USA > Georgia > A history of Georgia : from its first discovery by Europeans to the adoption of the present constitution in MDCCXCVIII. Vol. I > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
" Thy great example shall thro' ages shine, A fav'rite theme, with poet and divine ; People unborn thy merits shall proclaim, And add new honours to thy deathless name."3
With a similar desire also, to honour this great pioneer of active benevolence, Mr. Cave, the proprietor of the " Gentleman's Magazine," offered, as the first of four prizes to be given for the four best poems entitled, "The Christian Hero," a gold medal, having on one side the head of the Rt. Hon. Lady Elizabeth Hastings, and on
1 Gentleman's Magazine, 1734, 329.
2 Jour. Trustees of Georgia, i. 192.
3 Gentleman's Magazine, September, 1734.
119
ADDRESS OF TOMOCHICHI.
the other the head of Oglethorpe, with the motto, "Eng- land may challenge the world." 4
Yes, in its grand schemes of charity, England might challenge the world; and the two heads upon that medal might well serve as types of the massive benev- olence of England; for Lady Hastings, the daughter of the Countess of Huntingdon, had not only given liberally to the colony of Georgia, but made herself conspicuous among her sex for the nobleness of her benefactions and the zeal of her devotion.5 Soon after the Indians arrived from Westbrook Place, where they had remained for a few days to refresh themselves after the voyage, and were formally introduced to the Trustees at the Georgia office.
Addressing the members, Tomochichi said, that " he had come over the great seas to see England and the king, and for the good of his posterity, that they may be instructed in what is right and necessary for them ; that he does not expect to live long, but hopes when he is gone, they and the English in his country may live together in peace; that he little thought of coming over, not knowing how to trust the people of Carolina ; but as the Trustees have sent a family to settle in his country, and as Mr. Oglethorpe has always been good and just, he readily trusted him. When he was young, he took delight in war and hunting, and did not mind the instructions of the old men, to which they must impute his ignorance; but that wiser men may come ; and in the meantime he will give the kings of the nation an account of what he has seen, and how he has been treated by the Trustees." He concluded with say- ing, " he had been preserved from all his enemies by the
4 Gentleman's Magazine, 1735, end. 17th Century," New York, 1847, p. 5 English " Churchwomen of the 392.
120
THE INDIANS PRESENTED AT COURT.
Great One above to see this happy day." Then the president made the following answer: " You have done very well to trust yourselves under Mr. Oglethorpe. The Trustees are very glad to see you. They will be fathers to you. You shall receive from them all the kindness and security you ever desire; and you are under a king who is good and gracious to all his peo- ple. The Trustees will endeavour to cement a strict alliance and friendship with you : your children shall be ours, and ours shall be yours; and we are all under one God, who will punish any who are guilty of breach of truth. If you have at any time anything to offer, the Trustees will be very ready to hear you, and assist you on every occasion."6
In the following month, these chiefs were presented at court; Tomochichi and his queen being dressed in scarlet robes trimmed with gold; and the others painted and ornamented with barbaric art and aboriginal dis- play, being prevented by Oglethorpe, though at some trouble, from appearing at Kensington in the undress of an American savage. Tomochichi, in studied phrase, addressed the king; and handing to him some feathers, said : " These are the feathers of the eagle, which is the swiftest of birds, and who flieth all round our nations. These feathers are a sign of peace in our land, and have been carried from town to town there ; and we have brought them over, to leave with you, O great king, as a sign of everlasting peace."7 He ad- dressed a few words to the queen also; and both their Majesties replied, in terms of courtesy and peace. Having been presented at court, many of the nobility
6 Journal of Trustees, i. 95.
7 Oldmixon's British Empire in Ame- rica, i. 533, London, 1741. This is
the most valuable of the editions of Oldmixon, as it is the only one which contains an account of Georgia.
121
FURTHER PROPOSALS FOR EMIGRATION.
showed them pleasing attentions. They visited the places of public interest most calculated to give them ideas of the resources, greatness, and grandeur of Eng- lish wealth, power, and civilization. The churches, the palaces, the colleges, the Horse Guards, the arse- nals, the hospitals, the dockyards, were seen and ex- plained ; and they were deeply impressed with the strength and riches of the white men : particularly was Tomochichi struck with the solidity of the English houses, and expressed his surprise that short-lived men should build such long-lived habitations.8
In another interview of the Indians with the Trus- tees, Tomochichi remarked, " that though all travel- lers in our country are entertained without any expense, I am sensible while we stay in England we must be a charge to the Trustees ; and as the cold weather is coming on, I am desirous of returning home ;" and then proceeded to ask the Trustees to make out a proper tariff of prices, by which their trade with the whites might be regulated and protected ; and the Trustees promised compliance with his request.
