A standard history of Georgia and Georgians, Part 15

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 648

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"Mr. Oglethorpe received the Indians in one of the new houses that afternoon. They were as follows :-

"From the tribe of Coweta-Yahou-Lakee, their king or mico. Esso- boa, their warrior,-the son of old Breen, lately dead, whom the Span- iards called emperors of the Creeks,-with eight men and two women attendants.

"From the tribe of the Cussetas-Cusseta, the mico, Tatehiquatchi, the head warrior, and four attendants.

"From the tribe of the Owseecheys-Ogeese, the mico, or war king, Neathlouthko and Ougachi, two chief men, with three attendants.

"From the tribe of Cheehaws-Outhleteboa, the mico, Thlantho- thlukee, Figeer, Sootapmilla, war-captains, and three attendants.

"From the tribe of Echetas-Chutabeeche and Robin, two war-cap- tains (the latter was bred among the English), with four attendants.

"From the tribe of Pallachucolas-Gillatee, the head warrior, and five attendants.

"From the tribe of Oconas-Queekachumpa, called by the English 'Long King,' Coowoo, a warrior.

"From the tribe of Eufaule-Tomaumi, the head warrior, and three attendants.

"The Indians being all seated, Oueekachumpa, a very tall old man, stood up, and with a graceful action and a good voice made a long speech, which was interpreted by Mr. Wiggan and John Musgrove, and was to the following purpose. He first claimed all the land to the south- ward of the river Savannah, as belonging to the Creek Indians. Next he said that although they were poor and ignorant, He who had given the English breath had given them breath also; that He who had made both, had given more wisdom to the white men; that they were firmly persuaded that the Great Power which dwelt in heaven and all around (and then he spread out his hands and lengthened the sound of his words), and which had given breath to all men, had sent the English thither for the instruction of them, their wives and children; that there- fore they gave them up freely their right to all the land which they did not use themselves, and that this was not only his opinion, but the opin- ion of the eight towns of the Creeks, each of whom having consulted together, had sent some of their chief men with skins, which is their wealth. IIc then thanked him for his kindness to Tomo-ehi-ehi, mico, and his Indians, to whom he said he was related; and said, that though Tomo-chi-chi was banished from his nation, he was a good man, and

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had been a great warrior, and it was for his wisdom and courage that the bamshed men chose him king. Lastly, he said, they had heard in the nation that the Cherokees had killed some Englishmen, and that if he should command them, they would enter with their whole force into the Cherokee country, destroy their harvest, kill their people and re- venge the English. Ile then sat down. Mr. Oglethorpe promised to acquaint the trustees with their desire of being instructed, and informned them that although there had been a report of the Cherokees having killed some Englishmen, it was groundless. He thanked them in the most cordial manner for their affection, and told them that he would acquaint the trustees with it.

"Tomo-chi-chi, mico, then came in, with the Indians of Yamacraw to Mr. Oglethorpe, and, bowing very low, said: 'I was a banished man; I came here poor and helpless to look for good land near the tombs of my ancestors, and the trustees sent people here; I feared you would drive us away, for we were weak and wanted corn; but you confirmed our land to us, gave us food and instructed our children. We have already thanked you in the strongest words we could find, but words are no return for such favors; for good words may be spoke by the de- ceitful, as well as by the upright heart. The chief men of all our nation are here to thank you for us; and before them I declare your goodness and that here I design to die; for we all love your people so well that with them we will live and die. We do not know good from evil, but desire to be instructed and guided by you that we may do well with, and be numbered amongst the children of the Trustees.' * He sat down, and Yahou-Lakee, mico of Coweeta, stood up and said: 'We are come twenty-five days' journey to see you. I have been often advised to go down to Charles-Town, but would not go down because I thought I might die in the way ; but when I heard that you were come, and that you were good men, I knew you were sent by Him who lives in Heaven, to teach us Indians wisdom; I therefore came down that I might hear good things, for I knew that if I died in the way I should die in doing good, and what was said would be carried back to the nation, and our children would reap the benefit of it. I rejoice that I have lived to see this day, and to see our friends that have long been gone from amongst us. Our nation was once strong, and had ten towns; but we are now weak, and have but eight towns. You have comforted the banished, and have gathered them that were scattered like little birds before the eagle. We desire therefore to be reconciled to our brethren who are here amongst you, and we give leave to Tomo-chi-chi, Stimoiehe, and Illispelle, to call the kindred that love them out of each Creek town that they

