USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II > Part 15
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*Illustrated History of Methodism.
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was about to banish them in the winter season, without provisions for the long journey, but he was compelled to comply with the dictates of humanity, and to allow them a daily dole. The story of the sad departure has been told by Goethe in the sweetest of his verse narra- tives, 'Hermann and Dorothea,' the only poem of his early life which he cared to read when old.
"Journeying eastward, the main body of exiles passed through Frankfort-on-the-Main. This was Goethe's na- tive town. The Prussian king was ready to welcome the whole army of refugees, over 10,000 in number, but a band of them, conducted by Herr Von Reck, a Hanoverian nobleman, sailed down the Rhine and took refuge under the British flag. They finally landed on the shores of America, where they settled at Ebenezer, in the new colony of Georgia. None of the settlers were superior to these excellent Salzburgers, whom George Whitefield considered the cream of the population for industry and uprightness. The orphan home, which he afterwards instituted at Bethesda, was based upon an institution of like character at Ebenezer."
Colonel Charles C. Jones, Jr., adds some. additional particulars in regard to the emigration of the Salzburg- ers to Georgia .* Says he : "During the four years, com- mencing in 1729 and ending in 1732, more than 30,000 Salzburgers, impelled by the fierce persecutions of Leo- pold, abandoned their home in the broad valley of the Salza, and sought refuge in Prussia, Holland, and Eng- land, where their past suffering's and present wants en- listed substantial sympathy from Protestant communi- ties. Persuaded by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge and acting upon the invitation of the Trustees of the Colony of Georgia, forty-two Salz- burgers, with their wives and children-numbering in all seventy-eight souls-set ont for Rotterdam, whence they were to be transported free of charge to Dover, England. At Rotterdam they were joined by their chosen
*Dead Towns of Georgia, p. 11, Savannah, 1878.
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religious teachers, the Rev. John Martin Bolzius and the Rev. Israel Christian Gronau." According to the same authority, the Georgia Trustees engaged not only to advance the funds necessary to defray the expenses of the journey and to purchase the requisite sea stores, but also to allot to each emigrant on his arrival in Georgia fifty acres in fee and provisions sufficient for maintainance until such land could be made available for support.
After taking the oath of loyalty at Dover, the emi- grants, on December 28, 1733, embarked for the new world in the ship Purisburg, which, in due season, an- chored safely at Charleston, S. C. It so happened that Oglethorpe was in Charleston at this time to meet them and, without delay, he arranged to take the emigrants to Savannah, reaching port on March 10, 1734. It was Reminiscere Sunday-according to the Lutheran calen- dar-when the boat arrived. By a queer sort of coinci- dence the Scripture lesson for the day, so the good Mr. Bolzius informs us, was the passage which tells how the Saviour, after suffering persecution in his own country, came to the borders of the heathen. He then describes the vessel as "Lying in fine and calm weather, under the shore of our beloved Georgia, where we heard the Birds sing melodiously ;" and notwithstanding the sacred character of the day and the gentle disposition of the new arrivals, he adds that the inhabitants of the town of Savannah "fired off some Cannons."
While the Salzburgers rested from the fatigues of the long trip across the seas, Herr Von Reck, in company with Oglethorpe, set out on horseback to select a place of settlement for the emigrants. It was finally reached on the morning of March 17, 1734. The site chosen for the purpose was four miles to the South of the present town of Springfield, in a region which was wholly desti- tute of fertility and without the least claim to attractive- ness. But to judge from the description of Herr Von Reck it was veritably a bit of Eden. On the banks of
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a creek which was found after meandering several miles eastward to empty into the Savannah River, he marked off the future town, which he called Ebenezer, in devont recognition of the Lord's help; and he likewise bestowed the name upon the adjacent stream. As soon as the ro- connoitering party returned to Savannah, eight able bodied Salbzurgers were dispatched to Ebenezer to foll trees and to erect shelters for the colonists. Early in April the rest followed. Substantial cabins were built. bridges were thrown across the water-courses, and a road way constructed to Abercorn. The people of Savannah gave the settlers a number of cows and a lot of seed with which to begin industrial activities. Altogether the out- look was most promising, and with none to molest them or to make them afraid the once-persecuted Salzburgers began anew the struggle of life in the free wilderness of Georgia.