The interest manifested by the Trustees and the " Venerable Society," for the Salzburgers, excited de- sires in other foreign Protestants to participate their charity, and enjoy their asylum.
In November, 1733, the Trustees9 received letters recommending several Vaudois or Piedmontese as proper emigrants ; and shortly after they received. from His Majesty's resident at Rotterdam,10 a proposal from two hundred Vaudois in the canton of Berne, desirous of going to Georgia, stating that the canton would defray their expenses to Rotterdam on their
8 Grahame's History of the United States, iii. 189 : London, 1836.
9 Journal of Trustees, i. 146.
10 Minutes of Com. Council, i. 81.
122
THE INDIAN CHIEFS RETURN TO GEORGIA.
way to America. This overture the state of the funds of the Trustees compelled them to decline, engaging, however, to send over forty Vaudois, provided the seignory of Berne obtained permission of the king through their agent in London ; and Jean Louis Poyas was commissioned to engage that number of Vaudois " who are most fit for the raising and winding off silk and vine-dressing." But these eventually demanding through their leader, such terms as the Trust could not agree to, the negotiations were terminated. Ap- plications also were made by Baron Von Reck in behalf of some Bohemians; but they could not be entertained.11
A further embarkation of Salzburgers was, how- ever, ordered ; and fifty-nine, under the care of Mr. Vat, embarked on board the Prince of Wales, in No- vember. In this ship also, besides twenty-two British emigrants, went passengers the Indian chiefs, who, having staid four months in England, were now return- ing to their native woods, laden with costly presents ; and bearing, what was even more valuable, renewed and strengthened love to the colony of Oglethorpe. Among the passengers in this ship was Sir Francis Balthurst, Bart., of the county of Gloucester, with his lady,12 son, three daughters, and servants. A German baron also applied for lands in Georgia ; but failed in settling upon proper terms.
The presence of Oglethorpe in England, the flatter- ing accounts received from the colony, and the rumour that he was soon to go over again to America, gave
11 Minutes of Common Council, 116, thurst Bluff, on the Savannah river, in 120. Journal of Trustees, i. 217. Georgia Transactions, 59.
the spring of 1736, the Baronet re- turned to England, and his plantation 12 On the death of Lady B. at Ba- was soon divided among the colonists.
123
CHARACTER OF COUNT ZINZENDORF.
great repute to the undertaking. Many applied for leave to go; and upwards of eleven hundred names were registered for examination by the Trustees, who subjected to a rigid scrutiny every applicant for their bounty.
Among the foreign solicitors was the celebrated Nicolaus Ludovicus, Count of Zinzendorf and Potten- dorf, the founder of the Society of the United Breth- ren.13
This nobleman, educated by his pious grandmother, under the auspices of the learned Sponer, early devel- oped the religious bias of his mind. When a mere child, he wrote little letters to his Saviour, and threw them from his window, if perchance the Lord might find them. He instituted among his young com- panions, when but ten years old, a mystic religious society called the " order of the mustard-seed." When seventeen years old, he refused to participate in the centennial celebration at Wittemberg of the estab- lishment of the Reformation ; and spent his time in his chamber, mourning over the degeneracy of the church of Luther with fasting and weeping.
A student of theology, under an assumed name, he passed an examination, and got a license to preach. A traveller, he published his journeys under the title of " The Pilgrimage of Atticus." An officer of gov- ernment, yet resigning it for his religious exercises. The founder of Herrnhut, Count Zinzendorf early entertained an idea of shaping a Christian community " on the model of the primitive Apostolic congrega- tions ;" and in his efforts to effect this, gave birth to the sect of Moravians, better known by their official title, " The United Brethren." "Leaving out of view,
13 Minutes of Common Council, i. 145.
1
1
124
FIRST MORAVIAN SETTLEMENT IN AMERICA.
