USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II > Part 36
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It was when Georgia fell into the hands of the British that Brown came back, and soon he became the chief lea- der of the Tories in the State. He was a well educated, intelligent man, and possessed military skill, so that he
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was made a Colonel in the English army, and was placed in command of Augusta, his old home. The force under him was composed of about half and half of Tories and Indians. His opportunity had now come. All of the Patriots of fighting age had left Augusta and were in the American army. Brown confiscated their property, threw their old grey-haired fathers and grand-fathers into prison, expelled their helpless wives and children from home, and drove them two hundred miles away into North Carolina. The suffering's along the journey were awful. Some of them died from exposure and exhaus- tion, and many were made invalids for life by the hard- ships endured on the dreadful march.
In September, 1780, General Elijah Clarke, with a small army of Patriots, undertook to recapture Augusta. He succeeded in driving Brown's army out of the city, and they took refuge in a large building just outside of the town known as the White House. Brown had the doors and windows barricaded and bored holes in the walls, through which his marksmen, with long-range riffles, held the Americans at bay. The building was completely surrounded by the Patriots, but General Clarke had no cannon with which he could batter down the house, so he had to depend upon starving out the Tories. For four days and nights he held them besieged, till provisions were nearly exhausted, and every drop of water was gone. In one of the large, upper rooms of the house lay forty poor, wounded Tories, with no medicines and no bandages or salves for their wounds and not a drop of water to appease their feverish thirst. Even in the American camp, their shrieks of agony and their wild cries for "water! water!" could be plainly heard. Brown himself was severely wounded, shot through both thighs, and was suffering dreadfully; but he never gave up. He had himself carried round from room to room in an arm-chair to direct and encourage his men, who were nearly crazed with exhaustion. General Clarke sent a flag of truce to the unsubdued officer and begged him in
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the name of humanity to surrender, but he positively refused. He was as brave and heroic as he was bad and cruel.
At last, on the morning of the fifth day. the relief for which Brown had been looking, came. Colonel Cruger, with a large detachment of British regulars, suddenly appeared on the other side of the river, in response to a secret message which Brown had sent to him, on the day he left Augusta. General Clarke, knowing that he could not contend against this large force, withdrew his army and quickly retreated. He left behind him thirty wounded Americans who were unable to march, supposing, of course, that they would be treated as prisoners of war. He knew not then the cruel heart of Thomas Brown, though he afterwards learned to know it well.
Selecting thirteen of the wounded American soldiers, Brown caused them to be hanged from the high balus- trade of the staircase in the White House, so that he might witness the dying agonies of these men as he lay on his couch in the hall below. And as each victim was pushed from the balustrade and fell with a dull thud at the end of the rope, Brown would utter a grunt of satis- faction. He turned the rest of the prisoners over to the tender mercies of the Indian allies, who, forming a circle around them in the front yard of the White House, put them to death by slow and fiendish tortures.
When, in 1781, Augusta was at last captured by the Americans, Brown was taken prisoner. Knowing that if the soldiers could put hands on him, they would tear the poor fellow limb from limb, the American commander had him carried down the river in a boat under a strong guard. It is strange that he was not court-martialed and hanged, a fate which he richly deserved. The Americans were too merciful to him. Brown was afterwards ex- changed and re-joined the British army, and till the end of the war, continued his fierce fighting and cruel work. After the war was over, realizing that he could not live in America, he took refuge in England. There, in the year
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1812, he was convicted of forgery and thrown into prison, where he ended his infamous life in disgrace and ig- nominy.
Colonel Grierson was another bad Tory, and Brown's right-hand man. They were two of a kind, companions in arms and companions in cruel deeds. Never was there joined together, in the commission of lawlessness, two men worse than Brown and Grierson, the Georgia Tory, Grierson, like Brown, was a Colonel in the British army. Fort Grierson, at Augusta, was named for him. It was one of the strongest forts in Georgia, and around it at the siege of Augusta, was fought one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolution in the State. When Augusta was captured by the Americans, Grierson, like Brown, was taken prisoner. To save him from being mobbed by the soldiers, the American commander had him hid- den away in a little house some distance from town and placed a strong guard around him; but suddenly, about twilight, a soldier on horse-back galloped up and, before the guards knew what he was about, threw his gun to his shoulder, shot Grierson through the window, and then, wheeling, galloped away. During the night, in dreadful agony, Grierson died of the wound. The man who shot him was supposed to be Samuel Alexander, the son of John Alexander, an old man seventy-eight years old, whom Grierson had treated with savage cruelty, when he and Brown held sway in Augusta. Young Alexander was never arrested or tried for the deed.
