USA > Georgia > A standard history of Georgia and Georgians > Part 18
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But the founder's most cherished project was the fortification of St. Simon's Island. With this end in view, he secured some fifty rangers, besides one hundred workmen, to assist him in building a fort to com- mand the mouth of the Altamaha River, also a town to be located in its immediate neighborhood. Ilaving made these preliminary arrange- ments, he returned to where the Symond and the London Merchant lay at anchor in the Savannah River. But he found their captains unwill- ing to risk a hazardous trip through unknown waters. He, therefore, purchased the cargo of a sloop, the Midnight, on condition that its freight should be at once delivered at Frederica. Captains Cornish and Thomas were to board this sloop, leaving their vessels in charge of Mr. Francis Moore, keeper of the stores, and proceeding southward were to acquire a knowledge of the entrance into Jekyll Sound; after which they were to conduct their vessels thither. With thirty single men, Messrs. Horton and Tanner were ordered to acompany the sloop, which was well supplied with munitions for resisting an attack. Ogle- thorpe set sail in a scout boat to meet the sloop at Jekyll Sound. Cap- tain Hermsdorf, some Indians and two colonists accompanied him, while Captain Dunbar, with his boat, followed behind. Threading the in- terior waters, St. Simon's was reached on the morning of February 18, 1736. All hands were immediately put to work. Three days later a periagua arrived from Savannalı bringing workmen, provisions, and military supplies for the new settlement. On the 26th Captains Cornislı and Thomas returned to Tybee; but after sounding these waters they were still unwilling to risk their vessels on a journey to Frederica. At great delay, therefore, and much to the annoyance of Oglethorpe, it was necessary to transfer the cargoes brought over by these vessels to smaller ones, the Peter and the James; but in time both cargoes were discharged at St. Simon's.
Fort Frederica was soon built. Nor could a better site have been chosen. It faced one of the several streams into which the delta of the Altamaha River divides on approaching the ocean, but it so happened that the channel which it overlooked at this point constituted the most im- portant outlet to the sea. Oglethorpe possessed the trained eye as well as the stout arm of the soldier. He saw at once the strategie value of the bluff, while in the level area of ground which stretched behind it he found the ideal spot for his future home town. Here he began to erect the fort, which was to guard the exposed southern frontier of Georgia. The original structure was in the main built of tabby, a concrete material of lime mixed with shells and stones. It was quad- rangular in shape, provided with four bastions, and defended by eighteen-pounders. Oglethorpe himself superintended the work of con- Vol. I-8
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struction and taught the men to dig the ditches and to turf the ramparts. There were two large magazines, sixty feet in length and three stories in height included within the stockade. The barracks were at the north end of the town, where they occupied quarters ninety feet square. Over the gateway rose a tower, while on either side there were bastions two stories in height and twenty feet square, each equipped with heavy guns. To furnish adequate water supplies, a well was dug within the fort. In honor of Frederick, Prince of Wales, the stronghold was christened Frederica.
To quote Colonel Jones again : "Such was the simple beginning of Frederica. Near this town Mr. Oglethorpe fixed the only home he ever owned in the province. In its defence were enlisted his best energies, military skill and valor. Brave are the memories of St. Simon's Island. None prouder belong to the colonial history of Georgia." But we must dissent from a statement made by Colonel Jones in the foregoing para- graph. Oglethorpe's ownership of a home contravenes one of the ex- press rules adopted by the corporation forbidding a trustee to own any land in the province. It was not, therefore, in any sense of absolute proprietorship that Oglethorpe owned a home on St. Simon's Island.
Having given explicit directions to the workmen at Frederica the founder once more turned his face northward to superintend the trans- fer of stores and passengers from the vessels anchored off Tybee Island. En route, he stopped over to visit the Highlanders at Darien. These Scotch settlers accorded him a hearty welcome, and there was great re- joieing among them when it was learned that a town was soon to be established on St. Simon's Island and that direct communication by land was soon to be opened with Savannah. Though importuned by Capt. Hugh Mackay to occupy his tent for the night, Oglethorpe ex- cused himself, preferring to make his couch at the Guard Fire, wrapped in his Scotch plaid, "for he wore the Highland Habit." Despite the cold weather, Captain Mackay followed his example, as did also the other gentlemen.
