USA > Georgia > A standard history of Georgia and Georgians > Part 45
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But the local column was soon developed. The spirit of resistance to the oppres- sive measures of the British Parliament bore fruit in news items, which were published at first hand. The earliest bugle call for the patriots to assemble in Savannah was sounded through the columns of the Georgia Gazette, on July 14, 1774. They were requested to meet at the Liberty Pole, in front of Tondee's Tavern, on July 27 following, and the card was signed by the famous quartette of liberty: Noble Wymberley Jones, Archibald Bulloch, John Houstoun and John Walton, the brother of the signer. Thongh a large number responded at the appointed time, the Province at large was not represented, and another call was issued for August 10, 1774. At this time, in spite of the governor's solemn edict of warning, also published in the Gazette, they met together and took conservative but firm action. The strong influence of the governor and the effective opposition of such pronounced Loyalists as James Habersham and Noble Jones alone kept the assemblage from sending delegates at this time to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
Among the patriots who responded to the earliest summons were: John Glen, Joseph Clay, Noble Wymberley Jones, John Honstonn, Lyman Hall, John Smith, William Young, Edward Telfair, Samuel Farley, John Walton, George Walton, Joseph Habersham, Jonathan Bryan, Jonathan Cochrane, George McIntosh, William Gibbons, Benjamin Andrew, John Winn, John Stirk, David Zonbly, H. L. Bourquin, Elisha Butler, William Baker, Parmenus Way, John Baker, John Stacy, John Morel and others .- "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends, " L. L. Knight, Vol. II.
GEORGIA'S EARLY CHIEF JUSTICES .- Under the constitution of 1777, provision was made for a Supreme Court-not in the modern sense, however-to consist of a chief justice, with three or more associates residing in the counties. On account of unsettled conditions, court was seldom held during this period. The names of the associates have been lost, but the following is a correct list of the chief justices of Georgia under the first state constitution:
John Glen 1777-1780
William Stevens 1780-1781
John Wereat 1781-1782
Aedanns Burke
Richard Howley 1782-1782
1782-1783
George Walton
1783-1786
William Stith
.1786-1786
John Houstoun 1786-1787
Henry Osborne 1787-1789
Compiled from the records.
* "Marbury and Crawford's Digest, Treaties at Augusta, " pp. 603-606.
CHAPTER VII
RICHMOND ACADEMY IS CHARTERED-GEORGIA'S OLDEST EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION-TWO GREAT COUNTIES ORGANIZED OUT OF THE LANDS ACQUIRED FROM THE INDIANS: WASHINGTON AND FRANKLIN-IMMI- GRANTS INVITED TO OCCUPY THESE VIRGIN DISTRICTS-HOW THE LANDS WERE DISTRIBUTED-ORIGIN OF THE SYSTEM KNOWN AS HEAD RIGHTS-LAND OFFICE OPENED IN AUGUSTA-GRANTS OF LAND TO REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS-EACH WAS GIVEN 250 ACRES, EXEMPT FROM TAXATION, WITH AN ADDITIONAL 15 PER CENT, IF THIS EXEMP- TION WAS WAIVED-ALL THE LANDS GRANTED UNDER THE OLD HEAD RIGHTS SYSTEM LIE EAST OF THE OCONEE RIVER-INCLUDE ALSO A STRIP OF LAND EAST OF THE OLD COUNTY OF WAYNE-COUNT D'ESTAING GIVEN 20,000 ACRES OF LAND-FRANKLIN COLLEGE, AMER- ICA'S OLDEST STATE UNIVERSITY, IS CHARTERED IN LIEU OF CASH, 40,000 ACRES OF LAND ARE DONATED BY THE STATE-SAMUEL ELBERT BECOMES GOVERNOR-THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT IS TRANSFERRED TO AUGUSTA, WHERE IT REMAINS FOR TEN YEARS-MEANWHILE A COM- MISSION IS APPOINTED TO LOCATE A SITE FOR A PERMANENT CAPITAL- AN OLD BOUNDARY LINE DISPUTE BETWEEN GEORGIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA IS SETTLED-THE TUGALO RIVER IS ACCEPTED AS THE MAIN STREAM OF THE SAVANNAII, FROM THE MOUTH OF WHICH GEORGIA'S NORTHERN BOUNDARY IS DRAWN-DEATII OF GEN. NATHANAEL GREENE -FUNERAL OBSEQUIES-HIS PLACE OF INTERMENT FOR YEARS AN UNSOLVED ENIGMA- THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION HAVING PROVED UNSATISFACTORY, A CONVENTION IS CALLED TO DEVISE A NEW FEDERAL CONSTITUTION-THE ANNAPOLIS CONFERENCE-THE CONTI- NENTAL CONGRESS GEORGIA 'S DELEGATES FROM 1775 TO 1789.
