USA > Georgia > A standard history of Georgia and Georgians > Part 17
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But who were these Moravians? To answer this question, we must cross the sea to Bohemia. Coincident with Oglethorpe's humane pro- ject, there was an effort made by Count Zinzendorf, a Protestant, to organize on his estate a community of believers, modelled upon the old original church of the Apostles. When a charter was granted for the Colony of Georgia, the count sought and obtained a concession of 500 aeres of land from the trustees, with permission to absent himself in person from the colony, on condition that he send over ten male servants, in his own stead, to cultivate the soil. Accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Gottlieb Spangenberg, the first emigrants of this religious persuasion arrived in Georgia in the spring of 1735, and settled near the Savannah River, on a body of land between the Salzburgers and the Town of Savannah.
To quote Colonel Jones: # The history of the Moravians in Georgia may be quickly told. Under the auspices of Count Zinzendorf, seconded by the good offices of the trustees, additions were made from time to time to this settlement. A schoolhouse called Irene was built near Tomo- chi-chi's village, for the accommodation and instruction of Indian children ; and in its conduet and prosperity the aged mico manifested a lively interest. With the Salzburgers the Moravians associated on terms of closest friendship. In subdning the forest and in the erection of homes they manifested great zeal. Above all others were they sue- cessful in tilling the ground, and in the accumulation of provisions, which sufficed not only for their own wants, but also met the needs of their less provident neighbors. * * * They were in all respects use- ful colonists.
When summoned, however, to bear arms in defense of the province against the Spaniards, they refused to do so, alleging that since they
* Jones: "History of Georgia, " Vol. I.
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were not freeholders there was no obligation resting upon them to per- form military duties. They further insisted that they were prevented by religious convictions from becoming soldiers, and stated that before coming to Georgia it had been expressly stipulated that they should be exempt from such obligations. After mature deliberation, it was agreed that the Moravians be excused ; but this exemption embittered the minds of the other colonists against them and rendered a further residence in the province unpleasant. Accordingly, in 1738, some of them, having first refunded to the authorities all moneys disbursed for them, aban- doned the settlement in Georgia * * and removed to Pennsyl- vania, # * * where the settlements of Bethlehem and Nazareth pre- serve to this day some of the distinguishing features of this peculiar people.
According to Bishop Stevens:# Several of the Moravian ministers who came to Georgia were men of eminent distinction. Christian Gott- lieb Spangenberg had been an adjunct professor in the University of Halle, in Saxony ; and after leaving Savannah he went to Europe, where he was ordained bishop. He returned to America and took entire charge of the affairs of the brethren in the British Colonies. He was also an author and wrote the "Life of Count Zinzendorf," besides a number of religious books. David Nitschman was one of the companions of Wesley on his visit to Georgia. He rose to be a bishop, and was one of the first missionaries to the blacks in the Danish West Indies. Peter Beuler also beeame a bishop. He was a graduate of the University of Jena and a man of ripe seholarship. Martin Mack, after leaving Savannah, labored for years among the Indians in Pennsylvania, and was then made a bishop and assigned to the Danish West Indies. The Moravians did not remain long enough in Georgia to fashion the plastic mass; but could they have aided in moulding the institutions of the Commonwealth, many calamities might have been avoided and many virtues might have been developed which would have reflected glory upon Georgia's name.
Steps for protecting the exposed southern frontier of the province were hastened by a memorial received from South Carolina urging imme- diate action on this line because of irritating transactions with the Spaniards. The likelihood of an invasion from this quarter had become alarmingly imminent. Oglethorpe, with the leverage of his wide influ- ence and great popularity throughout England at this time, induced Parliament to grant a special sum of £26,000 to be used chiefly in safe- guarding the province. Successful in this endeavor, he next sought to find settlers of a hardy type for his border outposts on the Altamaha River. Incident to life on the southern confines of Georgia there were not only great hardships but dire perils; and for such a settlement as the one contemplated by Oglethorpe men of sturdy mold, of vigorous fibre, of proven mettle were needed.
To this end the trustees commissioned Lieut. Hugh Mackay to recruit among the highlands of Scotland. The well-known Jacobite sympathies of Oglethorpe were doubtless instrumental in arousing wide-spread in- terest in the proposed scheme of colonization.
* Stevens: "History of Georgia," Vol. I.
