USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 12
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*White's Statistics of Georgia, pp. 347-349, Savannah, 1849.
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been presented at different times to the Legislature of Georgia. In 1794 and 1795, the General Assembly passed an act conveying to four associations, viz., the Georgia, the Georgia-Mississippi, the Upper Mississippi, and the Tennessee companies, 35,000,000 acres of land for $500,- 000, lying between the rivers Mississippi, Tennessee, Coosa, Alabama, and Mobile. The bill was contested in both Houses. It passed by a majority of ten in the House of Representatives, and two in the Senate. The sale of this land produced much excitement through the State, for it was known that all who voted for the bill, with one or two exceptions, were directly or indirectly bribed. On their return home they were met by their constituents with marked disapprobation, and it is placed beyond all doubt that one member of the Legis- lature was killed on account of his vote."
"From the very beginning of this villainous scheme to defraud the State of Georgia of her western territory, General Jackson was untiring in his efforts to defeat it. By correspondence with the most eminent citi- zens in the State and by communications in the papers of the day, he evinced a determination to hold up to public scorn the agents in this wicked transaction. No opportunity was permitted to pass in which he did not show himself the uncompromising opponent of the scheme, whereby the Yazoo adventurers proposed to en- rich themselves. In the discussions which he had in pub- lic and private, in regard to this matter, he doubtless allowed his feelings to get the ascendency of his judg- ment. Naturally excitable, it is admitted that, in the expression of his opinions, he often employed language to which his best friends took exceptions; but it must be remembered that the Yazoo speculators left no method unemployed to lessen his reputation in Georgia. As early as 1794, when a Senator in Congress, he was, on two different occasions, approached by a man exalted in office, who affected to be his personal friend, and was offered any number of acres he might require, even to
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half a million, without paying a dollar, if he would embark his influence against the honor and interest of Georgia. When bribes had no effect upon Mr. Jackson, his enemies resorted to other methods. His character was assailed and-we may add-his life often placed in jeopardy. The defeat of the Yazoo Act was the absorb- ing subject of his thoughts. In every step which he took he firmly believed that he was engaged in a righteous cause. Noble man! Heaven willed that you should live to see your efforts to defeat this scheme of unparalleled fraud crowned with success. In 1795, whilst he was a Senator in Congress, many of his fellow citizens, especi- ally of Screven and Chatham counties, requiring his aid to oppose the machinations of the Yazoo speculators, earnestly desired him to resign. He complied with the request, returned home, was elected a member of the Legislature, became a member of the committee to inves- tigate the conduct of the former body, and let it be known that to General Jackson is chiefiy due the credit of having this odious act repealed. The whole corruption was overturned, and it was decided to obliterate it from his- tory and to commit the very records of it to the flames."
CHAPTER XXXII
Burning the Iniquitous Records With Fire From Heaven
T HERE is nothing more dramatic in the history of the State, than the scene enacted in front of the old capitol building in Louisville when the iniquit- ous records of the Yazoo conspiracy were burned. The traditional accounts of this affair are somewhat variant. We will first give the story which is told by Dr. White .* Says he: "This was executed in a solemn manner. Tra- dition informs us that when the public functionaries were assembled in the State House Square in Louisville to commit the registers of dishonor to the flames, a venera- ble old man, whose head was whitened with the frosts of four-score winters, unknown to any present, rode through the multitude, and made his way to the officers of the government. Alighting from his horse, he commenced an address, in which he stated that he had been led there by a desire to see an act of justice performed; that he did not think that earthly fire should be employed to manifest the indignation which the occasion required, but the fire should come from heaven. With his trembling hands, he took from his bosom, whilst a deathlike silence prevailed amidst the throng, a burning glass; and, apply- ing it to a heap of papers, the conflagration was com- pleted. Meanwhile the old man retired unperceived, and no traces of him could afterwards be found."
*White's Statistics of Georgia, p. 347, Savannah, 1849.
