USA > Georgia > A standard history of Georgia and Georgians > Part 33
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"From hence I went to the Island of Cumberland on the south point whereof stands Fort William, a Post of no less consequence, as is evi- dent from the Defence it made against Twenty Eight Spanish Vessels and a considerable Land Force that attack'd it unsuccessfully in the year 1742.
"General Oglethorpe has, in my humble opinion displayed a great deal of Skill in his choice of such situations. This Fort commands a noble Inlet from the Sea,-the entrance of the River St. Mary,-which runs deep into the country,-and the Inland Passage thro' which the runaway Negroes and other Deserters are obliged to go on their way to St. Augustine. The works are of no great extent but admirably con- trived to be maintained by a small Garrison, and might be replaced without any great expense, £10,000, and until these things are done I apprehend this Province, and I may add the next, will be very insecure."
On May 17, 1758, Governor Reynolds having been relieved of his commission by the home government, Lieutenant-Governor Ellis, in rec- ognition of his efficient work in tranquilizing conditions in Georgia, was
* "History of Georgia, " Jones, I, pp. 530-531.
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made governor-in-chief of the province and placed at the helm of affairs. He had fully met all expectations, not only of the province but of the crown.
Returning prosperity was indicated at this time by the colony's increased exports to England. These included 25,000 pounds of indigo, 55 hogsheads of rice, large quantities of resin, ete .; but the relative weakness of the province was still such that Georgia, in response to a communication from the Earl of Chatham, could offer little assistance to the mother country in a war against the French in Canada. How- ever, the militia of the province was most effectually employed in safe- guarding the borders. It was at this time that a nest of outlaws con- gregated on lands between the Altamaha and the St. John was broken up. The principal settlement of these brigands was located on the Satilla River, thirty miles above its mouth, at a place called New Han- over. Here, the notorious Edmund Gray, somewhat after the fashion of Robin Hood, held sway over a band of outlaws, who, holding no title to land and professing no allegiance to Georgia, were deemed a menace to the peace of the province. Orders were, therefore, issued by the Crown to disperse these marauders, a result accomplished without blood- shed, chiefly through the determination of Governor Ellis to use the militia if necessary. All preliminaries were arranged by a conference with ample powers.
In a former chapter we traced at some length the growth of the Midway settlement. The desire for an outlet on the ocean front led the Dorchester Puritans, who were largely interested in exports such as riee, indigo and cotton, to establish a town at the mouth of the Midway River, on an eminence well wooded. Such was the beginning of Sunbury.
Once a rival of Savannah, there is not a vestige left of the ancient town which in colonial days arose on the gentle slopes of the Midway River, near the point where it widens into St. Catharine's Sound. The streets and squares and market places of the town have been completely obliterated. Weeds today choke the deserted doeks where vessels used to land rich eargoes. Oyster shells in great white heaps mark the rugged shore lines; and on the hilltops, where formerly blazed the hearthstone fires, long rows of tasseled corn may be seen in summer, forming a coat of green wherewith to hide the tragedy which time has here wrought. The only link between past and present on these long- abandoned heights is the pathetie little graveyard; but even here the brambles riot among the erumbling tombstones.
Perhaps nowhere else in Georgia has the ruthless plowshare of Fate exemplified more strikingly the final estate to which things human and terrestrial are at last doomed. Yet this buried metropolis produced two signers of the Declaration of Independence, a distinction enjoyed by few eities in America. The commercial importance of Sunbury at the beginning of the Revolution is attested by the fact that seven square- rigged sehooners have been known to enter the port in one day, and Capt. Hugh McCall," Georgia's earliest historian-our authority for this statement-adds that Sunbury competed with Savannah for the
* "History of Georgia, " Edition of 1909, Vol. T. p. 177.
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coast trade during the late Colonial period. Colonel Jones estimates the population of Sunbury at something like 1,000 inhabitants, a num- ber which was quite large, considering the times, and doubtless but little short of the figures for Savannah. It was also the seat of a pioneer school of learning-the famous Sunbury Academy, tanght by Dr. Me Whir. Only ten miles distant from the Midway Church, it became the abode of a number of the members of this flock. But the excellence of the harbor facilities attracted settlers from remote points. Some came from Savannah, some from Charleston, and some even from far-off Bermuda. As early as 1762 it was made a port of entry by Governor Wright, who considered it a place of great promise; but it lay in the path of the despoiler, and from the ravages of the Revolution it never rallied.
