A standard history of Georgia and Georgians, Part 60

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 648

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Georgia's pioneer cotton factory was chartered by the Legislature of 1810. It was styled the Wilkes Manufacturing Company and was located near the present Town of Washington. Its incorporators were: Mat- thew Talbot, Bolling Anthony, Benjamin Sherrod, Frederick Ball, Gil- bert Hay and Joel Abbot.t It was chartered for the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods by machinery to be erected in Wilkes, with a capital stock of $10,000 to be increased to a sum not exceeding $50,000. There was also a factory established at this time in Morgan, on Little River. But neither enterprise prospered. These items possess a value chiefly as showing the wideawake activities of our people in these pioneer days.

In 1810 a petition was presented to the Legislature, presumably by members of the Clark party in whose ranks there were few members of the legal profession begging the General Assembly to abolish "the most useless pest that ever disgraced civil society-the lawyers." }

Quite a number of academies were chartered between 1810 and 1818 two of which, the one at Powelton and the one at Mount Zion, both loeated in Hancock, became widely famous in after years. Powelton was a strong Baptist center. Here the Georgia Baptist Association was organized and here William Rabun and Jesse Mereer lived at one time. Mount Zion was a Presbyterian neighborhood. Here the noted edu- cators, Nathan and Carlisle P. Beman, taught, and, in after years, Gov-

* "Clayton's Compilation," pp. 585-587.

t "Clayton 's Compilation, " pp. 667-668.

# "Georgia and State Rights," U. B. Phillips, p. 110.

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ernor Wm. J. Northen became principal of the school. The Powelton Academy was incorporated November 23, 1815, with the following board of trustees: Wm. Rabun, Nicholas Childers, Thomas Cooper, Sampson Duggar, Archibald R. S. Hunter, James Crowder, Reuben T. Battle, John Veazy and Stephen Weston .* The academy at Sparta was estab- lished December 17, 1818, with the following incorporators: Wm. G. Springer, John Lucas, Nicholas Childers, Charles E. Haynes and Thomas Haynes. t

According to the census of 1810 Georgia's population was 250,000 inhabitants. Her exports aggregated $2,500,000 in value, a net increase of $1,000,000 in ten years. Savannah was still the metropolis of the state, but with a population of only 5,000. Brunswick, Darien and St. Marys were beginning to develop some importance as seaports. Augusta was still a small town on the northern frontier, but with a growing trade.

On the basis of population, Georgia was entitled to six representatives in the national House, but the apportionment was not made in time to affect her representation in the Twelfth Congress (1811-1813). To this Congress, Dr. W. W. Bibb, Howell Cobb, Bolling Hall and George M. Troup were elected. Mr. Cobb resigned in 1812 to accept a captainey in the regular army of the United States, when a rupture with England threatened a second war for independence. Mr. Cobb's successor was William Barnett. But in the fall of 1812 six representatives were chosen to the ensuing Congress (1813-1815), to wit: William Barnett, Wm. W. Bibb, John Forsyth, Bolling HIall, Thomas Telfair and George M. Troup.

On March 13, 1813, William H. Crawford relinquished his seat in the United States Senate to become ambassador to France under an appointment from President Madison. To succeed him, Governor Mitchell appointed Wm. B. Bulloch, of Savannah, but when the Legis- lature met in November, Dr. W. W. Bibb, then a member of Congress, was elected to the Senate, while Alfred Cuthbert was chosen to succeed Doetor Bibb in Congress. While abroad Mr. Crawford was the re- cipient of a marked tribute from the Emperor Napoleon, a detailed account of which is given elsewhere in this work. ¿

