Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 7

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

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"Oglethorpe completed by stratagem his victory on land. He convinced the Spanish that the Carolina ships and forces were expected next day and their great gal- leons, after making a sortie upon Frederica by water, where they were beaten back by the guns of the fort, retired in confusion and soon sailed away to Florida and Cuba. Oglethorpe wrote, in considering the situation be- fore the attack, that he could not do impossibilities. But it was the impossible which happened. The standards of England were now secure upon the frontiers of Geor- gia. The Spanish had resented the encroachments of the British upon the Southern frontier, but the title of the conqueror was now undisputed. As to Oglethorpe, the two worlds rang with his name and he received letters from the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, thanking him for the invaluable services he had rendered the British colonies in America. Had Frederica fallen Savannah, Charleston, Jamestown and the whole sea- board would have been open to attack by the Spanish army and navy, which had been fitted out at Havana for this very purpose. The day at Frederica decided that the Anglo-Saxon and not the Castilian was to be master of the new world."

CHAPTER XIV

Christ Church, Savannah: Where the Georgia Colonists First Worshipped God

T O quote a distinguished local historian1: "On the original spot where the Colonists established a house of worship stands today the beautiful and classic proportions of Christ Church. Here Wesley preached and Whitefield exhorted-the most gifted and erratic characters in the early settlement of Georgia. Wesley came to these shores with a fervor amounting almost to religious mysticism. He thought his mission was to Christianize the Indians. No priest of Spain ever carried the Cross among the Aztecs and Incas of Mexico and Peru with greater zeal; but his career in Georgia was checkered and unfruitful. Though a man of gifts he suspended his work among the Indians because he could not learn the language; and his ministry among the whites was characterized by a severity which made it unpopular. He seems to have been a martinet in the pulpit. He became embroiled with his parishoners and left Savannah between two suns. Yet Bishop Çandler probably spoke the words of truth when, from the pulpit of Wesley Monumental Church, in November, 1899, he said : "No grander man ever walked these historic streets than John Wesley2."

1Pleasant A. Stovall, in a chapter on "Savannah," written for Historic Towns of the Southern States, pp. 308-310, New York, 1904.

2It must not be forgotten that Wesley and Whitefield were both min. isters of the Church of England. Though holding peculiar views and be- longing to a society called in derision "Methodists," they both lived and died Episcopalians. Wesley and Whitefield also differed between themselves. The former was Arminian, the latter Calvinistic in theological doctrine.

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

On February 26, 1838, the corner stone of the present handsome edifice was laid. It is the third religious struc- ture which has occupied this time-honored site since the days of Oglethorpe. The plans were drawn by James Hamilton Couper, Esq., a noted planter; and the building committee appointed to supervise the work consisted of the following substantial members of the parish : William Scarborough, who built the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean; Dr. Theodosius Bartow, father of the afterwards celebrated Colonel Francis S. Bartow, who fell at Manassas; William Thorne Williams, Robert Habersham, and William P. Hunter. The rector at this time was the Reverend Edward Neufville ; and his vestry- men were: Dr. George Jones, a United States Senator; William Thorne Williams, Robert Habersham, William Scarborough, R. R. Cuyler, a famous railroad pioneer; William P. Hunter, and Dr. P. M. Kollock. For nearly fourteen years, the eloquent Dr. Stephen Elliott, after- wards the first Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia, was rector of Christ Church. He died in 1866, lamented by the entire South. The following inscription on the cor- ner-stone gives an epitomized history of this ancient house of worship :

I. H. S. £ Glory to God. Christ Church. Founded in 1743. Destroyed by fire in 1796.

Re- founded on an enlarged plan in 1803. Partially destroyed in the hurricane of 1804. Rebuilt in 1810. Taken down in 1838.

Says a well-known writer *: "Dating from the first Episcopal services held in Savannah by the Reverend George Herbert, one of the voyagers in the galley 'Ann,' Christ Church constitutes the oldest ecclesiastical organi- zation in Georgia. The present site was chosen when

*Adelaide Wilson in Historic and Picturesque Savannah, Boston, 1889.

CHRIST CHURCH, SAVANNAH

Oglethorpe planned the town. Until the first building was erected for the congregation, divine worship was held in the tent of Oglethorpe, in the open air, and in the Court House. Progress in the work was retarded for several years on account of hostilities with Spain.