General Oglethorpe, during his reconnoisance of the southern fron- tier of the province, in 1734, is said to have been impressed by the bold and beautiful bluff near the mouth of the Midway River, but it was not until twenty years later that the foundations of the future town were laid. The members of the Dorchester settlement, who were located for the most part in the close neighborhood of the Midway Church, were thrifty as well as pious, and they realized the need of a town on the ocean front nearby, where they could market rich erops of rice and indigo, from which, if handled to eommereial advantage, there were large profits to be realized. The result was that, on June 20, 1758, Capt. Mark Carr, who owned 500 acres of land on the heights overlook- ing the river, deeded 300 aeres of this tract to a set of trustees, who were charged with the duty of laying out the proposed town.
It appears that the owner acquired the property only a short time before the date of this transfer by deed of eonveyanee from His Majesty, King George II. The trustees to whom he conveyed the land for the founding of Sunbury were: James Maxwell, Kenneth Baillie, John Elliott, Grey Elliott, and John Stevens, most of whom were either members or supporters of Midway Church. Captain MeCall* suggests that the town was ealled Sunbury because the slopes on which it was built faced the sunrise, reasoning from the etymology of the word, the interpretation of which is-"the residence of the sun." Colonel Jones is inelined to think that it was named for the town of Sunbury, on the River Thames, in England. The trustees divided the area of the town into 400 lots and also planned for three squares. The lots were to be seventy feet in breadth by 130 feet in depth, and four of these were to constitute a block, bounded on three sides by streets, while a lane was to be the boundary of the fourth. The width of the streets was to be seventy-five feet and of the lanes twenty feet. King's Square, an arva well to the front of the town, was to be twice the size of the other two. viz. : Church and Meeting, and these were to be in the opposite wings.
Such, in brief, were the specifications upon which the town was built. It commanded the rice crops from the adjacent swamps, together with large supplies of indigo from Bermuda Island. The principal trade was with the West Indies and with the Northern colonies. On being made a port of entry, Thomas Carr was appointed collector, John Mar-
* " History of Georgia, " Edition of 1909, Vol. I. D. 177.
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tin, naval officer, and Francis Lee, searcher. The growth of the town was rapid. Schemes for publie improvement were projected on quite an impressive scale, and it was proposed, among other things, to con- struct a canal through the marshes to Colonel's Island. But the dream dissolved into thin air with the outbreak of hostilities; and, after the struggle for independence was over, Sunbury seems to have declined in commercial importance and to have become more of an educational center-in which respect it continued for years to enjoy an undisputed leadership.
According to tradition, the first Masonic lodge ever organized in Georgia was instituted under an old oak tree at Sunbury by Oglethorpe himself. It was more than twenty years before the town was located at this point, and when the founder of the colony was reconnoitering along the southern coast. The Society of St. George, now the Union Society, of Savannah, is said to have held a meeting under the same tree, by virtue of which its charter was saved, and the incident caused the old landmark to be designated in after years as the Charter Oak. It was during the troublous days of the Revolution; and, among the prisoners of war brought to Sunbury were Mordecai Sheftall, John Martin, John Stirk and Josiah Powell, all of whom were members. The charter of the organization provided for its own forfeiture, in the event meetings were not held annually; and here, under the walls of Fort Morris, in order to save the charter from extinction, these prison- ers of war met and elected officers, and thus one of the noblest organiza- tions of the state was spared for future usefulness. Today, the Union Society is the legatee and guardian of Whitefield's Orphan Home, at Bethesda. In the family of the Sheftalls a piece of the old oak is still preserved.
It was at Sunbury that some of the most noted men in the colony of Georgia resided. Here lived Dr. Lyman IIall, a signer of the Declara- tion of Independence from Georgia, a governor of the state, and a patriot who, single and alone, represented the Parish of St. John in the Continental Congress, at Philadelphia, before the province at large could be induced to join the federation. Here Button Gwinnett, an- other patriot whose name is on the immortal seroll of freedom, spent most of his time officially, while a justice of the peace for St. John's Parish, though he resided on St. Catharine's Island. Here George Walton, the last member of the illustrious trio who represented Georgia, was brought a prisoner of war, upon the fall of Savannah ; and here he remained for months until the wound which he received in defence of the city was healed and his exchange was negotiated. Both Walton and Gwinnett were also chief magistrates of the commonwealth.