* In "A Curious Account of the Indians by an Honorable Person, " Mr. Ogle- thorpe writes: "Tomo-chi-chi, in his first set speech to me, among other things, said, 'Here is a little present; ' and then gave me a buffalo's skin, painted on the inside with the head and feathers of an eagle. Ile desired me to accept it because ' the eagle signified speed, and the buffalo strength: that the English were as swift as a bird, and as strong as the beast; since like the first, they flew from the utmost parts of the earth, over the vast seas, and like the second, nothing could withstand them; that the feathers of the eagle were soft, and signified love; the buffalo skin was warm, and signified protection; therefore he hoped that we would love and protect their little families.' "'

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may have come together and make one town. We must pray you to recall the Yamasees that they may be buried in peace amongst their ancestors, and that they may see their graves before they die; and their owu nation shall be restored again to its ten towns.' After which he spoke concerning the abatement of the prices of goods, and agreed upon articles of a treaty which were ordered to be engrossed."

Tomo-chi-chi insisted upon acting the part of host to the visiting Creek Indians. Accordingly, after the conference in Savannah, he invited these warriors to his home village, where they passed the night in a round of entertainment, feasting and dancing. On the 21st of May a treaty was formally signed. At this time, to each of the Indian chiefs was given a laced coat, a laced hat, and a shirt; to each of the warriors a gun and a mantle of duffils; and to all the attendants cloth of a coarse texture. Besides, a number of useful articles were distributed.

Under the terms of this treaty the Lower Creeks ceded to the trus- tees all lands and waters lying between the Savannah and the Altamaha rivers, from the ocean front to the head of tide-water. The islands off the coast were likewise included in this grant, excepting three of these, Ossabaw, Sapelo and St. Catherine, which were reserved by the Indians for hunting, bathing and fishing. There was also reserved a small tract of land ahove Yamacraw, as a place of encampment for the Indians when visiting Savannah. Stipulations were made at this time regulating the price of goods, the value of pelts, and the privilege of traders .*

During the visit of these Indians to Savannah, Oglethorpe took occa- sion to impress upon them the power and greatness of the British nation. Consequently the colonists were put through the manual of arms. There was marching and firing, all of which visibly impressed the savages; but when the great guns were called into action, reverberating for miles around and breaking a silence which for ages had brooded upon the forest, it seemed to them as if they were in the presence of the Great Spirit, whose voice was making the earth tremble. Such an exhibition of power moved them to awe and veneration.

The treaty made with the Indians at this time still required the' acquiescence of the trustees in England to make it valid; but this formal confirmation was duly obtained. As a result of this compact not only were the Lower Creeks conciliated but also the Yamacraws and the Uchees, all of whom with respect to the lands ceded under this treaty recognized the supremacy of England.

Thus, having secured the good will of these Indians, Oglethorpe was free to devote himself to the upbuilding of the settlement. As we have already seen, while the colonists were building homes in Savannah, Cap- tain MacPherson, of South Carolina, had been stationed above Yama-

* SCHEDULE OF THE PRICES OF GOODS AGREED ON, ANNEXED .- Two yards of stroud, five buck-skins; one yard of plains, one buek-skin; white blanket, one buck-skin; blue blanket, five buek-skins; a gun, ten buck-skins; a pistol, five buek-skins; a gun- lock, four buck-skins; two measures of powder, one buck-skin; sixty bullets, one bnek-skin; one white shirt, two buck-skins; one knife, one doe-skin; eighteen flints, one buck-skin; three yards of eadiz, one doe-skin; three yards of gartering, one doe- skin; one hoe, two buck-skins; one axe, two buck-skins; one large hatchet, three doe-skins; one small hatchet, one buck-skin; brass kettles, per pound, one buck-skin. , Doe-skins were estimated at half the value of the bueks.

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craw at a point on the river known as Horse-shoe Quarter. But since a battery had been planted at Savannah and since a stockade had been built completely surrounding the town, there was no longer any need of an armed force to protect the colony in this neighborhood. Conse- quently, it was thought best to transfer this garrison to the Ogeechee River, in the rear of Savannah, at a point where the Indians were in the habit of crossing this stream on predatory expeditions into South Carolina. The stronghold here built was called Fort Argyle, in honor of John, Duke of Argyle, an intimate friend of Oglethorpe. To further strengthen this outpost, ten families were sent from Savannah, to reside in its vicinity, to cultivate the lands, and to establish the nucleus of a town.

