Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 2

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1274

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Duel on Horse- Two of the most distinguished officers Back Prevented. in command of Georgia's State troops during the Revolution were Colonel John Baker and Major John Jones, both of whom were devoted patriots. But they came near shedding each other's blood in a most spectacular fashion, while await- ing an expected encounter with the British soon after the fall of Savannah. As the result of a misinterpreta- tion of orders they quarreled; and, one thing bringing on another, they agreed to settle the issue between them by

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fighting a duel on horse-back. Accordingly they repaired to a grove, near old Midway church, somewhat back from the travelled highway; but, when the hour for combat arrived, an officer whose uniform told that he was a Brigadier-General suddenly appeared upon the scene of action.

It was General James Screven. Only a few moments before while seated in camp, a courier had brought him word of the affair; and, putting spurs to his horse, he dashed like a bolt of lightning through the forest. Breath- less with excitement, he arrived just in time; for the two men were already facing each other with deadly in- tent. Lifting his hand as he drew rein, he commanded them to desist; and then pleading the country's sore need he reminded the combatants that it was no time for brother officers to be seeking each other's life, when the cause of liberty was imperiled.

High-spirited though both men were, they yielded to the importunities of General Screven, realizing the force of his argument. The spirit of patriotism prevailed over the mere desire for personal redress; and, shaking hands on the field of honor, the would-be duellists agreed to bury their quarrel there on the spot and to reserve their fire for the British Red-Coats, who were already beginning to swarm over Georgia like a plague of locusts. But strange are the ways of fate. Within a few months, General Screven was shot from ambush near this same place, while engaged in reconnoitering.

Gov. Jackson Old Governor James Jackson-illustrious

As a Duellist. in the annals of Georgia for his crusade of fire against the Yazoo conspirators- was the most inveterate duellist of his day. He was con- stantly on the war-path. Growing out of the spectacu- lar part played by him in causing the famous Yazoo Act of 1795 to be rescinded, he was drawn at frequent inter- vals into affairs of honor, from few of which he escaped

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

without loss of blood. For at least ten years, his life was literally a round of duels.

When the Yazoo measure became a law in 1795, the old Governor was then serving his first term in the United States Senate. Incensed at what he considered the trickery by which this legislation was accomplished, he relinquished his toga of office and took his seat in the Legislature of Georgia as a member from Chatham. The infamous measure in question conveyed to four separate and distinct land companies the whole of Georgia's west- ern domain, in return for which the State was to be compensated in the sum of $500,000, or at the rate of one and a half cents per acre, for thirty-five million acres of land. Such a transaction was regarded by the old Gov- ernor as a blot upon Georgia's escutcheon, and with im- passioned eloquence he sought to erase this iniquitous measure from the statute books. He accomplished his purpose. The Legislature of 1796 rescinded the obnox- ious Act; and on the State House Square, in the solemn presence of the General Assembly, every record pertain- ing to the transaction was burned, with impressive cere- monies. It was on this occasion that Governor Jackson, by means of a sun-glass, called down the fire of heaven. Thus was Georgia's honor redeemed.

But the old Governor reaped a harvest of feudal en- mities. His duelling-pistols were rarely ever cool. But so violent was the Jacksonian temper, that he did not always wait upon the tardy formalities of the Code. Oc- casions arose when he demanded satisfaction instanter. Writing to John Milledge, in a letter dated Savannah, March 8, 1796, he describes one of these extemporaneous encounters, in which he proceeded to bite his antagonist's finger .* On ordinary occasions the Governor was a great stickler for decorum. Hotspur though he was, booted and spurred for battle, he always bore himself with the urbanity of a Chesterfield. No one was ever more considerate of the rights of others. But whenever

*Charlton: Life of Jackson, p. 162.

JAMES JACKSON

Famous for His Exposure of the Yazoo Fraud, and for His Frequent Meetings on the Field of Honor.

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his own rights were invaded or whenever an insult was wantonly offered him, James Jackson was ready to fight at a moment's notice; and, under strong provocation, could employ with telling effect the weapons of primitive man.

in a Duel.

