USA > Georgia > A history of Georgia : from its first discovery by Europeans to the adoption of the present constitution in MDCCXCVIII. Vol. II > Part 9
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5 The Hinchinbroke was a merchantman, which was sheathed with wood, taken into the naval service, and mounted with twenty-eight guns. Lord Nelson and Lord Collingwood were both made post-captains in this vessel.
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Demeré, of St. Andrew's Parish, solicited, and were permitted by the commanding officer, to go on board and demand a surrender of Rice and his people. They were accordingly rowed on board the vessel, in which were Captain Barclay and Major Grant; but, though they were unarmed and on a mission of peace, they were immediately arrested and detained as pri- soners. After waiting half an hour, and the deputies not returning, the people on shore hailed the vessel through a speaking-trumpet, and demanded the return of Rice, Roberts, and Demeré; but receiving only in- sulting replies, two four-pounders were discharged at the vessel ; whereupon they replied, that if the people would send on board two men, in whom they most confided, they would treat with them. Accordingly, Captain Screven, of the St. John's Rangers, Captain Baker, of the St. John's Riflemen, and about twelve of the Rangers, rowed immediately under the stern of the vessel, and in peremptory terms demanded the deputies. Captain Baker, doubtless incensed by some insulting language, fired a shot on board, which im- mediately drew down upon the boat a discharge of swivels and small arms from the vessel, which was kept up as long as the boat was within reach, though only one man was wounded. The firing from the vessel was the signal for the batteries to open, which were as briskly answered for the space of four hours.
At four o'clock, a meeting of the Council of Safety was held, and the resolution adopted to set fire to the vessels; and a party, consisting of Captain Bowen, Lieutenant James Jackson, John Morel, and six others, proceeded to the ship Inverness, which they set on fire, and, cutting her cable, she drifted upon the
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brig Nelly, which was also soon in flames. The offi- cers and soldiers on board the vessels fled, in the utmost precipitation, across the low marshes and half- drained rice-fields, several being killed by the grape- shot played upon them from the intrenchments, and most of them losing their arms and ammunition.
The scenes of that day and night were solemn and terrific : the sudden marshalling of troops, the alarm of the people, the roll of artillery, the vessels wrapped in flames, every mast a pinnacle of fire, combined to form a scene of awful and soul-stirring excitement.
As Messrs. Roberts, Demeré, and Rice were still kept prisoners by the King's troops, the Council of Safety, on the 6th March, put under arrest all the members of the Royal Council that were then in Sa- vannah, and menaced the officers of the ships at Tybee with still further measures of redress, if the prisoners, so unjustly detained by them, were not liberated. Various negotiations followed, and on the 27th March an exchange was effected ; Roberts, Demeré, and others were released, and the crown officers put on the footing of prisoners on parole.
Finding that the houses on Great Tybee Island afforded comfortable shelter for the King's officers and tory refugees, the Council of Safety resolved to send a detachment of troops there, to destroy them and rout the tories. The execution of this order, rendered perilous by the peculiar situation of the place, and the protection afforded by the men-of-war, was committed to Archibald Bulloch, who, with a party of men com- posed of detachments from the riflemen, light infantry, fusiliers, volunteers, and a few Creek Indians, burnt all the houses, except one, in which was a sick woman
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and several children, killed two marines and one tory, and took one marine and several tories prisoners. The Cherokee man-of-war and an armed sloop kept up an incessant fire upon the party; but none of them were injured, and they retired from the island in per- fect safety. Hitherto the Georgians had only heard of British aggressions; but now their own soil was moistened with the blood of the slain; their quiet homes had been assailed; their property pillaged; and their province threatened with devastation and ruin. The crisis had arrived; they met it like heroes.
CHAPTER III.
SOUTHERN EXPEDITIONS.
LORD NORTH'S "Prohibitory Bill" passed the House of Commons on the 11th December, 1775. By this act all trade and intercourse with the thirteen Ameri- can colonies was prohibited, "during the continuance of the present rebellion within the said colonies re- spectively."
