USA > Georgia > A standard history of Georgia and Georgians > Part 43
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Situated on the direct line of travel, Ebenezer was destined to play an important part in the approaching drama of hostilities. The account which follows is con- densed from "Dead Towns of Georgia": "Three days after the capture of Savannah by Colonel Campbell, a strong force was advanced, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Maitland, to Cherokee Hill. On the following day-January 2, 1779-Ebenezer was occupied by the British troops. They at once threw up a redoubt within a few hundred yards of Jerusalem Church and fortified the position. The remains of this work are said to be still visible. As soon as he learned of the fall of Savannah, Mr. Treibner hastened thereto, proclaimed his loyalty, and took the oath of allegiance. The intimation is that he counseled the immediate occupation of Ebenezer and accompanied the detachment which compassed the capture of his own town and people. Influenced by him, not a few of the Salzburgers took the oath of allegiance to England and received certificates guaranteeing the royal protection. Prominent among those who maintained adherence to the rebel cause were: John Adam Treutlen, afterwards governor; William Holsendorf, Col. John Stirk, Secre- tary Samuel Stirk, Capt. Jacob Casper Waldhaur, who was both a magistrate and a soldier; John Schnider, Rudolph Strohaker, Jonathan Schnider, J. Gotlieb Schnider, Jonathan Rahn, Ernest Zitthauer, Joshua Helfenstein, and Jacob Helfinstein."
Mr. Strobel draws a graphic picture of the situation at this time. Says he :* The citizens of Ebenezer were made to feel severely the effects of the war. The property of those who did not take the oath of allegiance was confiscated and the helpless sufferers were exposed to every species of insult and wrong. Besides, some of the Salzburgers who espoused the cause of the Crown became inveterate whigs, placed themselves at the head of marauding parties, and committed the most wanton acts of depredation, including arson itself. The establishment of a line of British posts along the western bank of the Savannah River to check the demonstrations of the rebel forces in South Carolina, made it a kind of thoroughfare for British troops in passing through the country from Savannah to Augusta. To avoid the rudeness of the soldiers who were quartered among them and to escape the heavy tax upon the scant resources which remained to them, many of the best citizens abandoned the town and settled in the country districts. Those who remained were forced almost daily to witness acts of cruelty perpetrated upon American prisoners of war; for Ebenezer, while in the hands of the British, was the point to which most of the prisoners were brought, thence to be taken to Savannah. It was from this post that a number of prisoners were being carried southward, when the two Sergeants, Jasper and Newton, rescued them at Jasper Spring."
"There was one act performed by the British commander which was peculiarly trying and revolting to the Salzburgers. The fine brick church was converted into a hospital for the accommodation of the sick and wounded and was afterwards desecrated by being used as a stable for the horses. The records were destroyed, targets were made of different objects, and even to this day the metal swan bears the mark of a musket ball. Often, too, cannon were discharged at the houses. But the Salzburgers endured these hardships and indignities with fortitude; and though a few of them were overcome by these severe measures, yet the mass of them remained firm. "'
According to Colonel Jones,t the establishment of tippling houses in Ebenezer, during the British occupation, corrupted the lives of not a few of the once sober Germans. Says he: "Indications of decay and ruin were patent before the cessa- tion of hostilities. Except for a brief period, during the siege of Savannah, when the garrison was summoned to assist in defense of the city against the allied army, Ebenezer remained in the possession of the British until a short time prior to the evacuation of Savannah, in July, 1783. In advancing toward Savannah, General Wayne established his headquarters in the town. As soon as the British forces were withdrawn, the Tory pastor, Triebner, betook himself to flight and found a refuge in England, where he ended his days in seclusion."
It was an altered scene upon which the poor Salzburgers looked when the refugees began to return to Ebenezer at the close of the Revolution. Many of the homes had been burnt to the ground. Gardens once green and fruitful had been trampled into desert places. Jerusalem Church had become a mass of filth, and the sacred edifice
* "Salzburgers and Their Descendants," pp. 203-207, Baltimore, 1855.