NOTES : MULBERRY GROVE-GEORGIA'S OLDEST NEWSPAPER-GEORGIA'S OLDEST MILITARY ORGANIZATION.
Under the State Constitution of 1777, provision was made for the establishment, in each county, of schools to be maintained at the general expense. Accordingly, in July, 1783, while Governor HIall was chief executive, a charter was granted by the Legislature to Richmond Acad- emy, an institution which survives to the present day as the oldest of Georgia's schools. For years the trustees of Richmond Academy directed the affairs of the City of Augusta. Likewise, in 1783, a charter was granted for an academy to be located at Waynesboro, in the county of Burke. It was not until February, 1788, that the Legislature granted a charter for Chatham Academy in Savannah, but the history of this institution has been resplendent with achievement.
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In 1784, John Houstoun was for the second time called to the execu- tive helm. It was during Governor Houstoun's administration that the lands acquired from the Indians, under treaties made at Augusta, in 1783, were organized into two great counties: Washington and Frank- lin. At the elose of the Revolution there were eight counties in Georgia, all of which were created, as we have seen, by the Constitution of 1777. These were: Chatham, Burke, Effingham, Richmond, Glynn, Camden, Liberty and Wilkes. There were now in all ten counties.
Immigrants were invited to occupy these newly aequired lands. One thousand acres was fixed as the limit for each family, under the sys- tem of distribution in vogue, all additional lands to be acquired by purchase at the rate of three shillings per acre .* Lands were distrib- uted at this time under what was known as the Head Rights system, according to which method of conveyance each head of a family settling in Georgia was granted 200 acres for himself, fifty aeres for each child, and fifty acres for each negro owned by him, not in excess of ten. Moreover, he was allowed to seleet and survey a body of unoccupied land to suit his own inelination.
Ilead Rights were first granted by the trustees, under royal authority received from King George II of England. During the administration of Governor Ellis there arose some dispute concerning titles to land made by the Lord Proprietors of South Carolina, some of these titles antedating Georgia's establishment. At one time, it will be remembered, Georgia formed a part of South Carolina; and, when her eharter was surrendered back to the Crown in 1752, there was a disposition on the part of South Carolina to extend her jurisdiction over a part of Geor- gia's domain, to the south and west of the Altamaha. Accordingly, Governor Ellis caused an act to be passed by virtue of which all persons holding any lands or tenements whatsoever within the said province of Georgia, by and under grants from the trustees, or by and under grants obtained since the surrender of Georgia's charter, were "established and confirmed in the possession of their several and respective lands and tenements"; and such grants were "accordingly ratified and confirmed and declared to be good and valid to all intents and purposes whatso- ever, against all persons elaiming any estate or interest therein, by and under the said Lord Proprietors of Carolina or by and under any former grants obtained before the date of his majesty's charter to said trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia, any act, law, or statute to the contrary notwithstanding." +
There was passed at Savannah, on June 7, 1777, an act for the opening of a land office, under which, as above stated, every white person or head of a family was entitled to 200 acres of land for himself, besides fifty aeres for each child and fifty acres for each negro, not to exceed ten in number. Later, the amount of land which one could acquire under these Head Right grants was limited to 1,000 acres; but for a stipulated sum he could increase his grant if he so desired. The grantee was free to choose his Head Right from any unoccupied lands, but to
" "History of Georgia, " R. P. Brooks, p. 143.
t Article by Philip Cook, secretary of state, on Head Rights and Land Grants of Georgia, published in the "Joseph Habersham Collections," Vol. I, pp. 303- 308.
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avoid confusion and to perfect his titles he was required to make proper returns.
Bounties to Revolutionary soldiers to be paid in Head Rights were first authorized by an act passed August 20, 1781, at which time to encourage patriotism each soldier who was able to exhibit to the Legis- lature a certificate from his commanding officer as to his faithful dis- charge of duty, was to be given 250 acres of land, when the expulsion of the British was successfully accomplished. On February 17, 1783, an aet was passed providing for a land court to be opened at Augusta, where all soldiers on presentation of certificates were to receive each 250 acres of land, under Head Right grants, to be exempt from taxes for a period of ten years. If the grantee chose to waive this exemption, he was to receive an additional 15 per cent of land, making his Head Right call for 2871% acres of land.
