USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 11
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*History of Georgia, Volume 2, p. 399, reprinted, Atlanta, 1909.
CHAPTER XXVIII
Historic Old Midway: A Shrine of Patriotism
0 N the old military road between Savannah and Darien, in an angle which it here makes with the road to Sunbury, stands an ancient land-mark, built of wood, two stories in height. To the outward eye it presents few attractions. The simple taste of the Puritans who built it is proclaimed by an absence of anything which even remotely suggests artistic design. Its austere appearance is sternly in keeping with the rigid Calvinistic principles of the devout believers who here worshipped and who took no little pride in the fact that they sprang from ancestors who belonged to the Ironsides of Cromwell. Except on commemorative occasions, the building is no longer used; and those of its members who are not sleeping underneath the live- oaks, in the little grave-yard across the road, are scat- tered far and wide. Before the war, there was not to be found in Georgia a community of thriftier planters than the one which stretched for miles in every direction around this sacred center; but today it stands amid the abandoned acres, like a grim sentinel keeping watch over a silent past, while upon it from one Lord's Day to an- other there broods the hush of an unbroken Sabbath. Once each year, the descendants of the early settlers gather in the little house of worship or on the green plaza in front of it to revive the recollections of former days, some of them coming from the most distant parts of the continent. It may be questioned whether the North Star casts a
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more potent spell upon the needle of the mariner's com- pass than does this hallowed spot upon the descendants of the early Puritans of Georgia. Nor is it a matter of marvel. The loadstone which draws them is in some respects the most famous of America's patriotic shrines : historic old Midway Church.
From this parental stock have sprung hundreds of the most distinguished men in the public life of the nation. It has produced two Signers of the Declaration of In- dependence, two Generals of the Revolution, besides numerous officers of lower rank, two Commodores, one President of the United States, three United States Senators, four members of Congress, four Governors of Georgia, and at least six judges of the Superior Court. In advance of the rest of the Province the first bold stand for independence was here taken and the Colonial flag on Fort Morris was the last to be lowered when Georgia was overrun by the British. Not less than six counties of the State bear names whose origin can be traced to the Midway settlement. Two of the most eminent of modern scientists were natives of the Parish of St. John. The list also includes two University Chancellors, three Presidents of Female Seminaries, one President of the State Normal School, one United States Minister to China, six authors of note, two historians, six editors, six foreign missionaries, and scores of successful business men, together with a host of other notables including soldiers, statesmen, educators, inventors, doctors, lawyers, and ministers of the gospel .* Can any other religious organi- zation in America exhibit such a record? The explanation is to be found in the substantial pabulum upon which the offspring of the settlement were nourished, the empha- sis put upon moral and educational values, the sturdy
*History of Midway Congregational Church, by Rev. James Stacy, D. D., Newnan, 1899. Under the head of Liberty County, in Part 2 of this work the contributions of Midway Church are discussed more in detail.
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examples which were set before them, and the fear of God which was an ever present factor in the lives of these devout people. To what depth the vital truths of religion struck root in this fertile soil may be gleaned from the fact that eighty two clergymen have come from the Midway settlement. Fifty of these have been Pres- byterians, seventeen Baptists, three Episcopalians, and thirteen Methodists, one of whom attained to the high office of Bishop. Included among the early pastors of the church was the father of the famous New England poet : Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Though the present structure is not the original house of worship, this time-honored old land-mark is neverthe- less one hundred and twenty years old-an ancient chron- icler whose records testify to many thrilling scenes en- acted in the immediate neighborhood.
The primitive building in which the congregation first communed was a temporary structure, built of logs and located some three quarters of a mile to the east of the present site, near the plantation of Mr. Thomas Mallard. It was erected in 1754, when the number of settlers was still small, but sufficient to undertake the task. Two years later, the place of meeting was changed to the present site, whereon a frame edifice was built. The ground was brought for the sum of four shillings from John Stevens, whose wife signed the deed with him, and the area of land conveyed was two acres.