There also lived here Richard Howley and Nathan Brownson, both governors ; John Elliott and Alfred Cuthbert, both United States sena- tors, and John A. Cuthbert, a member of Congress. Here also was the home of Maj. John Jones, who was killed by a eannon ball at the siege of Savannah ; and here John E. Ward, the first minister to China, was horn. Commodore MeIntosh, his sister, Maria J. MeIntosh, the famous novelist, Judge William E. Law and many others of note, were also
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natives of Sunbury. On February 1, 1797, the town having com- meneed to decline, the county seat was changed to Riceboro, a point which was nearer the center of population. Two hurricanes, one in 1804 and one in 1824, hastened the final hour of doom for the onee populous seaport ; malarial disorders multiplied amid the wreckage, and, in 1829, Sherwood gave the town a population of only 150 inhabitants. Twenty years later it was completely extinct.
During the administration of Governor Ellis, there was a final adjustment of the celebrated "Bosomworth elaim." It will be remem- bered that in requittal of her services to the colony as interpreter and to eover certain damages sustained by her first husband, who was an Indian agent, she had made a elaim upon the colony for £5,000, in addition to which she had elaimed three islands off the coast, Ossabaw, Sapelo and St. Catharine. These islands had been reserved by the Creeks, under an old treaty, but had been eeded baek to the English. However, the claim of Mrs. Bosomworth still put a cloud upon the titles. Finally, to make an end of matters, it was agreed to give her a deed in fee to the island of St. Catharine, on which she had established her residence, to pay her £450 for goods disbursed by her in his majesty's service during the years 1747 and 1748, and to pay her £1,600 in full of all demands both as interpreter and as government agent. In turn, Mrs. Bosomworth agreed to waive all claim to Ossabaw and Sapelo. These islands were subsequently sold, the former yielding £1,350, the latter £7,000; and from the proceeds thus obtained, Mrs. Bosomworth was paid the sum of £2,050.
Events were soon to demonstrate the foresight of Governor Ellis in renewing a covenant with the Creek Indians. Both the Carolinas in 1759 beeame involved in a war with the Cherokees, a powerful nation of red men, whose territory at this time reaching down into middle Georgia, embraced not only all the lands of North Carolina west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but a large part of South Carolina ; while on the north it reached to the Ohio River. The Cherokees had proven themselves effective allies in the English attaek upon Fort Duquesne; but on returning home after the capture of the fort they had appropriated some horses found pasturing in Virginia. Pursued by a party of fron- tiersmen, twelve warriors were killed, besides a number wounded. Such treatment for stealing a few stray horses, after a great service had been rendered to the English, was well ealeulated to arouse the Cher- okees, whose resentment, fanned into flames by French agents, led them to harrass the Carolina frontiers. Fort Loudoun, on the Little Ten- nessee River, was surrounded and its garrison eut off from all supplies, was faced by a critical situation. Calling out the militia, Governor Littleton, of South Carolina, prepared to march against the Cherokees, hearing of which thirty-two chiefs, with friendly sentiments toward the whites, went to Charleston prepared to make peace. But Governor Littleton refused to give them an audience. Moreover, he compelled them to march with his army to the town of Keowee, near which an English stronghold, Fort Prince George, was located. While on the march he kept them under guard and, after arriving at Keowee, he immured them within the fortress walls. Such an act of inhumanity lent no credit either to the soldiership or to the practical sagaeity of
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Governor Littleton, who, some days later, finding his army too weak for a successful attack upon the Cherokees, concluded to make peace with them and return to Charleston. He, therefore, sent for Atta- kulla-kulla, a chief whose friendship for the British was of long stand- ing, and with his assistance a peace was concluded on the following terms, to wit: Twenty-two Indians were to be held in the fort as host- ages for an equal number of redskins who had been murdering the whites, and all speed was to be employed in bringing these marauders to bay.