In due season Oglethorpe reached Tybee Island. Assembling the colonists together he informed them of his failure to persuade the two captains to conduct them to Frederica in the ocean transports. IIe also apprised them of the difficulties to be encountered in making a passage of the inland waters in open boats, and gave them an option of settling in Savannah; but after conferring for two hours they decided to make the trip to Frederica, notwithstanding the hazards involved. On March 2d the new settlers embarked for Frederica in a fleet of open boats, for each of which spare oars were provided. Oglethorpe accompanied them on this trip, taking passage in the rear craft. To encourage the men who operated the oars, Oglethorpe, we are told, "placed all the strong beer on board a fast boat." Five days were consumed in the voyage; but finally on March 8th Frederica was safely reached.
To make amends for lost time the colonists worked with a vim. In three weeks a battery of cannon had been mounted upon a high rampart covered with sod, streets had been laid out for the town, and a store house, sixty feet in width, had been started. The earliest description of
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Frederica dates back to this time and comes from the pen of Mr. Francis Moore. Says he : *
"The Main Street that went from the Front into the Country was 25 yards wide. Each Free-holder had 60 Foot in Front by 90 Foot in Depth, upon the high Street, for their House and Garden; but those which fronted the River had but 30 Foot in Front, by 60 Foot in Depth. Each Family had a Bower of Palmetto Leaves, finished upon the back Street in their own Lands. The Side towards the front Street was set out for their IIonses. These Palmetto Bowers were very convenient Shelters, being tight in the hardest Rains; they were about 20 Foot long and 14 Foot wide, and, in regular Rows, looked very pretty, the Pal- metto Leaves lying smooth and handsome, and of a good Colour. The whole appeared something like a Camp, for the Bowers looked like Tents, only being larger and covered with Palmetto Leaves instead of Canvas. There were 3 large Tents, two belonging to Mr. Oglethorpe, and one to Mr. Horton, pitched upon the Parade near the River."
Before returning to Savannah, Oglethorpe proceeded further down the coast, accompanied by a body of Indians, some forty in number, including Tomo-chi-chi. The party was conveyed in two scout boats. On the day following, Capt. Hugh Mackay, with twenty Highlanders, ten men of the Independent Company and a supply of provisions, over- took them on the journey southward. Reaching an island called by the Indians Wisso, meaning "sassafras," he changed its name to Cumber- land. This was done at the suggestion of Toona-howi, nephew of Toma- chi-chi, who had received from the Duke of Cumberland, while in Eng- land, a gold watch as a memento. "We will give his name to this island," said Toona-howi, "so that we will remember him at all times." On the north-western point of Cumberland the site for a fort was marked out to be called Fort Andrew. Captain Mackay was left on the island with his command to construct this stronghold, attended by a company of Indians to supply them with game for food while thus engaged.
The island to the south of Cumberland was named Amelia, because of its rich coloring, then beautiful with the soft tints of early spring. To the Spaniards this island was known as Santa Maria, the English of which is St. Mary, a name still retained by a river forming the present southern boundary line of Georgia.
At a later period, Fort William was built at the lower end of Cum- berland to control the inland passage to St. Augustine. On San Juan Island, at the entrance to the St. John's River, he found an old fort which he called Fort George, since this island was included in a cession of land made by the Indians to King George. Captain Hermsdorf was left with a detachment of Highlanders to rebuild this fort.
En route back to Frederica a battery called Fort St. Simon was erected at the lower end of St. Simon's Island to guard the inland passage to Frederiea and to command the entrance to Jekyll Sound. Arrived at Frederiea, Oglethorpe was gratified to find the men busily at work. Within the fort had been dug a well which yielded an abundant supply of good water. Under one of the bastions of the fort a powder magazine had also been excavated. To encourage the workmen an in-
* "Voyage to Georgia."
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dented servant, a haker, was detailed to bake bread for them, while veni- son, brought in by the Indians, took the place of salt provisions. Ogle- thorpe was anxious to see the fort completed before an attack from the Spaniards should materialize; and in order that news of any movement from the enemy in this direction might be obtained without delay Indian runners were employed to watch the walls of St. Augustine. In the event of trouble the Chehaws had promised a band of warriors. Tomo-chi-elii, with his brave Yamacraws, was also ready to assist. Ensign Delegal, hearing that trouble was imminent, reached Frederica on the 10th of May, with thirty men of the Independent Company, but only tarried to locate a fort on the east side of St. Simon's Island. Here he mounted several guns. Returning, on June 8th, with the rest of the Independent Company, he brought thirteen cannon, and completed his earthwork which became known as Delegal's Fort at the Sea Point. Volunteers from Georgia and South Carolina offered themselves in such numbers that Oglethorpe was compelled to issue orders directing all who had plantations to cultivate them until summoned to arms.