On an eminence of ground some four miles to the south of Savan- nah a French settlement containing twelve families was planted, to which was given the name of Highgate, while just to the east of Savannah, per- haps a mile distant, was located the village of Hampstead, where twelve German families were grouped. These settlers were truck farmers, from whose industry it was designed to furnish the Savannah market with vegetables. Both communities were flourishing in 1736 when vis- ited by Francis Moore, but they proved short lived, doubtless for the reason that each of the families at Savannah had a five-acre garden of its own, from which to obtain supplies of this kind. There may also have been malarial causes for this decline. At any rate, in 1740, there were only two families residing at Highgate, while the settlement at Hampstead was entirely extinguished.

To safeguard the colony from attack by way of Augustine Creek, a small fort was constructed at Thunderbolt in the neighborhood of which several families were located; but the fort was only a temporary affair, it seems, and falling into decay was not rebuilt. Equally short lived was a settlement planted at the northeast end of Skidoway Island, where a fort was built for the protection of some families, ten in num- ber, clustered in its neighborhood. However, a Manchecolas fort, erected for the defense of Skidoway Narrows, proved to be of a more perma- nent character. This stronghold was garrisoned by a detachment from a company of marines commanded by Captain Noble Jones, whose home, called Wormsloe, was on the Isle of Hope, an estate granted its owner in 1733. Captain Jones accompanied Oglethorpe to Georgia on the gal- ley Anne, became first recorder and afterwards treasurer and was for years one of the colony's foremost leaders. His famous country seat is still the property of his descendants .*

There was a small Scotch settlement called Joseph-Town planted on the Savannah River, at a point opposite Argyle Island, but discouraged by a failure of crops its thrifty inhabitants sought homes elsewhere. There was perhaps an additional reason for this exodus in the prevail- ing unhealthiness. Many of the servants in the employ of these Scotch owners died.

Just above Joseph-Town, on a creek some three miles distant from its confluence with the Savannah, was located the village of Abercorn, like- wise a Scotch settlement. The town site was divided into twelve lots.

* See article in small print at the end of this chapter.

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in addition to which, at either end of the village, there was a trust lot. Between Joseph-Town and Savannah was Sir Francis Bathhurst's plan- tation, Walter Augustine's settlement, Captain Williams' plantation, Mrs. Matthews' plantation, Horseshoe Quarter, and a tract of land reserved by the Indians as a place of encampment. Later the Moravians built an Indian schoolhouse which they called Irene, at a point on the river, not far from the Matthews place, reference to which will be made later. But none of these rural communities prospered. The story of one is the story of all. It was not until African slaves were brought into the colony that the river bottom and sea-island plantations could be worked with profit. Take Abercorn, for example. Out of the ten families resident here in 1733 not one remained in 1737. John Brodie, with twelve servants, then occupied the settlement but his stock of patience was exhausted in three years. It was, in each case, a losing bat- tle with malarial conditions. Only negroes accustomed to a sub-tropical sun could till these swampy lands. The work was ill suited to colonists reared in the mild air of England.

Thus from the beginning the end was foreshadowed. In 1733 the first lighthouse to throw its beams upon the ocean from Georgia head- lands was commenced on Tybee Island, at the extreme northern end. When completed, the lighthouse was to measure ninety feet. Here was stationed a guard to command the mouth of the Savannah River. With the influx of emigrants a number of plantations were settled to the south and west of the Savannah, on Augustine Creek, on Wilmington Island, at Beaulieu, on the Little Ogeechee and even on the Great Ogeechee, but none of these colonists found a planter's life on the Georgia coast, under prevailing conditions, a bed of roses.

BETHANY .- Five miles northwest of Ebenezer a settlement was planted by Wil- liam DeBrahm, in 1751. He established here 160 Germans. Most of the new- comers were either friends or relatives of the settlers at Ebenezer; and between the towns a road was opened across Ebenezer Creek. The settlers probably supplied the filatures at Ebenezer with cocoons. There is no evidence that they were them- selves engaged in the manufacture of silk. The town was little more than an agri- cultural community and was fated to perish amid the clash of hostilities with England.

GOSHEN. Goshen was located about ten miles below Ebenezer, near the road leading to Savannah. It was another rural town of the pious Germans destined to become extinct soon after the Revolution. According to DeBrahm, there were 1,500 Salzburgers in Georgia, when the wave of emigration from Germany reached flood- tide.