"The successor of George Herbert was the Reverend Samuel Quincy, a member of the famous family of Massa- chusetts; and he in turn was succeeded by John Wesley and by George Whitefield. It was under the latter that the parish was first organized in 1843 and the original house of worship erected. During the rectorship of the Reverend Bartholemew Zouberbuhler, Colonel Barnard, of Augusta, presented the church with the first organ ever seen in Georgia. In 1774, the Reverend Haddon Smith, then rector, gave great offence to the Liberty element by his pronounced Loyalist views, in consequence of which he was approached by a committee of the church, who forbade him further to officiate in Georgia. Disre- garding the command, he went to the church as usual to find the doors barred against him. Later he was pub- lished in the "Gazette" as an enemy to America; and being apprised of the fact that a mob was approaching the rectory, whose purpose was to tar and feather him, the unhappy clergyman escaped with his family to Tybee, whence he sailed for Liverpool. In 1815 Bishop O'Hara, of South Carolina, came to Savannah to consecrate a building, which was then recently erected, and, at the same time, he held the first confirmation service in Geor- gia, at which time sixty persons were presented by the rector, the Reverend Mr. Cranston."

CHAPTER XV

Bethesda: Where the Great Whitefield Founded an Asylum for Orphans

O N a bluff, near the seashore, nine miles from Savan- nah, is situated Bethesda, one of the noblest memorials in existence to the great English divine, the mature flower of whose genius was devoted to the establishment of this Orphan House in what was then a remote wilderness of the New World. It is the oldest organized charity in America, a record which may excite some surprise in view of the fact that Georgia was the youngest of the original thirteen Colonies, founded more than a hundred years after Jamestown. But the humane enterprise of Oglethorpe originated in an impulse of philanthropy; it was an experiment in which some of the noblest minds of England were interested; and there is nothing illogical or strange in the fact that such an insti- tution should have found birth in a Colony, the motto upon whose seal was "non sibi sed aliis." To the people of Georgia, it will ever be a source of the keenest satis- faction not only that this pioneer institution possesses an age record of this character but that it originated in the heart of George Whitefield, the foremost pulpit orator known to the English-speaking world of his day and time. On a special visit to England, he secured from the Trus- tees of the Colony a grant of land comprising five hundred acres, on which to establish his plant; and with the help of James Habersham, a fellow-traveller on his first voy- age to America, he began to launch the humane project.

BETHESDA

The site having been selected, a road was cut from Savannah to Bethesda-the first highway ever construc- ted in Georgia.

Perhaps the circumstances connected with the estab- lishment of Bethesda are best narrated in the language of the great founder himself. Writing of the project, Whitefield, in a letter, dated March 21, 1745, and post- marked Bethesda, says *: " ... it was first proposed to me by my dear friend, the Rev. Mr. John Wesley, who, with his excellency, Gen. Oglethorpe, had concerted a scheme for carrying on such a design before I had any thought of going abroad myself. It was natural to think that as the Government intended this Province for the refuge and support of many of our poor countrymen, numbers of such adventurers must necessarily be taken off, by being exposed to the hardships which unavoidably attend a new settlement. I therefore thought it a noble design in the general to erect a house for fatherless children; and, believing such a provision for orphans would be some inducement with many to come over, I fell in with the design, when mentioned to me by my friend, and was resolved, in the strength of God, to prose- cute it with all my might. But, knowing my first stay in Georgia would necessarily be short, on account of my returning again to take priest's orders, I thought it most prudent to go and see for myself and defer prosecuting the scheme till I came home. When I came to Georgia I found many poor orphans who, though taken notice of by the Honorable Trustees, yet through the neglect of persons acting under them, were in wretched circum- stances. For want of a house to breed them up in, the poor little ones were tabled out here and there; the others were at hard services and likely to have no education at all. Upon seeing this, and finding that his Majesty and

*White's Historical Collections of Georgia, Chatham County, Savannah, 1854.

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Parliament had the interest of the Colony at heart, I thought I could not better show my regard to God and my country than by getting a house and land for these. children, where they might learn to labor, read, and write, and, at the same time, be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Accordingly on my return to England, in the year 1738, to take priest's orders, I appealed to the Honorable Society for a grant of five hundred acres of land and laid myself under obligations to build a house upon it and to receive from time to time as many orphans as the land and stock would maintain . I called it Bethesda because I hoped it would be a house of mercy to many souls."