On February 5, 1736, there was another arrival of Germans at Savannah; and, though a few of them under Captain Hermsdorf were dispatched to Frederica, for the purpose of strengthening the military post on St. Simon's Island, the majority of them preferred to settle at Ebenezer, a wish in which they were indulged by Oglethorpe. With this addition the population of the new town was little short of two hundred souls. But the community was not prosperous. The climate proved to be malarial. The water disagreed with them. The soil refused to reward even the most diligent efforts to cul- tivate it; sickness prevailed among the colonists; and, to lengthen the catalogue of complaints, it was found that the distance from the settlement to the Savannah River, though only six miles over land, was twenty-five miles by water. The matter was finally laid before Ogle- thorre who, realizing the difficulties under which the Salzburgers labored at Ebenezer, gave them permission to move elsewhere. Accordingly they selected a high ridge, rear the Savannah River, at a place called Red
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Bluff, because of the peculiar color of the soil; and, set- ting themselves to work, the change of abode was speed- ily effected.
Less than two years were consumed in transferring the household goods of the Salzburgers to the new site. It was called New Ebenezer, to distinguish it from the former place of abode, which in turn became Old Eben- ezer. Whatever could be moved with the means at hand was conveyed to the new town. Even the cabins were taken down and carted through the woods, log by log. It was slow and tedious work, but the Salzburgers were marvelously patient. . By the summer of. 1738 the old town had degenerated into a cow pen, where one Joseph Barker resided, in charge of some cattle belonging to the Trustees. William Stephens, who visited the locality about the same time, found it an abandoned settlement ; and it need hardly be added that not a vestige of the old town today survives.
The choice of the new place of abode was wisely made. It was only six miles to the east of Old Ebenezer, but it was located to much better advantage with respect both to fertility of soil and to general healthfulness. As de- scribed by Mr. Strobel, the situation was somewhat ro- mantic .* Says he : "On the east lay the Savannah with its broad, smooth surface. On the south was a stream, then called Little Creek, but now known as Lockner's Creek, and a large lake called Neidlinger's Sea; while to the north, not very distant from the town, was to be seen an old acquaintance, Ebenezer Creek, sluggishly winding its way to mingle with the waters of the Savannah." The landscape was here gently undulating, so he tells us, the countryside covered with a fine growth of forest trees, the fields luxuriant with many-colored flowers, among them, the woodbine, the azalea and the jessamine. But the pestilential germs were found to be here, too, for on three sides the town was encompassed by low swamps. which were subject to periodical inundation, and which
*Salzburgers and Their Descendants, p. 91, Baltimore, 1855.
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generated a poisonous miasma prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants.
For years New Ebenezer prospered. The Salzburg- ers did not know what it was to eat the bread of idle- ness. John Wesley was lavish in praise of the neat ap- pearance which the town presented when he called to see them. He found the houses well built. He was also impressed with the frugality of these Germans. They did not leave a spot of ground unplanted in the little gardens belonging to them, and they even made one of the main streets yield a crop of Indian corn. From first to last, they were an agricultural people. As early as 1738 they began to experiment with the culture of cot- ton. But the Trustees were partial to silk and wine. Consequently the growth of this plant was discouraged. By 1741 it is estimated that in the Colony of Georgia there were not less than twelve hundred German Protes- tasts, most of whom were at Ebenezer.
Ebenezer in the The Salzburgers were slow to side Revolution. against England. It was perfectly nat- ural for them to feel kindly disposed toward the country whose generous protection was ex- tended to them in days of persecution; but they were also the sworn enemies of tyranny, whether at home or abroad. When the question of direct opposition to the acts of Parliament was discussed at Ebenezer in 1774 there arose a sharp division of sentiment. Quite a num- ber of the inhabitants favored "passive obedience and non-resistance." But the majority refused tamely to submit. At the Provincial Congress, which assembled in Savannah on July 4, 1775, the following Salzburgers were enrolled from the Parish of St. Matthew: John Adam Treutlen, John Stirk, Jacob Casper Waldhaur, John Floerl and Christopher Cramer. As a community, the Salzburgers espoused the cause of the Revolutionists,
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but headed by Mr. Triebner some of them maintained an open adherence to the Crown. Between these parties there sprang up an angry feud, in the midst of which the Rev. Mr. Rabenhorst, "who exerted his utmost influence to curb the dominant passions, crowned his long and useful life with a saintly death."
