USA > Georgia > Glynn County > Annals and statistics of Glynn County, Georgia > Part 3
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And mercy, Jesus, should mutter e'er it dies."
The same man on another occasion, in response to my question, should some fairy God mother offer you the grant of one wish, what would you ask? "My youth, was the answer; my youth, with all its hopes; my youth, with all its power of appre- ciation, unshadowed by years; my youth, with its supreme delight in mere life, with its eye for beauty, both physical and
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natural, undimmed, with its soul full of generosity and pulsing with a divine sympathy equally to the erring and the suffering, above all, with its faith in others unsapped and full of trust, not doubt of mankind. Give me but this last, he said, and with it alone I could defy both fate and fortune."
As the strong and eleonine face dropped the mental mask, that all men wear, disclosing what a man so rarely sees, that holy of holies, another's inner heart, veiled, and seldom lifted, but to a woman's summons, I thought, can it be that one who has faced so bravely the cruel blows of disease and age, thinks not "of the slings and arrows of an outrageous fortune,"but rather, of the power of trust and belief in his fellow men that's gone forever.
"Oh in this mocking world too fast. The doubting Friend! D'ertakes our youth,
Better be cheated to the last.
Than lose the blessed hope of truth"
friends
To write of Glynn county and make no mention of the Wesleys, would be an omission, not so much on account of the value of their work, as to correct the prevailing belief in the length and duration of their joint pastorates.
Charles Wesley first landed on St. Simons Island on March 9th, 1736, and resided there less than seventy days, much of that time was spent in crimination and recrimination, with the Governor of the Province. In his diary he says, "on Sunday I preached with boldness "on the 18th Gen. Oglethorpe set out with the Indians for the main to hunt the buffalo." (and probably to found Brunswick) "on the evening of the 18th M. W. dis- covered to me the whole mystery of iniquity. Bruce says:" "As usual there was a woman or rather two women in it. Both claiming to have Oglethorpe as their protector and patron. They carry themselves in the little society with great freedom. Oglethorpe is angered and uses words hardly consistent with his generally gracious manner. Charles Wesley is cut and scorned on all sides, and in his diary writes, 'woe is me that I am still · constrained to dwell with meshec'. Oglethorpe relents and soft- ens in his feeling towards one who has but his texts, his prayers, and his patience for his comfort. They part as friends on April 24th, 1736, when Capt. McIntosh and the general reconoiter the Spanish lands. On his return, they meet with all differences for- gotten. Charles Wesley says: 'I longed sir, upon your leaving, to see you once more that I might tell you some things, but I con-
*See Bruce's Life of Oglethorpe, page 170.
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sidered should you die you would know them all'. "
Oglethorpe answers: "I know not, whether separated spirits regard our little concerns, If they do; it is as men regard the follles of their childhood."
On May 15th, 1736, Charles Wesley set out for Savannah, leaving Frederica forever, on July 26th. The concluding words of the lesson were 'rise and let us go hence,' and on that day he took his farewell of Georgia, and sailed by way of Boston for England.
John Wesley reached Savannah Febuary 14, 1836. Before his embarkation Dr. Burton, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, had written him "you will keep in view the pattern of the Gos- pel preacher, St. Paul, who became all things to all men, that he might save some." He was visited on his arrival by To:no Chichi, the Indian Chief, who made to him these pungent re- marks, "Why talk Christian, Christian at Savannah, Christian at Frederica, Christian much drunk, Christian tell lies, Devil Christian, me no Christian," but to be all things to all men that he might save some was not the path in which John Wesley would walk. To save the soul, all things must be borne and endured. He insisted on immersing the baby Georgians brought him for baptism.
He insisted on the most advanced church rites as essentials. He fell in love with a Miss Sophia Hopkins, who dressed in white, and gave herself much trouble to reach the heart of the austere saint. He submitted the question marry or not marry to a council of elders, who advised him to proceed no further in the business. Miss Sophia immediately united herself in marriage to a Mr. Williamson.