MR. CRAWFORD AT THE COURT OF NAPOLEON .- In a letter written to Maj. Stephen F. Miller by Col. George M. Dudley, son-in-law and biographer of Mr. Crawford, the following authentic account is given of a famous episode which occurred at the French Court in 1813. Says Colonel Dudley ("Miller's Bench and Bar of Georgia," Vol. I, Sketch of Mr. Crawford) : "Though Mr. Crawford has told us of the bow he made on his presentation to the Emperor Napoleon, his modesty prevented him from saying what special favors he received in return. We are indebted to his Secretary of Legation [Dr. Henry Jackson], for the following incident: So im- pressed was the Emperor with his firm step, his lofty bearing, his tall, manly, and imposing figure, decorated for the first time in the court dress of the Empire that he avowed [on meeting the American Ambassador] that Mr. Crawford was the only man to whom he had ever felt constrained to bow and that on this occasion he had involuntarily bowed twice as he received the minister from the United States. The homage thus paid by the Emperor was said to be a rare if not an unprecedented ocenrrence at this court; and the Emperor himself was one of those who observed, upon looking at Mr. Crawford, that he was among the few distinguished men whose actual appearance more than realized what one anticipated before seeing them."

* " Lamar's Compilation, " pp. 4-5.

t "Lamar's Compilation, " pp. 22-23.

# See "Georgia in the Realm of Anecdote, Wit and Humor."

CHAPTER III

THE WAR OF 1812-TO SECURE FREEDOM UPON THE HIGH SEAS, THIS COUNTRY ONCE MORE ENGAGES IN A STRUGGLE WITH ENGLAND- AMERICAN SAILORS IMPRESSED ON BOARD ENGLISH WARSHIPS-GEOR- GIA'S PART IN THE WAR IS CHIEFLY TO AID IN QUELLING A FRONTIER OUTBREAK OF THE CREEK INDIANS-TECUMSEH'S ELOQUENCE IN- FLAMES THE FOREST-SOMETHING ABOUT THIS EXTRAORDINARY MAN- THE INFLUENCE OF COL. BENJAMIN HAWKINS IN RESTRAINING THE LOWER CREEKS-THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1812-GOVERNOR MITCHELL'S WAR MESSAGE -- PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENDING GEOR- GIA'S SOIL-$30,000 APPROPRIATED-AMELIA ISLAND INFESTED WITH LAWLESS CHARACTERS-FUGITIVES INTO EAST FLORIDA-GOVERNOR MITCHELL VISITS THE BORDER-DEMANDS A DISCONTINUANCE OF DEP- REDATIONS-WISHES TO ANNEX FLORIDA, TO WHICH ENDS HE FAVORS ENCOURAGING THE REVOLUTIONISTS-BUT THE PROJECT FAILS- STOCKADE FORTS ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER-THE FIRST REAL SKIRMISH-MASSACRE AT FORT MIMS-TO AVENGE THIS HOLOCAUST A BODY OF GEORGIA MILITIA STARTS IN PURSUIT- UNDER A CALL FROM THE SECRETARY OF WAR, 3,600 TROOPS ARE MOBILIZED AT FORT HAWKINS-GEN. JOHN FLOYD PUT IN COMMAND FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE MARCHES A BODY OF MEN AT THE HEAD OF WHICH RIDES ANDREW JACKSON.

To secure freedom upou the high seas war was formally declared against England by the United States Government in 1812. But before treating of Georgia's part in this second war for independence we must explain the necessity for this renewal of hostilities with England. When Napoleon was at the height of his power in 1806 he sought to embarrass British commerce by closing all of the continental parts to England's trade, a drastic measure against which England retaliated by forbidding any vessel to enter the ports of France or those of her allies. Due to these edicts, American vessels trading with the countries at war, in- curred the liability of capture, first by the one and then by the other. British naval officers, inspired by an old enmity, had more than once searched American vessels; but without stopping at this indignity they had even seized American sailors, impressing them into service ou board English warships on the spurious claim that these sailors were British subjects. Such high-handed piracy was not to be countenanced, and accordingly this country in what was known as the Embargo of 1807 sus- pended all commerce and forhade any vessel to leave its ports. To Geor- gia especially this measure dealt a severe blow. She was just beginning to export large quantities of cotton to Europe and from this trade her wealth was mainly derived. But the Legislature of 1807 in a patriotic