Daniel McGirth was another notorious Tory of Geor- gia. Unlike Brown, he was an ignorant, uneducated man ; and, unlike Brown, too, he started out as an ardent Pa- triot. He was born and reared in South Carolina and was a good frontiersman, as active and lithe as a panther. He was also a fine horseman and a splendid shot, and was
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among the first to take up arms in the American cause. Somehow he drifted into South Georgia, where he be- longed to the little band of Patriots who so bravely re- sisted the invasion of the British from Florida. He acted as a scout and spy for the Americans, and he ren- dered them most important service.
McGirth brought with him from South Carolina a thorough-bred horse, of which he was very proud. She was an iron-gray mare with a snow-white blaze in her forehead, and he called her Gray Goose. She was con- sidered the finest horse in the American army, beautiful, intelligent, and swift as the wind. A Captain in the Am- erican army took a great fancy to the animal and tried to buy her from McGirth, offering him a large price, but McGirth refused to part with her. This angered the Captain, who, out of spite, mistreated McGirth in many ways, as an officer can mistreat a subordinate, if he chooses. McGirth was a high-spirited fellow. Irritated beyond endurance, he one day insulted the officer and raised his arm to strike him; but some one intervened and stopped the blow. Now, to strike a superior officer is a grave crime in the army, so McGirth was tried by court-martial and sentenced to receive ten lashes with a cowhide on his bare back three days in succession. The first whipping was administered and he was put into the guard house to await his second humiliation. The feel- ings of this high-spirited man can be imagined, as he paced up and down in his cell and brooded over the bitter shame to which he was being subjected.
About twilight, as he was gazing through his prison bars, McGirth spied Gray Goose, hitched to a tree not far away. He gave a low, peculiar whistle, and Gray Goose, recognizing the signal, raised her beautiful head and uttered an affectionate whinny in response. This was more than he could stand. With a broken trowel which he found in his cell, he tore the masonry from around the prison bars; then, with almost superhuman strength, he pulled out one of the bars and, through the
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narrow crack, squeezed his long body and, rushing out, sprang on Gray Goose and dashed away. The guards called to him to halt, but he only shook his fist at them and yelled a dreadful curse, and plunged into the darkness on his fleet-footed steed, heedless of the musket-balls that whistled about his head.
McGirth's whole nature was seemingly perverted by the bad treatment which he had received. He deserted to the enemy and joined the British army, and from then to the end of the war fought ferociously against the Americans. Of course, the bad treatment which he re- ceived from the American officer was no excuse, but Mc- Girth was as unprincipled as he was brave and fierce. .
He was made a Colonel in the British army and put at the head of a powerful Tory band, which for many months was the scourge of the State. He was a perfect ruffian in his manner of warfare. From the Florida line to Elbert County and over into South Carolina his name was a terror to the people. Many were the fearful stories told of McGirth and his blaze-faced horse. A whole book might be written about his daring deeds and his inhuman cruelties. He was twice wounded, but was never taken prisoner. A big reward was offered for his capture, and thousands were trying to catch him and often had him in a tight place; but in every emergency he was saved by the fleet foot of his best friend, Gray Goose.
After the war was over, he went to Florida, which was then owned by the Spaniards. For some offense or crime there he was arrested and thrown into prison in the old fort of St. Augustine. After an imprisonment of five years, he was released, but he was so weak and broken in health that he could barely drag himself back to his wife in his rude country home in Sumter District, South Carolina. There he soon died in peace, and there he now lies buried.