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Though Dr. White narrates the foregoing legend, he does not vouch for it, and there is an atmosphere about the account which makes it savor of myth. The accepted version is this: After deciding to commit to the flames the various documents involved in the Yazoo transaction there was an adjournment of the Legislature to the area of ground directly in front of the State House, where the impressive ceremonial was planned to occur. In calling down the fire of heaven to consume the mass of papers, a sun glass was used, but it was held in the hand of Gov. Jackson himself. This version is corroborated by an old picture which Prof. Lawton B. Evans* has reproduced in his School History of Georgia and which is doubtless based upon the recollection of Mr. William Fleming of Louisville, who witnessed the affair. If we can imagine the picture before us-its features are these : The man with the burning-glass in his hands is James Jackson; next to him stands Thomas Glascock; then John Milledge. The man on the right is William Few, while Jared Irwin stands behind the messenger. David B. Mitchell stands behind Jackson, and Peter Early be- hind Few. Benjamin Taliaferro, David Meriwether, and David Emanuel were also present on this occasion. Be- fore dismissing the subject it may be stated that among those who have considered the Yazoo episode somewhat overdone, was the late Colonel N. J. Hammond, than whom there never lived a man who was more sensitive to an appeal of honor. But he did not consider the Yazoo affair the heinous crime it has been pictured to be and was disposed to think, from the use of the sun-glass, in connection with other dramatic elements, that General Jackson-to use an Americanism-was playing to the grand-stand. However, Colonel Hammond does not voice the popular sentiment.
*History of Georgia for Schools, p. 147, New York, 1904.
CHAPTER XXXIII
The Old Slave-Market: A Solitary Remnant of Feudal Days in Dixie
O N the principal business thoroughfare of the town of Louisville there stands one of the most historic little structures in America : the old slave-market. It is one of the very few buildings of this character which time has spared. Around it cluster the fading memories of an old regime; and, with the ancient harper in "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," it seems to sing-
"Old times are past, old manners gone A stranger fills the Stuart's throne."
There is no one in Louisville who can recall the time when the old slave market was built. The presumption is, therefore, quite strong that it must have been erected during the period when Louisville was the State capital and when the town promised to become an important commercial center. If such be the actual fact, it is not less than 120 years old, for Louisville was made the capital in 1795. Indeed, the commissioners to locate the town were appointed at the close of the Revolution and the first steps looking toward the erection of government buildings at Louisville were taken in 1786. The center of population at this time was Galphinton, only nine miles distant; the planters in the neighborhood were large slave owners, some of them old soldiers, who were given extensive tracts of land for services in the war with England, and the erection of the slave market can be readily assigned to this remote period without the least violence to historic truth.
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The wooden character of the building does not weaken the strength of this hypothesis. It was constructed of the best quality of post oak; and even to this day it is difficult to drive a nail into the tough fibres of which the wood is composed. The little structure stands in the mid- dle of the street, where about it on every side pulses the life current of the old town.
On market days, when the crowds gather from the surrounding plantations of Jefferson to shop in the vil- lage stores, when the circus comes to town or when the campaign orator improves the opportunity of court week to stir the echoes of the stump, it seems to wear some- thing of the old time look and to be dreamily reminiscent of an interest which it once attracted.
For years after the late war, and indeed until times quite recent, it was customary for the officers of the court to conduct legal sales at the old slave market. It was probably an inheritance from the days when slave prop- erty was here put upon the block and sold under the hammer. But there was no warrant in law for the some- what singular departure of conducting legal sales at this place, when the old regime of slavery was at an end. Consequently, when an issue was raised in regard to it, the custom was discontinued.
While the old slave market at Louisville serves no practical purpose, except to house some of the parapher- nalia of the local fire department, it is an interesting memorial, which the citizens of Louisville will doubtless take a pride in preserving, since there are few relics of the sort left, and it may be indeed the only remnant of this kind which still remains-an authenticated fragment of the old South.
