."
" SAVANNAH, March 19, 1841.
" GENTLEMEN-In replying to your communication of the
11th instant, permit me to express my thanks for the honour
xi
PREFACE.
conferred upon me by the Association which you represent, in selecting me to prepare, under its auspices, a History of Geor- gia. I feel that the task which they would assign me, is one involving much labour, and a responsibility from which I would fain be excused, were I not sustained by the assurances of the Society to aid me in the undertaking. Confiding in these en- couragements, I have been induced, after long and anxious deliberation, to comply with your request ; and I shall bestow upon the work all the attention consistent with the strict per- formance of paramount professional duties. With regard to the proffered 'auspices of the Society,' I deem it proper to state, that it is not my design to subject its treasury to any pecuniary engagements ; my reliance on its aid being solely of a literary nature. The free use of the Society's Library-the medium of its official organ in obtaining documents from abroad, and its assistance in procuring copies of papers to which personal access is difficult, or unattainable-are the only 'auspices' which I desire.
" In whatever light we view it, the preparation of a History of Georgia is a great and arduous work. In the volumes of Hewitt, the annals of this Province occupy but a subordinate place, and are merely subsidiary to his greater design, the His- tory of South Carolina ; and M.Call, the victim of infirmities, demanding our sympathy for his sufferings, and our admiration of his zeal in prosecuting such a labour on a bed of anguish and disease, though he has rescued many important events from oblivion, has yet failed in producing a work at all adequate to our wants, in consequence of his not having those materials which now enrich our archives. The ground, therefore, must all be gone over anew, and that too, not by the secondary helps of former histories, but by the careful study of original, contem- porary, and official documents.
" To collect these papers, will be both tedious and expensive ; to arrange and digest them, will require much time and consid- eration ; and the completion of a work at all commensurate with our necessities, must necessarily involve the labour of in- dustrious years.
" Tendering to you severally, gentlemen, my sincere acknowl- edgments for the kind manner in which you have expressed
xii
PREFACE
your confidence in my abilities, and assuring you that it will be my aim to give to your hopes a pleasing fruition, I remain, " Yours, with respect,
" WM. BACON STEVENS.
" Hon. WM. B. BULLOCH,
Judge CHARLES S. HENRY, Committee of the Georgia Historical Society." Col. Jos. W. JACKSON,
" To carry out the views of Dr. Stevens and the Society, and to give its aid to the undertaking, the Committee beg leave to submit the following resolutions :-
" Resolved, That the free and unreserved use of the Library of the Society be granted to Dr. Stevens, with power to make such selections from its documents as he may deem proper.
" Resolved, That for the purpose of facilitating his labours, he be permitted to conduct his correspondence with the various literary and historical institutions, and departments of govern- ment, through the medium of the Corresponding Secretary.
" Resolved, That the Society undertake, so far as may be consistent with its means, to obtain the originals, or copies, of the most valuable documents and papers relating to this State, for the purpose of preserving the same in its archives, and that the Corresponding Secretary and Dr. Stevens be empowered to make all necessary arrangements for obtaining the same.
" Respectfully submitted by the undersigned. W. B. BULLOCH, CHARLES S. HENRY, Committee. JOS. W. JACKSON,
" SAVANNAH, 29th March, 1841."
Acting under this honourable appointment, I have written this volume, and now present it to my beloved State, as an offering of first fruits from the harvest of her past memorials.
For the very generous assistance which I have received from literary friends, I desire to be truly grateful. First among these, is J. K. Tefft, Esq., of Savannah, whose unflagging zeal, intelligent research, persevering energy, and self-sacrificing
-.
PREFACE.
