Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 26

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1148

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profits out of this illicit traffic. On one occasion-so the story goes-there arrived in port a vessel loaded with contraband goods, but the officers of the law kept such sharp lookout that the smugglers began to despair of an opportunity to unload. With the suddenness of an inspiration, however, they finally resolved upon a scheme by which the authorities might be circumvented. At the witching hour of midnight, when the honest world was wrapped in deep slumber, and only the evil-doer ventured forth into the darkness, the swindlers entered noiselessly into the stable where the minister's horse was kept; and, making the animal secure by means of a stout rope, they led him out of the yards and through the deserted streets to the little house of worship, where they hoisted him bodily into the old church belfry, high above the chimney tops of the slumbering town. From his lofty perch, the horse soon aroused the whole community, by his loud neighing; and while the attention of every one-officers and villagers-was riveted upon the strange sounds which were coming at the dead hour of night from this usually peaceful quarter, the smugglers made good use of a scene which was thus produced to divert the gaze of the revenue men from the docks. They speedily accomplished the task in hand; and by the time the minister's horse was lowered from the belfry day was breaking upon the ocean and far out at sea, on the ebb tide, floated the pirate vessel, safe beyond pursuit .*

Where an English During the War of 1812, the Flotilla Met Defeat. British ascended the St. Mary's River for the purpose of burning the mills of Major Clark at a point where Folkston now stands, some thirty miles inland. Forty-three barges, loaded to the utmost limit with troops, started up the river but, while ascending the stream, they were attacked by a party of twenty-eight men, under Captain William

* Authority: Mr. James T. Vocelle, of St. Mary's.

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Cone. The heavy growth of palmetto, on either side of the river, shielded Cone's men from the view of the enemy, so that the British guns proved harmless, not- withstanding the frequent shots which were fired. At every turn in the stream, Cone's men continued to pour red hot lead into the unwelcome visitors. Sheets of flame shot out from the banks like lightning, with the result that the British fell in large numbers. Finding themselves exposed to so deadly a fire and wholly with- out means by which to ascertain the strength of the force by which they were assailed from ambush behind the dense thickets of palmetto, they finally abandoned the enterprise. On returning to St. Mary's, the British of- ficer in command reported 113 men killed and an equal number wounded. There was no loss of life on the American side; and in view of the wholesale slaughter of redcoats wrought by a party of twenty-eight Americans, without a mishap of any kind to themselves, the feat is almost without parallel in the annals of war. Major Clark, the owner of the mills, which the British sought to destroy, on this ill-fated expedition, held for many years subsequent to the date of this episode, the position of collector of the customs for the port of St. Mary's; and, though he has long slept under the live-oaks in the little cemetery of the town, he is still kindly remembered by his fellow citizens. State Senator W. W. King, of Tar- boro, Ga., is a grandson of Major Clark .*

Revolutionary In the ancient burial ground at St. Mary's

Memorials. there lies an old soldier of the Revolution by the name of John Brown, whose grave is marked by a substantial slab of marble, on which is

* Authority: Mr. James T. Vocelle, of St. Mary's.

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inscribed the following epitaph, the syntax of which is somewhat loose :

"Sacred to the memory of John Brown. Born at Kingston, R. I., 1764. Died at St. Mary's Ga., 1826. This stone is erected to a soldier of the Revolution in his youth and in his old age an humble Christian."

On July 5, 1904, by order of the Federal authorities in Washington, D. C., and with the consent of the town council of St. Mary's, the remains of Captain John Wil- liams, an officer of marines in the War of 1812, were removed from the burial ground at St. Mary's to the National Cemetery at Arlington, on the Potomac River. On being taken from the tomb in which they had rested for nearly ninety-three years, the bones of the old hero were in perfect condition, showing no signs of decay. The monument which marked the last resting place of Captain Williams was also removed to Arlington .* On this memorial stone is chiseled the following epitaph which, though somewhat lengthy, embodies a story which is not without dramatic interest :

"Here lie the remains of John Williams, Esq., late a Captain in the corps of United States Marines of War. Born in Stafford County, Va., August 28, 1765 and died, September 29, 1812, at Camp New Hope, in East Florida. The body of deceased was removed to this spot on which his brother officers of the marine corps have caused this plie to be erected in testimony of his worth and of their mournful admiration of his gallant end.