+ "Dead Towns of Georgia," p. 39, Savannah, 1878.
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was sadly dilapidated. But the Germans set themselves to work. Fresh life was infused into the little community upou the arrival of the Rev. John Ernest Bergman, a clergyman of pronounced attainments. The parochial school was revived, the popu- lation began to increase, the church was substantially rebuilt, and much of the damage wrought by the British was in the course of time repaired. But the lost prestige of the little town of Ebenezer was never fully regained. The mills remained idle. The culture of silk was revived only to a limited degree; and, after a brief interval of growth, the old settlement began visibly to take the downward path.
GEORGIA JEWS IN THE REVOLUTION .- It was Israel Zangwill who coined the fine aphorism that since the time of the Exodus freedom has spoken with the Hebrew aecent. Though wedded to pursuits of peace, the Jews of Georgia were not slow to resent the oppressions of England. The spirit of liberty burned in the hearts of these gentle people and overmastered the commercial instinct. Mordecai Sheftall, born in Savannah, December 16, 1735, became one of the most zealous of the patriots. The royal proclamation which appeared in the Georgia Gazette, of July 6, 1780, pro- scribed him as a "Great Rebel," in a list which included the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence and two generals. When the theater of war shifted to the South, in 1779, Mordecai Sheftall was commissioned by the Provincial Congress to fill the office of Commissary General of Issues for the State of Georgia. His son, Sheftall Sheftall, became his deputy, and together they furnished supplies to the soldiers. The large sums of money received and disbursed by them show that to the fullest extent they possessed the confidence of the state authorities.
When Savannah fell into the hands of the British in 1779, the Sheftalls were captured, put on board a prison ship, and transported to Antigua in the West Indies. At first they were consigned to a common jail where they suffered great privations and indignities, but they were afterwards released on parole. With other prisoners of war, they were brought at a later period to Sunbury. Here, in a most singular manner, the charter of the Union Society was saved from extinction. It was pro- vided in the charter that unless a meeting was held annnally for the election of officers, the charter itself was to be forfeited. Mordecai Sheftall remembered this provision. With three of his fellow-prisoners, who, by a fortunate coincidence, hap- pened to be members of the Union Society, he managed to hold a meeting before the time limit expired. This took place under a tree which is said to have been the birth-place of the first Masonie Lodge organized in Georgia. By virtue of this timely rescue, the tree became known as Charter Oak. When exchanged, Mordecai Sheftall was appointed by the board of war in Philadelphia, a flag master to carry funds and provisions to General Moultrie for the destitute inhabitants of Charleston. It is needless to say that he faithfully performed the trust.
After the Revolution, he was the victim of shameful ingratitude. From his own private resources, he had spent large sums of money for the support of the Georgia troops. When there were no funds on hand, he went into his own pocket for the necessary means; but most unfortunately when the British entered Savannah the commissary was sacked and many of his vouchers destroyed. Impoverished by the war and broken in health, due to his prison life, he applied to the general govern- ment for reimbursement of expenditures; but the demand was not honored. Some time in the '50s- more than half a century later-his heirs presented a claim to the Legislature of Georgia; but the watch-dogs of the treasury managed to pigeon-hole the resolution. To quote the terse comment of Mr. Abrahams: "Ingratitude is not confined to individuals."
The old patriot died at his home in Savannah on July 6, 1797, and was buried in the old Jewish cemetery which his liberality had set apart to the people of his race. The year before he died, his fellow citizens of Chatham honored him with a seat in the General Congress which convened at Louisville, then the capital of the state. Sheftall Sheftall practiced law in Savannah until 1848. As long as he lived he continued to wear Colonial knickerbockers; and because of his peculiar style of dress which he refused to alter, in conformity with popular taste, he was called "Cocked-Hat Sheftall." On the occasion of the visit of President Monroe to Savannah in 1819 he was an honored guest at the banquet. Dr. Moses Sheftall, his son, became an esteemed citizen of Savannah, a surgeon in the Chatham Regiment, and a judge of the Inferior Court. When Washington became chief magistrate of the nation, in 1789, Levi Sheftall, then president of the Hebrew Congregation, of
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Savannah, addressed him a letter of congratulation to which he replied at some length, speaking in the highest terms of the part taken by the Jews in the struggle for independence and praying that the same wonder-working Deity who had delivered them of old from the hand of the oppressor might continue to water them with the dews of heaven.