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There was no attempt made to overpaint the charms or conceal the hazards of life in Georgia. The situation of affairs was well understood. But the rugged mountaineers were inured to hardships; and to men who touched elbows with peril every day of the world and who took little counsel of fear there was an element of zest added to the prospect of adventure in an unknown world. John Mohr MeIntosh, a chief of one of the most powerful clans of Scotland, whose support of the Pretender cost him the forfeiture of his estates, was one of the first to enlist ; and he indneed many of his kindred to accompany him. Not less than 130 Highlanders, with 50 women and children, were enrolled at Inverness; and these, together with some who held special grants and who went without expense to the trustees, sailed from Inverness, October 18, 1735, on board the Prince of Wales, commanded by Capt. George Dunbar.
Three months were consumed by the voyage. They carried a clergy- man, the Rev. John MeLeod, a native of the Isle of Skye, to minister to them in sacred things, and he became the pioneer evangel of Presby- terianism in Georgia. Most of the emigrants were soldiers; but some of them, like the Cuthberts, the Bailies, the Maekays, and the Dunbars, went in the capacity of freeholders. They were accompanied by servants and were possessed of titles to large tracts of land.
In due season, the vessel entered the mouth of the Savannah River; and the new arrivals, after a period of rest spent in the village to which they were given a cordial welcome by the inhabitants, were transported in rude canoes through the various inlets and up the Altamaha River, to the appointed place of settlement selected by Oglethorpe. The allu- vial bottoms of the low-lying region which they reached at length bore little resemblance to the hills of heather which they left behind them ; and the homesick Highlanders must have experienced a chill of disappoint- ment when they disembarked upon the monotonous stretch of level ground on which they were henceforth to dwell.
But they wasted no time in vain regrets. At a point which was best adapted to defensive purposes, they at once erected a fort, mounted four pieces of cannon, built a guard-house, a store, and a chapel, and con- structed huts for temporary accommodation, preparatory to erecting more substantial structures. Dressed in plaids and equipped with broad-swords, targets, and firearms, the Scotch soldiers presented quite a unique and novel appearance on this remote belt of the savage wilder- ness, separated by 3,000 miles of water from the familiar highlands which now smiled upon them only in the sad retrospect of the past. In honor of the town from which they sailed they gave to the young settlement the name of New Inverness, while to the military post and to the outlying district they gave the name of Darien.
To the colony of Oglethorpe, the arrival of these sturdy Highlanders proved an important acquisition. They were more than mere sinews of war. They were representatives of the thriftiest and best elements of the Scotch population. They brought with them the highest ideals of citizenship and the profoundest reverence for divine truth. Says Doctor Stevens: * "They were not reckless adventurers or reduced emigrants,
* " History of Georgia, " by William Bacon Stevens, Vol. I, pp. 126-127, New York, 1847.
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volunteering through necessity or exiled by insolveney and want. In fact, they were pieked men. They were commanded by officers most respectably connected in the Highlands, and the descendants of some of them have held and still hold high offices of honor and trust in the United Kingdom."
According to Colonel Jones, the Seotch emigrants, while in Savannah, were told by some Carolinians that they were foolish to interpose them- selves between Savannah and Florida, that it was perilous in the extreme thus to court danger on the frontier, and that the Spaniards, from the seeure forts in which they dwelt on the border, would shoot them upon the very spot which they were expected to defend. But the Seotch Highlanders were in no wise intimidated, and they replied by saying that they would beat the Spaniards out of the forts which they occupied and would thus find houses ready built in which to live. Such an answer was well in keeping with the record which they were destined to make as courageons fighters. It was full of the spirit of Bannoekburn, and to men like John Mohr McIntosh, Capt. Hugh Mackay, Ensign Charles Mackay, Col. John McIntosh, Gen. Lachlan MeIntosh and others of the same heroic stock, Georgia, both as a colony and as a state, owes a debt of gratitude which time eannot diminish.
At an early date, Capt. Hugh Maekay, with the assistance of Indian guides furnished by Tomo-ehi-ehi, located a road between New Inverness and Savannah, and the same route is today followed by the splendid highway which runs between Savannah and Darien. The town which was settled by the Highlanders began to prosper. It was beautifully situated on a bluff of the river, in a grove of wide-spreading live oaks, while around it for miles stretched the level forests of Georgia. In after years it was destined to become an important eommereial seaport; but before this time arrived it was fated to suffer almost complete anni- hilation. The Highlanders at New Inverness were the chief dependence of Oglethorpe in the Spanish hostilities which ensued; and while they saved Georgia from destruction, it was at grim cost to themselves.