xiii
labours entitle him to that which he shall ever receive, my warmest gratitude. To Mr. George Wymberley Jones, son of the late Dr. Geo. Jones, of Savannah, a young but ardent lover of historic lore, and whose library is more complete in works relating to Georgia than any private collection I have met with, I am under peculiar obligations for most generous aid. The plates of the bust of Oglethorpe and of Whitefield's Orphan House were presented by him. To Prof. Wm. Mac- kenzie, of Edinburgh, who has most liberally contributed to the library of the Historical Society, and laboured most dili- gently in collecting manuscript materials, I render sincere thanks for his important and disinterested researches. To James Hamilton Couper, Esq., of St. Simons Island, and to my young friend, George Hull, of Athens, I am indebted for several maps, drawings, and other important assistance. To the Hon. Mitchell King, of Charleston ; Prof. Jared Sparks, of Harvard College ; Robert Habersham, Esq., of Savannah; Dr. Wm. C. Daniel, of Hall county ; and Wm. B. Hodgson and A. A. Smetts, Esqs., of Savannah, are grateful acknowledg- ments made for the loan of valuable manuscripts and books, in the absence of which my work would be quite incomplete. To Bishop Elliott, the Rev. Dr. Church, the respected President of the University of this State, and the Hon. Jos. H. Lumpkin, many thanks are tendered, for their counsel, assistance, and encouragement in my labours. The Historical Society of Georgia has fully redeemed its pledge, and, in every way de- sired, has aided and sustained my undertaking. But for that Society, this work would probably have never appeared ; it originated in its hall, and has been accomplished under its fostering care.
The Second Volume of this work is partly prepared, and will, I trust, soon be published.
HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
BOOK FIRST.
ANTE-COLONIAL HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY ENGLISH, FRENCH AND SPANISH VOYAGES TO GEORGIA.
THE early history of America is obscure and unsat- isfactory. Its " Ante-Columbian " period reaches backward five hundred years before the voyage of the Genoese navigator, and embraces, in its annals, the fables and traditions of the wild and sea-faring North- men.
Whether Georgia, in common with the country which now constitutes her neighbouring states, was discovered by the Celtic and Irish navigators in the tenth century,1 and named, as is asserted in their chron- icles, and on their charts, " Great Ireland," or " White Man's Land;"2 whether it was ever visited by Ma- dawc, son of Owen Gwynedh, Prince of Wales, in his celebrated expedition in the twelfth century ;3 or
1 So supposed by Professor Rafn, Antiquitates Americanæ, p. 448.
2 Sagas of Thorfin and Eyrbyggja, in Beamish's Discovery of America by p. 29. the Northmen, Lond. 1841. Vide map in the same, p. 169, where the name is
set down as Hvitramannaland, Albania Irland ed Mikla. Wheaton's " Hist. of the Northmen, or Danes and Normans;"
3 Powell's Hist. of Wales, Shrews- bury, 1832, 178 ; also Hakluyt's Early
2
EARLY VOYAGES TO GEORGIA.
whether the account of the Venitian navigators, Nicolo and Antonio Zeno,4 who are said to have sailed about the close of the fourteenth century to countries, which Malte Brun surmises to have been along the borders of Georgia, have any truth or not; are still among the vexed questions of history, and will, doubtless, ever remain open to antiquarian research. If these differ- ent navigators did come to America, they left no evi- dence of occupancy, and but few traces, which can, with any show of reason, be referred to their visits; and their alleged discovery of a Western Hemi- sphere had been long forgotten, when Columbus gave a new world to Castile and Leon.5
Although England, through the misfortune of Bar- tholomew Columbus,6 lost the honour of discovering the new world, she acquired, through the energy of one of her subjects, much of the North American continent. This fact, the result of the enterprising commercial spirit of Bristol, though often controverted by interested princes, has ultimately compelled general acknowledgment, and is now one of the unalterable truths of history.
English Voyages, iii. 1. The edition of Hakluyt here and elsewhere quoted in this work, is that " imprinted at Lon- don by George Bishop," and 1599-1600 ; three volumes bound in two, 4to. ; with Supplement to Hakluyt, Lond. 1812, one volume 4to. Anderson, in his History of the Colonial Church, i. 195, Lond. 1845, has an interesting sketch of this distinguished annalist, whose labours contributed so much to the planting and discovery of America. There is also a life of this most worthy chronicler in the " Biographia Britanni- ca," and in the " Biographie Univer- selle."
4 Hakluyt, iii. 121 ; Irving's Colum- bus, iii. 295; Wheaton's Hist. of the Northmen, 30; Beamish's Discovery of America, &c., 58.
5 Inscription on the monument erect- ed by King Ferdinand to the memory of Columbus, in the Carthusian Mon- astery of Las Cuevas, at Seville :
" A Castilla y a Leon Neuvo Mundo dió Colon."
6 Lord Bacon says, " Neither was it a refusal on the king's part, but a delay by accident, that put by so great an acquest." Hist. of the Reign of King Henry VII. Works, i. 780, London, (Ball's edition,) 1838.