in their creed, the more distinctive doctrines of the several Protestant denominations, they took, as the basis of union, a few broad and positively enjoined articles of faith; and though they leaned in general towards the Augsburg Confession, yet there was a great latitude of doctrine and practice, and some gross perversions of several of the leading truths and insti- tutions of the Gospel. Pious in their lives, godly in their conversation, upright in their dealings, they soon became noted for their staidness and gravity ; and notwithstanding some of their social extravagances and theological errors, they bore about with them a zeal that warmed at dangers, a love that the enmity of foes could not quench, a devotion that no pleasures could interrupt, and a holiness of mien that compelled the homage of respect, even while the judgment frowned upon the errors with which it was associated.14
Troubled by the intestine commotions of his own country, and anxious to seek a shelter from the threat- ened storms, he no sooner learned of the noble scheme of the Trustees, than he opened a correspondence with the English minister at Copenhagen, which resulted in his determination to apply to the Trustees for such grants of land as would enable him to carry out his plans. The Trustees, counting on the morality and regularity of those whom he designed to settle in Georgia, gave the Count a grant and enfeoffment of five hundred acres; and in January, 1735, ten persons, at the head of whom was the Rev. Mr. August Gottlieb Spangenberg, M. A., were sent over to begin the first
14 " The Ancient and Modern His- the United Brethren, or Unitas Fratrum, tory of the Brethren," &c., by David by August Gottlieb Spangenberg. Los- kiel's Missions of the United Brethren, b. ii. 2. Crantz, translated by Benj. La Trobe. An Exposition of Christian Doctrine, as taught in the Protestant Church of
125
LARGE PARLIAMENTARY GRANT.
Moravian settlement in America.15 The Trustees directed their township to be laid out on the north side of the Ogeechee river, near the old fort Argyle, in the regular manner ordered by the plan of Oglethorpe. They expected to realize in Georgia what they had not fully found at Berthaldsdorf; and in the new Herrn- hut of America they hoped to carry out to perfection their social system, their church polity, and their religious views. With these embarked also ninety Swiss and Grisons, part of whom were destined for Georgia, and part for Purysburg in South Carolina.16
The jealousy of Spain at what her ambassador termed an encroachment on the rights of his sover- eign, by the planting of Georgia, began to be mani- fested more and more. The rivalry of France, also, was developing itself by building forts in the Upper Creek nation, well garrisoned and mounted with can- non, and by striving to gain over the Indians to their exclusive trade. Urged by these weighty considera- tions, the province of South Carolina represented to the king the designs of these inimical nations; and set forth at large in their memorial the necessity of strengthening Georgia, as the most efficient barrier between them and their enemies at the south. This representation of the governor, council and assembly, sustained by the general tenor of the conduct of France and Spain, and the important services already rendered by Georgia, and those still further expected, induced Parliament, on the petition of the Trustees, (March 10th, 1735,) to grant to that body the sum of £26,000, for the settling, fortifying and defending of their colony.17
15 Minutes of Common Council, i.
145. Transcripts, 102. Loskiel, book ii. 3.
16 Minutes of Com. Council, i. 149.
17 Journal of the House of Commons.
126
NEW COLONIES ESTABLISHED.
Possessed of these ample means through the liber- ality of Parliament, and having views enlarged by experience and the pressing necessities of the colony, the Trustees resolved, in accordance with the intima- tions of the South Carolina memorial, to strengthen the southern part of Georgia by establishing a colony on the banks of the Altamaha. And as they found that many of the poor who had been useless in Eng- land were inclined to be useless here also, they re- solved that their next embarkations should consist chiefly of persons from the Highlands of Scotland, and of persecuted Protestants from Germany. They there- fore invited one hundred Germans, under Baron Von Reck, from the city of Ratisbon; and commissioned Lieutenant Hugh Mackay " to agree with, and bring together, one hundred and ten freemen and servants, to which fifty women and children are allowed, from that part of Britain called Scotland."18
This enterprising officer soon collected the required number, in the vicinity of Inverness. These were not reckless adventurers, or reduced emigrants, volun- teering through necessity, exiled by insolvency and want ; they were men of good character, and carefully selected for their military qualities. In fact, they were picked men, numbers of them coming from the glen of Stralbdean, about nine miles distant, commanded by officers most respectably connected in the Highlands ; some of whose descendants have held, and still hold, high offices of honour and trust in the United King- dom. Leaning in their political sympathies with the fallen fortunes of the Pretender, and having been con- nected in some of their clans with the rising of 1715, they found themselves objects of jealousy and suspi-
18 Minutes of Common Council, i. 189, 190.
127
THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW INVERNESS.
cion, and resolved to seek in America that unmolested quietude which they failed to find in their native Highlands. The Trustees were rejoiced to find so valuable and hardy a company to plant on the banks of their southern boundary, and begin a new town on the Florida frontier.