Kills Gov. Wells. However, Governor Jackson's first duel antedated by some fifteen years the dramatic era of the Yazoo Fraud. To- ward the close of the Revolution, he became involved in a controversy with Lieutenant-Governor Wells, in con- sequence of which the two men met in deadly encounter some time during the year 1780. The latter lost his life in this exchange of shots. Governor Jackson-then a Major in command of partisan troops-was severely wounded in both knees. If there were any eye witnesses to this duel, the details were never divulged, and tradition is strangely silent upon the subject. Judge Charlton, the authorized biographer of Governor Jackson, says this-"We only know that they went upon the ground without seconds and fought at the desperate distance of a few feet." However, among the papers of Governor Jackson has been discovered a letter in which he laments the necessity of the duel, stating that it was imposed upon him "by the overbearing disposition of the Lieutenant- Governor .* But if the temper of Governor Wells took fire any more readily than did Governor Jackson's, it must have been more explosive than nitro-glycerine.

His Duels with Perhaps the most inveterate political Robert Watkins. enemy of the old Governor was Robert Watkins, of Augusta. Watkins was at this time one of the recognized leaders of the Georgia bar. He was a member of the Yazoo Legislature of 1795 and a supporter of the bill for the sale of Georgia's western

*Charlton: Life of Jackson, p. 18, reprint.

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

lands, regarding this measure purely in the light of a real estate transaction. With his brother, George, he compiled the earliest Digest of Georgia Laws.

But, most unfortunately, when the volume appeared, in 1800, it contained the obnoxious Yazoo Act, rescinded by the Legislature of 1796; and Governor Jackson, who was then occupying the Executive Chair, refused to draw his warrant upon the treasury and in other ways put the seal of his official condemnation upon this earliest Digest of Georgia Laws. In vain Watkins expostulated. He showed that while his digest carried the obnoxious measure, it also carried the Repealing Act, the one coun- ter-balancing the other. But the old Governor was ob- durate. He regarded the Yazoo Act as a usurpation and he did not wish to see it monumentalized upon the statute- books .*

Thus the issue was joined. On both sides there was much bitterness of feeling. At least three separate duels were fought between Gov. Jackson and Robert Watkins. In the last of these encounters, the old Governor was se- verely wounded in the right hip. He was lifted from the ground and, finding that he could still stand alone, in- sisted upon another exchange of shots. But the surgeon urged an examination. He pried into the wound and, fearing that the bullet might have entered the cavity, ordered a cessation of hostilities. With great civility, so it is said, Mr. Watkins helped to bear the wounded man from the field; whereupon, the old Governor, who re- mained perfectly rational throughout and who was not to be outdone in courtesy by his antagonist, was heard to observe:

"Hang it, Watkins, I thought I could give you another shot."*

Though a small appropriation was secured for the Watkins Digest, the book was never authorized. Capt.

*Shipp: Life of Crawford, pp. 38-39.

*Dutcher: History of Augusta, p. 227.

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Horatio Marbury, then Secretary of State, with two commissioners, was subsequently appointed to make a Digest. William H. Crawford and George Watkins were chosen to assist him; but the latter, on account of his aggrieved feelings, declined to serve. Marbury and Craw- ford prosecuted the task alone and, in due time, com- pleted the undertaking. It is known to this day as Mar- bury and Crawford's Digest of Georgia Laws.

Besides the formal encounters which took place be- tween Jackson and Watkins, they met somewhat uncere- moniously on certain occasions and engaged in fisticuff fights. One of these occurred soon after the Yazoo Act was rescinded, showing that the enmity between the two men ran back to the famous land speculation in which some of the most influential men of Georgia were in- volved. The difficulty occurred in Louisville, at the close of the Legislative session. We quote this paragraph from a letter describing the affair: . "This was done to bring on dispute. Flesh and blood of such texture as mine would not bear it (i. e., the provocation offered by Watkins), and the lie and stick involuntarily flew on him.">* In this encounter, Gov. Jackson was stabbed in several places and for a time his wounds were thought to be mortal.

His Duel With Gibbons. Thomas Gibbons, a lawyer of Savannah, who as early as the year 1800 is said to have earned $15,000 per annum from the practice of law, an income equivalent to $60,000 at the present time, was frequently on opposing sides to Gov- ernor Jackson in civil litigation before the courts. He was also extensively engaged in land speculations. Con- sequently, there was little in common between the two men except a violent temper, the effect of which was to hasten them to the field. But they appear to have met

*Charlton: Life of Jackson, p. 161.