"On September 11, 1812, Captain Williams, on his march, with a command of twenty men, to Davis Creek block house, in East Florida, was attacked toward evening by upwards of fifty Indians and

* Authority: Mr. James T. Vocelle, of St. Mary's.

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(Continued)

negroes who lay concealed in the woods. He instantly gave battle, gallantly supported by his men, who, inspired by his animating example, fought as long as they had a cartridge left. At length, bleeding from eight galling wounds and unable to stand, he was carried off the ground, whilst his heroic little band, pressed by superior numbers, was forced to retreat. "Eminently characterized by cool intrepidity, Captain Williams evinced during his short but severe contest those military requisites which qualify the officer for command; and, if his sphere of action was too limited to attract the admiration of the world, it was sufficiently expanded to crown him with the approbation of his country and to afford his brethren in arms an example as highly useful as his death sealed with honor the life of a patriotic soldier."

Absalom Jackson, a soldier in the Continental Army, resided during the last years of his life at Miller's Bluff, near St. Mary's, where he held the office of Deputy State Surveyor for Georgia. He formerly resided in Wilkes. Under authority of headright warrants, he surveyed large tracts of land which should have made him one of the wealthiest men of his day, but he had not obtained patents for the surveyed land when his death occurred in the following extraordinary manner :* On a certain Christmas day, Mr. Jackson was giving a dinner party to his friends. At the conclusion of the meal, it was proposed that they take a walk. The host excused him- self on the ground of indisposition, but insisted that his guests should go, accompanied by Mrs. Jackson. There was stationed at St. Mary's at this time a company of United States troops. According to an account given by one of Mr. Jackson's servants, soon after the members of the party set out to walk, two soldiers went to the house intoxicated and began to abuse Mr. Jackson saying

* Genealogy of the Jackson family in possession of Mrs. S. W. Foster, of Atlanta, Ga.

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that he could give good dinners to others but that poor soldiers stationed at St. Mary's for his defence were not good enough to be invited to his home. Mr. Jackson was standing on the portico when thus addressed. The sol- diers attempted to enter, but encountered resistance on the part of the owner, whereupon they seized him by force and threw him over the balcony, the fall instantly killing him. This sobered the intoxicated men who, seeing what they had done, hurried to the river, escaped in a boat, and were probably never captured. One of the surveys made by Mr. Jackson was Amelia Island, off the Florida coast.

Jefferson Town. There is no longer a place by this name to be found upon the map, but Jefferson

Town was the original county-seat of Camden, an impor- tant commercial center in the early days. It stood upon a high bluff, on the south side of the Satilla River, or, as it was then written, the St. Illa. The town was distant twenty-five miles from St. Mary's, twenty-eight miles from Brunswick, and fifty miles from Darien; while the old stage road between St. Mary's and Milledgeville passed through the town, forming a busy avenue of traffic. Here the last relay of horses was hitched to the old stage coach, before the lumbering vehicle at length reached St. Mary's. Owens' Ferry, a mile off, is still an important point. There lived in the close neighborhood of Jefferson Town, which was at one time quite a market for cotton, a number of thrifty residents, including an L. Clinch, Steven King, John Bailey, S. W. hurst, Thomas Riley, William T. Hopkins, Mangum whith, William Cole, Charles Cole, John King, George Land, Henry R. Fort, and others. General Clinch was a noted soldier and a member of Congress. Mr: Fort was an educator of some note.

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How Culprits Were Punished in the On record in the court house, at St. Mary's, is the appointment, on Olden Times. March 8, 1804, of George Jones, Esq., as Judge of the Eastern Circuit of Georgia, by John Milledge, who was then Governor. The county-seat of Camden at this time was Jefferson Town, seventy miles distant from St. Mary's. Unless the documents on file belie his character, Judge Jones was a sort of Lycurgus. As an example of the sentences which this stern officer of justice imposed upon violators of law at this early period, the following in- stance is cited :*

"October 25, 1804. The State versus John Jones. (There is nothing to show what the crime committed by the prisoner really was, but it must have been an in- famous deed of some kind). Ordered that the prisoner be taken from the bar to the common gaol, there to re- main, and to be taken from thence tomorrow to the pillory, at the hour of ten o'clock and there to stand for the space of two hours, and, immediately thereafter, publicly receive Thirty-Nine lashes on his bare back, and to be branded with a red hot iron on the right shoulder, with the letter "R"; and to receive Thirty-Nine lashes on his bare back at the same place, on the 27th. inst., between the hours of ten and twelve o'clock, and also to receive Thirty-Nine lashes on his bare back, on Monday the 29th inst., between the same hours and at the same place, and to be imprisoned for ten days, thereafter to be discharged upon payment of Fine."