The town council of Inverness, grateful for the kind offers of Oglethorpe to the Highlanders, and to express their regard for his philanthropy, conferred on him the honour of a burgess of the town, through his proxy, Captain Dunbar.19
Besides this military band, others among the Mac- kays, the Dunbars, the Bailies, the Cuthberts, applied for large tracts of land to people with their own ser- vants; most of them going over themselves to Georgia, and finally settling there for life.
The Highlanders sailed from Inverness, October 18th, 1735, on board the Prince of Wales, com- manded by one of their own countrymen, Captain George Dunbar ; and reaching Georgia in January, 1736, they went down immediately to the southward, where on the north side of the Altamaha, they built a village which, in honour of the town they had left in Scotland, they called New Inverness ; while the sur- rounding district was called Darien in honour of the useful, but, " through the influence of faction and private interest,"20 unsuccessful settlement of the Isthmus of Darien, in America, in 1698.
These settlers were of a bold and hardy race.
19 I here take pleasure in acknowl- edging the kind interest manifested in this work by Prof. Wm. Mackenzie, of the University of Edinburgh, Scot- land; to whose researches I am in- debted for many interesting facts con-
nected with the Scotch emigration, as well as for various other historical favours.
20 Universal History, quoted in Holmes's American Annals, i. 471.
128
THE FIRST SCOTTISH COLONISTS.
Brave by nature, virtuous by education, robust by martial exercise, inured to fatigue and willing to labour, they brought to Georgia the virtues of the Highlanders ; and under their energetic toils the banks of the wild Altamaha, whose " various ter- rors " Goldsmith has so darkly portrayed, put on the smiling face of Scottish civilization. These also, like the first settlers of the English-the first of the Salz- burgers-the first of the Moravians-brought their minister with them, the Rev. John McLeod, a native of the Isle of Skye. Thus Christianity went hand in hand with civilization, and the several national em- barkations which peopled these shores went forth with the great charter of English liberty in one hand, and in the other the glorious Gospel of the Son of God.
Oglethorpe determining to go over again to Georgia, the Trustees resolved to send with him a large rein- forcement to the colony ; and to leave no one in doubt as to their designs, and their beneficence, they gave to the public the purposes which they contemplated, and the rules by which their charities should be governed.
They announced that they intended to lay out a county and build a new town in Georgia ; and they also declared,21 " they will give to such persons as they send upon the charity, to every man, a watch- coat ; a musket and bayonet; a hatchet; a hammer; a hand-saw ; a shod-shovel or spade ; a broad hoe ; a narrow hoe ; a gimlet ; a drawing-knife ; an iron pot, and a pair of pot-hooks ; a frying-pan ; and a public grindstone to each ward or village. Each working man will have for his maintenance in the colony for one year, (to be delivered in such proportions and at such times as the Trust shall think proper,) 312 lbs. of
21 Georgia Hist. Collections, i. 80.
129
ALLOWANCE TO THE COLONISTS.
beef or pork; 104 lbs. of rice; 104 lbs. of Indian corn or pease ; 104 lbs. of flour ; 1 pint of strong beer a day to a man when he works, and not otherwise ; 52 quarts of molasses for brewing beer ; 16 lbs. of cheese ; 12 lbs. of butter; 8 ounces of spice ; 12 lbs. of sugar; 4 gallons of vinegar; 24 lbs. of salt; 12 quarts of lamp oil; 1 lb. of spun cotton, and 12 lbs. of soap.
To the mothers, wives, sisters or children of such men, for one year-that is to say, to every person of the age of twelve years and upwards-the following allowance, (to be delivered as before :) 260 lbs. of beef or pork ; 10 lbs. of rice ; 104 lbs. of Indian corn or pease ; 104 lbs. of flour; 52 quarts of molasses, for brewing beer ; 16 lbs. of cheese ; 12 lbs. of butter; 8 oz. of spice ; 12 lbs. of sugar ; 4 gallons of vinegar ; 24 lbs. of salt ; 6 quarts of lamp oil ; half a pound of spun cotton; 12 lbs. of soap.
For every person above the age of seven, and under the age of twelve, half the said allowance-being esteemed half a head.