This was the first parliamentary act that involved Georgia; and while it was under discussion in the House of Commons, this fact was made the ground of particular objection and remark. On the sixth day of the debate, Edmund Burke moved an humble address to his Majesty, " that he will be graciously pleased to order to be laid before this House such advices as may enable this House to judge of the present state and condition of his Majesty's loyal and dutiful province of Georgia, in North America." His motion, how-
ever, met with little favor, and was negatived. On the Monday following, Governor Johnstone moved, " that no evidence has been produced to this House to show that many persons in his Majesty's colony of Georgia have set themselves in open rebellion and defiance to the just and legal authority of the King and Parliament of Great Britain, or have assembled
.
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DEFENCE OF GEORGIA IN PARLIAMENT.
together an armed force, or engaged his Majesty's troops, or attacked his forts, or prohibited all trade and commerce with this kingdom and the other parts of his Majesty's dominion." This motion led to an animated debate between Lord North, Governor John- stone, and Mr. Burke, relative to the position of Georgia at this period. Governor Johnstone deplored that Georgia should now "be entered in the black catalogue ;" that it should be marked out for destruc- tion, as well as Massachusetts; "the latter, for defending their liberties, which were immediately in- vaded-the former, because they disapproved of the inhuman measure of condemning people unheard and untried." On the side of the Georgians, it was in- sisted that "it had not even been urged in debate, much less proved, that they had committed a single act, which the most willing, ingenious, most-expecting, or best-paid lawyer in the House could stretch even so far as a misdemeanor ;" and the certain consequences of the "Prohibitory Bill" would be, "that a whole province was to be proscribed, its trade ruined, and its inhabitants declared rebels, and compelled to submit to tyranny, or consent to be starved."
Lord North professed that he had no objection to have the loyalty or disloyalty of Georgia the subject of evidence; but declared, that though Georgia was not actually in arms, or in a state of open rebellion, it was well known that they acted in conjunction with the other colonies, and there could not be a more de- cisive proof of their disposition, and the part they meant to take, than their sending delegates to the Continental Congress.
Mr. Dempster animadverted very severely upon
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Lord North's presuming Georgia guilty, and, upon this presumption, including her in his prohibitory bill; declaring it " more horrible in its consequences, and more repugnant to the generally established ideas of justice, than anything yet imputed to that bloody tribunal, the Inquisition; that it was the very lan- guage of Charles the First to his Parliament, and of every other tyrant, from William the Conqueror to this day."
The Secretary of the Board of Trade (Mr. Pownall) replied, by detailing the different proofs the Georgians had given of their rebellious disposition. In answer to an expression dropped by this gentleman, that " their own newspapers were filled with accounts of these exploits," Burke said, "this was the first time he had ever heard newspaper information made a foundation for any solemn proceedings in that House;" and he commented with sarcastic raillery upon Mr. Pownall's referring the House to the public gazettes for information which it was his duty officially to an- nounce.
The motion of Governor Johnstone met the fate of Edmund Burke's, and the bill, to use the words of Burke, "so diabolically constructed; for it inflicted punishment for acts thought innocent at the time they were committed, and legalized others, which were acts of atrocious plunder and robbery," was, with a few modifications, carried through the House of Lords, and received the royal assent on the 22d December, 1775.
Thus was Georgia by her own act, by the act of the Continental Congress, and by the act of the British Parliament, bound up with the other American colo- nies, to enjoy with them the freedom which they
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SHIPS IN PORT DISMANTLED.
sought to gain, or share with them the disgrace and slavery that an ignorant Parliament, a vindictive ministry, a foreign soldiery, and an insane monarch were striving to fasten upon them.
This prohibitory bill reached Georgia only a few days after the attack on Savannah previously narrated. A number of vessels were lying in the river, some ready to sail, and his Majesty's ships Tamar and Che- rokee were at Cockspur, to facilitate their departure. Several of these were laden (besides rice, the export of which was allowed by the Continental Congress, until the 1st March, 1776) with indigo, deer skins, &c., and designed to circumvent the non-exportation resolves, by clearances dated prior to the 10th Sep- tember.
