USA > Georgia > A history of Georgia : from its first discovery by Europeans to the adoption of the present constitution in MDCCXCVIII. Vol. II > Part 8
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
to arm the slaves of the southern colonies in order to reduce their masters to British obedience, he says, " Proposals publicly made by ministerial writers rela- tive to American domestics, laid the southern pro- vinces under the necessity of arming themselves. A proposal to put it in the power of domestics to cut the throats of their masters, can only serve to cover the proposers and abettors with everlasting infamy. The Americans have been called 'a rope of sand,' but blood and sand will make a firm cementation ; and enough American blood has been already shed to cement them together into a threefold cord, not easily to be broken." When, however, he found himself pressed with the question of sundering the ties which bound this country to the English crown, and substituting a republican for a monarchical government, Dr. Zubly, like many others, hesitated to embrace what seemed to him a fearful issue ; and in a moment of undue zeal for the established order of things, he wrote to Sir James Wright from Philadelphia, giving him an ac- count of the purposes and plans of the Continental Con- gress, and thus forewarning him of the coming rupture.
His conduct and language having aroused suspicion as to his fidelity to the cause of America, he was closely watched, and his treasonable correspondence discovered. Judge Chase, of Maryland, hinted on the floor of Con- gress, that his letter had been seized and its contents were known; which so alarmed the Doctor, that the next day he left for home, leaving on his table, in his room, a letter for Messrs. Houstoun and Bulloch, stating, “ I am off for Georgia, greatly indisposed."
On his return to Savannah, he openly took sides against the Liberty party, and became of course very
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DEFECTION OF ZUBLY.
obnoxious to the people ; so much so, that in 1777, he was banished from Savannah, and half of his estate taken from him. He wrote and published an earnest remonstrance against this summary proceeding, ad- dressing it to the Grand Jury of the County of Chat- ham, but it did not avail, and he removed to South Carolina. There he remained until the royal govern- ment was re-established in Georgia, when he returned to his ministerial charge, and remained there during the subsequent siege of the town.
He died on the 23d July, 1781, at the age of fifty-six, broken in heart, and broken in fortune, yet nobly struggling against misfortune, aiming to be faithful in the discharge of his ministerial duties, and earnestly laboring to enter himself into that rest which remains for the people of God. His political defection, while it did no harm to Georgia or the colonies, brought misery upon himself and family, and tarnished a name which shone among the earlier patriots of Georgia with pecu- liar brightness. Savannah still bears the record of this learned man in the names of two of its streets, " Joachim" and " Zubly," and one of the hamlets of the city is called St. Gall, in honor of his birthplace in Switzerland.
In addition to directing a petition to the King, and addresses to the Governor and people of Georgia, Con- gress appointed a Committee of Intelligence, consisting of nine persons, resolved to raise £10,000, conferred upon the Council of Safety "full power upon every emergency during the recess of Congress," and having " strongly recommended to the friends of America in this province, that they use their utmost endeavors to preserve peace and good order, and to cultivate har-
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
mony with one another, they adjourned, on the 17th July, to the 19th August.
Thus the whole province of Georgia was fully com- mitted to the measures of the Continental Congress, and embarked her fortunes with those of her sister colonies in the struggle for freedom and independence.
The resolves of non-importation passed by the Pro- vincial Congress on the 6th July, 1775, were to take effect on the 10th of September, and by these all trade with Great Britain, the West Indies, and every colony which had not agreed to the rules of the Conti- nental Association, ceased. By no circumstance was the firmness of Georgia more tested than by support- ing this association. Nearly half of its population were slaves, grouped in various numbers on scattered plantations, dependent on their masters, whose sup- plies were thus cut off, without a possibility of present relief. Vessels, indeed, frequently arrived with the necessaries required ; but the Continental articles were rigidly enforced, and they departed without opening their cargo or coming up to town. The self-denial of the Georgians was the more conspicuous, in that they had none of the internal resources possessed by the northern colonies. Their staple products were rice, lumber, indigo, skins, etc., which found their market in the West Indies or Great Britain, and were there exchanged for commodities needed at home; but this traffic was now closed. Of bullion they had been nearly drained by northern traders, who would take only specie in payment, and their paper currency was daily depreciating. They had no manufactures, and the precarious trade upon which they depended for supplies was not at all adequate to their demands ;
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PROCEEDINGS OF COUNCIL OF SAFETY.