During the Revolution, this structure was burned to ashes by the British soldiers, under Lieutenant Colonel Prevost. It was fired on the morning of November 27, 1778. The reason assigned for the act of vandalism was that the members had converted it into a sort of fortifi- cation by erecting about the church a stockade-a precau- tion which was certainly justified by the character of the times. Somewhat after the fashion of the early pioneers of New England, these stout apostles of the faith, in
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setting out for the house of worship did not forget to take flint and steel with them, nor, while kneeling in prayer, to keep a sure hand on the trigger. The next building was a temporary makeshift like the first, erected after the close of hostilities.
It was not until 1792 that the present structure was built. The fact that skilled labor and good material were used in building is attested by the excellent state of preservation in which this old landmark today stands. It was surmounted by a plain belfry and built two stories in heighth to contain a gallery in which there were seats for the colored members, and which was reached by stairs from the outside. It contained a high pulpit at the east side with an old-time sounding-board overhead, and there were three doors by which to enter it. Some fifty years later the pulpit was moved to the north end, at which time other changes were made in the interior. Originally, there were numerous little cottages built around the church to which the members repaired for lunch between services : an essential arrangement because of the great distances which some of them traveled; but these have long since disappeared.
CHAPTER XXIX
Franklin College: The Oldest State University in America, Chartered in 1785
T O the credit of the youngest of the original thirteen States be it said that it heads the long list of American commonwealths in extending State aid to higher education .* Georgia was the first State in the entire Union to provide by legislative enactment for an institution of learning to be supported either in whole or in part by popular taxation and to be of college rank. This step was taken four years prior to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, when the States were still bound together by the loose Articles of Confederation. The close of the Revolution found the far-sighted law- makers of Georgia looking toward the future. They reasoned that the success of republican government de- pended in the last analysis upon the intelligence of the people; and not only were leaders demanded to supply the vacant places in the ranks but germinal centers of influence were needed to stimulate the development of thought.
Accordingly, on February 25, 1784, an act was passed by the Legislature, from which the legal conception of the University of Georgia may be said to date.
The measure in question provided for the creation of two counties amid the virgin solitudes of the State to be called, respectively, Washington and Franklin, both of
*These facts have been collated from an official volume entitled "A Historical Sketch of the University of Georgia," by A. L. Hull, Atlanta, 1894.
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which at the time of organization, embraced extensive areas. It was furthermore provided that in each of these counties 20,000 acres of land should be set aside for the purpose of endowing a college, the land to be of the very best quality, and to be subdivided into seperate tracts or parcels, containing 5,000 acres each. The titles to the property were to be vested in the following well known Georgians, who were authorized to take whatever steps were necessary to put the resolution into effect, to-wit: John Houstoun, James Habersham, William Few, Joseph Clay, Abraham Baldwin, and Nathan Brownson. In pursuance of the authority given to them by the Legis- lature these gentlemen proceeded to survey the lands.
There were originally eight tracts. But one of these was eventually lost to the State when the boundary line dispute between South Carolina and Georgia was ad- justed. It was known as the Keowee tract and was for years a bone of contention. As soon as the surveys were completed, the Legislature passed a bill, approved January 27, 1785, providing in formal terms for the establishment of a public seat of learning; and this act- drawn by Abraham Baldwin-constitutes the charter of the University of Georgia. The first meeting of the trustees under this act was held in Augusta, on February 13, 1786, at which time the board consisted of the follow- ing members, to-wit: Abraham Baldwin, William Few, William Glascock, John Habersham, Nathan Brownson, Hugh Lawson, and Benjamin Taliaferro. Until the insti- tution was formally launched, Abraham Baldwin was chosen to act as president. This position he held until 1801, due to the exigencies of the times. During this interval of fourteen years between the granting of the charter and the opening of the college, there was little for the trustees to do except to dispose of the lands in such a way as to accumulate a fund for the erection of buildings.