It is not the purpose of this sketch to do more than trace the beginnings of the Jewish colony in Georgia. But true to the heroie precedents furnished by the raee in Revolutionary times, the descendants of the old patriots of Hebrew blood were prompt to enlist in 1861; and not a few of them made gallant soldiers. The last official order of the Confederate Government was issued to a Jew-Maj. Raphael Moses; and there were few Georgia regiments in which men of Israelitish stock were not enlisted. The famous Straus family of New York was identified with Georgia from 1854 to 1856. One of the members of this household, Osear S. Straus, became United States Minister to Turkey, holding this office under three separate administrations. He was also the first American citizen of Jewish parentage to hold a portfolio in the cabinet of a President of the United States. Isidor and Nathan Straus, his elder brothers, became wealthy merchants of the metropolis, men of wide sympathies for the unfortunate, and of many noble philanthropies. The former of these, Isidor, perished at sea, on board the ill-fated Titanic, in 1912 .- L. L. Knight in Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends, Vol. I.
GEORGIA PATRIOTS OUTLAWED BY THE TORY GOVERNMENT .- On July 6, 1780, soon after the fall of Savannah, an act was passed by the Tory Legislature and signed by the royal governor, James Wright, condemning the "wicked and unprovoked rebellion " against his Majesty in the Province of Georgia, and disqualifying certain parties mentioned therein. At the same time full amnesty was offered to all who should hasten to enroll themselves under the royal banners, by taking the oath of allegianee to the House of Brunswick. The outlook was dark for the patriotie cause, but even in this despondent hour there were few to desert the colors. The following civilians and soldiers were by name deelared to be specially obnoxious to the Crown of England. The list is now Georgia's cherished roll of honor :
1. John Houstoun, rebel governor.
2. John Adams Treutlen, rebel governor.
3. Lachlan McIntosh, rebel general.
4. George Walton, member of rebel congress.
5. William Stephens, rebel attorney-general.
6. John McClure, rebel major.
7. Joseph Clay, rebel paymaster-general.
8. N. Wymberley Jones, speaker rebel assembly.
9. Mordecai Sheftall, chairman rebel P. com.
10. William O'Bryan, rebel treasurer.
11. John Wereat, rebel counsellor.
12. Edward Telfair, member of rebel congress.
13. Edward Davies, member of rebel assembly.
14. Samuel Elbert, rebel general.
15. Seth John Cuthbert, a rebel major.
16. William Holsendorf, a rebel counsellor.
17. Richard Howley, a rebel governor.
18. George Galphin, rebel sup. Indian affairs.
19. Andrew Williamson, rebel general.
20. John White, rebel colonel.
21. Nehemiah Wade, rebel treasurer.
22. John Twiggs, rebel colonel.
23. Wm. Few, rebel counsellor.
24. Edward Langworthy, rebel delegate.
25. Wm. Glaseoek, rebel counsellor.
26. Robert Walton, rebel com. of forfeited estates.
27. Joseph Wood, Jr., elerk to the rebel assembly.
28. - Piggin, rebel colonel.
29. Wm. Hornby, distiller.
30. Pierce Butler, rebel officer.
31. Joseph Wood, member of rebel congress.
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32. Rev. Wm. Peirey, elerk.