· Whitefield gave himself unreservedly to the work. Throughout the remainder of his life, it was the constant theme of his eloquence. Voyages back and forth to Eng- land and travels up and down the continent were made by him, almost without number, in behalf of his beloved Bethesda. Large sums were contributed on both sides of the water, and people in every walk of life were charmed into giving by the marvelous witchery of his words. Benjamin Franklin records this anecdote of Whitefield : "I happened soon after to attend one of his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he intended to finish with a collection and I silently resolved that he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a hand- ful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles of gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the copper. Another stroke of oratory made me ashamed to give so little and determined me to give the silver; and he finished so admirably that I emp- tied my pocket wholly into the collector's dish, gold and all."

Nineteen years later found Whitefield making Be- thesda an academy of high character, similar in design to one in Philadelphia. For this purpose two wings, one

BETHESDA

hundred and fifty feet each, were added to the main building. But the great friend of the orphans was near- ing the end of his pilgrimage. It was not reserved for him to witness the ultimate fruition of his work. By Whitefield's death, the institution passed to Lady Hunt- ingdon. The clause in his will, transferring the property to her, reads: "I will and bequeath the Orphan House at Bethesda and likewise all buildings, lands, books, and "furniture belonging thereto to that lady elect, that Mother in Israel, that mirror of true and undefiled religion, the Right Honorable Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. In case she should be called to enter upon her glorious rest before my decease, then to the Honorable James Haber- sham, a merchant of Savannah." Lady Huntingdon's first thought upon hearing of the bequeathal to her of Bethesda was characteristic of her devotional nature; a day was set apart for fasting and prayer. But prepara- tions were hardly begun for taking over the work, when the buildings were destroyed by lightning.

Lady Huntingdon contributed largely of her private means to restore the institution and to provide sufficient accommodations; but anything like permanent growth was intercepted by the outbreak of hostilities between the mother country and the Colonies in America. It is an interesting fact that this noble and gifted woman was distantly related to George Washington. She presented to the Orphan House at Bethesda, a full-length portrait of herself, the work of Sir Joshua Reynolds. It was sent to New York in 1851 to be re-touched and, after this result was skillfully accomplished, it was reshipped to Savannah. With the consent of the officers, it was placed in the keeping of the Georgia Historical Society; and today hangs in Hodgson Hall. At the close of hostilities with England an effort was made by the Legislature to carry out Whitefield's idea; and Chatham Academy was projected, which took over the educational work of Bethesda. The latter, for some time, retained an interest in the school property in Savannah, but eventually re-

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

linquished it and then seemingly passed out of existence, until finally revived by the Union Society : an organiza- tion only ten years younger than Bethesda. Planned upon non-sectarian lines, it existed for practical benevo- lence; and, in 1854, the board of managers of the Union Society, purchasing one hundred and twenty-five acres of the Bethesda estate, erected buildings thereon for the orphans under its charge, and removed them thither. Ever since then the prosperity of the institution has been continuous and unbroken. At the last annual meeting of the Union Society, at Bethesda, the following officers were chosen for the ensuing year: President, Henry C. Cunningham; Vice-President, T. J. Charlton, M. D. ; Treasurer, George A. Mercer, Jr .; Secretary, E. F. Lovell, Jr .; and a Board of Managers composed of rep- resentative citizens of Savannah .*

*Consult: White's "Historical Collections of Georgia," Savannah, 1854; "Illustrated History of Methodism," by Rev. James W. Lee, D. D., St. Louis, 1900; "History of Georgia Methodism," by George G. Smith, Atlanta, 1913; "Historic and Picturesque Savannah," by Adelaide Wilson, Boston, 1889; etc.