Unfortunately, at this early period, lands were cheap and rents uncertain. To show what lands were really
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worth at this time, Governor Wilson Lumpkin informs us that his father, John Lumpkin, who received handsome grants of land from the State, in requital of his services in the Revolution, sold 400 acres at one time for a shot gun and an equal amount later for a saddle horse. Says Mr. Hull : "If this be taken as a criterion, the munificent gift of the State was worth at the time it was made only fifty rifles and as many saddle horses, from which, how- ever, twelve horses should be deducted for the 5,000 acres lost." But impoverished by the Revolution there was nothing for Georgia to give except lands, in which she possessed an imperial domain.
On one of the tracts of land the trustees in 1798 laid off the town of Greensboro, at which time one thousand acres were offered for sale or lease in the immediate neighborhood.
Some of the trustees desired to locate the college at Greensboro, but there was difficulty in getting a quorum together; so the matter drifted.
Finally, a body called the Senatus Academicus was formed, consisting of the Governor, the judges of the Superior Courts, and the trustees, the duty of which body was to sit in review upon the action of the trustees, with power to confirm or to reject. On November 23, 1800, the Senatus Academicus formally organized the Univer- sity by the election of a president, at a salary of $1,200. Mr. Baldwin recommended for this position Professor Josiah Meigs, of Hartford, Conn., an old acquaintance whom he had met when a tutor at Yale. Final action was not taken by the board at this time, but Professor Meigs was elected Professor of mathematics, with an intimation that he might be asked to take the presidency later on. The curriculum of studies embraced little more than the classic languages, re-enforced by mathematics, with perhaps an occasional lecture on mental and moral philosophy ; but this small segment of the circle of know- ledge represented the whole range of the liberal arts in pioneer days.
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Without delay the trustees were authorized to select a site for the proposed institution.
Pursuant to these instructions, the trustees met and, after repeated ballotings, decided to locate the college somewhere within in the limits of what was then Jackson, now Clarke County; and accordingly a committee consist- ing of John Milledge, Abraham Baldwin, George Walton, John Twiggs, and Hugh Lawson was appointed to choose a site for the buildings. During the summer months thereafter this committee met at Billup's Tavern on the Lexington road, and proceeded thence to visit a number of localities. At last, by a unanimous vote, they chose a site belonging to Mr. Daniel Easley, at C'edar Shoals, on the north fork of the Oconee River. The property in question was not embraced within the lands which be- longed to the University but it was purchased by Mr. John Milledge, who deeded the same to the University as a gift. There were 633 acres in this tract, beautifully situated on the heights above the river and thickly wood- ed with luxuriant forest trees.
As an appropriate name for the locality which was to become the State's capitol of culture, it was decided by the trustees to call the new seat of learning Athens.
The institution itself was called Franklin College in honor of Benjamin Franklin, the New England philoso- pher and statesman who, during his residence abroad, acted as agent for Georgia in adjusting Colonial affairs.
While the Legislature's gift of land to the University was valueless at the time, it eventually yielded to the institution an income of $100,000, in addition to which the donation made by Governor Milledge produced, first and last, something like $30,000, and proved to be the main dependence of the college at sundry times, when in dire distress. The greater part of the town was built upon the Milledge tract, thus providing the institution an
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income from the sale of lots; and in recognition of the debt due to her earliest benefactor the University created the Milledge Chair of Ancient Languages, which still exists.
On the arrival of Professor Meigs in Georgia the office of President was relinquished by Mr. Baldwin and at his suggestion the former was placed at the helm of affairs. Under the direction of Professor Meigs temporary build- ings constructed chiefly of logs arose in the virgin wilder- ness; and these furnished the crude beginnings out of which the present beautiful campus has flowered. In the fall of 1801 the college was formally opened for the recep- tion of students. Professor Meigs at this time not only acted in the capacity of president but constituted within himself the entire corps of instruction.