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

only once, at which time three shots were exchanged between them, without effect.

There is nothing in the records on which to base any positive statement to the effect that Gov. Jackson ever became involved in personal difficulties with Gen. Gunn, but the latter was a notorious Yazooist and was a col- league of Gov. Jackson in the United States Senate when the latter relinquished the toga to begin his fight against the speculators. If they did not meet on the field of honor, it is little short of marvelous. In the opinion of not a few commentators upon the subject, the Yazoo Fraud has been overworked by historians. Some of the leading men of the State were concerned in it on the ground that it was merely a real estate transaction; and when we remember that it was before the days of railway and telegraph communication, we must admit that Geor- gia's western lands were comparatively worthless. Even so pronounced a patriot as Patrick Henry headed one of the Yazoo companies organized in Virginia.

But Governor Jackson was undoubtedly sincere in his fight against the Yazooists, whom he regarded in the light of conspirators. No man was ever more inflamed with the ardor of a righteous indignation. But he paid the penalty. According to Thomas Hart Benton, with whom he served in the United States Senate, his death, in 1806, was due directly to wounds received in a duel, the last of many caused by his opposition to the Yazoo Fraud. More than any other man in Georgia, Governor Jackson was distinguished for his prowess in personal combat; and he carried to his grave the scars of count- less hostile meetings on the field of honor.

Taliaferro Even the Bench became infected by this and Willis. homicidal mania. Col. Benjamin Taliaferro, a comrade-in-arms of the fiery Jackson, was also a duellist, though he is credited-in the authentic records-with only one encounter. Col. Taliaferro lived

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at a time when lawyers were scarce in Upper Georgia. He was not himself a disciple of Blackstone, but such was his reputation, throughout the County of Wilkes, both for sound business judgment and for strict probity of character that, layman though he was, the Legislature which rescinded the Yazoo Act elevated him to the Bench and made him the first judge of what was then known as the Western Circuit. He was a man whose sense of de- corum was unusually acute, but such was the ethical standard of the times with respect to duelling that his position on the Bench did not prevent him from meeting Col. Francis Willis for a round of buck-shot.

This was in 1796. Col. Willis was a man of means. He was also a prominent Yazooist. Aggrieved by some decision adverse either to his political faction or to his personal interests, he challenged Col. Taliaferro to a duel, which the latter lost no time in accepting. The Judge's aim was unerring; and, in the encounter which followed, Col. Willis received a wound in his right breast, so near the vital center, that he declined a second shot. Col. Taliaferro, in this engagement, used the old horse- man's pistols worn by him when he belonged to Lee's Legion .*

Golden Age But the Golden Age of the Code Duello in

of the Duel. Georgia was the period extending from 1800 to 1830, when the public life of this State was dominated by two powerful personalities : Gen. John Clark and Hon. William H. Crawford. Party spirit in this State has never been more rancorous than during this period; and, indeed, to the feudal animosity between these two noted Georgians, making them the most invet- erate personal and political enemies, some writers have even traced the origin of parties in Georgia. But this is not entirely accurate. During the Revolutionary period, our State was divided between the Whigs and the

*Gilmer: Georgians, p. 160.

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Tories. For a score of years after the Federal Consti- tution was adopted, the Republicans and the Federalists were rival political parties in Georgia; and while the latter was never numerically very strong in this State, due to the fact that some of its leaders were actively in- volved in the Yazoo transaction, it was nevertheless at one time sufficiently entrenched in the citadel of wealth to force Josiah Meigs from the Presidency of Franklin College, on the ground that he was an extreme Jeffer- sonian .*

Gen. John Clark. At the close of the war for independ- ence, Jolın Clark with the prestige of his gallant record as a soldier, became a dominant figure in the politics of Upper Georgia. When only fourteen years of age, he had fought by his father's side at Kettle Creek and later had won military renown by his cam- paigns and forays against the Indians. The battle of Jack's Creek was so called in honor of John Clark whose nickname among his intimate friends and comrades of the army was "Jack." Trained in the exercise of arms, it is not strange that he should have carried his eharac- teristics as a fighter into the arena of politics; nor is it strange that the veterans who followed his distinguished father and who knew John Clark himself in the perilous days of battle should have remained his loyal supporters to the very last.