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address strongly supported the Government's action. Later an effort was made by England to force a direct trade with the cotton states, on the supposition that no real unity existed between these states, especially where selfish interests were involved. In January, 1809, an English war brig, the Sandwich, anchored off Tybee Island, at the mouth of the Savannah River. Disembarking, two British officers came in rowboats up the stream to purchase cotton, but only to meet an emphatic refusal. There was no cotton in Savannah for English buyers. These officers became insolent . and even threatened to destroy the town, but they failed to secure any cotton. Returning to the brig, they soon put out to sea, but as a farewell salute emptied a charge of lead into a pilot boat lying in the harbor.

Such an indignity made Georgia eager for war, and accordingly the Legislature of 1809 passed resolutions of protest, urging our Government to maintain its sovereign rights against the despots of Europe.

But Georgia's part in the War of 1812 was chiefly to aid in quelling a frontier outbreak of the Creek Indians who became in this struggle the allies of the British. Anticipating an outbreak of war, England had secretly sent emissaries to this country to secure allies among the North American Indians. Tecumseh, a chief of the Shawnees, famed for his eloquence, became a convert to these emissaries, especially since, with a prophet's eye, he saw the doom of his race prefigured in the reddening clouds which hung upon the sunset sky; and he, therefore, undertook to incite all the tribes between Canada and Florida to rise in an organized body against the white settlements. This was an adroit move on the part of England. Tecumseh, from his home in the far-away Northwest, came all the way to Georgia for the purpose of inciting the Muscogee Confed- eracy to arms; nor did his fiery eloquence fail to exert a powerful influ- ence upon the savage tribes. All accounts agree in ascribing to Tecumseh wonderful powers of oratory, in portraying him as a man of splendid presence, and with a powerful voice, marvelous in its flexibility and compass, and with a tropical imagination. Tecumseh encountered little difficulty in arousing the hostile Upper Creeks, on the Alabama River, though it was mainly from the youthful hot-heads or Red-Sticks that he drew his adherents. The old men of the tribe counseled moderation. But to quote an authoritative account, "the Red Sticks listened readily to Tecumseh's teaching, and when he left for his home in the distant North-west many were already dancing the war-dance of the Lakes." #

Most fortunate it was for Georgia that at this time she possessed a strong tower of defense in the person of Col. Benjamin Hawkins, the resident Indian agent appointed to this office by Washington. For years this truly great and noble man had devoted his life with supreme un- selfishness to the welfare of the Indians, and though he had occupied a seat in the American Senate he was nevertheless willing to bury himself in the heart of the wilderness, if by such a sacrifice he could serve his country in an hour of need and aid in uplifting the savage tribes of the forest. The Lower Creeks, who dwelt within the limits of Georgia and who came directly under the influence of Colonel Hawkins, remained friendly to Georgia, and no persuasive arguments could induce them to

* "Life of Jackson, " W. G. Brown, p. 47.

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join the Creek insurrection. These Lower Creeks had made rapid prog- ress in the agricultural arts, due largely to the tutelage of Colonel Hawkins, and in fact had passed from savagery into semi-civilization. Indeed, in this respect, they were not far behind the Cherokees, who alone of all the Indian tribes in North America possessed a written alpha- bet and governed themselves according to constitutional law.

But the Upper Creeks were neither as civilized nor as peaceably inclined as were the Lower Creeks; they were at all times belligerent, and when to the fiery harangues of Tecumseh were added the prophecies of medicine men and soothsayers, who predicted victory for the British, with a promise of long life in the happy hunting grounds for the braves who fell in battle, these Upper Creeks were ready at a moment's notice to descend upon the white settlements in a sweeping avalanche of fire and blood.

