USA > Georgia > A history of Georgia : from its first discovery by Europeans to the adoption of the present constitution in MDCCXCVIII. Vol. I > Part 18
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231
MARRIES BOSOMWORTH.
the Yamassees fell upon her establishment at Mount Venture, and laid it in ruins.
While in Savannah, she was brought into official connexion with Mr. Thomas Bosomworth, who had succeeded Mr. Clarke as agent for Indian affairs, and who, besides being a person of liberal education, had further recommended himself to Oglethorpe by having been a volunteer under him in his invasion of Florida.
Having fitted himself for the ministry, he went to England to obtain holy orders, and was appointed by the Trustees to perform religious and ecclesiastical offices in Georgia. Returning to the colony, he soon married Mary, and took her with him to Frederica, where he officiated as deputy chaplain ; though the Trustees, disapproving of this, directed him to go to Savannah, to which station he had been appointed, it having been vacant since the death of the Rev. William Norris in 1742. Mr. Bosomworth was sup- ported in part by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge ; and one of the objects of his mission was the conversion of the Indians.
The motives which prompted this strange alliance with Mrs. Musgrove, need not be scanned. Had Bo- somworth really desired to engage in his missionary labours, no course could have been more effectual, and the opportunity which his union with the so- styled princess afforded was pre-eminently favoura- ble ; but the spirit and the zeal to seize upon and im- prove it, was wanting; and once gone, he never attempted to regain it. Other views opened before him; other schemes, which comported neither with his profession, nor with the good of the savage, nor with the welfare of the colony, engaged his mind ; schemes which aimed solely at his own aggrandize-
232
CHANGE IN HER CHARACTER.
ment, and which spread among the tribes faction and discontent, rather than the enlightening and restrain- ing influences of the Gospel of peace. Hitherto the career of Mary had been one of generous self-denial, and of unremitted labours for the good of the colony. She had not indeed received the full reward of her services ; but she rested in security on the faith of the government, and was, until her marriage with Bosom- worth, quiet in her conduct, and moderate in her demands. But, from 1744, her whole character was changed ; and the colony which her services had kept in peace and security, was now, through her misdi- rected influence, to feel the dreadful horrors of ex- pected massacre and extermination. The year after his marriage, he returned to England, and meeting with Oglethorpe as he was marching against the reb- els, joined his regiment and proceeded with it to the seat of war. At the same time he wrote to the Trus- tees that he did not design to return to Georgia. But the next year (1746) he did return to Savannah, and giving up all ecclesiastical offices, openly showed his contempt of the Trustees by introducing six negroes on his place on the Altamaha.
The Trustees resented this marked affront to their authority, and directed the President and assistants to remove the slaves from the colony. This order pro- voked his long-cherished indignation, and spurred him on to revenge. He first strengthened himself by con- ciliating the Indians; and having laid his plans with much artfulness and caution, he began carefully to develope his designs and arrogate his pretensions. His objects were to obtain from the government full indemnification for the losses and services of his wife, and to secure to himself, in her name, the absolute
233
MEMORIALIZES THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.
possession of the islands Ossaba, Sapelo, and St. Cath- erine's, and a large tract above Pipemaker's creek near Savannah, which had been reserved to the In- dians in their former treaties.
The first of these objects was laudable, and within certain limits, just. Up to 1743 she had received only about one thousand dollars for her services, as much that was due to her was withheld. Justice, and the plighted faith of Oglethorpe, rebuked the delinquency ; gratitude for her fostering care, the last feeling to influence a corporate body, called for the long-promised requital ; and she would have received a full and suffi- cient recompense, had not the management of her affairs been assumed by her avaricious husband, who now stepped in with an exorbitant demand for nearly twenty-five thousand dollars. He now cast aside every clerical restraint, and put on the iron features of the extortioner, determined rather to light up through the nation the fires of the war-dance, than cancel one claim, or relinquish one acre. By his talents and address he secured to his interests Major William Horton, the commander of Oglethorpe's regiment at Frederica, and the other officers stationed there, who suggested to Bosomworth to draw up a memorial in favour of his wife Mary, which he promised to for- ward to the Duke of Newcastle, and a memorial with a large appendix of papers was accordingly transmit- ted to England.