But there were some Tories of an altogether different pattern. Mr. John Couper, in a letter written when he
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was eighty-three years of age and dated St. Simon's Is- land, April 16, 1842, narrates an anecdote of the famous and eccentric Captain Rory McIntosh, who was attached as a volunteer to an infantry company, at the time of the siege of Fort Morris. The company was within the lines which Col. Fuser had thrown around the fort and the ad- jacent town of Sunbury. Early one morning when Rory had made free with mountain dew, he insisted on sally- ing out to summon the fort to surrender. His friends could not restrain him, so out he strutted, claymore in hand, followed by his faithful slave Jim, and approached the fort, roaring out :
"Surrender, you miscreants. How dare you resist his Majesty's arms !"
Col. John McIntosh, his kinsman, was in command of the fort, and, seeing his situation, he forbade any one firing, threw open the gate, and said :
"Walk in, Mr. McIntosh, and take possession."
"No," said Rory, "I will not trust myself among such vermin ; but I order you to surrender."
Just then a rifle was fired, the ball from which passed through his face, sidewise, under his eyes. He stumbled and fell backwards, but immediately recovered, and flour- ishing his sword retreated. Several shots followed. Jim called out : "Run, massa, run, dey kill you."
"Run, poor slave," indignantly exclaimed Rory; "thou mayst run, but I come of a race that never runs."
Jim stated to Mr. Couper that, in rising from the ground, his master put his hand for the first time to one of his cheek-bones and, finding it bloody, he raised it to the other also; both were covered with blood. He backed safely into the lines .*
*White's Historical Collections of Georgia.
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VI
McIntosh at Fort Morris: "Come and Take It"
The gallant defense of Fort Morris, on the Georgia coast, near Sunbury, constitutes one of the most brilliant episodes of the Revolution. Col. John McIntosh was in command. The fort was ill-prepared for an attack, and there is every reason to believe that the rude earth-works could not have withstood the enemy's fire for more than an hour. Only one hundred and twenty-seven continen- tal troops, with some few militiamen and citizens from Sunbury were in the garrison, but they were brave pa- triots. Moreover, they were commanded by a Scotchman of proverbially shrewd wit, who was an absolute stranger to fear.
Col. Fuser, in command of a fleet of vessels, bearing some five hundred men, besides heavy iron mortars, was moving toward the fort from St. Augustine. It was planned that Col. Prevost, at the head of one hundred British regulars, and supported by the notorious MeGirtlı, with three hundred Indians and Tories, should meet him at Sunbury, making the journey over land, and dire havoc to Georgia was anticipated from this union of forces.
Delayed by head winds, it was late in November, 1778, when Col. Fuser anchored near the mouth of the Midway River, opposite Colonel's Island. Col. Prevost was be- yond the reach of communication, having entered upon his retreat; but the commandant of the fleet was resolved upon bringing the fort to terms. Some of the men were landed at the ship-yard, from which point they marched along the main road to Sunbury, equipped with several field-pieces. Sailing up the Midway River in concert, the armed vessels took position in front of the fort and in the waters opposite the town, while the land forces in- vested it from an opposite direction.
The plans of the enemy were well laid. There seemed to be no hope for the feeble garrison under Col. MeIn-
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tosh, and the town was otherwise wholly unprotected. As soon as the preparations for the assault were completed, the British officer dispatched the following letter to Col. McIntosh, demanding the immediate surrender of the fort:
"Sir :- You cannot be ignorant that four armies are in motion to reduce this Province. One is already under the guns of your fort, and may be joined when I think proper by Col. Prevost, who is now at the Midway Meet- ing-House. The resistance you can or intend to make will only bring destruction upon this country. On the contrary, if you will deliver to me the fort which you command, lay down your arms, and remain neuter until the fate of America, is determined, you shall, together with all the inhabitants of this parish, remain in peace- able possession of your property. Your answer, which I expect in an hour's time, will determine the fate of this country, whether it be laid in ashes, or remain as above proposed."
To the foregoing tart message, he subjoined the fol- lowing postscript :
"Since this letter was closed some of your people have been scattering shot about the line. I am to inform you that if a stop is not put to such irregular proceed- ings, I shall burn a house for every shot so fired."