Amid the opening guns of the War of 1812 there occurred another presidential election. Georgia at this time cast eight electoral votes. She supported Mr. Madison for re-election as President and Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, for Vice President. Georgia's electors in 1812 were as follows: from the state at large, Daniel Stewart and John Twiggs; distriet delegates, Henry Graybill, Oliver Porter, Charles Har- ris, Henry Mitehell, John Rutherford and John Howard .*

Governor Mitchell, when the Legislature convened in 1812, was ready with a vigorous war message in which he urged instant measures to defend Georgia's exposed frontier. Ile also urged all necessary precau- tions for safeguarding the ocean front. Said he: t "These considera- tions have induced me to press upon your attention a thorough revision of our military laws and [the need] of making provision for the pur- chase of arms and ammunition. In the defense of our sea coast, it will not escape your attention, that artillery is of vast importance, and yet there is not a single company out of the City of Savannah in the whole of the First Brigade. This is no doubt owing to the great expense attending the equipment and support of such a eorps, which but a few are able to sustain. Permit me to recommend to your consideration the propriety of making some provision for the encouragement of this de- scription of troops.

"Knowing of no manufactory of Swords and Pistols within the State, my attention has been directed to other States for a supply of these articles, as contemplated by the act of the last session, for the use of the cavalry; but find the prospect of procuring them so remote and uncertain that I shall attempt to have the swords made at home and I am flattered with the hope of having this done in a style of workman- ship superior to those imported for common use and at a much cheaper rate. The manufacture of them will commence immediately in this place, and will produce about five dozen every week. I shall use my utmost efforts to have the pistols made in the State also. These are objeets which, in our present situation, elaim the fostering eare of the Legislature.

"In the course of last summer the Secretary of War of the United

* "Lanman's Biographical Annals of the United States Government, " pp. 517-518. t Senate Journal, 1812, p. 7.

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States, by order of the President, called upon this State, under the au- thority of an act of Congress, to detach from her militia three thousand five hundred [men], which has been done accordingly. These men thus detached are liable to be called into actual service whenever the Presi- dent shall so direct, and ten companies of them have been called for and are now in the field where they are liable to be detained for six months. It is possible, nay, very probable, that many of those men now on duty have left families or relatives at home, whose principal dependence for support was upon their labor and whose little property may be at the mercy of a creditor for an inconsiderable debt. Some legislative provision in such cases would, in my opinion, be both reason- able and just and may be done without impairing the just rights of others."

To the recommendations made by Governor Mitchell the Legislature responded by appropriating $30,000, with which to erect forts on the frontier, arm soldiers, and fit out vessels for coast protection. There were quite a number of guns in the old statehouse at Louisville, then used as an arsenal. These were ordered at once to the new seat of gov- ernment, there to be divided among the various military organizations. Swords and pistols were also provided with which to equip the cavalry troops; but these were not of the best workmanship.

Governor Mitchell, in his message to the Legislature, called attention to a revolution begun in East Florida during the month of March. The Island of Amelia, on the Florida coast, had become a den of smugglers who, under the protection of Spain, sought to evade the laws of the United States. Besides, lawless characters on the mainland in East Florida were giving the state much trouble, crossing into Georgia, burn- ing houses, stealing articles of value, and carrying off live stock. To protect the endangered ocean front, Governor Mitchell called for 10,000 troops. At the same time he purchased 500 stands of arms for equipping the militia on the exposed southern frontier. President Madison, in response to an importunate appeal, ordered United States troops to Georgia, to act in co-operation with state troops. Governor Mitchell was instructed to use all efforts within his power to induce the revolutionists in Florida to consent to annexation. Reaching St. Mary's, on the border, Governor Mitchell addressed a letter to the governor of East Florida, telling him that the Indians under his pro- tection must return stolen property, that the smugglers must leave Amelia Island, and that all outrages must cease at once. To this letter the Spanish governor returned an insolent reply, which he proceeded to re-enforce by an effort to disperse the American troops; but he failed to dislodge them. Meanwhile, however, the revolution in East Florida had collapsed, and with it had dissolved all hope of annexation.