Situated on the direct line of travel, Ebenezer was destined to play an important part in the approaching drama of hostilities. The account which follows is con- densed from Dead Towns of Georgia: "Three days after the capture of Savannah by Colonel Campbell, a strong force was advanced, under the command of Lieu- tenant-Colonel Maitland, to Cherokee Hill. On the fol- lowing day-January 2, 1779-Ebenezer was occupied by the British troops. They at once threw up a redoubt with- in a few hundred yards of Jerusalem Church and fortified the position. The remains of this work are said to be still visible. As soon as he learned of the fall of Savannah, Mr. Streibner hastened thereto, proclaimed his loyalty, and took the oath of allegiance. The intimation is that he coun- selled the immediate occupation of Ebenezer and accom- panied the detachment which compassed the capture of his own town and people. Influenced by him, not a few of the Salzburgers took the oath of allegiance to England and received certificates guaranteeing the royal protec- tion. Prominent among those who maintained adherence to the rebel cause were : John Adam Treutlen, afterwards Governor; William Holsendorf, Colonel John Stirk, Sec- retary Samuel Stirk, Captain JJacob Casper Waldhaur, who was both a magistrate and a soldier; John Schnider, Rudolph Strohaker, Jonathan Schnider, J. Gotleib Schni- der, Jonathan Rahn. Ernest Zittrauer, Joshua Helfen- stein, and Jacob Helfinstein."
Mr. Strobel draws a graphic picture of the situation at this time. Says he :* The citizens of Ebenezer were made to feel severely the effects of the war. The prop- erty of those who did not take the oath of allegiance
*Salzburgers and Their Descendants, pp. 203-207, Baltimore, 1855.
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was confiscated and the helpless sufferers were exposed to every species of insult and wrong. Besides, some of the Salzburgers who espoused the cause of the Crown became inveterate Whigs, placed themselves at the head of marauding parties, and committed the most wanton acts of depredation, including arson itself. The estah- lishment of a line of British posts along the western bank of the Savannah River to check the demonstrations of the rebel forces in South Carolina, made it a kind of thoroughfare for British troops in passing through the country from Savannah to Augusta. To avoid the rudeness of the soldiers who were quartered among them and to escape the heavy tax upon the scant resources which remained to them, many of the best citizens aban- doned the town and settled in the country districts. Those who remained were forced almost daily to witness acts of cruelty perpetrated upon American prisoners of war; for Ebenezer, while in the hands of the British, was the point to which most of the pris- oners were brought, thence to be taken to Savan- nah. It was from this post that a number of prisoners were being carried southward, when the two Sergeants, Jasper and Newton, rescued them at Jasper Spring."
"There was one act performed by the British com- mander which was peculiarly trying and revolting to the Salzburgers. The fine brick church was converted into a hospital for the accommodation of the sick and wounded and was afterwards desecrated by being used as a stable for the horses. The records were destroyed, targets were made of different objects, and even to this day the metal swan bears the mark of a musket ball. Often, too, cannon were discharged at the houses. But the Salzburgers en- dured these hardships and indignities with fortitude ; and though a few of them were overcome by these severe measures, yet the mass of them remained firm."
According to Colonel Jones, the establishment of tippling houses in Ebenezer, during the British occupa-
*Dead Towns of Georgia, p. 39, Savannah, 1878.
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tion, corrupted the lives of not a few of the once sober Germans. Says he: "Indications of decay and ruin were patent before the cessation of hostilities. Except for a brief period, during the siege of Savannah, when the garrison was summoned to assist in defence of the city against the allied army, Ebenezer remained in the possession of the British until a short time prior to the evacuation of Savannah, in July, 1783. In advancing toward Savannah, General Wayne established his head- quarters in the town. As soon as the British forces were withdrawn, the Tory pastor, Triebner, betook himself to flight and found a refuge in England, where he ended his days in seclusion."