Most of the gallant band were either killed in battle or taken prison- ers. The greatest fatalities occurred during the disastrous assault upon St. Augustine. It seems that Colonel Palmer, who commanded a force of Highlanders at the time of the siege, disregarded the instructions of Oglethorpe, only to be surprised by the enemy at Fort Moosa, with tragie results. The Highlanders fought like tigers, but fell in great numbers. Those who survived were afterwards permitted to taste the sweets of victory when the Spanish power was overthrown at the battle of Bloody Marsh. But the remnant was pathetically small, some moved to other localities, and the little Town of New Inverness finally passed into other hands, to emerge eventually into the modern City of Darien .*
* Of the condition of this town in 1743 we find the following account in the London Magazine for 1745, p. 551: "Our first Stage we made New Inreruess, or the Darien, on the Continent near 20 miles from Frederica; which is a Settlement of Highlanders living and dressing in their own Country Fashion, very happily and contentedly. There is an Independent Company of Foot of them, consisting of 70 men who have been of good service. The Town is regularly laid out, and built of Wood mostly, divided into Streets and Squares; before the Town is the Parade, and a Fort not yet finish 'd. It is situated upon a very high Bluff, or point of Land,
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from whence, with a few cannon, they can scour the River, otherwise it is surrounded by Pine-barrens, and Woods, and there is a Rout by Land to Savannah and Fort Argyle, which is statedly reconnoitred by a Troop of Highland Rangers who do duty here. The Company and Troop, armed in the Highland manner make an extreme good appearance under arms. The whole Settlement may be said to be a brave and industrious People; but were more numerous, planted more, and raised more cattle before the Invasion, with which they drove a good trade to the Southward; but things seem daily mending with them. They are forced to keep a very good Guard in this Place, it lies so open to the Insults of the French and Spanish Indians, who once or twice had shewn Straglers some very bloody Tricks."
"Altamaha," according to Col. Absalom H. Chappell, is derived from the Spanish expression "alta-mia," signifying a deep earthen plate or dish. The name may have been suggested by the character of the lower end of the river, perhaps the only part which the Spaniards saw before the christening and which looked to them like a dish kept full to the brim by tidal impulses from the sea rather than by hidden sources of supply from an unknown interior. Oliver Goldsmith's famous picture of the region where the "Wild Altama" murmured to the woe of the settlers was probably drawn from some exaggerated account.
CHAPTER XIII
TOMO-CHI-CHI'S VISIT TO ENGLAND IS TURNED TO GOOD ACCOUNT-IN- CREASED INTEREST IN THE COLONY OF GEORGIA-TWO VESSELS CHAR- TERED TO CONVEY THE NEW SETTLERS-THE SYMOND AND THE LONDON MERCHANT-OGLETHORPE DECLINES TO ACCEPT PASSAGE ON HIS MAJESTY'S SLOOP OF WAR, THE HAWK-PREFERS TO SHARE THE DIS- COMFORTS OF HIS FELLOW-VOYAGERS-THE GREAT EMBARKATION-THE WESLEYS ACCOMPANY OGLETHORPE TO GEORGIA-STORMY WEATHER ENCOUNTERED-CALMNESS OF THE MORAVIANS-AN INCIDENT OF THE VOYAGE-TYBEE ISLAND IS REACHED-OGLETHORPE DISAPPOINTED TO FIND THE LIGHTHOUSE STILL UNFINISHED-REASONS FOR THE DELAY -WHISKY BROUGHT OVER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA-ON ARRIVING IN SAVANNAH, THE MORAVIANS DESIRE TO LOCATE AT IRENE-OGLE- THORPE CONSENTS, THOUGH HE WISHED TO SETTLE THEM AROUND HIS MILITARY STRONGHOLD ON ST. SIMON'S ISLAND-EBENEZER VISITED -FORT AUGUSTA IS GARRISONED-THE INDIAN TRADE AT THIS POINT JUSTIFIES A LINE OF BOATS-EFFORTS TO DIVERT IT FROM CHARLES- TON-OGLETHORPE BUILDS A HIGHWAY BETWEEN SAVANNAH AND DARIEN-FORT FREDERICA IS COMMENCED-THE TOWN-FRANCIS MOORE'S DESCRIPTION-THIS BECOMES OGLETHORPE'S HOME-RE- TURNING TO SAVANNAH, HIE STOPS AT NEW INVERNESS-WEARS THE SCOTTISH PLAID-ON REACHING TYBEE, HE FINDS THIE TWO CAPTAINS UNWILLING TO ENTER THE SHALLOW WATERS OF JEKYLL SOUND-CAR- GOES TRANSFERRED-DELAY INVOLVED-OGLETHORPE EXPLORES THE LOWER COAST-CUMBERLAND ISLAND-FORT ST. ANDREW-FORT WIL- LIAM-FORT GEORGE-FORT ST. SIMON-CHARLES DEMPSEY, AN ENG- LISH ENVOY, VISITS ST. AUGUSTINE TO CONCILIATE THE SPANIARDS- RESULTS OF HIS MISSION.