Another sentence imposed by Judge Jones was in the case of the State against Samuel King, convicted of per- jury. The sentence ran : "It is ordered, March 7, 1805, that you, Samuel King, do pay a fine of Twenty Pounds, that you be committed to the common prison of this county for the space of six months to commence this day,

* This transcript from the records was made by Mr. James T. Vocelle, of St. Mary's.

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and that you henceforth be infamous and incapable of giving your oath in any of the courts of record in this State, and if, after the expiration of said time, you have not goods sufficient to satisfy the said fine it is ordered that you be set in the pillory in front of the said prison and there to have both of your ears nailed."

Coleraine : A Famous On June 30, 1912, Lyman Hall

Old Treaty Town. Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution unveiled at Coleraine, a large marble boulder, to commemorate a most important history-making event. The site of the old town is forty-five miles above St. Mary's, on the St. Mary's River. It witnessed in years past many bloody conflicts between the white settlers, Indians and Spaniards; but the dramatic episode which gives it a sure place in American annals was the signing here, in 1796, of a "Treaty of Peace and Friendship" between the President of the United States and the Creek nation of Indians. History states that among those taking part in the momentous gathering were twenty-two Indian Kings, seventy-five principal chiefs, and one hundred and fifty-two warriors, besides officers of the garrison, commissioners of the government, and representatives of the State. The pipe of peace belonging to the old Chief Tallassee was smoked by the various participants and was afterwards presented to Governor Early.

Coleraine was an important Indian post. The region around this silent old town abounds in historie traditions. There are still to be found in this locality the ruins not only of Indian but of Revolutionary forts. Years before the Indians ceased to wage bloody warfare on the Geor- gia coast, Coleraine was considered a vantage point and was often the spoil of war. The Spaniards first started the town by sending hither a band from the settlement at

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St. Augustine ; and a road from St. Augustine to Cole- raine was built by the Spaniards, part of which still survives and is known far and near as the "Kings's Road." Final possession at Coleraine did not pass to the Indians until a few years after the Revolutionary War, when they finally succeeded in driving the Span- iards ont. They held the town for a number of years thereafter, giving it up only when the government erected Fort Pickering for the protection of the white settlers along the river front. Remains of this ancient fortification, one of the oldest built by the government, still remain, showing to what extent the United States went to fortify the place in former times. The famous compact of 1796 was signed in an oak grove near the St. Mary's River on the river bluff. The oaks under which the historic scene was enacted are standing yet, magnificent in their age and grandeur. Here on the traditional site of the treaty was erected the handsome boulder, the inscription upon which reads as follows:

"This boulder is to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship at Coleraine on the 29th of June, 1796, between the President of the United States and the Kings and Chiefs and Warriors of the Creek Nation of Indians. Ratified March 18, 1797. The Commissioners on the part of the United States were-Benjamin Hawkins, George Clymer and Andrew Pickens. Placed here in memoriam by the Lyman Hall Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, Waycross, Georgia."

The boulder was unveiled by Walter Eustace Sir- mans, Jr., a direct descendant of Gen. James Jackson, one of the commissioners who signed the Treaty 116 years before. Nearly 2,000 people attended the cere-

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monies and gave an attentive audience to the following program :

Invocation, Rev. Osgood F. Cook, Waycross; Ad- dress of Welcome from Charlton County, Joseph Mizell; Introductory Addresses, Judge John T. Myers and Judge T. A. Parker, Waycross; Address, Fred Saussy, Esq., Savannah; Presentation of Monument, Mrs. J. L. Walker, Waycross; Acceptance of Monu- ment for Camden County, Judge David Atkinson; J. B. Sanders, of Waycross, was marshal of the day and J. B. Lewis host .*

When Oglethorpe located Fort Saint Andrew, at the north end of Cumberland Island, a settlement grew up around the fort, as is usual in such cases. By 1740 twenty-four families were established around the fort, and in that year the village of Barrimacke was founded. When the troops were recalled from the fort, the settlers went with them, and Barrimacke lives only in the tra- ditions of Cumberland Island.