Governor Mitchell was not unmindful of dangers on the north, and, while safeguarding the coast, he was also careful not to expose Georgia, without some preparation for resistance, to an Indian uprising, likely to occur at any moment. On the upper frontier, where a constant state of dread prevailed among the settlers, he erected stockade forts, at distances of sixty miles apart. Each of these forts was 100 feet square, guarded by two bloekhouses and enclosed within a stockade eight feet in height. There were three of these forts in Twiggs County,

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three in Telfair and four in Pulaski-all on its exposed northern and western border.

Depredations were constant. But the first real skirmish occurred at Burnt Corn in Lower Alabama, where the Creeks repulsed an attack of badly organized frontiersmen.

Fort Mims, on the Alabama River, witnessed the first horrors of an Indian massacre. On August 30, 1813, a body of Creeks numbering 1,000 warriors made a descent upon the fort at high noon. It was an unexpected assault and before the little garrison could barricade its doors the Indians were upon them, with the dreaded war-whoop. No quarter was given, and in less than half an hour there was scarcely a man left to tell the woeful tale. Over 300 lives were brutally sacrificed in this bloody carnival. All who took refuge within the stockade for protection, including many women and children, perished. Says a well-known historian: #

"At Fort Mims, near the point where the Alabama and Tombigbee form the Mobile, five hundred and fifty-three men, women and children were pent up in an ill-planned enclosure, defended by a small force under an incompetent though courageous officer named Beasley. On the morning of August 30, 1813, Beasley was writing to his superior, General Claiborne, that he could hold the fort against any number of the enemy. At that very moment a thousand warriors lay hidden in a ravine but a few hundred yards from the open gate of the stockade. Their principal leader was William Weatherford, 'the Red Eagle,' a half-breed of much intelligence and dauntless courage. At noon, when the drums beat the garrison to dinner, the Indians rushed to the attack. At the end of the hot August day there remained of the fort but a smol- dering heap of ruins, ghastly with human bodies. Only a handful of the inmates escaped to spread the horrible news among the terrified settlers. Swift runners set off eastward, westward, and northward, for help. A shudder ran over the whole country. The Southwest turned from the remoter events of the war in Canada to the disaster at home. 'The Creeks !' 'Weatherford!' 'Fort Mims!' were the words on every- body's lips."

But this affair at Fort Mims was only the signal for a general up- rising among the Indians. Both the Creeks on the west and the Semi- noles on the south were involved in this murderous conspiracy against the white settlements. To avenge the frightful holocaust at Fort Mims, a body of Georgia troops pursued the red-handed demons into the swamp and for seven days, without food or shelter, camped in the depths of the wilderness, exposed to hidden perils. But the Indians escaped.

Meanwhile, under a call from the secretary of war, 3,600 Georgia troops were mobilized at Fort Hawkins, on the Ocmulgee River, directly opposite the present City of Macon. This was the strongest fortification on the exposed frontier. It had been constructed in 1806, under the personal supervision of Col. Benjamin Hawkins, the Indian agent for whom it was named. Gen. John Floyd was put in command of these militia troops, much to the disappointment, it is said, of Gen. John Clark, who aspired to this position. At the head of a column of

* "Life of Andrew Jackson, " W. G. Brown, 48-49.

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Mississippi settlers, re-enforced by friendly Choctaws, General Claiborne marched into the wilderness. From East Tennessee, a body of men commanded by Gen. John Cocke started toward the Alabama line. But there was still another army on the move. It was composed of rifle- men from West Tennessee and at its head-his arm in a sling and his shoulder too weak to bear the weight of an epaulet-rode an intrepid Scotch-Irishman, lean and lank, destined within a few months to make himself known to all the civilized world-Gen. Andrew Jackson.