Governor Littleton then set ont for home. But his harsh treatment of the chiefs still rankled in the breasts of the Cherokee warriors, who, taking advantage of his departure, besieged the fort and killed out- right fourteen men. However, the fort itself was not taken. Cha- grined at this failure, the Indians resorted to stratagem. Whereupon Captain Cotymore, with two lieutenants were decoyed beyond the bar- ricade and murdered in cold blood. Incensed at this foul play, the soldiers within the fort retaliated by attempting to put the hostages in irons; but one of the Indians, in resisting this indignity, stabbed a soldier, to avenge which all the Indians were slaughtered.
The Cherokees needed no further goad. With a savage war cry they descended upon the South Carolina frontier, bearing both torch and tomahawk. Nor was any resistance offered for weeks, an epidemic of smallpox having broken out, in consequence of which the militia could not be called into action. But Colonel Montgomery was in this crisis dispatched from New York, with a force of regulars, supported by seven companies of rangers from North Carolina and Virginia. Attacking the Cherokees in South Carolina, he burned several towns, killed men, women and children, in an indiscriminate slaughter, and finally drove the remaining savages to the shelter of the mountains, where an effort to follow them drew him into an ambuscade, from which he was fortunate enough to escape. Returning to Charleston, he thence embarked for New York.
Meanwhile, on August 7, 1760, the garrison at Fort Loudoun, reduced to the point of starvation, was forced to capitulate. It was stipulated in the terms of surrender that the garrison was to be trans- ferred to Fort George, but on the first night of the journey a party of Indians waylaid the soldiers and those who escaped death were taken back as prisoners to Fort Londoun. The Cherokee war had assumed serious proportions.
We have gone thus fully into particulars because the whole of upper Georgia was at this time occupied by the Cherokees and the future course of events in the province was to some extent affected. Since this crimson holocaust was the result of Governor Littleton's folly in dealing with the Indians, it will only serve to bring into clear relief the supe- rior taet, humanity and wisdom of Governor Ellis and to emphasize how fortunate it was for Georgia that at this time-in the hour of her weak- ness-she was served by such a man-one whose policy was to befriend. not to mistreat, the savage tribes of the forest. Throughout all this period of bloodshed not a settler in the province of Georgia was attacked. Oglethorpe was beyond the seas, but in his place was one who breathed his spirit-an Ellis.
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But Georgia was fated soon to lose this wise protector. Governor Ellis had made a most excellent chief magistrate. He was deservedly popular with all classes of people. In fact, the welfare of the province had ever been his central thought, had ever engaged his most strenuous and resolute endeavors. There had been a general revival of industry throughout the province, all bickerings had ceased, and the tide of prosperity had commenced slowly to mount higher and higher. But the enervating effect of a warm elimate had left its mark upon a con- stitution none too robust; and while loath to relinquish an office whose duties he enjoyed or to leave a people whom he had learned to regard with a genuine affection, he was nevertheless forced in deference to his health to ask for permission to return to England. This request having been granted by the Crown, Lieutenant-Governor James Wright was designated to relieve him; and, on the latter's arrival in the prov- ince, on November 2, 1760, embarked for home, leaving behind him a fragrant memory to enrich the colonial annals of Georgia. His depar- ture was a source of regret to all, profound, unalloyed, and universal. Having arrived in England, he persuaded the Crown to relieve him per- manently of his responsibilities : but so efficient had he proven as an ad- ministrator of the Crown interests of England that he was soon after- wards made governor of Nova Scotia, a domain recently acquired by England from the French. But here he found the climate entirely too rigorous ; and, after giving two years and a half of his life to the service of the king in this far northern latitude, he sought to regain his health in the south of France. Attaining to a ripe old age, he spent his last days in a seaside villa, overlooking the Bay of Naples.