Her after conduct, in her former lover's opinion, not being consistent with church membership, he reproved her, and his ad- monition being unheeded, he denied her the communion. He is sued in the civil courts by her husband, damages paid at £1000. Much scandal and much talk followed. At length after two years and four months stay in Georgia, John Wesley sailed for England, there to found and build the great church power, which in after days is to call him blessed among men, and thrice blessed in Georgia.
In this rapid retrospect we have now reached the crucial days of trial. We have seen the county steadfast and brave under Spanish, English and Northern invasion. We have seen her prosperous and happy, free from debt and governed by men
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with a high sense of honor and duty. In 1861 we find her swept by a wave of Southern feeling. Before the electric throb that swept a country, prudence and reason were overborne, five years of struggle, five years display of unmatched heroism, and five years of unspeakable deprivation ensue. Finally on April 9, 1865 comes the cry, "it is over" and a lost cause is laid to rest in the burial places of the memory, there to remain forever entomb- ed together with the trinkets and tressess of our dead, and the graves that lie on other lands. "Tread lightly and with unshod toot, oh wayfarer, for know these are holy memories and this is sacred ground."
Then comes Reconstruction and Destruction. Then brave hearts strive to gather the fragments of a lost prosperity, and other hearts, as brave, sink into cynicism or dispair. One, I re- member, who having spent his all, from day to day, finally dis- appeared, leaving upon his table three packets, each containing a little gold; upon them were written: "This for my last week's board," "This for my funeral expenses," "This for masses for my soul." . On the last was added, "go to wharf No. 3, on its cap sill you will find a rope, pull on that rope and you will find me." Requiescat in pace. Did he remember Goethe's hymn of our parent earth, "Let me in, let me in, oh mother."
Years roll on, and the century Is near ended. Behind lie days of harassment and days of struggle, days of despondency and days of hope, yet still the sun rises in its sumptuous splendor, and sinks in solemn repose, for there is life in the old land yet. On that island, the seed bed of Georgia, the hope and the youth of the land breathe the crisp air, side by side on the beaches they wander-and, look. To the East every wave is crested with a ripple of hope, while they listen to the music that beats from the ocean's great heart, and to the sigh of the pines, ever sounding, never ceasing, always whispering, "wait, oh wait."
"The long surf whitens up the bay, Fringing the yellow sand with pearl ; And tremulous the ripples sway. Sway to and tro, and flash and curl. They whisper softly to her feet Who lingers lonely on the sand,
Still looking seaward, with her sweet Dark eyeso'ershadowed by her hand,
Her loosened hair is backward blown, And brightens in the evening light ;
And the fresh landward breeze has thrown Soft color on her cheek's cold white.
Is it to watch the sea-bird shoot On sunny wings along the foam, She lingers with reluctant fout,
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All lonely from her cottage home! Is it to watch the waters fret And toss their snowy spume-flakes free,
Her tender long long-lashed eyes are set So often to the windy sea? Is it to mark the mellow hue Where the deep heavens and oceans meet,
The golden melting in the blue
So softly, that she stays her feet?
There is a bark with snowy sail, And pennon futtering in the wind, Bright foam about her bows, a trail Of broken waters far behind ;
She leans before the breeze, she flies Bird-like, with pinions widely set ;-
And now, in seaward-looking eyes Heart-weary shades no longer fret,
Sail on ! fair bark, amid the spray ; Sail onland safely shoreward run; Break on, soft ripples, up the bay ; And know, sweet maid, thy vigil done."
I had hoped to have added to this pamphlet photographs of Mr. John Couper, Clement Martin, James Spalding, Poulain du- Bignon, Major Page, and others, with prints of Retreat, Altama, Frederica, Hopeton, Cannons and Hampton Points and Broadfield, but the means at my disposal has forbidden it.
These illustrations would have been infinitely more interest- ing than the poor words in which I have attempted to describe places and personages.