In addition to the clearing made for the campus, a street was laid out under the supervision of Professor Meigs, lots were staked, homes commenced, and other steps taken looking toward the evolution of the future town. The first settler to locate in Athens was the Reverend Hope Hull, the founder of Methodism in Georgia. He came from Washington, in the county of Wilkes, where he had taught a select school for several years and where, with great unction of spirit, he had preached the doctrines of Wesley. If he was not at this time a member of the board of trustees he became one later and continued until the hour of his death to be the most loyal and steadfast friend of the college, bequeath- ing his love for it to his children after him. In 1808, he offered to build on the campus a chapel forty by fifty feet in dimensions, if the board would give $100 for a belfry, a proposition which the trustees accepted; and accord- ingly a chapel was erected by Mr. Hull which served the purpose for twelve years. At the same time, on the out- skirts of the town, he built Hull's Meeting House-the fame of which reached up and down the whole range of the Alleghany mountains.
*
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
It was to meet immediate needs that the first tem- porary structures of log were built on the campus. As soon as funds could be provided the erection of per- manent quarters was commenced. For this purpose a loan was negotiated from the State, to secure which mortgages were given to lands in Hancock. Luckily, at this time, a gift in cash of $1,000 was made to the Univer- sity by Senator James Gunn, of Louisville, Ga .; and with- out delay the erection of the building afterwards known as Old College was started, under the supervision of General Jett Thomas. The first commencement exer- cises were held under a bush arbor, on May 31, 1804, at which time the degree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred upon the following graduates, ten in number, to-wit:
Gibson Clarke Augustin S. Clayton,
William H. Jackson,
James Jackson,
Jeptha V. Harris,
Robert Rutherford,
Jared Irwin,
William Rutherford,
Thomas Irwin,
William Williamson.
Gibson Clarke was a son of the old Revolutionary hero, General Elijah Clarke. Augustin S. Clayton, after- wards became a judge of the Superior Court and a mem- ber of Congress. The Irwin boys were sons of Governor Jared Irwin. One of them became a doctor. The Jackson boys were sons of Governor James Jackson. Of these, William H. Jackson, was afterwards a trustee and a State Senator, while James Jackson was a professor in the college. Jeptha V. Harris became a trustee and a Con- federate Colonel. Williams Rutherford was the grand- father of Professor Rutherford, who long filled the chair of mathematics.
Glancing at an old program of exercises, it appears that Augustin S. Clayton read a poem descriptive of the means by which the lands of the Oconee were obtained. His wonderful gift of satire seems to have budded at an early period. He became the most brilliant of Georgia's ante-bellum statesmen in the use of the pen. Gibson Clarke was the valedictorian. It fell to the lot of William
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H. Jackson to deliver the salutatory address; Jeptha V. Harris pronounced an oration in favor of liberty ; Robert Rutherford spoke on the dignity of man; James Jackson counseled a sentiment of gratitude to France; and William Williamson dilated in praise of representative government. There was also a dialogue in which several members of the class took part. At commencement, in 1901, the centennial anniversary of the formal opening of Franklin College was observed with impressive cere- monies, at which time the centennial oration was deliver- ed by Judge Emory Speer, an alumnus of the institution.
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CHAPTER XXX
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Louisville: Georgia's First Permanent Capital
A T the close of hostilities with England, the center of population in Georgia was somewhere in the neighborhood of Galphinton, on the Ogeechee River; and the inconvenience experienced by the resi- dents of the up-country settlements in reaching Savan- nah, a town on the remote sea-coast, was by this time so great that the desirability of transferring the seat of government to some point further inland became a topic of discussion. On January 26, 1786, when the Legislature met in Augusta, the following commissioners were ap- pointed to select a location : Nathan Brownson, William Few, and Hugh Lawson. They were instructed to find a site, "most proper and convenient," for the end in view, whereon to erect public buildings; and, by way of further stipulation, was added the clause, "provided the same shall be within twenty miles of Galphin's Old Town." On fulfillment of these conditions, they were authorized to buy one thousand acres of land and to lay out a part thereof in a town, "which should be known by the name of Louisville."