And for every person above the age of two, and under the age of seven, one-third of said allowance-being esteemed one-third of a head.
The Trustees pay their passage from England to Georgia ; and on the voyage they will have, in every week, four beef days, two pork days, and one fish day ; and their allowance served out daily.
After stating in what manner the lots will be granted, they further remarked : " None are to have the benefit of being sent upon the charity, in the manner above mentioned, but, first, such as are in decayed circum- stances, and thereby disabled from following any busi- ness in England ; and who, if in debt, must have leave from their creditors to go. Second, such as have numer-
9
130
RULES ESTABLISHED BY THE TRUSTEES.
ous families of children, if assisted by their respective parishes, and recommended by the minister, church- wardens, and overseers thereof.
" The Trustees do expect to have a good character of the said persons given; because no drunkards, or other notoriously vicious persons, will be taken.
" And for the better enabling the said persons to build the new town, and clear their lands, the Trustees will give leave to every freeholder to take over with him one male servant, or apprentice, of the age of eighteen years and upwards, to be bound for not less than four years ; and will, by way of loan to such free- holder, advance the charges of passage for such servant or apprentice, and of furnishing him with the clothing and provision hereafter mentioned, to be delivered in such proportions, and at such times, as the Trust shall think proper, viz., with a pallias, and bolster, and blanket, for bedding; a frock and trowsers, of linsey- woolsey; a shirt, and frock, and trowsers of osna- burgs; a pair of shoes from England, and two pair of country shoes, for clothing ; and two hundred pounds of meat, and three hundred and forty-two pounds of rice, pease, or Indian corn, for food, a year.
" The expense of which passage, clothing, and pro- vision is to be repaid the Trustees by the master, within the third year from their embarkation from England.
" And to each man-servant, and the heirs male of his body forever, after the expiration of his service, upon a certificate from his master of his having served well, will be granted twenty acres of land, under such rents and agreements as shall have been the last granted to any other men-servants in like circumstances."
The publication of these rules drew many petitioners to the Georgia office. These the Trustees scrutinized
131
THE WESLEYS SAIL WITH OGLETHORPE.
with a care made vigilant by former impositions ; and out of the many applications, " chose those who had the best characters, and were the truest objects of com- passion." They honestly acquainted those who applied of the dangers and hardships they must undergo ; and if they thought they should not be able to go through those difficulties, they advised them by no means to undertake the voyage.
Two ships were chartered; and in these what is called " the great embarkation" sailed for Georgia, con- voyed by His Majesty's sloop Hawk, Captain Gascoigne.
Two hundred and thirty-one persons were sent over at the charge of the 'Trustees ; and among them twenty- five Moravians, under Bishop David Nitschman; and a further number of Salzburgers, under the charge of Mr. Philip George Frederick de Reck.22 Oglethorpe also sailed with this embarkation; and though His Majesty had ordered one of his ships of war to attend him and escort the emigrants, yet he preferred taking passage in one of the Trustees' vessels, "though crowded with the colonists, that he might be able to take care of the people in their passage."
Thus was this generous man again to sacrifice home, friends, comforts, ease, and official honours, for the inter- ests of his youthful colony, that he might go out with a new embarkation, and lengthen the cords and strength- en the stakes of his beloved Georgia. John and Charles Wesley were also fellow-passengers with Oglethorpe in this voyage,23 living with him at his table, and treated
22 Minutes of Common Council, i. pany," as also author of " Travels into 216, 227.
23 Of this voyage we have two jour- nals ; one kept by Francis Moore, the storekeeper at Frederica, and formerly factor to the " Royal African Com-
the Inland Parts of Africa ;" the other by the Rev. John Wesley. The former is published in the first volume of the Collections of the Geo. Hist. Soc., and the latter is found in his works, vol. i.
132
STORM AND TEMPEST.
by him with courtesy and kindness. Though they em- barked early in October, it was not until the 10th of December that they passed the Needles, and bade adieu to England. The passage was long and tempestuous. On one occasion, the sea breaking over them from stem to stern, burst through the windows of the state cabin, and drenched its inmates. A week after, and another storm rolled its heavy waves over the vessel, in one of which John Wesley nearly found a watery grave. After a few hours of calm, the elements renewed their onset, in a tempest that sent up the crested waves to the sky, and opened yawning depths below-the wind whistling through the strained cordage like human wails, and shaking the ship, as it staggered from billow to billow, until every mast and stanchion seemed starting from their sockets.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.