The men whose names I have written were, either guides to the infancy or counsellors to the manhood of the county and state. They were as De Grammot calls his characters, "men of parts" and they had been actors, not lay figures in the "building of Georgia." Many had seen life in various phases, and in other lands. John Couper had known Georgia in ante-Revolutionary days, and the actors in that struggle were his familiar friends; his conversation enriched by anecdote, was charming and in- structive. Clement Martin was, through his father, secretary to the trustees, connected from early youth with the Province of Georgia. James Spalding's business as an Indian trader had made, what was then a wilderness and unknown country, an open book to him. Major Page had met and known the men who ruled the councils of the Provincial government. Poulain duBignon had lived a life of varied experience. In India he had witnessed the Mogul Empire with its barbaric splendor crumble before British arms. He had sailed the blue waters of the Spanish main, and ridden the Carnatic with Hyder All, and later, had come to end his days on the quiet Island home. Hopeton had been the centre of a literary life,
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and the scene of successful scientific agriculture. Altama would show how "man proposes and God disposes', built for a beloved wife's dower house. It has passed into alien hands, At Hampton Point feudalism made its last stand, and to the master the vassals or slaves gave an unswerving loyalty and love, which has survived to this day, and Is transferred from grand children to the great grand children who now live.
It has been a reproach to American History that an absence of romance causes it to be but dreary reading. Such a belief could be confuted by a study of early Georgia life, most assuredly by a knowledge of the Glynn and McIntosh colonization. Their building up was what closely resembled a tribal emigration, and they were always true to Oglethorpe, true to the Province and true to themselves.
App. prof
Finis.
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Appendir.
ORIGINAL ROSTER OF BRUNSWICK RIFLEMEN
Original Roster of the Brunswick Riflemen as organized and connected with the 2nd Georgia Regiment, 1861:
Captain. B. F. Harris,
4th Sergeant, U. Dart,
1st Lieutenant, J. S. Blain,
5th Sergeant, A. S. Quarterman,
2nd Lieutenant, T. N. Gardner,
1st Corporal, Burr Winton,
3rd Lieutenant, G. R. Frazier,
2nd Corporal, Jas. B. Moore,
1st Sergeant, N. Dixon,
3rd Corporal, Chas. L. Schlatter,
2nd Sergeant, G. W. Pettigrew.
4th Corporal, Jno. L. Harris,
ärd Sergeant, Jas. Hernandez, Musician. Ciscro Arnold,
I. C. Aymar:
Alex Peters,
Thos. Lundy.
I. S. Armstrong,
Dennis O'Brien,
Joe Lasserre.,
J. B. Arnold,
J. D. Files,
E. Laughinghouse,
R. S. Aiken,
J. B. Robinson,
Chas. Miller,
S. A. Brockington,
Jas. Speer,
E. B. Mozlan,
A. L. Blount,
J. J. Smith.
L. C. Marlin,
W. D. Beckham,
Danuel Smith,
W. W. Maugham.
Wm. E. Clarke,
Patrick Smith,
Jas. MeLamore,
Jno. Curry.
H. B. Wilson,
Jno. Martin,
Thos. Cummings,
C. C. Williams.
M. Martin,
Robt. S. Club.
D. S. Goodbread,
Jno. Niblo.
Dennis Cronan,
H. G. Goodbread,
Jno. O'Brien,
C. W. Dixon,
R. Greenfield,
Jacob Sikes,
J. E. Dart,
Jas. Golden,
W. J. Sallins,
H. Dart,
Geo. Holmes,
Jno. Sloan,
F. M. Dart,
Henry Holmes,
D. J. Sallins,
E. D. Duprice,
P. McDermot,
J. J. Spear,
Pátrick Dunn.
F. Higginbotham,
E. Summerall,
W. Elias.
Austin Holcolm,
Geo. H. Thomas,
Jas. M. Flinn,
H. Highsmith,
H. Thomas.
Chas. E. Flanders,
Izra Jones,
Berry Williams,
Henry Ferrell.
Dennis Cane,
F. Wourse,
Robt. Frohock.
A. J. Lynch,
Geo. Weeks,
T. J. Goodbread,
Memorandum of the battles in which the Brunswick Rifle- men were engaged in, during the civil war, without reference to the many heavy skirmishes, many of which assumed the mag- nitude of battles:
1862.