Meanwhile steps were taken by England to conciliate the Spaniards. Mr. Charles Dempsey, an envoy of the British government, had aceom- panied Oglethorpe to America, with instructions to proceed to St. Au- gustine. On February 19, 1736, with Major Richards, he set out for the Florida capital. We cannot enter into any detailed narrative of these negotiations. It is useless to deny that, during his residence in St. Augustine, Mr. Dempsey did much to adjust relations between Georgia and Spain and to prevent a Spanish invasion of Georgia soil. His visit was well timed, for Spain was only too eager to crush the struggling Province of Georgia. She had long been maturing plans to this end. But while much is to be eredited to the diplomatic errand of Mr. Demp- sey, still more is due to the sleepless vigilance of Oglethorpe and to the splendid show of batteries, seout boats and armed men which he made on Georgia's ocean front. Thus two whole years elapsed before the blow contemplated by Spain was finally delivered.
FORT AUGUSTA: 1736 .- Overlooking the Savannah River, from the rear of St. Paul's Church, stands a eross of Celtic design which marks the birth-place of the present City of Augusta. It was on this spot, at the head of navigation, that the great founder of the colony caused a fort to be ereeted in 1736, the object of which was to protect the trading post established at this point, in the fall of 1735, and to divert the extensive Cherokee and Creek Indian trade hitherto monopolized by Sonth Carolina. In honor of the Princess of Wales, whose royal consort afterwards beeame George III, it was christened Fort Augusta, though it was sometimes ealled King's Fort. It was not a large affair. The dimensions were 120 feet each way and the walls were constructed of wood. But it answered the purpose: Augusta was never attacked or pillaged by the savages. Sometimes they came quite near; indeed, their faces often peered through the dense forest across the river and their foot- prints were often seen in the nearby trails, but they never ventured to hurl a torch or a tomahawk against the village.
At first the garrison consisted of less than twenty men. However, with the increase of trade, it was gradually strengthened. According to an early document on the state of the province, dated November 10, 1740, and made under oath it was estimated that 2,000 pack-horse loads of peltry were brought to Augusta an- nually and that 600 white persons, inelnding servants, were engaged in the traffic. Thus the importance of Augusta as a trading point, even from the earliest times, is clearly shown; and William Batrram, the celebrated English naturalist,
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who visited the place twice, expected it to become the metropolis of Georgia. There was no commercial intercourse allowed except through licensed traders; warehouses were constructed in which were stored goods suited for barter with the natives; and it was not long before the Indians began to come to Augusta in large numbers from the most distant stretches of the wilderness.
In 1739, Oglethorpe himself visited the settlement. It was on his return trip to Savannah, after the famous conference with the Indians at Coweta Town, and, ex- hausted with his long journey across the province, he sought repose in Augusta, where he was the recipient of marked attention from the inhabitants. In 1763, an important gathering was held in Augusta called the Congress of the Five Indian Nations, to which 700 savages came for the purpose of meeting the governors of Virginia, of North Carolina, of South Carolina, and of Georgia. We are told by an early chronicler that the congress adjourned under a salute from the guns of Fort Augusta, and there was doubtless some method in the compliment of Governor Wright when he ordered the salute to be fired. It gave the Indians something to remember. It sounded a note of warning, and the moral effect was fine. Says Doctor Williams, a former rector of St. Paul's, on the occasion when the site was marked by the Colonial Dames :* "Fort Augusta discharged the very highest funetions for which military armaments are intended. It kept the peace throughout the whole Colonial time, up to the breaking out of the Revolution and, indeed, until 1781. It fulfilled its first purpose a mission of peace. The bloody time, the time of tragedy, came later, when we took those guns and turned them against one another."