3
VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS.
On the morning of the 24th of June, 1497, John and Sebastian Cabot, of Bristol, England, in the ship Mathew, discovered land on the coast of Labrador, more than fourteen months before Columbus touched the main-land of the Western Hemisphere.7 The voyage of Columbus to the supposed country of India, which was fraught with such results, that " all men, with great admiration, affirmed it to be a thing more divine than human,"" excited such a spirit of maritime adventure, that all the nations of western Europe were anxious to seek out the new lands of the west, and several of them entered with zeal upon these distant adventures. The extent of the voyages of the Cabots north and south of "Prima Vista," has been the subject of much learned criticism and speculation, and still remains a mooted and unsettled point. The northern limits of their voyages are, however, better defined than the southern, which afford a latitude of thirteen degrees between the statements of conflicting histo- rians. The evidence, though somewhat contradictory, and exceedingly perplexing, seems to favour the opin- ion that he coasted along our shores. His own words are: " Despairing to find the passage to India, I turned back again, and sailed down by the coast of that land toward the equinoxial, and came to that part of this firm land which is now termed Florida, where my victuals failing, I departed from thence and returned into England."9 But it must be borne in mind, that the imperfect state of geographical knowledge at that time, makes it difficult for us to locate Florida, as,
7 Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, with a Review of the History of Maritime Discovery, Lond. 1831, p. 56 ; known to be written by Richard Biddle, Esq.
8 Sebastian Cabot's Discourse to the Pope's Legate, in Hakluyt, iii. 7.
9 Ibid. 6.
1
4
VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS.
at one period, the name was given to all the land north of the Gulf of Mexico; so that even what is now Canada, was then termed Florida. The language of Peter Martyr, of Anghiera, counsellor to the King of Spain, who says of Cabot, " He is my friend, whom I use familiarly, and delight to have him sometimes keep me company in my own house,"10 upon this point is : " He sailed likewise in this track (south and west) so far toward the west, that he had the land of Cuba on his left hand in manner in the same degree of lon- gitude."11 This statement, as well as his own to the Pope's Legate, though both are obscure, are sufficient to make it at least probable, that the coast of Georgia was part of the land which he discovered. At this distance of time, however, and with the imperfect materials extant, any opinion advanced must partake more of the speculative than positive character. The hint was indeed made use of by General Oglethorpe, in his memorial on the Spanish invasion of Georgia ; but the discussion cannot now be of any practical importance, for, as Livy well says, the majority of readers have comparatively little interest in the origin and remote antiquities of a nation. Among the won- derful tales so eagerly circulated in Spain, concerning , the new world, was the beautiful fiction, that in the western Archipelago there was a fountain, which had the power of giving youth and immortality to all who bathed in its waters.12 Urged by the love of adven-
10 Peter Martyr, Dec. iii. cap. vi. 11 Ibid.
12 Peter Martyr, Dec. ii. cap. x., says, that it was an island about 325 leagues from Hispaniola, named Briuca or Agnanes. And he assures Pope Leo X., to whom this second Decade is
inscribed, that " not only all the people of the court, but also many of them, whom wisdom and fortune have divided from the common sort, think it to be true." Herrera, Dec. i. lib. ix. cap. v., says, " He was intent upon finding out the spring of Bimini and a river in Flo-
5
VOYAGE OF PONCE DE LEON
ture, Juan Ponce de Leon, a companion of Columbus in his second voyage, and more recently Governor of Porto Rico, fitted out three ships, well stored with provisions and men, for the double purpose of making discoveries to the northward, and of searching out this life-giving fountain. He sailed from the port of St. Germain, in Porto Rico, on Thursday, 3d March, 1512; and, after touching at several islands, came in sight of a level and delightful country, having many pleasant groves and lawns. It was on Easter Sunday, the 27th March, that he saw this new land, which, in honour of the day, (called by the Spaniards " Pasqua de Flores,") he named Florida.13 On the 3d of April, Ponce de Leon landed about nine miles to the north of the pres- ent city of St. Augustine, and took formal possession of the country, in the name of Ferdinand of Spain. He spent five days in that vicinity, and several more in coasting north and south of his newly discovered land; and doubtless, in some of his excursions, he entered the present limits of Georgia.
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