Seven days battle before Richmond. 2nd Battle Manassas, Aug, 29 and 30. Battle Cedar Mountain, Aug. 9. Sharpsburg, Sept. 17.
Manassas Junction, Aug. 28. Fredericksburg, Dec. 13.
1863.
Battle Maries Hights, May 3. Chancellorsville. May 3.
1st Battle Winchester, June 18. Gettysburg, July 1, 2, and 3.
1864.
Wilderness. Mar 5.6. and 7.
Maryland Hights, July 6.
Spotsylvania. May 10, 11. and 12. The Pines, May 18.
Monocacy, July 9.
North Anna, May 23.
Investment Washington City, July 12 and 13.
Turkey Ridge. June 1.
Snickers Gap, July 17.
Coal Harbor June 3.
2nd Battle Winchester. Sept. 19.
Lynchburg. June 14.
Fishers Hill. Sept. 23.
Kemstown. July 1.
Fishers Creek, Oct 19.
Continuous battles around Petersburg Dec. Ist to March 28th, 1>65.
1865.
Storming Fort Steadman. March'28. Surrender of Army, April 9. Battles on Retreat. April 1 to 9.
TRUSTEES FOR THE PROVINCE OF GEORGIA.
Trustees appointed by the Charter:
1. John, Lord Percival.
2. Edward Digby.
3. George Lord Carpenter.
4. James Oglethorpe, M. P.
5. George Heathcote, M. P.
6. Thomas Larden, M. P.
7. Robert Moore, M. P.
8. Robert Hicks, M. P.
9. Roger Holland, M. P.
10. William Sloper. M. P.
11. Sir Frances Eyles, M. P.
12. John La Roche. M. P.
13. James Vernon, Esq.
14. William Belitha, Esq.
15. Rev. John Burton. D. D.
16. Rev. Richard Bundy. D. D.
17. Rev. Arthur Bedford, A. M.
18. Rev. Samuel Smith.
19. Adam Anderson.
20. Thomas Coram.
21. Rev. Stephen Hales.
Elected in 1734:
22. James Stanley, Earl of Derby. 30. Sir William Heathcote.
23. Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of 31. John White, Esq. Shaftesburg, 32. Robert Kendall.
24. John, Lord Tyreonnel.
25. James, Lord Lomercik.
26. James, Lord D'Arcy.
27. Richard Chandler.
28. Thomas Frederick.
2 .. Henry D'Aposfree, Esq.
Elected in 1737:
38. Rev. Thomas Rundle, D. D.
39. William Lord Tabbot.
40. Richard Coope.
41. William Wallaston.
42. Robert Eyre, Esq.
43. Thomas Archer.
44. Henry Archer.
45. Robert Tracey.
46. Francis Wallaston.
47. Sir Robert Cater.
Elected in 1738: 48. Sir Jack de Bowverie.
Elected in 1739:
49. Sir Harvey Gough. Elected in 1740;
50. Sir Robert Burgoyne.
51. Lord Sidney Benclerk. Elected in 1742: 52. Henry, Earl of Bathurst.
54. Sir John Frederick.
63. Hon. Philip Percival.
Elected in 1743:
55. Hon. Alexander Hume Camp bell.57. Samuel Tufnell, Esq.
56. Sir John Barrongton. 68. Sir Henry Calthorpe.
Elected in 1745: 59. Sir John Philips. 60. Velters Cornwall.
61. John Wright, Esq., of Bolton on Swale died in 1715.
Elected in 1747: 62. Rev. Thomas Wilson, D. D.
Elected in 1749:
63. Francis Cokayne, Esq.
65. Earl of Egmont. 66. Anthony Ewer. 67. Edwin Hooper. cs. Sir John Cust.
64. Samuel Loyd. 69. Hon. Slingsby Bethel. M. P. 70. Hon. Stephen Janson. 71. Richtard Cavendish,
33. Win. Harsburg.
34. Christopher Tower, Esq.
35. Sir Erasmus Phillips.
36. Sir John Gonson.
37. George Tyner, Esq.
F 8673-1.987
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