CHAPTER XXXIV
Historic Old Milledgeville: Georgia's Capital for More Than Six Decades
U NLESS an exception be made of Savannah, there is not a community in Georgia around which cluster more of the dramatic elements of our history than around the famous old town which for more than sixty eventful years was the seat of our State government : historic old Milledgeville. It was here that the great battle of the giants was fought on the issue of the tariff, in 1829, when Forsyth and Berrien, both of them superb orators, led the opposing sides in a debate which lasted for three days. It was here that the great palladin of liberty, General Lafayette, was entertained at a banquet the magnificence of which in some respects at least, has never been surpassed. It was here that Governor Troup, in defiance of the Federal Government, sounded the first distinct and unequivocal note upon the subject of State rights and single-handed, in an unequal contest of power, brought the Government of the United States to ternis. It was here, on the eve of secession, that Stephens and Toombs and Cobb, by invitation, addressed the Legis- lature of Georgia on the great soul-stirring issues of the hour, Stephens opposing, while Toombs and Cobb advo- cated, the withdrawal of Georgia from the Union. It was here that the greatest assembly of intellects ever known in the history of the State was convened in the famous Secession Convention of 1861. It was here that the final act of departure took place; here that more than
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THE OLD CAPITOL AT MILLEDGEVILLE, IN WHICH THE FAMOUS SECESSION CONVENTION MET
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HISTORIC OLD MILLEDGEVILLE
one thrilling episode of the war period occurred; here that more than one dark tragedy of the era of Recon- struction was enacted.
Nor did Milledgeville escape the fiery scourge of the modern Attilla-William Tecumseh Sherman.
The materials of an epic poem are to be found in the civic records of this single Georgia town.
It was not long after the corner of the nineteenth century was turned that the necessity of removing the State capitol from Louisville to some convenient locality in the uplands became a subject of legislation. There were two reasons which seemed to recommend this course. In the first place, the old town of Louisville had de- veloped malarial symptoms. In the second place, the tide of population in Georgia was rolling rapidly toward the mountains. Consequently, no sooner was the new county of Baldwin erected out of the lands lately ceded by the Indians than the idea of transferring the seat of government to this locality took root. It was on Decem- ber 2, 1804 that an act was passed by the Legislature at Louisville providing for the change in question ; but since it was necessary to erect public buildings before the transfer could be actually accomplished more than two years elapsed before the Legislature finally met at the new seat of power on the uplands of the Oconee.
There is a touch of irony as well as of pathos in the designation of old Louisville as the "first permanent capital of Georgia." Neither Augusta nor Savannah were voted the compliment of this high-sounding phrase. Yet both enjoyed for a longer term of years the honor of being the seat of government.
To establish the new town of Milledgeville, 3,240 acres of land were appropriated. The commissioners who executed the trust on the part of the State were: John Rutherford, Littleberry Bostwick, A. M. Devereaux, George M. Troup, John Herbert, and Oliver Porter. They
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chose a site delightfully wooded with oaks and hickories, in an area of splendid hills. On the eastern side of the town ran Fishing Creek, then a stream of transparent crystal threading the virgin forest like a skein of silver.
The new seat of government was called Milledgeville in honor of Governor John Milledge, the great patron and friend of education. If the honor of being the "father of the State University" belongs to Abraham Baldwin, for whom this county was named, the honor of being its earliest benefactor belongs to John Milledge, whose personal check purchased the land upon which the University of Georgia was afterwards built. He made the State an excellent Governor and served with distinction in the United States Senate. It will thus be seen that the future capitol of the State was conceived in an educational spirit, since both the town and the county bear the names of men who were apostles of light and learning.
Not an inauspicious omen for the town which, after losing the State capitol, in years to come, was destined to possess two great intellectual nurseries in which to rear the youth of Georgia.
On an eminence which seemed to be well adapted to the purpose a large square was reserved for the capitol building; and, under the supervision of General Jett Thomas, the handsome Gothic structure which became for more than sixty years the home of the General As- sembly of Georgia was erected. The original cost of the structure was not in excess of $60,000; but extensions were made from time to time, and the finishing touches were not applied until 1837. It was a building of great ornamental beauty for the period in which it was reared, when the prevailing types of architecture were simple and unpretentious ; and even today it is not without an aspect of impressiveness, though it owes much no doubt to the subtle power of association. It was here that the Legislature met for the first time in 1807 and for the last time in 1868; and during the long interval which
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HISTORIC OLD MILLEDGEVILLE
elapsed between these two dates it was the fountain- source of much of our wisest and best legislation, the storm-center of many turbulent debates in ante-bellum days, and the speechless if not altogether silent witness of many of the most dramatic events in the history of Georgia.