CHAPTER XVI

The Grave of Tomo-Chi-Chi

O NE of the most zealous friends of the Colony of Georgia, a savage philosopher of the forest who deserves to be gratefully embalmed in the affec- tions of the State, was the old Indian mico, Tomo-chi-chi. He was the chief of a detached tribe of the Creek Indians, and though he dwelt apart from his kinsman the aged mico was greatly venerated throughout the forest for his Indian wisdom and he possessed a powerful influence over the native tribes. Tomo-chi-chi was ninety years of age, according to tradition, when Oglethorpe landed upon the bluff at Savannah; and was close upon the century mark when he died. It was the last wish of the aged chief to be buried among the whites. His remains were, therefore, brought to Savannah, where they were interred in Percival, now Court House, square, with im- pressive ceremonies. Six of the most prominent citizens of Savannah acted as pall-bearers, Oglethorpe himself among the number. Minute guns were fired from the battery as he was lowered to rest, and every respect was paid to the memory of the aged chief. His death occurred on October 15, 1739. An appropriate monu- ment was planned by Oglethorpe, but for some reason it was not erected. However, the belated tribute has been paid at last. On the reputed spot of the old Indian's burial, a rough boulder of granite has been placed by the

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Georgia Society of Colonial Dames of America, and a circular plate of copper bears the following inscription :

"In memory of Tomo-Chi-Chi, Mico of the Yama- craws, the companion of Oglethorpe, and the friend and ally of the Colony of Georgia. This stone has been here placed by the Georgia Society of Colonial Dames of America. 1739-1899.''

As the result of the treaty which Oglethorpe made with Tomo-chi-chi, the relations between the Colony and the Indians were uninterruptedly harmonious for years. The speech of the old mico, at the time of the treaty, is famous. Giving Oglethorpe a buffalo-skin, with the head and feathers of an eagle painted on the inside, he said: "Here is a little present. The eagle means speed and the buffalo means strength. The English are as swift as the bird and as strong as the beast. Like the first, they fly from the utmost parts of the earth over the vast seas; and, like the second, nothing can withstand them. The feathers of the eagle are soft, and mean love; the buffalo's skin is warm, and means protection. Therefore, love and protect our little families." Though a savage, Tomo-chi-chi was both a warrior and a statesman. He was far above the average native of the forest in intelli- gent fore-sight; and, fully appreciating the advantages to be derived from contact with the English, he was anxious for his people to be uplifted. There are many noble and splendid attributes to be found in the character of this earliest of the great Georgians .*

*Consult: Historical Sketch of Tomo-ch-chi, Mico of the Yamacraws, by Chas. C. Jones, Jr., 1868; also the same author's History of Georgia, Vol. I; etc.

THE BURIAL PLACE OF TOMO-CHI-CHI, MICO OF THE YAMACRAWS, IN COURT HOUSE SQUARE, SAVANNAH.

CHAPTER XVII

Wormsloe: The Home of Noble Jones

N EAR the mouth of the Vernon River, at the extreme southern end of the Isle of Hope, lies the oldest estate in Georgia: Wormsloe. It was formerly the country-seat of Noble Jones, a companion of the great Oglethorpe on his first voyage to America, and for years a distinguished officer of the Crown. He came into pos- session of the estate in 1733, at which time he gave it the name which it still bears. Here he built a wooden fort, which he called Fort Wymberley, placed in such a posi- tion as to command the inland passage from the Vernon to the Wilmington River. This passage still bears his name. It was much used by Indians, Spaniards and outlaws when visiting the South Carolina coast for pur- poses of plunder and to carry off the negro slaves to Florida. Later he rebuilt it of "tabby" or "manche- colas" as the Spaniards called it, with outbuilt port-holes to defend it from escalade. In 1741, he was given a four- pound cannon with which to defend the fort. Here he established headquarters for his famous marines, who lived in huts near by and who rendered double duty by scouting the country on horse-back and the river in boats. One of these guarded Skiddaway Narrows and carried dispatches between Savannah and Frederica for General Oglethorpe.

On December 22, 1739, Noble Jones with his boat well armed captured a schooner in "Ussybaw" Sound and carried her around to Tybee. He also cruised with Capt. Demetree to intercept unlawful trading vessels. Fort

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Wymberley was at one time successfully defended against a party of Indians and Spaniards by Mary Jones who, in the absence of her father, took command; and tradition records it that in recognition of her courage Wormsloe has always been left to the widows and unmarried daughters of the house for life, the fee to be vested at death in the male heir. There were many mulberry trees at Wormsloe and the Colony in a measure depended upon this source of supply for a sufficient quantity of silk worm seed, and one year it was deplored that the crop would be short, as "Mr. Noble Jones's daughter had suffered her worms to issue from the cocoons without sorting them." Mary Jones married James Bulloch, Sr .. father of Governor Archibald Bulloch and was his third wife. She died at Wormsloe without issue in 1795.