After Edmund Grey was driven from Brandon, in the northern part of the state, he and his followers settled on the Satilla River, not far from the present village of Bailey's Mills in Camden County. This settlement was named New Hanover. Here outlaws, fugitives from justice, etc., found a welcome, and in time the territory was peopled with desperadoes who had no valid title to the lands, and acknowledged allegiance to no civilized government. The people of Georgia and South Carolina entertained fears that this lawless element might foment trouble with the Spaniards of Florida, or the Creek

* These facts were kindly furnished by Mrs. J. L. Walker, of Waycross, State Historian D. A. R.

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Indians, and petitioned the Crown to remove them. C'om- missioners from the two Colonies were appointed. They succeeded in inducing the outlaws to remove from the territory, and in time New Hanover ceased to exist.

Original Settlers. According to White, the original set- tlers of Camden were : Henry Osborne, Talmage Hall, James Armstrong, Jacob Weed, Henry Wright, John Flemming, James Woodland, Thomas Staf- ford, Langley Bryant, William Reddy, Hugh Brown, and John King.

Cryus and Urbanus Dart, father and son, were also among the earliest settlers of Camden. The former was drowned by the capsizing of a boat. Urbanus was born in a block house at Coleraine, on the St. Mary's. He was the father of the late Judge Dart, of Brunswick.

Camden's Noted General John Floyd, an officer of the Residents. State militia who distinguished him- self in the war of 1812 by suppressing the Indian outbreaks on the border, lived and died at Fairfield, his plantation, on the Satilla River. Here, too, the old soldier is buried. The County of Floyd, in the upper part of the State, was name for him. Gen. Floyd was a member of Congress and a noted duelist. His distinguished son, Gen. Charles L. Floyd, is also buried at Fairfield, where a. monument erected by the United States government marks the spot. At the request of Gen. Floyd, his body was wrapped in folds of the beloved flag for which he fought. Capt. Richard S. Floyd, a son of the younger General, for years commanded a vessel plying between San Francisco and Honolulu. On quitting the sea, he located in California, where he married. It was under his direction that the

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famous Lick observatory was built. When a young man, he served the Confederate government as a Lieutenant on board the Florida. His sister Mary married Dr. William G. McAdoo, a noted educator, from which union sprang the brilliant engineer of the same name who built the great tunnel underneath the Hudson River. It is not unlikely that the latter's genius for construction was inherited from his illustrious great-grandfather, Gen. John Floyd, who began life as a builder of boats on the Georgia coast.

Buckingham Smith, the famous antiquarian, diplomat and scholar, was born on Cumberland Island. His writ- ings on the prehistoric remains of the continent have given him a high rank among savants. As an authority on the Southern Indians he was perhaps unexcelled. He was Secretary of Legation both at Mexico and at Madrid, where he enjoyed unusual facilities for making exhaus- tive researches. The greater part of his life was spent in Florida.

General Duncan L. Clinch for whom a county in Geor- gia was named, owned and operated a plantation in Camden. He was a soldier of very great distinction, a member of Congress, and a popular though unsuccessful candidate for Governor. General Clinch is buried in Savannah.

Andrew J. Miller, another eminent Georgian whose name is borne by a county of this State, first saw the light of day at Point Peter, near the town of St. Mary's. Judge Miller was for twenty years a member of the Senate of Georgia. He lived and died in Augusta.

Lieutenant General Wm. T. Hardee, one of the most distinguished of Confederate officers was a native of Camden. Hardee's "Rifle and Infantry Tactics," a work prepared by him prior to the Civil War was long a standard text book in military circles. General Hardee died on his plantation near Selma, Ala., in 1873. Colonel

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Wm. Gaston Deloney, a gallant Confederate officer, who fell near Culpeper Court House, in Virginia, was a native of St. Mary's. He went to the front from Athens, Ga., where he was then practicing law.

CAMPBELL

Created by Legislative Act, December 20, 1828, from parts of four counties: Coweta, Carroll, DeKalb and Fayette. Named for Colonel Duncan G. Campbell, a noted Georgian of the early ante-bellum period. Fairburn, the county-seat, named for an English township in the County of York.