So redolent indeed with historic associations is the atmosphere of this ancient seat of hospitality that the very streets of the old town are like fragrant aisles in some old cathedral. Every Georgian owes it to his State pride to visit the former capital at least once a year, if for no other purpose than to inhale the sweet aroma of the by-gone years and to enjoy a draught of crystal from the fountain springs of patriotism. There is scarcely an old home in Milledgeville whose garrets and cellars are not stored with precious heir-looms of the ante-bellum period; nor an old tree whose branches, when the night wind strikes them, are not melodious with the highland air of "Auld Lang Syne."
On another hill, not far distant, was built during the incumbency of John Clark the fine old executive mansion which housed the Governors of the State for at least forty-eight years and which was the gay scene of more than one brilliant fete in the spacious days when pow- dered wigs were worn by the gentry of the old regime.
Georgia's chief-magistrates who resided at Milledge- ville were: Jared Irwin, David B. Mitchell, Peter Early, William Rabun, Matthew Talbot, John Clark, George M. Troup, John Forsyth, George R. Gilmer, Wilson Lump- kin, William Schley, Charles J. McDonald, George W. Crawford, George W. Towns, Howell Cobb, Herschel V. Johnson, Joseph E. Brown, James Johnson, Charles J. Jenkins and General T. H. Ruger. One of these, James Johnson, was a Provisional Governor. Another, General T. H. Ruger, was a Military Governor. David B. Mitchell and George R. Gilmer each returned to the ex-
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
ecutive chair at Milledgeville after an interval of several years. On the removal of the seat of government to At- lanta in 1868, the old capitol building, after undergoing needed repairs, was converted by the State into an educational plant called the Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural college, of which Professor O. R. Horton is today President; while the handsome old executive mansion has become in the slow evolution of time one of the dormitory buildings of the Georgia Normal and In- dustrial College, of which Dr. M. M. Parks is the Presi- dent. It is also the home in which the latter resides. The people of Milledgeville have found no little satis- faction in the fact that the removal of the seat of govern- ment to Atlanta has made the old town the beneficiary of these splendid schools. Moreover they have found some solace in the reflection that it was under the carpet bag rule in Georgia and during the days of Reconstruc- tion that the removal of the seat of government to Atlanta was accomplished.
CHAPTER XXXV
McIntosh Rock: Where the Most Famous of Georgia Treaties Was Made With the Creeks
D URING the year 1792, when this locality was a wilderness, Douglas Watson, a scout employed by the United States government to inspect the frontier, came to Georgia, and, while passing through this neighborhood, happened upon a little spring in a dense cane brake. What he took to be the smell of gunpowder guided him to the spot; but when he learned that it was from a fissue in the rocks that this peculiar odor of brimstone proceeded he quickly left the neighbor- hood, in superstitious dread of consequences. However, the magic waters were in time discovered by other travel- ers and soon there began to flock to Indian Springs a multitude of health-seekers. It is said that the medici- nal virtues of Indian Springs were known to the savages from the earliest times. In 1800, General William Mc- Intosh, the famous Creek Indian chief, here erected a cottage, so it is said, where he usually spent the winter months. Subsequently, according to local tradition, a Mr. Allison built here a double log cabin. These were the earliest structures erected in the neighborhood, and both were destroyed by fire. In 1823, General McIntosh and Joel Bailey, erected the first hotel. The building still stands in excellent preservation and is today known as the Varner House. There are still to be seen on the doors and mantels, some fine specimens of hand-carving, done, it is said, with a pocket knife in the hands of
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
General McIntosh. The famous chief was well known to the guests who frequented the establishment. His two wives were both refined and handsome women of the full Indian blood.
It was at Indian Springs, on January 8, 1821, that a treaty was made with the Creeks by the United States government under which the remaining lands between the Flint and the Ocmulgee Rivers, as far north as the Chattahoochee River, were acquired by the State of Georgia, excepting (1) one hundred acres around the springs, (2) six hundred and forty acres on the Ocmulgee River, including the improvements of McIntosh, and (3) a tract of land around the agency, to be retained by the United States government while such agency continued. The witnesses to the treaty were as follows: Daniel M. Forney, of South Carolina and David Meriwether, of Georgia, United States Commissioners; J. McIntosh, David Adams, and Daniel Newnan, Commissioners for Georgia; and a number of Indian chiefs, head-men, and warriors. From the lands acquired at this time five large counties were immediately formed, viz., Dooly, Fayette, Henry, Houston and Monroe, each of which was in time subdivided into smaller political units.