Under the provisions of this act over 4,000 Revolutionary soldiers received Head Rights to land lying chiefly in the two new counties of Franklin and Washington. With only a very few exceptions, these old soldiers waived exemption and assumed the payment of taxes to begin at once. Thousands were induced to settle in Georgia by reason of the state's liberal policy. For years subsequent to the Revolution, they continued to locate in Georgia and numbers of these acquired land under the various lottery acts of a later period. All the Head Right lands in Georgia, north of the Altamaha, lie east of the Oconee River; all south of the Altamaha lie east of the old original County of Wayne.
As we have already seen, Georgia, at the close of the Revolution, granted handsome estates to Gen. Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island and to Gen. Anthony Wayne, of Pennsylvania, both of whom had accepted the state's generous gifts and become citizens of Georgia. The Legis- lature of 1794, in keeping with this policy of rewarding the state's benefactors, granted 20,000 acres of land to Count D'Estaing for his heroic devotion to the cause of liberty, especially as evinced in his gallant but unsuccessful effort to raise the siege of Savannah. Deeply affected by this recognition of his gallantry, the noble count, who was then suffering from a dangerous wound, wrote a letter of grateful acceptance to Governor Houstoun, in which he said : "The mark of its satisfaction which the State of Georgia was pleased to give me, after I had been wounded, was the most healing balm which could have been applied to my pains."
Georgia's great educational needs loomed before her far-sighted law- makers at this time with colossal import, forming a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Governor Hall, in his message to the Legislature of 1783, had stressed these needs and in response thereto the General Assembly had chartered two academies, one for Richmond and one for Burke. But the Legislature of 1784 went still further by making a grant of 40,000 acres of land, with which to endow a college or seminary of learning. This was the germinal inspiration of our State University at Athens originally known as Franklin College. The land thus granted by the State Legislature was located in the two newly created counties, viz., Washington and Franklin; and the proceeds arising from its sale were to be utilized in the erection of buildings and in the purchase of
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needed equipment. But further discussion of this subject is reserved for a subsequent chapter.
In 1785 Samuel Elbert became governor; and in 1786 Edward Tel- fair was again called to the helm of affairs.
With the return of peace, Savannah had once more become the seat of government; but the spread of Georgia's population toward the foot- hills necessitated a change of location. There were no good roads in those days and sinee traveling in stage coach or on horse-baek was nec- essarily slow, settlers in the newly acquired lands were reluctant to make so long and hazardous a journey. During the Revolution the seat of government had twice been shifted to Augusta, and in the summer of 1783 the Legislature had again met in that town, which, for temporary purposes at least, seemed to offer a convenient site, and accordingly, in 1786, the capital of the state was transferred to Augusta, where it re- mained continuously until 1796. Meanwhile, however, the Legislature of 1786 appointed commissioners to locate a permanent site for the state capital. It was to be located within twenty miles of Galphin's Old Town and was to be ealled Louisville. The commission appointed by Governor Telfair to locate a site was as follows: Nathan Brownson, William Few and Hugh Lawson. Ten years elapsed before this com- mission finally completed its work.
While Samuel Elbert was governor in 1785 an old boundary line dispute between Georgia and South Carolina reached an eruptive state. South Carolina contended that Georgia's northern boundary line should be run from the mouth of the Tugalo River, whereas Georgia contended that her northern boundary line should run from the mouth of the Keowee. To increase the irritation produced by this issue, South Caro- line again elaimed all the lands in Georgia to the south of the Altamaha River. She finally appealed the matter for settlement to the Conti- mental Congress, which body, in 1785, selected a court to hear both sides; but the two states in the meantime, having agreed to adjust the matter amicably, a conference was held at Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1787, at which time the Tugalo River was accepted by both states as the main stream of the Savannah River; and accordingly it was from the mouth of the Tugalo that Georgia's northern boundary line should be drawn. When the line was finally surveyed, it was found that a strip of terri- tory twelve miles wide, extending westward to the Mississippi River belonged to South Carolina, but since this strip was of no praetieal value to that state, it was deeded by South Carolina to the Federal Government, by which it was deeded baek to Georgia in 1802. As a re- sult of the Beaufort conference, South Carolina also agreed to relinguish her claims to the region of country lying between Darien and St. Marys .*
On November 19, 1786, Gen. Nathanael Greene died at Mulberry Grove as the result of a sunstroke. The illustrious soldier had been a resident of Georgia for only two years. At the time the Legislature of this state conferred the Graham plantation upon General Greene, North Carolina voted him 25,000 acres of land on Duek River and South Caro- line gave him an estate valued at £10,000 sterling on Edisto River. He chose to establish his residence at Mulberry Grove, even in preference
* "Crawford and Marbury's Digest," pp. 662-667.