Duncan G. Campbell was the pioneer advocate of female education in Georgia. While serving in the Leg- islature he introduced a bill to charter a school for girls. But it met defeat on the ground that it was too novel an idea. This was in 1823. Some few years later, his son-in-law, Daniel Chandler, made an address at the State University on the same subject and it fired the public mind to such an extent that Wesleyan Female Col- lege at Macon was the result. Colonel Campbell, in asso- ciation with James Meriwether, negotiated the famous treaty of Indian Springs by which the Creek Indians, in 1825, ceded the remaining lands occupied by the tribe in Georgia. He was a lawyer by profession but began life by teaching a school for young ladies at Washing- ton, Ga. It was from this circumstance that his zeal in furtherance of the new crusade was derived. Colonel Campbell was born in the State of North Carolina, on February 17, 1787, and died in Wilkes County, Ga., July 31, 1828 at the age of forty-two. His son, Judge John A. Campbell, settling in Alabama, became an eminent jurist and statesman. President Pierce made him an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and in 1861 he became Assistant Secretary of War under Jefferson Davis. He was also one of the peace commis- sioners appointed by President Davis to attend the famous conference at Hampton Roads.

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Indian Antiquities : There are quite a number of prehis- Anawaqua's Tomb. torie memorials in Campbell: Says White :* "Opposite the village of Campbellton, on the western bank of the Chattahoochee, in a tuft of trees, on one of those mounds so common in Georgia, rest the remains of Anawaqua, an Indian prin- cess, the former proprietor of the soil. It is situated in a meadow, at the foot of a high hill, in a bend of the Chattahoochee. Ancient fortifications are traced in every direction around the plain, extending from the river to the hill."

Mrs. Virgil Morse, of Decatur, Ga., in a recent news- paper article, made the following contribution to the hitherto unwritten history of Campbell county. Says she: "It is a fact not generally known that the origi- nator of Confederate Reunions was a Georgia woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Glover, now living in Corsicana, Texas. Mrs. Glover, in July, 1865, called together in Campbell- ton Ga., the survivors of Company A, Twenty-first Geor- gia Regiment of which her husband, Dr. T. C. Glover, killed at Winchester, Va., was Lieutenant Colonel. Of the two hundred who went to the front, thirty returned, twelve of whom responded to her call. However, there were others, including widows and orphans of many sleeping on the Virginia battlefields, who came to hear recounted the story of the struggle. Then and there an organization was formed and the decision made to meet annually. Only three survivors of this company are now living."

Original Settlers. As given by White, the pioneer set- tlers of Campbell were: George Mc- Clarty, Wilson McClarty, James Stewart, Colonel

* Historical Collections of Georgia, under Campbell County, Savannah, 1854.

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Latham, Robert O. Beavers, Reuben C. Beavers, W. A. J. Beavers, Mr. Roberts, Berry Watts, C. Cochran, Wade White, Martin Cobb, Henry Paulett, P. Skeene, E. Pen- nington, William Hightower, J. A. Hopkins, Andrew Smith, William Jennings, D. Silvey, W. Silvey, M. Thorn- ton, the Longinos, the Davenports, the Bullards, the Bryans and others.

To the pioneer list may be added: Moses Foster, Francis Nixon, John B. Smith, Capt. J. E. Steed, Capt. James Wood, Thomas Bullard, E. B. Thompson, Richard Holleman, John L. Camp, Moses R. Foster, Robert Mc- Williams Rev. Spencer Harvey, W. S. Harvey, M. P. Harvey, Thomas A. Latham, Owen H. Cochran, Robert R. Robinson, James N. Robinson Hubbard McWaters, John F. Beavers, Dr. William S. Zellers, Dr. J. T. Daven- port, and Duncan McLeod. The list of old families in Campbell includes also the Longinos, the Reids, the Me- Larens, the Hammonds, the Wilkinsons, the McClures, and the Lairds.

On Monday April 20, 1829, at Campbellton, Judge Walter T. Colquitt presiding, the first session of the Superior Court was held and the first Grand Jury was empanelled as follows: Tarlton Sheats, Foreman ; Jeremiah Sampler, J. D. Crompton, Stephen Baggett, Henry C. Bird, John Turner, Reuben Dawson, Caleb Fields, George Harris Jr., Middleton W. Antony, Thomas Hill, Jacob Crow, James West, Elijah Dorsett, John Wise, James Gresham, Jacob Hogue, John Dorsett, Isaac Gray, Daniel Hull, Shadrach Grun, Daniel D. Smith, Moses W. Benson.

General Alfred Austell lived here for a number of years. He afterwards removed to Atlanta where he

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 26

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1148