Noble Wymberley Jones, a zealous Whig, who was kept from attending the Continental Congress by the serious illness of his father, who remained to the last a devoted Royalist, became in 1775 by inheritance the owner of Wormsloe. But the necessity for mending his fortune, shattered in the Revolution, left him little time to spend on his place. He practiced medicine in Charles- ton, Philadelphia, and Savannah. The estate passed at his death to his son, Judge George Jones, who used it as a place in which to raise fine horses, of which he was excessively fond. It was his custom on the circuit to drive a four-in-hand. George Wymberley Jones, his son, afterwards George Wymberley Jones DeRenne, then be- came the owner of Wormsloe, where he lived until the time of the Civil War and where he collected and pub- lished early Georgia manuscripts in the Wormsloe quartos. Here, on the southern extremity of the island, a battery was built at this time, called "Lawton Battery," after Gen. A. R. Lawton. This battery exchanged one shot with a Federal gunboat ascending Vernon River. The gunboat withdrew finding the river fortified.

It was after the war that Wormsloe came to the rescue of the family by tempting a Northerner to lease the estate for the purpose of raising sea island cotton,

RUINS OF FORT WYMBERLEY, AT WORMSLOE, THE OLD HOME OF NOBLE JONES, ON THE ISLE OF HOPE.

WORMSLOE

thereon. But the lessee soon tired of the existing labor conditions, whereupon Wormsloe reverted to the owners. Wymberley Jones DeRenne, son of George Wymberley Jones DeRenne, the present incumbent, has laid out live- oak tree avenues and arranged native trees and plants in groups and lines, thus developing the natural beauties of the place. He has also built a library dedicated "to Noble Jones, owner of Wormsloe, from 1733 to 1775," a handsome structure devoted entirely to Georgia books, maps, manuscripts, etc., relating to the history of Geor- gia. Near the ruins of the Old Fort, the name by which Fort Wymberley is called, there stands a tombstone erected by the father of the present owner, on which appears this inscription :*

George Wymberley Jones DeRenne hath laid this stone MDCCCLXXV to mark the old burial place of Wormsloe, 1737-1789, and to save from oblivion the graves of his kindred."

*These facts in regard to Wormsloe were given to the author by Mr. Wymberley Jones DeRenne.

CHAPTER XVIII

Bonaventure: The Ancient Seat of The Tattnalls

F OUR miles from Savannah, on the road to Thunder- bolt, lies Bonaventure, today one of the most beautiful burial places of the dead in America. Its majestic live-oaks, more than a century old, interlock their rugged branches and trail their pendant mosses over an area of consecrated ground, beautifully kept by the care-taker in charge, and the scene presented to the eye by these gnarled and twisted Druids is at once both weird and fascinating. Bonaventure is today thickly sown with the historic dust of Savannah ; but, in former times, it was the abode of life; a place where hospitality expressed itself in the most delightful rounds of enter- tainment and where loyal subjects pledged the health of the King.

Originally it belonged to John Mullryne, who pur- chased the estate in 1762. His attractive daughter, Mary, an only child, having been wooed and won by Josiah Tatt- nall, it became the home of the successful suitor, with whose name its wealth of associations was afterwards to be entwined. Tradition has preserved a bit of romance in connection with the old estate, for there still abides an unwritten legend to the effect that the avenues of magni- ficient trees were planted in the form of a monogram combining the letters "M" and "T", the initials of the two aristocratic families. The Tattnalls came originally from Normandy, in France. They afterwards settled in Cheshire, England, where the name first appears

BONAVENTURE, THE ANCIENT SEAT OF THE TATTNALLS, NEAR SAVANNAH.

BONAVENTURE

among the gentry as far back as 1530. In the beginning, it was spelt De Taten, afterwards Taten-hall, borrowing the added syllable, no doubt, from the ancestral manor; and finally it was contracted into Tattnall. The earliest bearer of the name came to South Carolina in 1700, where he married the grand-daughter of an Irish peer. It was his son Josiah Tattnall who, in the staid old city of Charleston, sued for the hand of John Mullryne's daughter; and soon after the nuptials were celebrated the family abode was established at Bonaventure.

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 7

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