Owing to the want of a sufficient force to overawe the disaffected, several irregularities had been passed over by the Georgians, which, however, had not escaped the notice and censure of the Carolinians. The Council of Safety in Charleston represented these to the committee in Savannah, and the latter resolved, at all hazards, to comply with the strict letter of the Congressional resolves upon this point, and therefore ordered, " that the rudders be unshipped, and the rig- ging and sails taken away and secured from the several vessels now riding in the port of Savannah."1
The absence of sufficient military power to enforce this order, caused it to be imperfectly obeyed ; but the arrival of Colonel Stephen Bull, on the 10th March, with various detachments of Carolina troops, to the number of about 250, gave confidence to the patriots,
1 Drayton, ii, 130.
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who immediately proceeded to carry out the resolve, and dismantle the ships. Colonel Bull, having ef- fected the object of his visit, returned to Charleston, leaving the defence of Savannah to the Georgia Batta- lion, under Colonel McIntosh, numbering only 236, rank and file, of which number only 100 were on duty, and these, of course, confined to Savannah.
The seaboard and inlets were infested by armed vessels, of light draft, for the purpose of securing pro- visions and carrying off prisoners, and there was not a vessel in the colony to protect the coast. Along the Florida line, there was stationed a troop of sixty horse, to prevent the driving off of cattle; and on the west- ern frontier, a similar body of cavalry was raised, to guard the settlements from the threatened invasion of the Indians. This was all the military strength of this large, yet weakest and most exposed, of the Ame- rican colonies. In the midst of these dangers, the patriots showed no alarm, but proceeded steadily to their work of organizing a government suited to the exigencies of the time, and accordingly, on the 15th April, adopted a constitution or form of government, and thus became an independent State.
Thus the prediction of Mr. Adams, that in conse- quence of this "prohibitory bill," which was looked upon throughout the colonies "as the last stretch of oppression," "governments will be up everywhere before midsummer, and an end to royal style, titles, and authority," came true; and with no less truth than force did he add, " It requires more serenity of temper, a deeper understanding, and more courage than fell to the lot of a Marlborough, to ride out this whirlwind."
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THREATENED INDIAN WAR.
Though Governor Wright and most of his Majesty's officers had left Georgia; though the royal authority was entirely overthrown; though a new government had been organized by the will of the majority; yet there were many disaffected persons resident in the province, and many causes of internal and external alarm. These demanded of the new executive a firm- ness tempered with prudence, and a sagacity blended with wisdom, that could only belong to one who tho- roughly understood his position, and who, rising above all personal and party schemes, dared to carry out the requirements of duty, and maintain that supremacy which the tumult of the times demanded. Mr. Bul- loch proved himself worthy of his trust; diligent, active, unflinching, he sustained himself in the execu- tive chair with an ability suited to the station, and an energy adequate to the crisis. His modesty and re- publicanism were very happily displayed at his first assumption of executive power. When Colonel Mc- Intosh, the commander of the Continental battalion in Savannah, tendered President Bulloch the military courtesy which had usually been paid to Governor Wright, and posted a sentinel at his door, he addressed him a note, saying, " I beg you will immediately order the sentinel to be withdrawn from my door; the grenadiers are already removed, in consequence of my orders. I act for a free people, in whom I have an entire confidence and dependence, and would wish upon all occasions to avoid ostentation." 2
In addition to her other troubles, Georgia, in com- mon with South Carolina, was now menaced with an