for, in addition to the usual dangers of the sea, their proximity to the naval rendezvous at Bermuda, the refugee province of Florida, and the fleet-covered Ar- chipelago of the West Indies, enhanced to such a degree the hazards of commercial intercourse, even with ports which were open, that twenty per cent. was often demanded for insuring vessels bound to the southern provinces, and soon no policy, at any pre- mium, could be obtained for a vessel bound to Savan- nah. The ships, with their cargoes, lay idly in our waters, or, attempting to run out, were seized by the enemy. The whole industrial machinery of the pro- vince was suddenly arrested, and distress was every- where apparent; but patriotism hushed every murmur, and Georgians counted not their own lives dear unto them, if they might but successfully maintain the cause of freedom.
On the 20th July, the Continental Congress received official notice that Georgia had acceded to the general Association and appointed delegates to attend at Phila- delphia. Thenceforward she was regarded as one of the United Colonies, and her name was stricken from the resolution of the 17th May, which placed her, with the exception of the parish of St. John, under the ban of colonial intercourse.
On the 8th August, 1775, the Council of Safety ad- dressed a letter to Governor Wright, bearing the sig- natures of George Walton, William Le Conte, Francis H. Harris, William Yonge, George Houstoun, William Ewen, John Glen, Samuel Elbert, Basil Cowper, and Joseph Clay, urging him to permit the several compa- nies of militia to elect their own officers, as "many of the commissioned officers in the militia are disagree-
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
able to the people over whom they command." This request the Governor regarded "as of a very extraor- dinary nature, and to have a dangerous tendency, as calculated to wrest the power and command of the militia from the Crown, and out of his hands." He however laid the letter before the Council, at the same time denying its statements, arguing against its princi- ples, and denouncing the men and the Association which produced it. To this letter, the Council replied through the clerk, "that for many very substantial reasons, the Governor could not comply with their request."
That, however, which the Governor and Council denied, the people themselves accomplished.
On the 28th July, the 1st company of the 1st regi- ment of foot militia was summoned to the parade- ground, by beat of drum, by order of Captain Quintin Pooler. As John Charles Lucena and John B. Ran- dall had not signed the Articles of Association, they were accordingly rejected by the regiment, and Wil- liam Jones and Peter Lavein were elected officers in their places. On the same day, the 4th company, under Captain Stirk, paraded; and as William Ste- phens, first lieutenant, and William Johnson, had not subscribed, others were chosen into their several offices. In the 8th company, Dr. David Brydie and Seth John Cuthbert were elected respectively first and second lieutenants, vice James Robertson and James Ross.
These were but instances of that influence which was at work, purging out the loyal element from the commissioned officers of the militia, and pre- paring the soldiery to act with obedience and valor,
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ROYAL GOVERNMENT AT AN END.
under men chosen of their own free-will, and pledged to sustain the liberty of their country.
At the opening of the Continental Congress, on the 13th September, 1775, Zubly, Hall, Bulloch, and Houstoun presented their credentials as dele- gates from Georgia, and took their seats. Noble Wimberly Jones, also a delegate, and one of the ear- liest, firmest, and most intelligent supporters of the cause of liberty, did not appear, in deference to the earnest entreaties of his aged father, who had been for many years a crown officer, and one of the council- lors under the royal government. This session was one of great importance. Out of the civil disorganization consequent on the overturning of the royal govern- ment, Congress was required to frame new and pecu- liar institutions; to create an army and navy; to gather the various resources demanded by the war, and disburse them so as best to meet the exigencies of the times; to raise immense sum's of money; to harmonize discordant interests ; to concentrate provin- cial efforts, and to guide the movements and delibera- tions of a great people struggling for constitutional liberty.