THUNDERBOLT: HOW THE NAME ORIGINATED .- Five miles to the southeast of Savannah lies Thunderbolt. Guarding one of the rear approaches to the city, it was the site of early fortifications. Here also an important garrison was stationed during the Civil war. As for the origin of the name, there is still in existence an old letter written by Oglethorpe, in which he traces the derivation to a rock which was here shattered by a thunderbolt, causing a spring to gush from the ground, which con- tinned ever afterwards to emit the odor of brimstone. At present, Thunderbolt is one of the many playgrounds to which the population of Savannah resorts in summer. It was also until 1916 a place where refreshments were served to patrons who were not strict prohibitionists.

CHAPTER XI

SAVANNAH HAVING BEEN SETTLED, OGLETHORPE VISITS THE SOUTHERN CONFINES OF THE PROVINCE ON A TOUR OF INSPECTION-ANTICIPATES A SPANISH INVASION AND WISHES TO ASCERTAIN THE NATURAL ADVANTAGES OF THE COAST-FINDS A SPLENDID SITE FOR A MILITARY STRONGHOLD ON ST. SIMON'S ISLAND, FACING THE MOUTH OF THE ALTAMAHA-EXPECTS THE SPANIARDS TO ATTACK AT THIS POINT- HERE FREDERICA WAS AFTERWARDS BUILT-JEKYLL ISLAND-FORT ARGYLE IS VISITED-THE SALZBURGERS-OLD EBENEZER-NEW EBE- NEZER-TWELVE MONTHS ELAPSE SINCE OGLETHORPE'S LANDING- STATISTICS OF GROWTHI.

To visit the extreme southern confines of the province was Ogle- thorpe's next care. Having settled Savannah, established a number of rural communities and built forts at strategie points, it was next in order to ascertain what natural advantages, if any, were possessed by the province to the south, where an attack from Spain was likely to occur at any moment. For months the anxious face of Oglethorpe had been turned toward the Altamaha River. IIe had conciliated the In- dians; but not so the Spaniards. On January 23, 1734, accompanied by Captain Ferguson, he left Savannah in a large rowboat, on a tour of inspection. He was followed by a yawl, which carried provisions and supplies. Besides Captain Ferguson, there were sixteen attendants in the party, two of whom were Indian guides. Threading the interior waters between the coast islands and the mainland, he reached the delta of the Altamaha, opposite to which. on St. Simon's Island, he found an ideal site to be fortified. Here he afterwards built Frederiea. Arriving at this place in a violent downpour of rain, he spent the night on shore. Next morning he proceeded to the southern point of the island, where the site for another fort was located, after which he examined an island which he called Jekyll, in honor of Sir Joseph Jekyll, master of the rolls. Some little distance up the Altamaha he found an eminence well adapted for a town site, where a settlement known as New Inverness was afterwards planted.

Before returning to Savannah, Oglethorpe also visited Fort Argyle, on the Great Ogeechee. Here we are told that for the first time since leaving Thunderbolt "he lay in a house and upon a bed." To his grati- fication, he found the fort practically finished and several guns in posi- tion. Captain MacPherson had lost no time in establishing a seenre stronghold at this point, where a trail from the south led to an old Indian village on the Savannah River called Palechocolas.

Expenditures for the colony had reduced the resources of the trustees in England to a state of exhaustion. Indeed, the situation had become

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extremely eritical, when unexpectedly, by a sort of speeial providence, the exchequer of the trustees was replenished. Quite a large sum of money had been realized from the sale of lands in the island of St. Christopher; and, on motion of Sir Charles Turner, in the House of Commons, the sum of £10,000 was turned over to the trustees to be used by them in settling European Protestants in the colony of Georgia. On December 15, 1733, a resolution was adopted by the eom- mon council offering a home in the province to perseeuted Salzburgers, 30,000 of whom had been driven from home by the tyranny of Leopold, and had found temporary asylums in various parts of Europe. These Salzburgers were to be transported at the charge of the trust. On arrival in the province, each family was to be given three lots, one for a residenee, one for a garden, and one for a small farm. Moreover, the trustees agreed to supply them with tools and to furnish them main- tenanee from the stores until they could make a erop. Out of this offer to establish a colony of Salzburgers in Georgia grew the famous settle- ment at Ebenezer, on the Savannah River.