Tomo-chi-chi's visit to England was turned to good account by the trustees. As a result, popular interest in the colony was greatly stimu- lated. Donations poured into the London office. Applications were re- ceived by the score from persons who wished to settle in Georgia, many of these without expense to the trust. Great preparations, therefore, were made for Oglethorpe's return voyage to Georgia. It became an absorbing topic of discussion throughont the kingdom. Prizes were offered by the Gentleman's Magazine for the four best poems to be writ- ten on "The Christian HIero." Oglethorpe was the toast of all Britain.
But he was too deeply absorbed in the details of his work, if not too well poised in his splendid balanee of character, to be disturbed by this adulation. Mr. Francis Moore was put in charge of all provisions and supplies for the voyage. These included food products, agricultural implements, household utensils, small arms, heavy guns, in fact, every-
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thing needed for the colony's maintenance and protection. This depart- ure of Oglethorpe for Georgia became known as the Great Embarkation.
To preach the gospel both to the Indians and to the colonists, John Wesley, a young divine of ascetic habits of life, accompanied him, under a commission from the trustees, to succeed the Rev. Samuel Quincey, with whose conduct as resident minister there was much dissatisfaction. Mr. Wesley was employed at a salary of £50 sterling per annum. For a young minister who was both a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and a fine classical scholar, to undertake such an errand to the wilds of America at such a salary was proof sufficient of Jolin Wesley's consecration. His brother, Charles Wesley, wishing to accompany him, was retained as Oglethorpe's private secretary and was also designated as secretary of Indian affairs. These gifted divines embodied all unconsciously at this time one of the great reform movements of modern times; but the hour had not yet struck for its awakening.
Two vessels were chartered by the trustees to convey the new emi- grants to Georgia. These were the Symond, a vessel of 220 tons, Capt. Joseph Cornish in command, and the London Merchant, a sister ship, Capt. John Thomas in command. On Tuesday, October 14, 1735, Ogle- thorpe, accompanied by the two Wesleys, the Rev. Mr. Ingram, and Charles Delamotte, the son of a London merchant, set out for Grave- send, where these vessels were waiting at the docks ready to spread sail. Besides the two vessels above named there was also a convoy, his majesty's sloop of war, the Hawk, commanded by Captain Gascoine. This was provided with special reference to Oglethorpe's comfort; but he declined to avail himself of quarters better than those allotted to his fellow-voy- agers. He, therefore, took a cabin on the Symond. Two hundred and fifty-two passengers were listed for this eventfnl voyage. These included a number of German Lutherans, under Captain Hermsdorf and Baron Von Reck, also twenty-five Moravians, accompanied by the Rev. David Nitschman. Sir Francis Bathhurst, his son, three daughters, and a num- ber of servants, were also among the voyagers, going without expense to the trust to settle in Georgia.
But adverse weather conditions prevented a departure for several weeks. It was not until December 10, 1735, that favoring gales arrived; and even then it was a tempestuous voyage upon which these colonists embarked. Violent storms raged, tossing the ships upon angry seas. The following anecdote of the voyage has been preserved: On one occasion the waters broke over the Symond, flooding the vessed from stem to stern. It even burst through the windows of the state cabin and drenched the inmates. John Wesley was almost washed overboard by one of the waves. But in all these storms and dangers the Moravians were calm and unterrified. The tempest began on Sunday, just as they commenced services ; the sea broke over the ship, split the mainsail, and poured down upon the vessel, threatening instant destruction. The English screamed, but the Germans sang on.
"Were yon not afraid?" asked Wesley, speaking to one of them.
"I thank God, no," he replied.
"But were not your women and children afraid?" he inquired.
"No," answered the Moravian, "onr women and children are not afraid to die."