33. Thomas Savage, planter.
34. Thomas Stone, rebel counsellor.
35. Benjamin Andrew, president of the rebel council.
36. John Baker, senior rebel colonel.
37. Wm. Baker, rebel officer.
38. Francis Brown, planter.
39. Nathan Brownson, member of rebel congress.
40. John Hardy, captain of a rebel galley.
41. Thos. Morris, rebel officer.
42. Samuel Miller, member of rebel assembly.
43. Thos. Maxwell, planter.
44. Joseph Woodruff.
45. Joseph Oswald, planter.
46. Josiah Powell, planter.
47. Samnel Saltus, a committeeman.
48. John Sandiford, planter.
49. Peter Tarling, rebel officer.
50. Oliver Bowen, rebel commodore.
51. Lyman ITall, member of rebel congress.
52. Andrew Moore, planter.
53. Joshua Inman, planter.
54. John Dooly, rebel colonel.
55. John Glen, rebel chief justice.
56. Richard Wyley, president of the rebel council.
57. Adam Fowler Brisbane, rebel counsellor.
58. Shem Butler, rebel assemblyman.
59. Joseph Habersham, rebel colonel.
60. John Stirk, rebel colonel.
61. Raymond Demere, rebel elo. general.
62. Chas. Odingsell, rebel captain.
63. Wm. Peacock, rebel counsellor.
64. John Bradley, captain rebel galley.
65. Joseph Reynolds, bricklayer.
66. Rudolph Strohaker, butcher.
67. Chas. Cope, butcher.
68. Lewis Cope, butcher.
69. Hepworth Carter, rebel captain.
70. Stephen Johnston, butcher.
71. John McIntosh, Jr., rebel colonel.
72. James IIouston, surgeon.
73. James Habersham, merchant.
74. John Habersham, rebel mayor. .
75. John Milledge, Jr., rebel assemblyman.
76. Levi Sheftall, butcher.
77. Philip Jacob Cohen, shopkeeper.
78. John Sutcliffe, shopkeeper.
79. Jonathan Bryan, rebel counsellor.
80. John Spencer, rebel officer.
81. John Holmes, clerk.
82. William Gibbons, the elder, rebel counsellor.
83. Sheftall Sheftall, rebel officer.
84. Philip Minis, shopkeeper. 85. Coshman Polock, shopkeeper.
86. Robt. Hamilton, attorney at law.
87. Benj. Lloyd, rebel officer. 88. James Alexander, rebel officer.
89. John Jenkins, rebel assemblyman.
90. Sam Stirk, rebel secretary.
91. Philip Densler, yeoman.
92. Henry Cuyler, rebel officer.
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93. Joseph Gibbons, rebel assemblyman.