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to the home of his birth in Rhode Island; and, on October 14, 1785, he left for Georgia, to become one of her honored and beloved citizens. .
Regarding his life at Mulberry Grove, one of his biographers, Wil- liam Jolinson, says: * " Ilis time was altogether devoted to the educa- tion of a charming family, the enltivation of his land, and the paternal eare of his slaves. The intervals of his more serious employments were agreeably filled by a seleet library and by a spirited correspondenee with his numerous friends, as well in Europe as in America; and he resigned himself, without reserve, to the enjoyments of his fireside and to the interchange of civilities with his numerous and wealthy neigh- bors." In November, soon after his arrival, he writes : t "We found the house, situation, and out-buildings, more convenient and pleasing than we expected. The prospect is delightful, and the house magnifi- eent. We have a eoaeh-honse, with stables, a large out-kitchen, and a poultry house nearly fifty feet long by twenty wide, parted for differ- ent kinds of poultry, with a pigeon-house on the top, which will contain not less than a thousand pigeons. Besides these, there is a fine smoke- honse. The garden is in ruins, but there are still a variety of shrubs and flowers in it."
Again, in the month of April following. General Greene writes: $ "This is the busy season with us. We are planting. We have upwards of sixty acres of corn and expect to have one hundred and thirty of rice. The garden is delightful. The fruit-trees and flowering shrubs form a pleasing variety. We have green peas almost fit to eat, and as fine lettnee as ever you saw. The mocking birds surround ns evening and morning. The weather is mild and the vegetable kingdom progress- ing to perfection. We have in the same orchard apples, pears, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums of different kinds, pomegranates, and oranges. And we have strawberries which measure three inches round. All these are elever, but the want of our friends to enjoy them with us, makes them less interesting." General Greene was destined never to see the fruit then blossoming at Mulberry Grove.
1
On Monday, June 12, 1786, General Greene's presence was required at Savannah. He made the journey, accompanied by his wife, and vis- ited the home of Maj. Nathaniel Pendleton, one of his aides during the war; and here, under the roof of his old friend, they passed the night. On the next morning they started early for home, intending to spend the day at the house of Mr. William Gibbons. They arrived at the latter's plantation early in the forenoon and, after breakfast, the gentle- men walked into the rice-field together, to view the progress of the crop, in which General Greene was much interested. The sun was intensely hot, but General Greene had been too long a soldier to fear any danger from the warm southern sun. On the way home, in the evening. he complained of a severe pain in the head. It grew worse, and by Thurs- day his forehead was very much inflamed and swollen. Major Pendle- ton fortunately arrived on a visit, and, his apprehensions aroused by
* "Wm. Johnson's Life of Nathanael Greene," Vol. II, p. 418, 1822.
+ "The Remains of Major-General Nathanael Greene, a Report of the Special Committee of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, etc., " p. 79, Providence, Rhodo Island, 1903.
# Ibid., p. 79.
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an obvious depression of spirits on the part of his old commander, who seemed loath to join in the conversation, he urged him to consult a doctor. On the next morning the physician arrived, took a little blood and administered some ordinary prescription, but the inflammation increasing another physician was ealled into consultation. The disease, having now assumed an alarming aspect, it was decided to blister the temples and to let the blood freely; but it was too late; the head had swollen greatly, and the patient lapsed into a total stupor, from which he never revived. Early on the morning of Monday, November 19, 1786, he died.
Gen. Anthony Wayne, whose plantation was not far distant, hearing of the illness of his friend, hastened to his bedside, and was with him when the end eame. In a letter addressed to Maj. James Jackson, he said : "He was great as a soldier, greater as a eitizen, immaculate as a friend. Ilis corpse will be at Major Pendleton's this night, the funeral from thence in the evening. The greatest honors of war are due his re- mains. You, as a soldier, will take the proper order on this melancholy affair. Pardon this serawl; my feelings are too much affected because 1 have seen a great and a good man die." When the news reached Savannah, it produced overwhelming sorrow. Preparations were hastily made to do full honor to the memory of the distinguished man and to surround the obsequies with the dignity befitting his high rank and character. On Tuesday, the day after his death, the remains were taken by water to Savannah, thenee to the home of Major Pendleton, which stood on Bay Street, next to the corner of Barnard Street, and close to the water's edge. In front of this house the militia, representatives of the municipality, members of the Society of the Cincinnati, and many persons in private and official life, received the body. Flags in the har- bor were lowered to half-mast, the shops and stores in town were closed, and labor of every kind was suspended. At about 5 o'clock in the after- noon, the funeral procession started from the Pendleton house to the Colonial Cemetery, belonging to Christ Church; the artillery in Fort Wayne firing minute-guns as the long lines advanced ; the band playing the solemn "Dead March in Saul."