On the ruins of the old fort, in 190I, the Colonial Dames erected the handsome memorial tribute which today marks the historic spot. It is a cross of Celtic design, rough-hewn, perhaps twelve feet in height and mounted upon a base of granite to match the superstructure. At the base rests an old cannon, one of the ancient guns which formerly stood upon the parapets. It is difficult to conceive of anything more appropriate. The purpose for which the fort was built, in part at least, was to protect the house of worship over which it kept grim and silent watch and around which elnstered the rude cabins of the settlers. Both the religious and the primitive character of the little frontier town are charmingly commemorated. Inscribed on the side nearest the church are the following words:
This stone marks the site of the Colonial Fort Augusta, built by order of General Oglethorpe and the trustees in 1736 and known during the Revolution as Fort Cornwallis.
St. Paul's Church was built in 1750 under a curtain of this fort. On the opposite side, facing the river, the inscription reads:
Erected by the Georgia Society of Colonial Dames of America, November, 190I. Virtues majorum felice conservant.
Doctor Williams, in speaking of the old cannon at the base of the monument said: "To my mind, it is the most interesting relic in Augusta. It is all that is left of the old fort-the one thing which was here in 1736 and is here today; the one thing which pnts us in actual touch with Oglethorpe, for it was here when he came on his visit, in 1739, and when he wrote a letter in his own hand, dated 'Fort Augusta, in Georgia.' " There were originally eight guns mounted upon the walls of the fort, all of which were bought in England by Oglethorpe himself. Yet this one, dismounted, spiked, rusting from long disuse and old age, is the sole survivor of the early frontier days when Fort Augusta first stood upon the bluff.
HISTORIC OLD ST. PAUL'S .- Opposite one of the curtains of the fort, in 1750, fourteen years after the establishment of the garrison, were laid the foundations of the most ancient edifice in Augusta: historic old St. Paul's. The prescut house of worship is not the original structure. Two others have preceded it; but around this ancient land-mark cluster the memories of a hundred eventful years. Moreover, it occupies the site of the earliest rude building in which religious services were first held, according to the impressive ritual of the Church of England; and, standing in the very heart of the bustling city, it carries the imagination back to
* Story of St. Paul's Parish, a pamphlet, by Rev. Chauncey C. Williams, D. D.
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OLD ST. PAUL'S, AUGUSTA
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the time when the old fort rose in the wilderness to protect the infant settlement. Says Doctor Williams, formerly reeter of the parish: * "It was appropriately named for the great pioneer Apostle, since it stood on the frontier line of civilization in Georgia, and was not only the first church but for over fifty years the only church of any kind in Augusta. Its rectors were of course missionaries of the Church of England. The first of the number was the Rev. Jonathan Copp who came to take charge in 1751. He found the conditions very difficult, lived in constant fear of an Indian invasion, and wrote somewhat doleful letters, but he held services at regular intervals, and, encouraged by the better class of people, he carried the gospel into the neighboring country, within a radius of thirty miles. He was succeeded in 1756 by the Rev. Samuel Frink, a delicate man, who, in spite of ill-health, went everywhere, re-enforeing his sermons by the wholesome power of example. Next in 1767 came the Rev. Edward Ellington, a missionary in the severest sense of the word. He was seldom at home, except on Sundays, and frequently journeyed into the wilderness for more than a hundred miles. He was followed in 1771 by the Rev. James Seymour, who was rector of St. Paul's throughout the vicissitudes of the Revolutionary War.
" During the struggle for independence the fort was three times taken and retaken and Mr. Seymour saw the church appropriated first by the Americans as a barracks and then by the British for other military purposes. The parsonage house he will- ingly allowed to be used as a hospital for sick soldiers. The old churchyard became a battlefield, drenched with the blood and sown with the bones of the slain, and the church itself was practically destroyed by the fire of an American cannon mounted upon a tower thirty feet high and raking the whole interior of the fort. At this time, having been occupied and enlarged by the British, it was called Fort Cornwallis; and it was this stronger fortification which was besieged in 1781 by the Americans, under 'Light-Horse Harry' Lee, father of our own general, Robert E. Lee. Hunted down by a mob and driven into a swamp, because of his loyalty to England, Mr. Seymour escaped after many privations to Savannah. When hostilities were ever, he was in- vited to return, but he engaged in other work and never came back. Meantime, the church and the glebe had been confiscated by the State. The property of St. Paul's then comprised 300 aeres. When the land was sold, the proceeds were given to the Trustees of the Richmond Academy, and in 1786 the church was virtually rebuilt by the town authorities. While Episcopal clergymen still officiated in St. Paul's, the church was denied titles both to the building and to the ancient burying ground. In fact, in 1804, the church was rented for five years to the Presbyterians and it was not until 1818 that the Legislature of Georgia tardily restored the property to the Episcopalians." Soon after the transfer was made, the present handsome old edifice was built, in 1819, at a cost of $30,000, under the rectorship of the Rev. Hugh Smith, He was succeeded in 1832 by the Rev. Edward E. Ford, who ably served the church for thirty years, dying on Christmas eve, 1862, and at his request he was buried under the altar of the church. Dr. Wm. H. Clarke was then reetor for sixteen years, after which at his death he was given like honors of interment. Dr. Williams became rector in 1878 and served the church with great usefulness for 28 years, at the expiration of which time he resigned his office to labor in another field. He was succeeded by the present rector.