94. Ebenezer Smith Platt, shopkeeper.
95. Matthew Griffin, planter.
96. Peter Deveaux, gentleman.
97. Ben Odingsell, rebel officer.
98. John Gibbons, v. master.
99. John Smith, planter.
100. Wm. Le Conte, rebel counsellor.
101. Charles Fr. Chevalier, rebel counsellor.
102. Peter Chambers, shopkeeper.
103. Thos. Washington, rebel officer.
104. Elisha Maxwell, planter.
105. Thos. Maxwell, Jr., rebel mayor.
106. Wm. Gibbons, the younger, planter.
107. Wm. Davis, rebel officer.
108. John Graves, yeoman.
109. Charles Kent, rebel counsellor.
110. John Bacon, mariner.
111. Nathaniel Saxton, tavernkeeper.
112. Philip Lowe, rebel officer.
113. Samuel Spencer, mariner.
114. John Winn, Sr., planter.
115. Deveaux Jarrat, rebel assemblyman.
116. Samuel West, gentleman.
117. Josiah Dupont, planter.
118. James Pugh, planter.
119. Frederick Pugh, planter.
120. James Ray, planter.
121. James Martin, planter.
122. John Martin, rebel sheriff.
123. Thos. Pace, rebel officer.
124. Benj. Fell, rebel officer.
125. Dionysius Wright, planter.
126. Chesley Bostick, shopkeeper.
127. Littleberry Bostick, planter.
128. Leonard Marbury, rebel officer.
129. John Sharp, planter.
130. James Harris, planter.
131. Henry Jones, rebel colonel.
132. Hugh McGee, rebel captain.
133. John Wilson, gentleman.
134. George Wyche, rebel officer.
135. Wm. Candler, rebel officer.
136. Zechariah Tenn, planter.
137. Wm. McIntosh, rebel colonel.
138. David Bradie, surgeon.
139. Andrew MeLean, merchant.
140. Sir Patrick Houstoun, baronet.
141. MeCartin Campbell, merchant.
142. James Gordon, planter.
143. John Kell, gentleman.
144. John McLean, planter.
145. John Snider, planter.
146. John Elliott, rebel officer.
147. Thomas Elliott, rebel officer.
148. Richard Swinney, yeoman.
149. Hugh Middleton, rebel officer.
150. Job Pray, mariner.
151. Josiah MeLean, planter.
MIDWAY: THE STEWART-SCREVEN MONUMENT .- In the center of the historic old churchyard at Midway stands a magnificent obelisk of marble, erected by the United
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States Government, at a cost of $10,000, to two distinguished Revolutionary patriots, both residents of Midway: Gen. James Sereven and Gen. Daniel Stewart. President Woodrow Wilson, who married a daughter of Midway, and ex-President Roosevelt, a descendant of General Stewart, both sent letters which were read at the ceremonies of unveiling. The shaft is fifty feet in height and thirty feet square at the base, with the following inscriptions splendidly east, in relief, on beautiful copper plates, and set into the pure white marble:
... y
UNITED STATES SENATOR JOHN ELLIOTT GEN. DANIEL STEWART GEN. JAMES SCREVEN
HISTORIC SHRINES IN OLD MIDWAY CHURCH YARD
(North Face.)
1750 1778
Sacred to the Memory of BRIGADIER-GENERAL JAMES SCREVEN, who Fell, Covered with Wounds, at Sunbury, Near this Spot, on the 22nd Day of November, 1778. IIe Died on the 24th Day of November, 1778, from the Effects of his Wounds .*
(East Faee.)
Reared by the Congress of the United States as a Nation's Tribute to BRIGADIER-GENERALS JAMES SCREVEN and DANIEL STEWART.
* General Sereven fell mortally wounded about a mile and a half south of Midway Church. This point is fully ten miles distant from Sunbury. Consequently, it is difficult to understand this variation on the monument. We are indebted to Hon. II. B. Folsom, of Montgomery, Georgia, for a description of this obelisk, together with the inseriptions.
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(South Face.)
1759
1829
Sacred to the Memory of BRIGADIER-GENERAL DANIEL STEWART, a Gallant Soldier in the Revolution and an Officer Brevetted for Bravery in the Indian Wars.
(West Face.)
(The west face is fittingly adorned by a copper relief representa- tion of Midway Church, as perfect as skill and enduring copper can make it. No inscription whatever.)
THE DEATH OF GEN. JAMES SCREVEN .- On the morning of November 22, 1778, Gen. James Sereven fell mortally wounded within a mile and a half of Midway Church. At the head of twenty militia men he had just come to the support of Col. John White, who was expecting battle at this point with the enemy under Colonel Prevost, the latter having entered the settlement by way of East Florida. The British officer was in command of 100 regulars and was re-enforced by the Tory leader MeGirth, whose force consisted of 300 Indians and refugees. Both sides, by a singular coincidence, agreed upon the same skirt of woods for the purposes of an ambuscade. They also arrived upon the ground almost simul- taneously, and, in the firing, General Sereven was struck. According to Colonel Jones he was killed after falling into the hands of the enemy, who were thus guilty of an act repugnant to civilized warfare .*
The same account is substantially given by David Ramsay. In the latter's "History of the Revolution in South Carolina" appears this statement: "General Sereven received a wound from a musket ball, in consequence of which he fell from his horse. After he fell, several of the British came up and, upbraiding him for the manner in which Captain Moore of Browne's Rangers had been killed, discharged their pieces at him."