However, it appears that little progress was made toward putting this measure into effect for several years. There were various difficulties to be overcome but finally in the Constitution of 1795 the new town was designated as the permanent capital. The demoralized condition of the State, due to the bitter hand-to-hand struggle with poverty, in the years which immediately succeeded the
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Revolution, was doubtless the chief cause for the delay. Says a local historian :* "The first Legislature, under the Constitution of 1777, assembled in Savannah. It assembled there partly because the royal governors had always lived there and partly because it was the largest town in the State. But Savannah was never officially proclaimed the capital. In December, 1778, Savannalı was captured by the British and from then until January, 1784, the Legislature met at Augusta, with the exception of two terms, one of which convened at Heard's Fort, in Wilkes county, and the other at Ebenezer, in Effingham county. In January, 1784, the Legislature again met in Savannah. But the people in upper Georgia had now discovered the great convenience of having the capital in Augusta. Accordingly for the next two years there was constant agitation. Hence the act in 1786 to appoint commissioners to lay off a town within twenty miles of Galphin's Old Town, and to see to the erecting of build. ings for the use of the government. There were delays, due to the lack of funds and to the death of the contractor in charge of the work, and the buildings were not finally completed until March, 1796. The state-house then erected in Louisville was the first one ever erected by the State. It was near the center of the town, which was modeled upon the plan of Philadelphia, with broad streets running northwest and southeast, and northeast and southwest. The first session of the Legislature was held in Louisville in 1796. It is not known exactly when the last session was held there, but a report of the Acts of the Legislature, printed in Louisville, in 1805, records an act passed at Louisville, December 2, 1804, 'to make the town of Milledgeville the permanent seat of government of this State and to dispose of a certain number of lots therein.' Louisville must, therefore, have been the capi- tol as late as 1805, as it evidently took months at least to erect the buildings and to prepare the town of Milledge- ville for the purpose.
*Wm. W. Abbott, Jr., in the October, 1910, number of the Georgian, a college magazine published at Athens, Ga.
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"When the capital was removed to Milledgeville, the state-house was turned over to the county of Jefferson. It was used for some years as the county court house but finally it became so dilapidated that it was necessary to replace it with another. This, in 1894, was in turn replaced by one of the handsomest court buildings in the State, at a cost of $50,000. Louisville was not very prosperous after the capital was changed to Milledgeville, until the Louisville and Wadley Railroad was built about 1875, connecting the town with the Central. Ever since then the town has been fairly prosperous, a statement attested by the fact that it supports two banks, has an oil mill and a guano mixing plant, and does a good mer- cantile business. The population of the town is about 1,500." To the foregoing resume it may be added that the Louisville Gazette, founded in 1796, was one of the pioneer newspapers of Georgia. The handsome oak press used in publishing the Gazette was bought in England. It was afterwards sold to the Georgia Messenger at Macon. According to a local authority,* when the pres- ent court house was built an excavation was made which disclosed the foundation of the old State Capitol; and by a singular coincidence, this corresponded exactly with the plans for the new edifice.
*Judge W. L. Phillips, of Louisville, Ga.
.
CHAPTER XXXI
The Yazoo Fraud: An Episode of Dramatic Inetrest Recalled
D URING the decade which measured the life of Louisville as the seat of government there oc- curred an episode the dramatic intensity of which has doubtless never been surpassed in the history of Georgia. It grew out of an effort on the part of specu- lators to purchase for a consideration which was wholly inadequate-barely more than a cent and a half per acre -the entire body of wild lands owned by the State in what are now the States of Alabama and Mississippi. There has been an attempt made in recent years to con- done the affair. The plea has been advanced for the conspirators that the lands in question were compara- tively worthless to the State; that some of the best men of the day were involved in the transaction; that it was before the era of railroads and telegraphs, when there was little likelihood of expansion; and that it impugns unnecessarily the good name of the whole commonwealth. But this defence is short-sighted. It fails to take into account an upheaval of the public conscience which made it necessary for Governor James Jackson to resign his seat in the United States Senate, with an unexpired term of four years, and to seek election to the State Legisla- ture, for no other purpose than to vindicate Georgia's honor. But the story is best told in the language of one who was in close touch with the period. Says Dr. White* : "Several projects for the sale of large tracts of land had
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