On the arrival of Lieut. Colonel Heron to take com- mand of the regiment, May, 1747, he also was brought over to Bosomworth's interest, the more easily swerved because of his hatred of the local civil officers of Georgia, between whom and the military there had been some jealousy and discord as to the extent of
234
INDIANS VISIT FREDERICA.
their respective authority. Taking advantage of what was declared to be a pretended rupture with the whites, Heron, at the suggestion of Mrs. Bosomworth, sent Abraham Bosomworth as a commissioner to treat with the Creek Indians. With whatever of good faith Colonel Heron may have acted in this matter, it is very evident that the appointment of Abraham Bosomworth was suggested by Thomas Bosomworth, for the double purpose of securing the interests of the Indian traders in his behalf, and for the bringing down to the sea-board such chiefs as would confirm the titles of Mary and his claim to the reserved lands. Both purposes were effected, and the plot was daily thickening. While Abraham was gaining a represen- tation in his favour from the traders, Colonel Heron was pressing the claims of Mary on the Duke of New- castle, and Bosomworth was busy drumming up a petition to Lieut. Colonel Heron, which he was to despatch to England. This synchronous movement showed the firmness of their design, to secure which their most laborious efforts were directed.
As soon as the harvests were housed, a body of Indians, with Malatchee at their head, went down, at the instance of Abraham Bosomworth, to have a "talk" with the commander at Frederica. This chief, with his " very grand retinue," held a conference with Lieut. Colonel Heron on the 7th of December, 1747, and delivered to him a speech, reviewing the history of the whites and Indians since 1733, stating the services of Mary-desiring that Abraham Bosomworth should be sent to England to tell the king that he is Emperor of the Creeks, and has two thousand fighting men. He also complimented the Duke of Cumber- land by sending to him a "pipe of peace, with the
235
ILLEGAL CONFERENCE.
arms and dress of his forefathers," and concluded by declaring that Mary, his sister, was confided in by the whole nation, who had resolved to abide by what she determined, and, in case of her death, to regard her hus- band, Thomas Bosomworth, in the same light. To this artful speech Col. Heron replied, among other things, that he would send Abraham Bosomworth to England, (which he accordingly did,) persuaded that the king would do the Indians justice. But not content with this illegal conference, the farce was still further car- ried on by the mockery of a public ceremonial, in which fifteen Indians, styling themselves kings, war- kings, head warriors, warriors and beloved men of seven different towns, formally, and by deed, signed December 14th, 1747, acknowledged Malatchee to be their "rightful and natural prince," and themselves bound " to ratify and confirm every act and deed of his," and declaring to all subjects of the crown of Great Britain that Malatchee "has full power and authority, as our natural prince, to transact all affairs relating to our nation, as firmly and fully, to all intents and purposes, as we, the whole nation, might or could do if present."
Sovereign power being now lodged in the hands of Malatchee, Bosomworth obtained from him a deed of conveyance, putting him in possession of the islands Ossaba, Sapelo, and St. Catherine's, for and in consid- eration of 10 pieces of stroud, 12 of duffles, 200 weight of powder, 200 weight of lead, 20 guns, 12 pair pis- tols, and 100 weight vermilion." This was the first step in his great design, but the whole proceedings had been exparte and illegal. Colonel Heron was not authorized to appoint an agent to go to the Creeks, nor to summon them in council to Frederica, nor to
236
WHY NOT HELD IN SAVANNAH.
receive a speech from them on public affairs, nor to depute a messenger on their behalf to England. All this properly belonged to the Trustees' agents, who, by the act empowering them to make treaties and secure peace with the Indians, were vested with the entire control of Indian affairs in Georgia, even to the licens- ing of the traders and the adjusting a tariff of prices for the Indian market. Why then did not the Presi- dent and assistants, and Indian agents at Savannah, manage this affair ? The answer embraces several par- ticulars. Frederica was in a state of opposition to Savannah-the magistrates of the latter conceiving that the officers of the former infringed upon their civil jurisdiction, and the military men of the former unwilling to submit to the civil and judicial decisions of the latter. This fact of itself prepossessed the officers at Frederica in favour of Bosomworth, whom the Savannah magistrates justly repudiated; and this bias was strengthened by the associations which Bosomworth formerly, and now virtually, held with the regiment as its deputy chaplain. Had Mary complained to the magistrates of Savannah, instead of sending Abraham Bosomworth as Heron did, and thus securing the Indian traders to her interest, they would have despatched Mr. Grahame, who would have dis- covered the cheat and exposed the fraud. Had Mary drawn Malatchee and the chiefs to Savannah, they would not have dared to speak as they did, as all their statements could have been disproved.