Judge Charlton, in his "Life of Major-General James Jackson," after referring to Doctor Ramsay's statement, says: "My notes and memoirs afford me an account somewhat different. They inform me that the General was on feet reconnoitering on the left flank of the enemy's position on Spencer's Hill. On this spot an ambuscade had been formed and he fell in the midst of it."
Benjamin Baker, who was for twenty-seven years clerk of the Midway Church, supports the latter view. In his "Published Records," he says: "Sabbath morn- ing, 22nd. Our party retreated yesterday to the meeting house, where a recruit of some hundreds joined them with some artillery, and some of our party crossed the swamp, and coming near a thicket where they expected an ambuscade might probably occur, Colonel James Sereven and one more went forward to examine. The Colonel and one Continental officer and Mr. Judah Lewis were shot down. The Colonel had three wounds, the other two were killed. A flag was sent and brought off the Colonel. Monday 23rd. We hear the Colonel still lives."
This account is probably correct. It emanates from the locality in question and was written on the very day of the battle.
McCall relates that Colonel White sent a flag to Colonel Prevost by Maj. John Habersham requesting permission to furnish General Screven with such medical aid as his situation might require. The American doctors were permitted to attend him, but his wounds were found to be of such a nature that they could not save him. In the published correspondence Colonel Prevost apologizes for the alleged act of one of his rangers in shooting General Screven after he was disabled.
The gallant officer was taken first to the vestry house of Midway Church, thence to the residence of John Winn, some two miles off, and finally to the home of John Elliott, Sr., where he died. He was borne from the enemy's ground by a detachment of eight men, furnished by Colonel Prevost. The burial of General Sereven took
* "History of Georgia," Vol. II, p. 306, Boston, 1886. The citations which follow have been furnished by T. F. Sereven, in a sketch prepared for "Men of Mark in Georgia," Vol. I, pp. 296-297, Atlanta, 1906.
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place in the cemetery adjacent to Midway Church. This brave conduct was recog- mized by both state and national governments, his two surviving daughters were each granted 1,000 acres of land by the Legislature of Georgia, while the United States Congress, after the lapse of more thau a century, has still further honored his memory in the handsome memorial shaft which he is soon to share at Midway, with his illustrious companion in arms, Gen. Daniel Stewart.
SEVEN OF GEORGIA'S COUNTIES NAMED FOR LIBERTY'S SONS .- Perhaps the most eloquent attestation of the part played by the Midway settlement in the drama of the Revolution is to be found in the fact that seven counties of Georgia bear names which can be traced to this fountain-head of patriotism.
1. Liberty. This name was conferred by the Constitution of 1777 upon the newly created county which was formed from the old Parish of St. John. It was bestowed in recognition of the fact that the earliest stand for independence was here taken by the patriots of the Midway settlement, whose flag at Fort Morris was the last to be lowered when Georgia was overrun by the British, and whose contributions to the official lists of the Revolution were manifold and distinguished.
2. Sereven, formed December 14, 1793, was named for Gen. James Sereven, a resi- dent of Sunbury, who fell mortally wounded, within a mile and a half of Midway Church, on November 22, 1778, and who lies buried in Midway Graveyard.
3. Hall, created December 15, 1818, and named after Lyman Hall, a resident of the Midway District, who was the first delegate sent from Georgia to the Continental Congress and who was afterwards a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a governor of Georgia.
4. Gwinnett, established December 15, 1818, was called after Button Gwinnett, whose home was on St. Catherine's Island, but business affairs connected him with Sunbury, who was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a governor of Georgia.
5. Baker, constituted, December 12, 1825, was named for Col. John Baker, of the Revolution, one of the early pioneer settlers of St. John's Parish.
6. Stewart, organized December 30, 1830, was named for Gen. Daniel Stewart, an eminent soldier both of the Revolution and of the Indian wars. He was a native of the district, a member of Midway Church, and an ancester of ex-President Theo- dore Roosevelt. He sleeps iu Midway burial-ground.
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