Last Days of It was an altered scene upon which the Ebenezer. poor Salzburgers looked when the ref- ugees began to return to Ebenezer at the close of the Revolution. Many of the homes had been burnt to the ground. Gardens once green and fruitful had been trampled into desert places. Jerusalem Church had become a mass of filth, and the sacred edifice was sadly dilapidated. But the Germans set themselves to work. Fresh life was infused into the little community upon the arrival of the Rev. John Ernest Bergman, a clergyman of pronounced attainments. The parochial school was revived, the population began to increase, the church was substantially rebuilt, and much of the damage wrought by the British was in the course of time re- paired. But the lost prestige of the little town of Eben- ezer was never fully regained. The mills remained idle. The culture of silk was revived only to a limited degree; and, after a brief interval of growth, the old settlement began visibly to take the downward path.
On February 18, 1796, Ebenezer became for a short interval the county seat of Effingham. The following commissioners were appointed to make the preliminary surveys and to superintend the erection of the public
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buildings : Jeremiah Cuyler, John G. Neidlinger, Jona- than Rahn, Elias Hodges, and John Martin Dasher. But three years later the seat of government was changed to Springfield.
For more than fifty years the religious services of the Salzburgers were conducted in the German language; but Methodist and Baptist churches began to spring up in the community and to draw away the young people from the ancient paths. The introduction of the English tongue was finally effected in 1824 through the instru- mentality of the Rev. Christopher Bergman.
But the days of Ebenezer were numbered. Before reaching the century mark, the old settlement was des- tined to take its place among the dead towns of Georgia. In 1855, when Mr. Strobel last visited the site, it was a picture of desolation. Scarcely a pulse-beat of life could be detected. The faithful historian of the Salz- burgers thus describes it. Says he: "To one visiting the ancient town of Ebenezer, in the present day, the prospect which presents itself is anything but attractive ; and the stranger who is unacquainted with its history would perhaps discover very little to excite his curiosity or awaken his sympathies. The town has gone almost entirely to ruins. Only two residences are now remain- ing, and one of these is untenanted. The old church, however, stands in bold relief." Nor is it unmeet that the sacred edifice should survive the wreck of all else to bear testimony to the simple virtnes and to the blame- less lives of these pure-hearted Germans, whose sole aim in life was to honor God.
Present-Day There are still numerous descendants of the Salzburgers Ebenezer settlers living today in the Coun- of Effingham. ty of Effingham; and from a writer who has long been familiar with this section of Georgia the following graphic picture of present-day conditions has been obtained. Says this writer :* Where
*John C. Hollingsworth, Jr., in the Mercerian, for January, 1907,
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the Savannah and the Ogeechee Rivers form the east and the west boundaries respectively of Effingham County,. these streams are still twenty miles apart. But the coun- try is so low here that, during the Harrison freshet of 1841, the two streams defied fate, overflowed their banks, and stealing under the trees, across the plains and through vines and brambles, met at last, as if by appointment, ten miles from either bank. Then the sunshine and the dry weather broke in upon them; and they slipped away to their own banks from their first and perhaps last meeting. It is here, on this low plain, between these two rivers, that the descendants of the Salzburgers dwell. Dotted here and there among the "cypress ponds," "gall- berry flats" and "runs" are to be found the humble cot- tages of these pastoral people.
The first question that arises in the mind of the vis- itor among the Salzburgers is how such large families are sustained on such small farms. The secret is that everybody works. There you will find the most econom- ical housewives and the most frugal husbandmen in Georgia. It is said that one of these "Dutch" house- wives can take a large sweet potato and serve it to the family in a half dozen different forms, and feed "Fido," "old Brindle" and the pigs on the residue. She does all the housework cheerfully and is ready to assist on the farm in a pinch. The husbandman is always up with the birds and moving, but yet too often accomplishing little. He is engaged in truck-farming principally, and finds a ready market for his vegetables in Savannah, while he ships his potatoes, bean's, cucumbers and toma- toes often to Northern markets. There are some few farmers among them who still have their mulberry or- chards, raise silk-worms and manufacture a grade of silk fishing lines surpassed by none in the State of Georgia.
As a rule these are a happy people. At night they discuss, about the fireside, with great gravity, the happen- ings of the neighborhood; and in the role of neighbor and friend the average "Dutchman" is always at his best.