The power of the royal government in Georgia was now at an end. With no means of enforcing obe- dience, and with a strong Liberty party working against him, Governor Wright could do nothing but take affidavits of the various transactions as they oc- curred, and transmit them, with his observations, to the foreign Secretaries. In one of these letters he solicited a recall, "thinking that a King's Governor has little or no business here." In truth, his position was one peculiarly annoying. His conduct had been
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
severely commented on, in a formal address from the Provincial Congress, wherein they had charged him with preventing the meeting of the Legislature, and misrepresenting the condition of things in the pro- vince; and being destitute of troops, without a government, with the courts of law closed, his call for an Assembly disregarded, the church even shut up because of the contumacious conduct of its loyal rector, the Rev. Mr. Smith; exposed to daily insults, which he could not resent, and compelled to witness proceed- ings which he totally condemned; he might well be pardoned for asking to be released from a condition fraught with many trials, and attended with not a single benefit.
Georgia was now in the hands of the Provincial Congress, who vested all executive and legislative power in "The Council of Safety." On the 1st of December, Congress took under its supervision all courts of law, and appointed a committee of fifteen to sit quarterly in Savannah, as a Court of Appeal, " to hear and determine between the parties, and sanction or prohibit processes, according to the circumstances of the case." To counteract, however, the license which many might take, in times of such judicial laxity, Congress required all persons, who designed leaving their parochial districts or the province, to give such notice of their intention as would enable creditors to secure their just demands.
The Council of Safety, consisting of George Walton, William Ewen, Stephen Drayton, Noble Wimberly Jones, Basil Cowper, Edward Telfair, John Bohun Girardeau, John Smith, Jonathan Bryan, William Gibbons, John Martin, Oliver Bowen, Ambrose
127
BATTALION OFFICERS APPOINTED.
Wright, Samuel Elbert, Joseph Habersham, and Francis Henry Harris, was organized on the 11th December, 1775, by the election of George Walton as President, and Edward Langworthy as Secretary. The Council resolved to meet at Tondee's Long Room every Monday at 10 A. M., and at such other times as the emergency of affairs might require. At their first meeting, they commissioned Andrew Maybank, Joseph Woodruffe, Hezekiah Wade, and John Dooly, as cap- tains ; James Cochran, John Morrison, Jeremiah Beale, and Thomas Dooly, as first lieutenants ; James Galoche, Moses Way, Jacob Blunt, Zephaniah Beale, and William Bugg, second lieutenants; and Thomas Dowly, George Philips, and Joshua Smith, third lieu- tenants, of the battalion of troops which the Conti- nental Congress, on the 4th November, had ordered to be raised, at the Continental expense, for the protec- tion of Georgia, and towards which they appropriated five thousand dollars.3 On the 7th January following, this battalion was fully organized, by the appointment of the following field-officers : Lachlan McIntosh, colonel ; Samuel Elbert, lieutenant-colonel; and Jo- seph Habersham, major.
In consequence of the arrival at Tybee, on the 12th January, of two men-of-war and a transport, from Boston, with a detachment of King's troops, under Majors Maitland and Grant, the Council of Safety resolved, on the 18th, "that the persons of his Excel- lency Sir James Wright, Bart., and of John Mullryne, Josiah Tatnall, and Anthony Stokes, Esqs., be forth- with arrested and secured, and that all non-associates
$ MS. Journal of the Council of Safety.
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
be forthwith disarmed, except those who will give their parole, assuring that they will not aid, assist, or comfort any of the persons on board his Majesty's ships-of-war, or take up arms against America in the present unhappy dispute." To secure the person of the Governor was of course the first object, and Major Joseph Habersham undertook to perform the difficult duty. Proceeding that very evening to the house of the Governor, who had assembled the Council to con- sider what was proper to be done, he passed the sen- tinel at the door, entered the hall, then marched to the head of the table, and laying his hand upon the shoulder of the Governor, said, "Sir James, you are my prisoner." The party, astonished at his boldness, and supposing, from his firm manner, that a large force was surrounding them, fled in the utmost pre- cipitation, through doors and windows. This was one of the most signal instances of deliberate and suc- cessful daring in the history of the war. For a youth of twenty-four, unarmed and unsupported, to enter the mansion of the chief magistrate, and at his own table, amidst a circle of councillors, place him under arrest, is an act of heroism ranking with the most brilliant exploits in American history. The Governor gave his solemn parole not to go out of town, or hold any correspondence with any officers or others on board the ships at Tybee, and was suffered to remain in his house, under guard. But his confine- ment proving irksome and painful, as well from the insults to which he was subjected, as from the danger to which he was exposed, from bullets wantonly fired into his house by the guard, he contrived, on the night of the 11th February, to escape, went in haste to
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DELEGATES ELECTED TO CONGRESS.