Though not an educated man, at least in the academic sense, he was a man of strong intellect, rugged in char- acter, somewhat blunt of expression, full of bold initiative, and with a rare capacity for leadership. According to Gov. Gilmer, he possessed the temper of the clansman and was domineering and dictatorial; but Gov. Gilmer was identified with the Crawford faction, few of whom could discover any virtue in John Clark. Gen. Jackson, in the lower part of the State, was for years a stumbling-

*W. H. Meigs: Life of Josiah Meigs, p. 92.

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block in the way of Clark's ambition, for the old Gov- ernor did not approve of the latter's land speculations.

But in the politics of Upper Georgia, John Clark was an imperious figure. Here he was on his native heath; and here the frontiersmen flocked to his standard like the Highland clans to the horn of Rhoderick Dhu. Here as a leader whose word was law and gospel, he exercised an unopposed sway until a new star began to loom upon the horizon just north of Augusta and a new political Warwick arose to divide with him the honors of public life, in the person of his future hated rival, William H. Crawford.

William H. Mr. Crawford was a man of Titanic propor-

Crawford. tions. At the Court of France, in after years, his majestic figure caught the admir- ation of the great Napoleon who impulsively declared that Mr. Crawford was the only man to whom he ever felt constrained to bow. Better educated than John Clark, he was a mån of unusual culture for the times, a most effective public speaker, and a born leader of men. These qualities eventually made him United States Sen- ator, Minister to France, Secretary of the Treasury, and, except for an unfortunate stroke of paralysis, might have placed him in the Presidential chair of the nation.

The settlers of Upper Georgia were at this time, in the main, either from Virginia or from North Carolina ; and, according to ancestral bias, took sides in the politi- cal wrangles of this early period. As a rule, the North Carolinians attached themselves to Clark, while the Vir- ginians allied themselves with Crawford, who likewise derived strong support from the aristocratic families of the Georgia coast. The elimination of Crawford became naturally the first strategic move of the Clark faction; and to accomplish this end a duel offered the most con- venient instrument and promised the most effective results.

Mr. Crawford, unlike Gen. Clark, possessed little

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

knowledge of the use of arms. He was not a child of the camp. For this reason, his opponents argued that he would, in all likelihood, decline a challenge to the field of combat. In fact, such a refusal to fight was ex- actly what his enemies wanted, since they could then post him as a coward and easily accomplish his political undoing.

Crawford and To put into effect this proposed plan of Van Allen. strategy, the first champion to repre- sent the Clark faction and to test the met- tle of Mr. Crawford's arm was a young Elberton lawyer: Peter Lawrence Van Allen. Mr. Van Allen was by birth a New Yorker. He came of an old Dutch family of the Empire State and, on the authority of tradition, was a kinsman by marriage to Martin Van Buren, the sage of Kinderhook. Locating in Georgia for the practice of law, he identified himself with the Clark faction and be- came Solicitor-General of the Western Circuit. He was also a Yazooist and a Federalist. Van Allen was a good speaker, witty and eloquent, and early in the year 1800 began hostile tactics against the opposite faction by bringing a petty suit against Judge Charles Tait, of El- berton, who was then Mr. Crawford's law partner and most intimate friend. In his speech to the jury, Van Al- len assailed Judge Tait with merciless satire, and natur- ally the effect of this tirade was to nettle Judge Tait, who finally challenged him to fight.

But Judge Tait was not the game for which Van Allen was hunting; and on the ground that the judge was not a gentleman and, therefore, beyond the pale of the Code, he refused to meet him, expecting Mr. Crawford, of course, as Judge Tait's second, to take up the gage of. battle and to carry on hostilities. However, Mr. Craw- ford was loath to step into his principal's shoes, since the quarrel was not one of his own seeking; and on this account he exposed himself to animadversion, incurring the well-meant criticism of many of his own faction.

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But circumstances soon goaded him into a change of mind. While stopping at the Willis Hotel, in Washing- ton, Ga., he chanced in an unexpected manner to encoun- ter Van Allen, who grossly insulted him in the lobby of the hotel and challenged him to fight. According to the imperious standard of the times, there was no alternative for Mr. Crawford; and, rather than jeopardize his polit- ical fortunes by exposing himself to the charge of cow- ardice, he agreed to meet his antagonist.