To this gentle religious seet Georgia owes much. They were not given to martial deeds, but they were law-abiding, industrious and frugal people, and they have left behind them an ineense of memory which has sweetened the whole history of the state. The story of how they came to settle in Georgia may be told in very few words. Says Doetor Lee: * "In the lovely district of the Tyrol there is to be found an historie city which the painter Wilkie has described as 'Edinburg Castle and the Old Town, brought within the eliffs of the Trossachs and watered by a river like the Tay.' It is the city of Salzburg, on the Salza, famous as the birth-place of Mozart and as the burial-place of Ilaydn. Almost simultaneously with the aceession of George II there eame to the prin- cipality, of which Salzburg was the capital, a new ruler, who inangn- rated an era of persecution. The Thirty Years War in Germany had ended with the complete suppression of Protestantism in Anstria. In qniet nooks, here and there, however, it still lingered on; and Salzburg was one of these. The rulers of Salzburg were ecclesiasties, and bore the title of Archbishop. To this elass belonged Count Firmian, who, on coming into power, determined to uproot the heresy which was eon- taminating his floek. Ile put into foree all the terrors of the law-fine, confiscation, imprisonment. When the suffering people pleaded the provisions for religions tolerance contained in the treaty of Westphalia, signed eighty years before, he dubbed them rebels, and borrowed Ans- trian grenadiers to suppress what he was pleased to call a revolt. The matter then became a national one, and Frederick William of Prussia espoused the cause of the Salzburgers. Under the provisions of the treaty of Westphalia, peaceful emigration offered the best solution of the problem. The Prussian king, Frederick the Great's stern old father, was the most powerful Protestant ruler in Germany, and he insisted upon fair treatment for the refugees. Count Firmian was about to banish them in the winter season, without provisions for the long jour- ney, but he was compelled to comply with the dietates of humanity, and to allow them a daily dole. The story of the sad departure has been

* "Illustrated History of Methodism."

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told by Goethe in the sweetest of his verse narratives, 'Hermann and Dorothea,' the only poem of his early life which he cared to read when old.

"Journeying eastward, the main body of exiles passed through Frankfort-on-the-Main. This was Goethe's native town. The Prussian king was ready to welcome the whole army of refugees, over 10,000 in number, but a band of them, conducted by Herr Von Reck, a Hanoverian nobleman, sailed down the Rhine and took refuge under the British flag. They finally landed on the shores of America, where they settled at Ebenezer, in the new colony of Georgia. None of the settlers were superior to these excellent Salzburgers, whom George Whitefield con- sidered the cream of the population for industry and uprightness. The orphan home, which he afterwards instituted at Bethesda, was based upon an institution of like character at Ebenezer."

Col. Charles C. Jones, Jr., adds some additional particulars in regard to the emigration of the Salzburgers to Georgia .* Says he : "During the four years, commencing in 1729 and ending in 1732, more than 30,000 Salzburgers, impelled by the fieree persecutions of Leopold, abandoned their home in the broad valley of the Salza, and sought refuge in Prussia, Holland, and England, where their past sufferings and pres- ent wants enlisted substantial sympathy from Protestant communities. Persuaded by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge and acting upon the invitation of the Trustees of the Colony of Georgia, forty-two Salzburgers, with their wives and children-numbering in all seventy-eight souls-set out for Rotterdam, whence they were to be transported free of charge to Dover, England. At Rotterdam they were joined by their chosen religious teachers, the Rev. John Martin Bolzius and the Rev. Israel Christian Gronau." According to the same author- ity, the Georgia Trustees engaged not only to advance the funds neces- sary to defray the expenses of the journey and to purchase the requisite sea stores, but also to allot to each emigrant on his arrival in Georgia fifty acres in fee and provisions sufficient for maintenance until such land could be made available for support.

After taking the oath of loyalty at Dover, the emigrants, on Decem- ber 28, 1733, embarked for the new world in the ship Purisburg, which, in due season, anchored safely at Charleston, South Carolina. It so happened that Oglethorpe was in Charleston at this time to meet them and, without delay, he arranged to take the emigrants to Savannah, reaching port on March 10, 1734. It was Reminiscere Sunday-accord- ing to the Lutheran calendar-when the boat arrived. By a queer sort of coincidence the Scripture lesson for the day, so the good Mr. Bolzius informs us, was the passage which tells how the Saviour, after suffering perseeution in his own country, came to the borders of the heathen. Ile then describes the vessel as "Lying in fine and calm weather, under the shore of our beloved Georgia, where we heard the Birds sing melodi- ously ;" and notwithstanding the sacred character of the day and the gentle disposition of the new arrivals, he adds that the inhabitants of the town of Savannah "fired off some ('annons."

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A standard history of Georgia and Georgians, Part 15

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868- Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 648

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 648