Had they not assembled in the presence of a sufficient body of whites, the public acknowledging of Malatchee as emperor, and the public conveyance of lands by him to Bosomworth, might have been suspected as forgeries ; but by having all this transacted among his personal and
237
MACHINATIONS OF BOSOMWORTH.
party friends, it gave to all the proceedings an air of truth and honesty which would deceive all but the well-informed and unprejudiced. Nor, be it observed, could this formal vesting of sovereign authority have been conferred on Malatchee, nor this deeding away of lands have been made, had the transac- tions at Frederica been attempted at Savannah. It was the interest of Bosomworth, therefore, to avoid the place where his machinations would be exposed, and conduct all these proceedings at Frederica, where he could work every wire in this puppet-show of Indian royalty and imperial benevolence. Thus far every- thing had worked to his satisfaction. No one but Col. Heron would have appointed Abraham Bosomworth as Indian agent; no one but Abraham Bosomworth would have gotten the interest of the Indian traders in behalf of his brother, and drawn down to Frederica such chiefs and warriors as would subserve his brother's purposes ; while by assembling the Indians at Frederica, and pro- claiming Malatchee emperor, Bosomworth secured to his wife's uncle supreme power; and this effected, he got from him his imperial cession of the lands he desired; and by so managing it as to have Col. Heron send his brother Abraham as bearer of despatches to England, he was enabled to place near the ear of authority at home, one who would enforce his claims, prejudice all other interests, and secure to him his avaricious ends. It was an exhibition of adroitness in planning, of ability in executing, and of triumph in apparent victory, wor- thy of a better cause and more righteous designs.
The machinery of the scheme thus far was perfect, but the motive power was defective, and its workings were disastrous.
While Abraham Bosomworth was absent in London,
238
INDIANS VISIT SAVANNAH.
the chaplain remained mostly at Frederica; but on the disbanding of the regiment, May 29, 1749, he moved into the Creek nation, preparatory to making, and by force, if necessary, sustaining his demand for a moiety of the Indian presents which His Majesty was to send over to Georgia.
On the 21st of July, Bosomworth, Mary, Malatchee, and two other chiefs, came to Savannah, and acquainted the President and assistants that two hundred others would soon follow them. To the inquiry, as to the pur- port of their visit, their answers were "very trifling and dark." They gave out, however, that they had come to meet Mr. Abraham Bosomworth, who had a few months before returned from England, to know what answer he had brought from the great king; and "if he did not bring them satisfaction, they intended, in a very absolute and open manner, to forbid any of His Majesty's subjects to settle in Georgia, above the flow- ing of the tide," and to insist upon Mr. Bosomworth's being put in possession of the three islands deeded to him by Malatchee, and the lands fronting the river, lying between the town and Pipemaker's bluff; threat- ening a breach of the peace if all this was not granted. The true reason of their coming at this time was, that as Abraham Bosomworth had failed in most of the ex- pected results of his mission to England, they thought that, now the "red wall" (as they called Oglethorpe's regiment) was broken down, they could so intimidate the resident officers as to secure most, if not all, the Indian presents which they knew had been sent to Georgia, and also wring from the affrighted Board such concessions as would validate their claims. The con- duct of the Indians in Savannah was full of outrage and
239
PARADE AT THEIR ENTRANCE.
insult; alarming the citizens, disturbing the peace, and threatening the very existence of the colony.