But the particular event for which this locality is famed in the annals of Georgia occurred here on Feb- ruary 12, 1825. This was the signing of the celebrated treaty whereby the remaining lands of the Creek Indians within the State of Georgia were ceded to the whites. General William McIntosh, the noted chief of the Cow- etas, or Lower Creeks, was the principal actor in the historic drama. Governor Troup's first cousin, this stal- wart half-breed was a man of great force of character. His warm friendship for the people of Georgia had been evinced in more than one crisis of affairs. But within the next few months it was destined to cost him the forfeiture of his life, at the hands of savage foes. With the clear
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MCINTOSH ROCK
foresight of a statesman, General McIntosh realized only too well how the bitter warfare between the two races in Georgia was to end. Consequently he urged upon his people the course which was finally adopted. It not only meant peace but it meant an exchange of land, in fair equivalent, acre for acre, with an additional sum of four hundred thousand dollars. Besides, it meant the avoid- ance of unnecessary bloodshed; and the new home west of the Mississippi River was to be an undisturbed posses- sion . To the arguments of McIntosh, the Lower Creeks listened; but the Upper Creeks, who resided chiefly in Alabama, demurred. They persisted in looking upon McIntosh as a traitor to the nation, who was in criminal league with the whites. But the counsels of the latter prevailed; and at Indian Springs, on February 12, 1825, occurred the final deliberations which resulted in the for- mal relinquishiment of the Georgia lands by the Creek Indians.
But, in affixing his signature to the treaty, William McIntosh signed his own death warrant!
Seventy-five years after the dramatic incident above narrated, the members of Piedmont Continental Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution performed an act of belated justice to the memory of the brave chieftain. On the well-known rock, near the Varner House, which marks the site of the famous compact of agreement ,they unveiled on July 1, 1911, a tablet of bronze which bears the following inscription :
"Here on February 12, 1825, William McIntosh, a chief of the Creek nation, signed the treaty which ceded to the State of Georgia all the Creek lands west of the Flint river. For this act he was savagely murdered by a band of Indians who opposed the treaty. Placed by the Piedmont Continental Chapter of the D. A. R., A. D. 1911."'
Judge Joseph Henry Lumpkin, of the Supreme Court of Georgia, delivered the principal address of the occa-
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sion, and Hon. G. Ogden Persons, of Forsyth, welcomed the visitors in an eloquent speech. Others who took part in the exercises were, Mrs. William H. Yeandle, Regent of the chapter ; Mrs. John M. Graham, State Regent; Mrs. A. H. Alfriend, Dr. J. B. Mack and others. The famous old land-mark, McIntosh Rock, was deeded to the chapter by the Varner family of Indian Springs. The flag pole was contributed by the people of the surrounding locality, including Flovilla and Jackson; and two little girls of Indian Springs released the veil which disclosed the beautiful tablet to the view of the spectators.
To supplement the historical facts above cited in regard to the treaty of Indian Springs, the United States government, in 1802, agreed to pay the State of Georgia $1,250,000 in cash and to extinguish the Indian titles to the remaining lands within the borders of the State in return for a deed to Georgia's western territory between the Chattahoochee and the Mississippi Rivers. Years elapsed before the first steps were taken toward the redemption of this pledge; and as late as 1823, when Governor Troup came into office, both the Creeks and the Cherokees still occupied extensive tracts of land in Geor- gia. This status of affairs was made the subject of a strong message to the State Legislature from Governor Troup. As a result there followed a set of vigorous reso- lutions and a correspondence with the Federal authorities at Washington. The Lower Creeks, in Georgia, headed by General McIntosh, recognized the inevitability of the situation and favored the removal westward. The Upper Creeks, in Alabama, long dominated by the restless spirit of Alexander McGillivray, an enemy to the State of Georgia, were bitterly opposed to any sale of lands. Mc- Gillivray was dead but the scepter of his influence still ruled the forest. It was furthermore suspected that the Indian agent, John Crowell, was an instigating cause of this stubbornness on the part of the Upper Creeks. On
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