2 Original letter of President Bulloch, in collection of I. K. Tefft, Esq.
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Indian war. Through the agency of Captain Stuart, his Majesty's Superintendent of the Southern Indian Department; and Mr. Cameron, his deputy ; the Chero- kee Indians had been incited to fall upon the frontier settlements and perpetrate the most atrocious massa- cres. To reduce them to order, the colonies of Geor- gia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, sent detachments of troops, commanded respectively by Colonel Jack, Colonel Williamson, General Ruther- ford, and Colonel Christy; who penetrated into the northern parts of Georgia and South Carolina, and carried the war with such vigor into the Indian coun- try, that the savage foe, after fighting bravely and losing many men, were completely humbled. Came- ron, through whose instrumentality they had taken up arms, was driven from the country ; and the following year a treaty of peace, concluded at Dewitt's Corner, between Georgia, South Carolina, and the Cherokees, gave a temporary respite to the long-harassed and stricken frontier.3
On the 18th June, 1776, the President laid before the Council of Safety a letter from President Rut- ledge, informing him that General Lee (who had recently been appointed to command in the Southern Department) desired that they would send two of their body to Charleston, "to confer with him upon the state of Georgia, and the mode of putting it in the best posture of defence against all enemies, external and internal." The Council accordingly deputed Jonathan Bryan, John Houstoun, and Colonel Mc- Intosh, to wait upon the General; which they did,
3 Moultrie's Memoirs, i, 154.
1
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REPORT OF THE DELEGATION.
shortly after the brilliant repulse of the English fleet from Fort Moultrie.
. On the 5th July, the delegation handed in a report of their proceedings to the Council, in which they state that, "from the weak and defenceless situation of the colony, surrounded as it is with enemies, it stands in immediate need of assistance from the General Con- gress; and when they consider, that however small the colony may be of itself, in a comparative point of view, yet that, from the great plenty of provisions, numerous stocks of cattle, excellent inlets, harbors, and rivers, with which the colony abounds, and above all, the firm attachment of its inhabitants to the Ame- rican cause, they are led to trust that the protection and security of that colony will be held an object of considerable importance. Not one of the thirteen United Colonies is so weak within, or so exposed from without. To the east, the inhabitants suffer the ravages of British cruisers; their negroes are daily inveigled and carried away from their plantations ; British fleets may be supplied with beef from several large islands, well stocked with cattle, which line their coasts, and round which large ships may sail. To the south, they have the province of East Florida, the inhabitants and soldiery of which must, of necessity, make inroads upon Georgia for the article of provision with which they have been heretofore chiefly supplied. Georgia here stands as a barrier to South Carolina, and effectually secures that province against the like depre- dation." " We have certain accounts of there being at this time upwards of one thousand British troops in St. Augustine. To the west, and almost down upon the Georgia line, are the most numerous tribes VOL. II.
10
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GEORGIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
of Indians now in North America, in the whole, at least 15,000 gunmen. They are so situated as to make it extremely convenient for our enemies to supply them, from East and West Florida, with am- munition and everything that they want. There seems to be the greatest reason to apprehend a rup- ture with them; in such a case, the fate of Georgia may be easily conceived. Add to these considerations the vast number of negroes we have, perhaps of them- selves sufficient to subdue us.
" The conquest of Georgia would be considered as a great acquisition by Great Britain. It is a most ex- cellent provision country ; abounds with ship-timber and lumber of all kinds, and is most conveniently situated for a place of rendezvous to their shipping. Under all these circumstances, it must certainly ap- pear indispensably necessary that measures be imme- diately taken for the defence and security of that province ; but the low situation in point of means or ability of its inhabitants, puts it out of their power to do it of themselves, more especially as they have been already put to a very great expense in consequence of the late descent upon them." "The great objects seem to be, then, fortifications, and a good under- standing with the Indians."
The deputies conclude their report with the follow- ing propositions :-
" Ist. That his excellency General Lee be requested to state the peculiar situation of the province of Geor- gia to the General Congress, and to obtain directions from them to raise, and take into Continental pay, so many men as may be conceived to be sufficient to defend this province. In our opinion, less than six
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battalions will not answer the purpose; but as we do not conceive that any of these men can be recruited in Georgia, we would apprehend it full as eligible (if that can be done), to order some of the regiments al- ready raised to march thither; and further, that the four troops of horse already raised be augmented to a regiment, and put upon the Continental establishment.
"2d. That the sum of - sterling be granted by the General Congress, for building fortifications and guard-boats in the province of Georgia. The reason why we conceive this ought to be a general charge, is because it is evident the same will serve against at- tacks from the south, and for cutting off the commu- nication between East and West Florida and the Indians, upon which the peace of the back inhabitants of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Vir- ginia depends.