The President and assistants, by kind words and social courtesies, endeavoured to keep them under their control, and repress the outrages which they were disposed to commit, though with ill success. The 10th of August, 1749, was appointed for the public reception of, and conference with, the Indians. They were received at the limits of the Savannah line by a party of horse, under Captain Noble Jones, who, find- ing them with loaded arms, told them that he had orders not to admit a single one until they had first laid them down; upon which they all discharged their pieces, by way of salute, and then deposited them at the appointed place. The procession was then formed, and entered the town. In the rear of the horse, and in front of the Indians, walked Thomas Bosomworth, in full canonicals, with his brother Abraham; behind them, Mary and Malatchee, the rest following in due order. On reaching the parade, they were saluted by thirteen guns; and the foot, one hundred and seventy strong, then marched in front, while the cavalry brought up the rear, until they reached the President's house, where the formalities of reception were per- formed. The interview showed how much the Indian mind had been warped by the influence of the Bosom- worths; and the civilities of the public dinner that fol- lowed were broken in upon by the refusal of Mary, Malatchee, and a few others, to partake of the enter- tainment. Dinner was scarcely over, when a body of armed Indians appeared in the streets; and the town, alarmed by the beat of the drum, and the wild uproar of the Indians, was thrown into still greater excitement by the report that they had cut off the head of the
240
INSOLENT CONDUCT OF MARY.
President, and were going to massacre the people. A hundred men were under arms in a few minutes; and the President and assistants, rushing in unarmed before the Indians, boldly seized Messrs. Abraham and Thomas Bosomworth, and Mr. Thomas Bosomworth's white ser- vant, and committed them to prison. The militia, ex- asperated by repeated insults, could scarcely be dis- suaded from firing upon the Indians, and they were only preserved by the resoluteness of the Board, who stood between them and the soldiers, until the former had dispersed.
Still desirous of treating them kindly, the President invited the chiefs to repair to his house, " to drink a glass of wine and talk the affair over." They had barely gotten to the door of his house when Mary, like a mad and frantic woman, came running in among them, endeavouring all she could to irritate the Indians afresh. To such height did her insolence rise, that she threatened the lives of the magistrates, and the de- struction of the colony. " You talk," said she, " of your white town, your general, and his treaties. A fig for your general ! you have not a foot of land in the colony;" and stamping upon the ground, declared, " This very earth is mine." She was immediately ordered into confinement, but upon promises of sub- mission, and the assurances of her husband, was released. But the irritation remained, and through the outward covering of respect could be seen the dark flow of Indian passions, intent on deeds of evil.
The presence and conduct of the Indians was the engrossing affair of the town. It was a season of intense excitement, and the fluctuations of feeling in the minds of the inhabitants were frequent and pain- ful. The militia were kept under arms most of the
241
BOSOMWORTH AND MARY HUMBLED.
time ; the Board of President and assistants sat daily, and the utmost vigilance was maintained lest the In- dians, in some drunken rage, stimulated by the equally intoxicated Bosomworths, should rise upon and mas- sacre the inhabitants. A week of such horrible sus- pense had nearly passed, marked by scenes of outrage and alarm, when Mary again gave vent to her pent- up wrath, and in unmeasured terms threatened the colony, and spirited up the Indians to an Indian revenge. True to their duty, the magistrates, at great risk, again arrested her and locked her up in a room in the guard-house. A party of Indians sallied forth to the rescue. They were met by Captain Jones and a few of the horse, who ordered them to lay down their arms at once or he would cut off every man of them. They obeyed his commands, and dispersed. A hesitating look, a faltering word here, would per- haps have overturned the colony. The energy of these proceedings, and the firmness of the magis- trates, had the desired effect. Bosomworth and Mary were humbled, and the former, with tears, entreated that lenity might be shown to him, "if only to see his future behaviour and amendment." To test their sincerity, the Board required that he should at the court-house, and in the presence of the Indians, acknowledge his and his wife's error and ill behaviour, which the next day he did, in the most ample and satisfactory manner; and the Indians left on the 19th of August, laden with presents and with professions of amity. Thus, for nearly a month, had the Board and the inhabitants been kept in a most painful and perilous condition. A large party of In- dians, stirred up to wrath by the machinations of white men-excited by the most rancorous passions-
16
242
COLONEL WILLIAM STEPHENS.