Vol. I-30

CHAPTER IV

THE HOSTILE CREEKS OR RED STICKS PROVE WILY FOES-DIFFICULTY OF PENETRATING INTO AN UNFAMILIAR WILDERNESS REMOTE FROM ANY BASE OF SUPPLIES-WHILE THE WAR IS IN PROGRESS, JUDGE PETER EARLY SUCCEEDS GOVERNOR MITCHELL AT THE HELM-ON HIS OWN INITIATIVE, GOVERNOR EARLY ADVANCES MONEY TO MOVE THIE IDLE TROOPS AT FORT HAWKINS-THIS PROMPT ACTION DEMANDED BY NE- CESSITY AND JUSTIFIED BY RESULTS- GENERAL FLOYD CROSSES THE CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER-FORT MITCHELL-THE BATTLE OF AUTOSSEE -GENERAL FLOYD WOUNDED-THE BATTLE OF CHALLIBEE-THE CREEK INDIANS SUBDUED ON AUGUST 9, 1814, THE TREATY OF FORT JACKSON IS SIGNED-COL. DANIEL APPLING-HIS GALLANT EXPLOIT AT SANDY CREEK -- THE STATE OF GEORGIA AWARDS HIM A SWORD- DYING WITHOUT HEIRS, THIS TROPHY IS PRESERVED BY THE STATE- GENERAL JACKSON NEXT CROSSES INTO FLORIDA-ON THE TERRITORY OF SPAIN, HE THROWS DIPLOMACY TO THE WINDS-INTERNATIONAL COMPLICATIONS-THE BLACKSHEAR ROAD JACKSON DRIVES THE BRITISH FROM PENSACOLA AND STARTS FOR NEW ORLEANS WHERE, ON JANUARY 8, 1815, HE WINS A GLORIOUS VICTORY OVER THE SEASONED VETERANS OF PACKENHAM-SOME OF THESE AFTERWARDS FOUGHT UNDER WELLINGTON AT WATERLOO-MEANWHILE THE TREATY OF GHENT IS SIGNED-THE WAR ENDS.

NOTE: THE DEATH OF CAPT. SAMUEL BUTTS.

With determined frontiersmen organized under such leaders, the suppression of the Creek uprising was only a question of time; but the hostile Red Sticks were moved by a stern hatred of the whites. They possessed both courage and endurance and they knew every trail through the swamps. There were few of the settlers who had ventured far into this forbidden stretch of wilderness, occupied by the Creeks; and it was not an easy matter for an army to move through an unbroken forest. More than one victory was scored by the invading columns; but each of the leaders was in turn forced to make a hasty retreat to his base of supplies; and without decisive results the year 1813 drew to an end.

Meanwhile Governor Mitchell, having completed his second term of office, Judge Peter Early, formerly a member of Congress, afterwards a judge of the Ocmulgee Circuit, was called to the executive helm. Judge Early was a native of Virginia. On the floor of Congress he had displayed abilities of a high order, reflecting luster upon himself and upon the state of his adoption; but while a man of thought he was likewise a man of action. In his inaugural address, delivered Novem-

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ber 5, 1813, he took advanced position. Money was needed to relieve the embarrassment of General Floyd's army at Fort Hawkins. Energy and dispatch in all things were characteristic of General Floyd; but unfortunately it was not in his power to control the commissariat of the army-it could not march. Through default of the Federal Govern- ment in supplying promised funds, a dangerous, perhaps a fatal delay was taking place; and in this emergency Governor Early did not wait for the Legislature to authorize a loan from the state treasury, but un- dertook on his own initiative to advance a sum of money, for the return of which the good faith of a United States officer was pledged .* He knew how important it was to Georgia to crush the Indian uprising and how essential it was for an army to be supplied with funds when a crisis in its operations was at hand. Consequently he drew his warrant for $80,000. Some criticized him for advancing the money. It was thought that he was incurring too much risk, that the Union might dissolve while the war was in progress and the money be lost; but to this stricture he replied : + "I hope no such rupture will come but if it does I have no desire that Georgia should survive the general wreck." Happily the Union was not dissolved and the money advanced by Governor Early was returned.

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A standard history of Georgia and Georgians, Part 60

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868- Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 648

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 648