These were high-sounding phrases. They were well calculated to intimidate a man of less spirit than Col. McIntosh. He possessed no means of ascertaining the full strength of the British forces. He knew the weak- ness of his own little garrison. But courage often wins against seemingly hopeless odds. He resolved to assume a bold front, and accordingly dispatched the following brave answer to the British officer's demand:
"Sir :- We acknowledge we are not ignorant that your army is in motion to endeavor to reduce this State. We believe it entirely chimerial that Col. Prevost is at the Meeting-House; but should it be so, we are in no degree apprehensive of danger from a juncture of his
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army with yours. We have no property which we value a rush, compared with the object for which we contend; and would rather perish in a vigorous defense than ac- cept of your proposals. We, sir, are fighting the battles of America, and therefore disdain to remain neutral till its fate is determined. As to surrendering the fort, re- ceive this laconic reply : COME AND TAKE IT. Major Lane, whom I send with this letter, is directed to satisfy you with respect to the irregular, loose firing mentioned on the back of your letter."
With the foregoing letter, Major Lane sought the headquarters of Col. Fuser, who read it with unaffected surprise. In explanation of the irregular firing, he in- formed the British officer that it was maintained to pre- vent the English troops from entering and plundering Sunbury; an answer which did not tend to soften the feelings of Col. Fuser. As for the threat that a house should be burned for every shot fired, Major Lane stated that if Col. Fuser sanctioned a course so inhuman and so totally at variance with the rules of civilized warfare he would assure him that Col. McIntosh, so far from being intimidated by the menace, would apply the torch at his end of the town whenever Col. Fuser should fire it on his side and let the flames meet in mutual conflagration .*
The expected assault was not made on Fort Morris. Waiting to hear from the scouts whom he had sent into the country to ascertain the whereabouts of Prevost, he learned that he was hastening back to St. Augustine, hav- ing been worsted in a contest of arms near Midway Meet- ing-House, and unwilling to hazard an engagement with the continental forces supposed to be advancing from the Great Ogeechee River. Deeply chagrined over this sudden turn of affairs, Col. Fuser raised the seige, for- getting the harsh terms of his manifesto. The troops were re-embarked for St. Augustine. In the St. John's River, he met the returning forces of Col. Prevost. At
*See History of Georgia, by Jones, Vol. 2.
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HOW SAVANNAH WAS CAPTURED
last the two wings of the expedition were united; but it was under drooping banners.
Mutual recrimations are said to have ensued between these officers, each taxing the other with responsibility for the failure of the expedition. Thus one of the most promising campaigns of the whole war was brought to naught by an unterrified American officer, whose forti- fications were too weak to be maintained in open conflict. His defiant answer was a masterpiece of bold strategy; and it abundantly compensated for the lack of other mu- nitions. The Legislature of Georgia handsomely ac- knowledged the conspicuous gallantry of Col. McIntosh on this occasion and voted him a sword on which were en- graven the talismanic words: COME AND TAKE IT .*
VII. How Savannah Was Captured
Through a swamp, which lay in the rear of the town, ran a path, the existence of which was known to few. One of the number was Colonel George Walton. He called the attention of General Howe to this passage-way, at the same time urging him to guard it with a force suffi- cient to make it safe; but General Howe ignored the sug- gestion. Unimportant as the path seemed to be, it fur- nished the avenue through which the British entered triumphantly into Savannah, to hold the town uninter- ruptedly against the allied armies for more than two years. It was at Girardeau's Landing, about two miles below the city, that the foe disembarked. Crossing the causeway to the top of Brewton Hill, on the site of what was afterwards the plantation of T. F. Screven, the strength of the American position was at once perceived by Colonel Campbell, the commander of the troops. The marsh presented a problem which was difficult of solution.
*See White's Historical Collections.