Bonaventure, and thence, in an open boat, to his Majesty's ship Scarborough, Captain Barclay, on board of which he was taken at three o'clock in the morning.
In the mean time the Provincial Congress, which had been called to meet on the 20th January, 1776, at Savannah, was opened, on Monday, the 22d, by a sermon from the Rev. Dr. Piercy, and was organized by the choice of Archibald Bulloch as President. The principal business of this Congress, was the elec- tion of delegates to attend the Continental Congress ; and on the 2d of February, Archibald Bulloch, John Houstoun, Lyman Hall, Button Gwinnett, and George Walton, were duly chosen; to whom, three days later, was given the following letter of instruction, brief, indeed, but pertinent, and exhibiting an enlarged and unsectional spirit :-
" GENTLEMEN-Our remote situation from both the seat of power and arms, keeps us so very ignorant of the counsels and ultimate designs of the Congress, and of the transactions in the field, that we shall decline giving any particular instructions, other than strongly to recommend it to you that you never lose sight of the peculiar situation of the province you are ap- pointed to represent: the Indians, both south and northwestwardly, upon our backs; the fortified town of St. Augustine made a continual rendezvous for sol- diers in our very neighborhood; together with our blacks and tories with us; let these weighty truths be the powerful arguments for support. At the same time we also recommend it to you, always to keep in view the general utility, remembering that the great and righteous cause in which we are engaged is not provincial, but continental. We, therefore, gentlemen, VOL. II. 9
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
shall rely upon your patriotism, abilities, firmness, and integrity, to propose, join, and concur, in all such mea- sures as you shall think calculated for the common good, and to oppose such as shall appear destructive.
" By order of the Congress.
" ARCHIBALD BULLOCH, President. "SAVANNAH, April 5, 1776."
The organization of the militia was also a subject of earnest deliberation; and the most efficient mea- sures were taken to enrol, officer, arm, and equip the inhabitants, and to put them in readiness for any emer- gency. Volunteer companies, as riflemen, rangers, and infantry, were also formed in several of the parishes, and reported themselves for service.
The Council of Safety also passed resolutions, re- leasing all vessels importing gunpowder, saltpetre, sulphur, brass field-pieces, or muskets, within nine months, from the operation of the non-exportation agreement, and appointed Samuel Elbert, Edward Telfair, and Joseph Habersham, a committee to supply the province with arms and ammunition; who were recommended to contract for 400 stand of arms with bayonets ; 20,000 pounds of gunpowder; 60,000 pounds of balls, bullets, bar-lead, grape, swan, and goose shot; and, furthermore, the Council ordered the stores at the Fort of Frederica to be immediately se- cured.
To meet the pecuniary wants of the colony, bills of credit were issued, in the form of certificates, which were to be accepted, "upon the faith of the public of this province," and it was made a penal offence to
131
GOVERNOR WRIGHT'S APPEAL.
refuse to receive them in payment, or to depreciate their value.
From his retreat on the Scarborough, Governor Wright, on the 13th February, wrote a letter to the members of his Council, which he desired to be laid before the Provincial Congress, in which he says : " After having examined and duly weighed and con- sidered my several letters from England, and General Howe, at Boston; and after having had a full conver- sation with his Majesty's officers here, I have the great satisfaction to be able to affirm, from the best authority, that the forces now here will not commit any hostilities against this province, although fully sufficient to reduce and overcome every opposition that could be attempted 'to be made; and that no- thing is meant or wanted, but a friendly intercourse and a supply of fresh provisions. This his Majesty's officers have an undoubted right to effect, and what they insist upon; and this I not only solemnly re- quire, in his Majesty's name, but also as (probably) the best friend the people of Georgia have, advise them, without the least hesitation, to comply with ; or it may not be in my power to insure them the con- tinuance of the peace and quietude they now have, if it may be called so."