Dr. Williams preached his farewell sermon on December 2, 1906. At the same timo a tablet was erected in St. Paul's Church by the vestry, commemorating the events of which it became the historic center in Colonial times. Lettered thereon is the following inscription :
This Tablet commemorates the founding of St. Paul's Church A. D. 1750, nearby the King's Fort in the town of Augusta, in the Colony of Georgia, under the English Crown.
Also the faithful services of its Colonial Rectors: Rev. Jonathan Copp. 1751: Rev. Samuel Frink, 1765; Rev. Edward Ellington, 1767; Rev. James Seymour, 1771-1781; Missionaries of the Church of England and of the Society for the Propagating of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
L. L. Knight in "Georgia 's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends, " Vol. I.
* "Story of St. Paul's Parish. " a pamphlet, by Rev. Chauncey C. Williams, D. D.
CHAPTER XIV
THE WESLEYS IN GEORGIA-JOHN WESLEY COMES AS A MISSIONARY TO THE INDIANS AND AS A SPIRITUAL SHEPHERD TO THE WHITE FLOCK -CHARLES WESLEY ENGAGES AS OGLETHORPE'S PRIVATE SECRETARY, BUT LATER TAKES HOLY ORDERS-THE FORMER LABORS CHIEFLY IN SAVANNAH, THE LATTER AT FREDERICA-THE TWO EXCHANGE PLACES FOR A TIME-CHARLES WESLEY GETS INTO HOT WATER-OGLETHORPE RESENTS SOME OF HIS INJUDICIOUS MEDDLING-SAVANNAH, THE CRADLE OF METHODISM AND THE BIRTHPLACE OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS- JOHN WESLEY QUITS SAVANNAH-HIS LOVE AFFAIR WITH SOPHIA HOPKEY OR HOPKINS-WESLEY'S GEORGIA DIARY AND HYMN BOOK- BETHESDA-HOW WHITEFIELD CAME TO ESTABLISH HIS FAMOUS HOME FOR ORPHANS-THE GREAT PREACHER'S OWN ACCOUNT-LADY HUNTINGDON BECOMES A PATRONESS-ONE OF THE GREATEST OF PULPIT ORATORS.
When Oglethorpe returned to Georgia, in 1736, after a sojourn of several months in England, there sailed with him to Savannah two young religious enthusiasts, whose names were destined to become household words throughout the whole of Christendom: John and Charles Wes- ley. It was the founder's anxiety for the spiritual welfare of the colony which induced him to make overtures to these devout men. On the other hand, it was the somewhat ascetic creed of self-denial embraced by the Wesleys which induced them to exchange the luxurious life of an English countryside for the privations of an unexplored wilderness beyond the Atlantic. Reared under the pious roof of old Samuel Wes- ley, who, for more than forty years, was rector of the church at Epworth, both heredity and environment impelled them toward the pulpit. How- ever, it was not until they became students at Oxford that they acquired the austere habits of life which set them peculiarly apart; and here, in association with congenial spirits, few in number but kindred in character, they formed a club, which drew upon them no small amount of ridicule and abuse. They were regarded in the light of pietists. The name which finally stuck-Methodists-seems to have been given to them by a fellow of Merton College. At first John Wesley declined the offer of Oglethorpe. His father was recently deceased and his mother was old. The latter, however, rallied him with mild rebuke. "Had I twenty sons," said she, "I should rejoice that they were all so em- ployed, though I should never see them more." Thus admonished, he waived his scruples and agreed to accompany Oglethorpe to Georgia, his special desire being for missionary work among the Indians; and for this purpose he came with full religious ordination. But Charles engaged himself in the capacity of private secretary to Oglethorpe; and
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