GALPHINTON OR "OLD TOWN."-Fifty miles southwest of Augusta, on the upper banks of the Ogeechee River, there once stood an old trading post, the origin of which probably antedates the coming of Oglethorpe to Georgia. At any rate, the traditions of the locality indicate that at an early period there were Indian traders from South Carolina in this immediate neighborhood, and, if not the first Europeans to establish themselves upon the soil of the future colony, they at least penetrated further into the interior. George Galphin was one of this adventurous band. He lived at Silver Bluff, on the east side of the Savannah River, where he owned an elegant mansion, conducted an extensive trade with the various Indian tribes, and became a sort of potentate upon whom the dusky natives of the forest looked with awe and respect. They usually brought to him for settlement the issnes on which they disagreed; and whatever he advised them to do in the matter was ordinarily the final word on the subject, for they acquiesced in his ruling as though he were an oraele of wisdom. The trading-post which he established on the Ogeechee River was called Galphinton. It was also known as Ogeechee Town; and, after Louis- ville was settled, some ten miles to the northwest, it was commonly designated as Old Town to distinguish it from New Town, a name which the residents of the locality gave to the future capital of Georgia. In the course of time, there gath- ered about the old trading-post quite a settlement, due to the extensive barter with the Indians which here took place at certain seasons of the year; but time has spared only the barest remnants of the old fort. The following story is told of how George Galphin acquired the land on which the town of Louisville was after- wards built. Attracted by the red coat which he wore, an old Indian chief, whose wits had been somewhat sharpened by contact with the traders, thus approached him, in the hope of securing the coveted garment. Said he:
"Me had dream last night."
"You did?" said Galphin. "What did you dream about?"
"Me dream you give me dat coat.'' Vol. 1-16
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"Then you shall have it," said Galphin, who immediately suited the action to the word by transferring to him the coat.
Quite a while elapsed before the old chief returned to the post, but when he again appeared in the settlement Galphin said:
"Chief, I dreamed about you last night."
" Ugh!" he grunted, "what did you dream?"
"I dreamed that you gave me all the land in the fork of this creek, " pointing to one of the tributary streams of the Ogeechee.
"Well," said the old chief, "you take it, but we no more dream."
There is every reason to believe that the old trading-post at Galphinton was in existence when the state was first colonized. The settlement which gradually developed around it may have arisen much later, but the historians are not in accord upon this point. Says Doctor Smith :* "There may have been, and I think it likely there were, sundry settlers who were scattered among the Indians and who had squatted on lands belonging to them; and it is probable that Mr. Galphin had around his settlement at Galphinton, some of his countrymen before Oglethorpe came, but I find no positive proof of it, and Colonel Jones put the emigration of the Scotch-Irish to St. George's Parish as late as 1768. I find that certainly as early as the time of Governor Reynolds, in 1752, there were grants made to men whom I know were in Jefferson." Be this as it may, George Galphin himself was an early comer into this region and beyond any question Galphinton was the first locality in Georgia established by white men for purposes of commerce. The site of the old trading-post is now owned by heirs of the late H. M. Comer, Sr., of Savannah.
At Galphinton, in 1785, a treaty was made between the State of Georgia and the Creek Indians, whereby the latter agreed to surrender to the state the famous "Tallassee Strip," between the Altamaha and the St. Mary's; but the compact was repudiated by the Creeks under the artful Alexander McGillivray, under whose leadership was fought the long-protracted Oconee war. Hostilities were not con- cluded until 1796, when a treaty of friendship was negotiated at Coleraine, con- firming the treaty of New York, in 1790, under which the "Tallassee Strip" was confirmed to the Indians. This much-coveted bone of contention remained in pos- session of the Creeks until 1814, when, as a penalty for siding with the British, in the War of 1812, they were forced to relinquish it to the whites. t
QUEENSBORO: A LOST TOWN .- Some eight miles to the north-west of Galphin- ton, a trading post was established about the year 1769 by a band of Scotch-Irish settlers, who called the place Queensboro in honor of Queen Anne. It was located in an angle made by the Ogeechee River with a large creek which enters the stream at this point. The locality was somewhat elevated and seemed to meet the two- fold requirement of a stronghold which was secure from Indian assaults and con- ducive to general good health. Colonel Jones estimates that in the immediate vicinity of the trading post there were at one time as many as two hundred families settled. It was sometimes called the Irish Settlement or the Irish Reserve because of the predominance of this racial elcment, most of the settlers having come either directly or indirectly from the North of Ireland. George Galphin and John Rae, were instrumental in obtaining for them a reservation of 50,000 acres of land on the branches of the Ogeechee River. They were Presbyterians in religious faith and were served for many years by Rev. David Bothwell, a man of unusual force of intellect and character who came to them from the home-land in response to earnest overtures. Queensboro survived for a number of years; but when the town of Louisville arose only two miles off, it gradually declined in population until finally it ceased to exist.#
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