Having stated that he had the King's leave to return to England, he proceeds : "My regard for the province is such that I cannot avoid, and possibly for the last time, exhorting the people to save themselves and their posterity from that total ruin and destruc- tion which, although they may not, yet I most clearly see at the threshold of their doors; and I cannot leave them without again warning them, in the most earnest
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
and friendly manner, to desist from their present plans and resolutions. It is still in their power; and, if they will enable me to do it, I will, as far as I can, engage to give, and endeavor to obtain, for them full pardon and forgiveness for all past crimes and of- fences; and this I conjure you to consider well and most seriously of, before it's too late. But let things happen as they may, be it remembered, that I this day, in the King's name, offer the people of Georgia the olive branch; that most desirable object and ines- timable blessing, the return of peace and happiness to them and their posterity."
The "olive branch," which Sir James thus earnestly and honestly tendered, was not accepted, as the Geor- gians preferred war for liberty, to peace with slavery. Mr. Bulloch, as President of Congress, briefly answered this letter, declining a compliance with its propositions, and assenting to the requests made in it, on the part of Captain Barclay, the naval commander at Cock- spur, only upon such conditions that he refused to accept them. This letter the Governor said he could not consider as an answer to his, "as they have not taken any notice of the most serious part, with re- spect to themselves and the province ;" but he adds, " if they will not be their own friends, the province will blame them, and not me, who, through friendship, put it in their power to be happy."4
The refusal of Congress, and the vigilance of the Council of Safety, having prevented Captain Barclay from supplying the fleet with the necessaries desired, he determined to resort to force, and capture the
4 Original MS. Journal of the Council of Safety.
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FIRST BATTLE IN GEORGIA.
eleven rice ships which lay under the bluff, waiting the departure of the men of war to proceed to sea. On the last of February, 1776, the Scarborough, Hinchinbroke, St. John, and two large transports with soldiers, came up the river and anchored at five fathom. In view of this demonstration, the Council of Safety, on the 2d March, passed unanimously a resolution, " that all the shipping in port be disman- tled, and that the valuation of the houses of those appertaining to the friends of America be taken, for the purpose of burning the same, rather than suffer the British to possess them." This patriotic ineasure elicited great applause from the Carolinians, and the same council which a few months before termed Georgia "that infamous colony," and resolved to hold her inhabitants as inimical to the liberties of their country, now declared, in a letter signed by its presi- dent, that it was " noble, patriotic, and vigorous," "an instance of heroic principle, not exceeded by any, and equalled by but few, in history." The Carolinians still further evinced their interest, by sending a de- tachment of militia, under Colonel Bull, to join the troops in Savannah in repelling the attack, which it was anticipated would be made, by the Cherokee and other armed vessels, which had sailed from Charleston for Savannah.
Having previously sounded Back River, two of the vessels, on the 2d March, sailed up that channel : one anchored directly opposite the town; and the other, in attempting to go round Hutchinson's Island, and so come down upon the shipping from above, grounded at the west end of the island, opposite Brampton, the plantation of Jonathan Bryan, Esquire.
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
During the night, between two and three hundred troops from the first vessel, under the command of Majors Maitland and Grant, were silently marched across Hutchinson's Island, and, by collusion with the captains, were embarked by 4 A. M. in the merchant vessels which lay near the store on that island. When the morning of Sunday the 3d March revealed the proximity of the naval force, the inhabitants were filled with the utmost indignation. The grounded vessel, which proved to be the Hinchinbroke,5 was im- mediately attacked by two companies of riflemen, under Major Habersham, who soon drove every man from its deck. It was not, however, until nine o'clock that the people had any knowledge that troops were secreted on board the merchantmen lying at the store on Hutchinson's Island, a fact that became known through two sailors, who, on pretence of going on shore to get their clothes, communicated the, intelli- gence that Captain Rice, to whom was committed the carrying out of the order to dismantle the ships in port, had gone on board one of the vessels in pur- suance of his duty, and himself and boat's crew had been forcibly detained by the officers. This news created intense excitement, and three hundred men, under command of Colonel McIntosh, were marched to Yamacraw Bluff, opposite the shipping, and threw up a hasty breastwork, through which they trained three four-pounders to bear upon the vessels. Anxious, however, to avoid bloodshed, Lieutenant Daniel Ro- berts, of the St. John's Rangers, and Mr. Raymond
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