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He is also honest in his dealings. The Superior Court of Effingham County seldom lasts more than three days now, and it rarely happens that one of these men is haled into court for breach of contract or for any offence where honor is involved. There are two or three annual fes- tivals that everybody attends, the "Farmers' Dinner," the Fourth of July picnic, and the festival of the Effing. ham Hussars. These are the big events of the season ; but of all the social occasions none are so thoroughly enjoyed as the "kraut cuttings." They correspond to the Georgia corn huskings. ... When the kraut is cut and neatly packed in a vat a feast is then spread, in the preparation for which the old Dutch oven has been busy for more than a week. The twang of the banjo and the swelling notes of the fiddle then call them to a room made vacant for the dance; and thus they go, oftentimes until gray streaks in the East announce the coming morn.
CHAPTER XIX
Sunbury: An Extinct Metropolis
O NCE a rival of Savannah, there is not a vestige left of the ancient town which in Colonial days arose on the gentle slopes of the Midway River, near the point where it widens into St. Catherine's Sound. The streets and squares and market places of the town have been completely obliterated. Weeds today choke the deserted docks where vessels used to land rich cargoes. Oyster shells in great white heaps mark the rugged shore lines; and on the hilltops, where for- merly blazed the hearthstone fires, long rows of tasseled corn may be seen in summer, forming a coat of green wherewith to hide the tragedy which time has here wrought. The only link between past and present on these long-abandoned heights is the pathetic little grave- yard; but even here the brambles riot among the crum- bling tombstones.
Perhaps nowhere else in Georgia has the ruthless plowshare of Fate exemplified more strikingly the final estate to which things human and terrestrial are at last doomed. Yet this buried metropolis produced two sign- ers of the Declaration of Independence, a distinction en- joyed by few cities in America. The commercial im- portance of Sunbury at the beginning of the Revolution is attested by the fact that seven square-rigged schooners have been known to enter the port in one day, and Cap- tain Hugh McCall,* Georgia's earliest historian-our
*History of Georgia, Edition of 1909, Vol. I, p. 177.
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authority for this statement-adds that Sunbury com- peted with Savannah for the coast trade during the late Colonial period. Colonel Jones* estimates the population of Sunbury at something like one thousand inhabitants, a number which was quite large, considering the times, and doubtless but little short of the figures for Savannah. It was also the seat of a pioneer school of learning-the famous Sunbury Academy, taught by Dr. McWhir. Only ten miles distant from the Midway Church, it became the abode of a number of the members of this flock. But the excellence of the harbor facilities attracted settlers from remote points. Some came from Savannah, some from Charleston, and some even from far-off Bermuda. As early as 1762 it was made a port of entry by Gov- ernor Wright, who considered it a place of great prom- ise; but it lay in the path of the despoiler, and from the ravages of the Revolution it never rallied.
General Oglethorpe, during his reconnoisance of the southern frontier of the Province, in 1734, is said to have been impressed by the bold and beautiful bluff near the mouth of the Midway River, but it was not until twenty years later that the foundations of the future town were laid. The members of the Dorchester settlement, who were located for the most part in the close neighborhood of the Midway Church, were thrifty as well as pious, and tliey realized the need of a town on the ocean front near- by, where they could market rich crops of rice and indigo, from which, if handled to commercial advantage, there were large profits to be realized. The result was that, on June 20, 1758, Captain Mark Carr, who owned five hundred acres of land on the heights overlooking the river, deeded three hundred acres of this tract to a set of trustees, who were charged with the duty of laying out the proposed town.
*History of Georgia, 1883, Vol. I, p. 498.
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It appears that the owner acquired the property only a short time before the date of this transfer by deed of conveyance from his Majesty, King George II. The trustees to whom he conveyed the land for the founding of Sunbury were : James Maxwell, Kenneth Baillie, John Elliott, Grey Elliott, and John Stevens, most of whom were either members or supporters of Midway Church. Captain McCall* suggests that the town was called Sun- bury because the slopes on which it was built faced the sunrise, reasoning from the etymology of the word, the interpretation of which is-"the residence of the sun." Colonel Jones is inclined to think that it was named for the town of Sunbury, on the River Thames, in England. The trustees divided the area of the town into four hun- dred lots and also planned for three squares. The lots were to be seventy feet in breadth by one hundred and thirty feet in depth, and four of these were to constitute a block, bounded on three sides by streets, while a lane was to be the boundary of the fourth. The width of the streets was to be seventy-five feet and of the lanes twenty feet. King's Square, an area well to the front of the town, was to be twice the size of the other two, viz: Church and Meeting, and these were to be in the opposite wings.
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