stimulated by spirits, and flushed with hopes of ob- taining their end, swelled and raged in the colony like the intestine fires of a pent-up volcano, ready at a moment's uncapping, to pour out its desolating tide. No portion of the duty of that Board, during its contin- uance, called for more talent to guide it, or more firm- ness to sustain it, than the negociations with this incensed band of Creeks, led on by Bosomworth and his furious wife. All felt the impending danger, and acknowledged the prudence and sagacity of the meas- ures which averted those evils which they so much and so justly dreaded. At the head of this Board was Colonel William Stephens, the first President of Geor- gia. He was the son of Sir William Stephens, Bart., Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Wight,13 at which place he was born January 28th, 1671, O. S. He graduated at King's College, Cambridge, and after leaving the university was entered at the Middle Tem- ple, in London, though he was never called to the bar. In the twenty-fifth year of his age he married Mary, second daughter of Sir Richard Newdigate, Bart., of Harefield and Arbury, member of Parliament for Warwickshire, and one of the most ancient fami- lies in the county of Surrey.14 Shortly after his mar- riage he was elected a member of Parliament for Newport, and during the twenty-six years in which he represented that town, he behaved, in every change, with great steadiness and truth to his constituents. Being acquainted with Colonel Horsey, who was sub- sequently appointed Governor of South Carolina, he was prevailed on to visit Carolina ; thence he crossed
13 The Castle-builders, or the His- tion, 8vo, p. 18.
tory of William Stephens of the Isle of Wight, &c., London, 1759, 2d edi-
14 Burke's Commoners, ii. 700.
243
ASSISTANTS DESIRE HIS RESIGNATION.
the Savannah river to Georgia, where he met Ogle- thorpe, whom he had already known in Parliament, and with whom he returned to England. In August, 1737, he was appointed "secretary to the Trustees in Georgia," and recrossing the Atlantic, arrived in Savannah the following November. His office was, to take a general oversight of affairs, to act (yet unof- ficially) as a counsellor to the magistrates, and to acquaint the Trustees with all the events of importance which transpired in the colony. The journal which he kept from day to day, and transmitted at stated times to the Trustees, is full of interesting points and incidents, told with much plainness and simplicity, interspersed with occasional remarks developing his views of the political and religious condition of Geor- gia. In politics, he was the unwavering friend of the Trustees. In religion, he was opposed to Wesley and Whitefield, and often commented on their doings and preaching with much severity. In 1741 he was made President of the county of Savannah, and in 1743, President of the whole colony. He was over seventy years old when he entered upon this office; and the infirmities of age, hastened upon him by private misfortunes and domestic bereavements, soon inca- pacitated him for his duties. The Assistants for a long time laboured under great difficulties in con- ducting public business, in consequence of his infirmi- ties, and at last (26th September, 1750,) waited upon him and frankly stated their embarrassments, result- ing from his age and incapacity for business. The venerable President immediately comprehended their intentions, and told them to proceed without him ; " that he would soon retire into the country, where he should be at liberty to mind the more weighty
244
CAUSES OF HIS INCAPACITY.
things of a future state, not doubting but the Trustees would enable him to end his few remaining days with- out care and anxiety."15
Henry Parker was accordingly appointed Vice-presi- dent, Colonel Stephens retaining his titular connexion with government until May, 1751, when he resigned ; and the Trustees, " in consideration of his great age and infirmities, and his past services," granted him an annuity adequate to his support.
It was rather unfortunate that the putting in opera- tion of this new system of government under the Presi- dent and assistants should have been confided to Col. Stephens, whose age rendered him inadequate to the duties, and whose infirmities caused him to be too pliant to the wishes and importunities of others. He had knowledge, wisdom, and experience, yet not the active qualities requisite for an executive station of such responsibility. But he lacked energy, only be- cause the fire of his early zeal was burning low in life's socket ; he wanted firmness, only because the tense nerve had been unstrung by age, and the strong will had been bent by afflictions; he failed in diligence, only because the twilight of life's evening called him to repose after a long day of active and eventful toil. He had reached to fourscore years, yet "found their strength, labour and sorrow." In great bodily weak- ness, his memory and reason visibly failing, he languish- ed until the middle of August, 1753, when, being asked to tea, a cup was handed to him at table, of which he just tasted ; and saying, with great composure, "I have done eating and drinking in this world," was led away to his bed, in an adjoining room. Here he lay, unable to speak or receive nourishment, until the next day at
15 Journal of the President and Assistants, fol. 56, MS.
245
HENRY PARKER MADE PRESIDENT.
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