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Mr. Wesley afterward said that the example of these Moravians exerted so powerful an influence upon him as to make him doubt if he were really converted before he met them .*
At last, however, on February 4, 1736, the voyagers reached Tybee Island. On going ashore, Oglethorpe was disappointed to find what lit- tle progress had been made in building the light-house, whose beams the founder had expected to light his entry back into Georgia's home waters. Work had commenced more than eighteen months before, but only the foundations had been laid. As an explanation for this state of affairs, it was found that cheap rum had been conveyed across the estuary from South Carolina, in consequence of which the workmen were "frequently drunk, idle and disobedient."
On arrival in Savannah, Oglethorpe was greeted by all the free- holders under arms and was given a salute of twenty-one guns from a battery of cannon. The new emigrants were delighted with the settlement and glad to partake once more of fresh meat. It was Ogle- thorpe's intention to locate all the new settlers, brought over at this time, on the trust's account, at Frederica, where he planned with the co-operative help of many hands to build a town and a fort on St. Simon's Island. But the Moravians were not fighters. Religiously opposed to warfare they did not wish to live in a military town on the exposed borders, where they might come to blows at any time with the Spaniards. Consequently they prevailed upon Oglethorpe to send them to Irene, where a Moravian colony had already been planted. For like reasons, the Lutherans wished to settle at Ebenezer and they were not opposed in this desire; but Captain IIermsdorf. a soldier, volunteered with a small company to go to Frederica and "to serve with the English to the last."
Before establishing his military stronghold at Frederica, however, Oglethorpe went first to Ebenezer where he found these German settlers clamorous for removal to a new site nearer the Savannah River; but we have already anticipated this change in a former discussion of the Salzburger settlement in Georgia. Oglethorpe was at first opposed to removal but finally consented. Nor did he ever regret having done so. It marked a new era in the lives of these frugal and industrious people who worked all the harder to conquer success from a savage wilderness. It was estimated by Benjamin Martyn, secretary of the trustees, that up to 1741 there were not less than 1,200 German Protestants in the province, settled at the following places: New Ebenezer, Bethany, Savannah, Frederica and Goshen; nor did the colony boast better inhabitants.
Without stopping to discuss matters which cannot be included in a general survey of conditions or which do not bear directly upon the main current of events, we must hasten on to note important de- velopments.
In 1736 a garrison was stationed some distance up the Savannah River at a point which Oglethorpe, during the year previous, had se- lected for a fort to guard the extreme northern frontier. On the oppo- site side of the river was a settlement, the origin of which dated back
* Lawton B. Evans, in "School History of Georgia."
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to 1716. It was called at first Savannah Town, afterwards Fort Moore, and was planned as a sort of trading post to facilitate commerce with the Cherokee Indians who occupied the mountain regions and with the Upper Creeks who dwelt principally in Alabama. The first agent in charge of the store was Theophilus Hastings. There was a well established trail running through the wilderness from Fort Moore to Charleston, with which town there was also communication by water.
The garrison located on the west side of the Savannah River at this time was called Fort Augusta, in honor of a royal princess by this name. Besides a rude fortifieation built to defend the neighborhood there was erected in its shadow a large warehouse well stoeked with supplies such as were usually sought by the Indians. Animal skins of various kinds called pelts, taken in exchange, always brought good prices in the
CELTIC CROSS, MARKING THE SITE OF OLD FORT AUGUSTA
Charleston market. To divert this trade to Savannah was one of the primary objects of the new settlement. Accordingly a line of boats was established between Savannah and Fort Augusta, which in time became a source of great profit. The new settlement proved to be a great resort for traders, especially in the spring of each year. Ilere was purchased from the Indians annually "some 2,000 pack horse loads of skins and other articles offered by the natives in the way of barter; and inelud- ing residents of the town, pack horse men, boat hands and servants, it is estimated that not less than 600 white persons were, at an early date, engaged in commercial transactions." With the growing importance of Fort Augusta, the settlement at Fort Moore began to decline. In addi- tion to a water route, there was also opened a road to Savannah over which one could travel on horseback. On the authority of Colonel Jones a man by the name of O'Bryan was the first settler at Fort Augusta, erecting there at his own expense a well furnished store house. Roger
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De Lacy, a noted Indian trader, was also an early pioneer resident of the town. The garrison at this place was commanded for some time by a Captain Kent. Its maintenance was a charge upon the trustees.
Oglethorpe next turned his attention to the south. First a highway was surveyed to connect Savannah and Darien. Mr. Hugh Mackay was engaged to run this line, assisted by Messrs. Augustine and Tolme, with guides furnished by Tomo-chi-chi. Captain MacPherson, at the head of a detachment of rangers, was sent to aid the Highlanders on the Alta- maha River.
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