On reaching the burial ground, where a vault had been opened, the regiment filed to right and left, resting on arms until the funeral train had passed to the tomb. Then the Hon. William Stevens, judge of the Superior Court of Chatham County and Grand Master of the Masons, took his place at the head of the coffin, since there were no clergymen in the town at this time, and, with tremulous voice, read the funeral serviee of the Church of England. Then the body was placed in the vault; the files closed, with three general discharges; the artillery fired thirteen ronnds, and, with trailed arms, all slowly and silently withdrew. Al- though so large a number of people attended the funeral obsequies and participated in the deep grief which followed the death of this distinguished man, the place of his burial, due to a singular combina- tion of circumstances, became in a little more than thirty years unknown to the local authorities and remained for over a century an unsolved enigma.
On February 3, 1786, a new county was organized out of lands taken from Washington, and in honor of Gen. Nathanael Greene, of the Revo-
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lution, was called Greene. Most of its early settlers were veterans of the war for independence.
There was held in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1786, a conference out of which grew the call for a convention to organize a more stable govern- ment. The Articles of Confederation had failed to meet the needs of the nation. As independent sovereignties, each of the original thirteen states was jealous of its own individual rights and powers; and with no cohesive force to unite them the nation was in imminent peril, not only from foes without but from dissensions within. The Continental Con- gress was wholly powerless to deal with this awkward situation and was soon to be superseded by a new form of government. But the details of this change are reserved for a subsequent chapter. Georgia, from first to last, was represented in the Continental Congress by the following delegates : Archibald Bulloch, 1775-1776; Lyman Hall, 1775-1777 ; John Houstoun, 1775-1777; Noble Wymberley Jones, 1775-1776, 1781-1783; Jolin J. Zubly, 1775-1776; Button Gwinnett, 1776-1777; George Walton, 1776-1779, 1780-1781; Nathan Brownson, 1776-1778; Edward Lang- worthy, 1777-1779; Edward Telfair, 1777-1779, 1780-1783; Joseph Wood, 1777-1779; Joseph Clay, 1778-1780; William Few, 1780-1782, 1785-1788; Richard Howley, 1780-1781; William Gibbons, 1784-1786; William Houstonn, 1784-1787; Abraham Baldwin, 1785-1788; John Habersham, 1785-1786; and William Pierce, 1786-1787 .*
MULBERRY GROVE: THE GENERAL GREENE ESTATE WHERE THE COTTON GIN WAS INVENTED .- Fourteen miles above Savannah, on the south side of the river, stood the dignified old mansion of Gen. Nathanael Greene, surrounded by 2,170 acres of the best river bottom land in Georgia. Besides recalling the illustrious soldier, who ranks second only to Washington, the Mulberry Grove Plantation was the scene of Eli Whitney's great invention: the cotton gin. This was formerly the home of the royal lieutenant-governor, John Graham; but having been forfeited to the State of Georgia, it was given to General Greene in appreciation of his services, in expelling the British invader from Georgia soil. The estate was one of the finest in the neighborhood of Savannah, a statement sufficiently attested by the fact that the lieutenant governor sought to recover the sum of £50,000 sterling, by way of indemnification. President Washington, on his visit to Georgia, in 1791, stopped at Mulberry Grove to pay his respects to the widow Greene.
The dwelling remained in an excellent state of preservation until recent years, when it was partially wrecked by a storm, after which it was not rebuilt. The site formerly occupied by the old homestead is now the property of Mr. Van R. Winckler .- "Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends," L. L. Knight, Vol. I.
GEORGIA'S OLDEST SURVIVING NEWSPAPER .- To the City of Augusta belongs the credit of possessing the oldest newspaper in Georgia: the Chronicle and Constitutional- ist. It is the ontgrowth of two very carly sheets which were years ago combined : the Chronicle, founded in 1785, and the Constitutionalist, founded in 1799. Much of the history of Georgia has been reflected in the columns of this time-honored journal, and in those of the papers which united to form it; nor is it invidious to say that few organs of public opinion in the South have been so dominant in shaping plat- forms and policies. The old Chronicle itself was formerly a compound. Back in tho '40s sometime, its owners purchased the Sentinel, a paper edited by Judge Longstreet, whose pen could be trenchant and caustic as well as playfully humorous. It was the era of polemies; and bitter beyond anything known to recent years were the acrimonious controversies of ante-bellum days. The olive-branch was unknown. Harsh words almost invariably ended in personal encounters, and quarrels over trifles were frequently adjourned to the field of honor; but the fear
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