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However, in his reconnoissances, the commander en- countered an old negro named Quanimo Dolly, generally called Quash, who informed him of the private path through the swamp, by which the rear of the American line could be gained. Overjoyed at this discovery, Camp- bell returned to his command and ordered Sir James Baird, with the light infantry and the New York volun- teers to follow the negro through the swamp and attack the first body of troops found. To deceive the Amer- icans, he maneuvered his troops in front as if about to at- tack. Incorrectly informed from the very start concern- ing the force of the enemy, General Howe was now still further misled, and ordered the artillery to play upon the enemy's stronghold. The British did not return the fire, but maneuvered, waiting to hear from Baird. He fol- lowed the negro through the swamp, coming out at what is now Waringsville, and striking the White Bluff road, down which he advanced, falling suddenly upon a small force under Colonel Walton. This was swept away, after a short but brave resistance, in which Colonel Walton was severely wounded. The firing served to notify Campbell of the success of the stratagem.
There was no need of waiting for Colonel Prevost to arrive from Florida. With the aid of the fleet in the river, under command of the British admiral, Sir Hyde Parker, the city was soon taken. The remnant of Howe's army escaped into South Carolina, leaving the city to the mercy of the enemy who at once seized the most distin- guished civilains, placing them on board the prison-ships in the river .*
VIII.
Elijah Clarke: The Bedford Forrest of the Revolution
Stern and relentless-a besom of destruction to the foes of liberty-Elijah Clarke was the most colossal
*Lee and Agnew. in Historical Record of Savannah.
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figure of the Revolutionary War period in Georgia. He was only an unlettered man of the frontier; but he possessed the rugged elements of strength which made him a leader in times of great stress. When the tocsin of war sounded, the genius of command arose within him; and, without waiting to receive a commission, he gathered about him a band of sturdy woodsmen, like himself, whom he trained for combat in the verdant arenas of the forest. During the dark days of the struggle for independence when Toryism, drunk with power, unloosed the furies of war upon the State it was to this singular man of destiny that the whole of the up-country turned for deliverance as if by a sort of common instinct; and he became liter- ally a pillar of fire in the wilderness. He gave the Tories no quarter; and backwoodsmen though he was, his burly arm of strength was felt across the seas, where it planted the challenge of the Georgia forest on the very steps of the English throne.
Little is known of the early life of Elijah Clarke. Beyond the fact that he was born in Edgecombe County, N. C., in 1733, there is nothing definite to be gleaned from the records. Equally silent is the voice of history in regard to his lineage, though he is supposed to have been of Scotch-Irish extraction. The family located in what is now Wilkes, on the lands purchased by Governor Wright, in 1773, from the Indians. Since there were no formal grants made at the time, the settlers were free to locate where they chose, but they were forced by the exigencies frontier life to fortify themselves against dis- possession by exhibiting shot-gun titles. The Indians learned to dread the austere North Carolinian long before his sword was unsheathed against the red-coats of King George the Third.
It was in command of a body of horsemen that this bold knight of the up-country first appeared upon the scene in the opening drama of hostilities with England. We find him at this time guarding some wagons which were loaded with supplies for the little army at Savannah.
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Attacked by Indians while crossing a stream, a severe contest ensued, but the skirmish ended in the flight of the savages. Not long after this encounter, he joined General Howe in the latter's ill-timed expedition against St. Augustine and was severely wounded in the disastrous fight which followed. He then returned to his home in the up-country, where the deep solitude of the forest seemed to hide him, until the invasion of Georgia by the British, when first Savannah and then Augusta lowered the patriotic flag. To complete the subjugation of the State, a body of Tories under Colonel Boyd was dispatched to take possession of the forts on the frontier.
But in the meantime Colonel Clark was not idle. When word came of the fall of Savannah he knew what it meant. Georgia was soon to be overrun by her enemies. He was still nursing an old wound ; but he no sooner heard the news than he reached for his sword which hung upon the walls of his cabin. At the same time he strapped his trusty rifle across his shoulders. Then committing his loved ones to the care of Providence, he mounted his horse and rode day and night over the country, gathering to- gether his little band of patriots. At the head of his troops he then hastened to join Dooly and Pickens in bidding defiance to the invader. The two hostile armies met at Kettle Creek, not far from the present town of Washington, where, by the shrewd fore-sight of Elijah Clarke, in seizing a strategic point in the enemy's rear, the tide of battle was turned in favor of the Americans. Colonel Boyd was mortally wounded, his army annihi- lated, and Toryism in Georgia for a season at least over- thrown.
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