As to what followed, we quote an account of the duel from a well-known historical writer: "It was arranged that Van Allen and Crawford should meet at Fort Char- lotte, the famous old duelling ground, twelve miles below Petersburg, on the Carolina side. Grawford's bravery was not without stoicism, for he went to the place of meeting without the slightest preparation. He had bor- rowed a pair of old pistols to be used by him, and these he did not examine until the morning of the meeting, and in trying them, they snapped twice. On the first fire nei- ther party was touched. Crawford afterwards stated to Judge Garnett Andrews that he was disconcerted on the first fire by an ugly grimace made by Van Allen, and that on the second fire he drew down his hat brim so that he could not see it. On the second round both combat- ants again fired, and Van Allen was seen to fall mor- tally wounded. Crawford was unharmed."*

Crawford and Clark. Two years elapsed before Mr. Crawford was again asked to vindicate his courage on the field of honor. This time it was John Clark himself who stepped into the lime-light and became one of the principals. On the resignation of Judge Thomas P. Carnes from the judgeship of the Western Circuit, Judge Griffin, a brother-in-law of Gen. Clark -- both having married daughters of Col. Micajah Williamson --- received from Gov. John Milledge an ad interim appointment to

*Shipp: Life of Crawford, p. 49.

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

the vacant seat. When the regular election was held by the State Legislature some time later, Judge Tait, a member of the Crawford faction, successfully opposed Judge Griffin for this office, though Judge Griffin was un- questionably a fine lawyer and a man of blameless rep- utation. Thereupon an acrimonious controversy ensued between Gen. Clark and Mr. Crawford, growing out of the issues of the campaign.

Smarting from the defeat of his candidate, Gen. Clark called Mr. Crawford to task for certain pre-election state- ments made by him to the effect that he, Gen. Clark, had influenced the grand juries of certain counties to recom- mend his brother-in-law. This brought forth a reply from Mr. Crawford. With pens dipped in vitriol both men indited bitter diatribes and branded each other with harsh epithets until finally Mr. Crawford, exasperated beyond control, challenged Gen. Clark to a duel, which challenge was, of course, promptly accepted by the im- petuous old warrior.

Col. Thomas Flournoy, acting as second to Mr. Craw- ford, and Capt. Howell Cobb, serving in a like capacity for Gen. Clark, arranged the details for the hostile en- counter. As the place of meeting, a secluded spot was chosen on the Carolina side of the Savannah River, just below historic old Petersburg and some eleven miles from where Van Allen, two years previous, fell before Mr. Crawford's deadly fire. But the duel was never fought. At this stage of the proceedings, a number of disinterested friends besought Gov. Milledge to inter- vene, urging the value to the State of both men, whose deadly intent portended fatal results.

With much difficulty, Gov. Milledge obtained the con- sent of both principals to the appointment of a board of arbitration, charged with adjusting the difficulties be- tween them. Each belligerent was given the right to choose two friends to represent him, and these in turn selected a fifth arbitrator who was really to hold in his hands the balance of power. Jared Irwin, Abraham

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Jackson, James Seagrove, David B. Mitchell, and J. Ben Maxwell constituted this court of appeals; and, on De- cember 12, 1804, a plan of arbitration was submitted, to which both parties, without loss of prestige, yielded assent.

Another Issue But the hatchet was only temporarily bur- Arises. ied. The smoldering fires of hostility began to leap into renewed flame ere the ink was dry upon the paper which both signed in appar- ently good faith. Still, more than a year elapsed before matters reached anything like a crisis. On Feb. 24, 1806, Josiah Glass, a North Carolinian, appeared upon the scene in Georgia with a warrant for one Robert Clary, charged with the offence of stealing a negro. Judge Tait, in his capacity as a judge, was called upon to endorse this warrant, which he readily did as a matter of form, expecting a trial of the case to establish the facts.

In a few days thereafter, while on the Bench, he re- ceived a note from Glass in which the latter stated that Clary was ready to make an affidavit in which there would be some startling revelations. After tea, on the evening of this particular day, Judge Tait, taking with him a Mr. Oliver Skinner, repaired to the room where Clary was held a prisoner in charge of Glass. Thereupon followed a long confession in which statements were in- cidentally made involving Gen. John Clark, who it ap- pears from this affidavit was charged with a land trans- action for which the money paid in exchange was coun- terfeit.

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 2

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1274

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1274