"3d. It is a fixed principle with the Indians, to be paid for their good offices ; and in this controversy, we conceive that they will expect to be well paid, even for neutrality. The articles they prefer will doubtless be ammunition and clothing; but these we have it not in our power to give them. We would then pro- pose cattle, as a substitute, and are inclined to think, that if the communication between them and our enemies were cut off, they would soon be brought to be well satisfied with a present of this kind. It is, therefore, submitted to the General Congress, whether it would not be worth while to give direction that head of cattle be purchased, and distributed among the Indians by the Commissioners. We are of opinion this step would answer many valuable pur- poses, and would have a tendency not only of attach-
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ing them to our interest, from gratitude, but would also be a means of civilizing them, and by fixing the idea of property, would keep them honest and peace- able with us, for fear of reprisals."
The representations of this committee had such an effect on General Lee, that the morning after his inter- view with them, he paraded the North Carolina and Virginia troops, and told them that he had planned a secret expedition, one free from danger, certain of suc- cess, and productive of a large booty. His scheme, when unfolded, was embraced by the soldiers, and after some delay, President Rutledge furnished him with 460 men, drawn from the several regiments of infantry, rangers, and artillery, and the necessary am- munition to carry on his design. The second week in August, however, arrived, before he could put even a portion of his troops in motion; and then, in that unhealthy season, they were marched to Georgia, " without even a field-piece or medicine-chest." The remaining portion, with the artillery and baggage, went round by water, and reached Savannah on the 17th of August. Generals Howe and Moultrie accom- panied the troops, while General James Moore, of North Carolina, was left in command at Charleston.
On the 19th August, General Lee waited on the President and Council, and proposed these questions for their consideration : "1st. Whether, as the port on St. Mary's is now abandoned, and the whole country between that river and the St. John's broken up, and as there is no probability of transporting cannon, am- munition, provisions, or collecting a sufficient number of men for the siege and reduction of St. Augustine, an irruption into East Florida can be productive of so
-
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important advantages to the general cause, or to this State of Georgia in particular, as to compensate for the trouble and expense ? and what these advantages are ? 2d. What are the means of certainly supplying the troops with grain and meat? How their baggage can be transported ? whether safely by water? If not, whether wagons can pass ? or, if the road is practica- ble only to horses, how pack-saddles are to be pro- vided ?"
The Council referred the questions to a committee, consisting of Jonathan Bryan and Nathan Brownson, who reported, " that an irruption into the province of East Florida will be attended with the most salutary consequences to this province, and of course render service to the whole continent." This opinion they supported by several reasons, all of which, however, were based rather on their hopes, than on the real facts of the case.
But so earnest were all the members of the Council for this expedition, that the report of the committee was accepted, and a resolution was passed4 promising " all assistance in their power to forward the said ex- pedition." General Moultrie was placed in command of the enterprise, and, in conjunction with General Lee and the other officers, set about collecting sup- plies, and organizing and pushing forward his troops. Everything wore a favorable aspect, and the hopes of the Georgians rose high as they beheld such active preparations to annoy, if not to conquer, their trouble- some neighbor on the south. But, in September, as General Moultrie, having nearly completed his arrange-
4 MS. Journal Council of Safety.
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ments, was about to take up his march to join the ad- vance guard already posted in Sunbury, an express reached Savannah from Congress, recalling General Lee to the northward; who immediately left Georgia, directing the Virginia and North Carolina troops to follow.
This sudden blow to the enterprise was soon suc- ceeded by the recall of the South Carolina regiment ; and the expedition terminated as suddenly as it was suddenly projected. The whole affair reflected very little honor upon the skill and military forethought of General Lee. The season of the year was the worst that could have been chosen; and as a consequence, officers and men suffered severely from sickness, the deaths averaging fourteen a day while the South Caro- lina battalion and Colonel Muhlenburg's regiment were encamped at Sunbury.
It was resolved upon after only one night's considera- tion; planned upon imperfect information ; commenced with means inadequate to secure the desired end ; and the troops began their march, when as yet neither boats, artillery, wagons, pack-horses, ammunition, nor stores of any kind, were provided for them.
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