Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 5

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

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Mr. Calhoun, with his second, Captain Jackson, went to Cedar Bluff by the Anniston route, and were accompanied by Edward C. Bruffey, of "The Constitution." Captain Williamson, with his second, Captain King, went to Rome over the Western and Atlantic route, and they were accompanied by Dr. Hunter P. Cooper, surgeon; Judge Henry B. Tompkins, Ed. W. Barrett, of "The Constitution," now editor of "The Birmingham Age-Herald," and myself. When our party reached Rome we were on Captain Williamson's private car, and it was decided to rush the car through Rome to avoid any legal interference. Ed Barrett and I knew there was going to be an effort made to prevent our attend- ing the duel, and so we hid on the rear end of the private car by crouching down on the steps on either side.

The car was pulled rapidly through Rome, and Mr. Barrett and I went with it, but when we had gone some three miles west of Rome we were discovered and the car stopped. We were kindly but firmly ordered to get off. It was a hot day in the middle of summer and a thick dust had been stirred up by the fast-moving train. Through the heat and dust Mr. Barrett and I had to walk three miles back to Rome. When we reached there we met Captain Seay, who assisted us in char- tering a locomotive. We found an engincer who knew the schedule on the Rome and Decatur Railroad, but we could hire no fireman. Mr. Barrett and I fired the engine and we were soon ready to pull out after Captain Williamson's special car.

* Article in the "Atlanta Constitution."

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

We found the special side-tracked just outside of Rome because Captain Williamson's engineer could not operate a train over the R. & D. Just as we came up Captain Williamson was shooting a pistol at a tree. In order to secure our engineer the duelling party were forced to allow Mr. Barrett, Captain Seay and myself to become passengers in the special car. I remember that Mr. Barrett, still feeling deeply ag- grieved at the way we had been treated ordered a bottle of wine from the porter just to show that he felt perfectly at home on the special.

We reached Cedar Bluff in due time. The regular train from Anniston, on which were Mr. Calhoun, Captain Jackson and Mr. Bruffey, had already been held up by a typical sheriff with a picturesque wide- brimmed white hat, who swore that no darn train was going to move until he got Pat Calhoun. We spent about a half hour at Cedar Bluff, and as no one would point out Mr. Calhoun to the sheriff there did not seem any good prospect of moving. It was then that Mr. Bruffey stepped up to the sheriff and said, "Well, there is no use in causing any more trouble. I'm Pat Calhoun." The sheriff grabbed his prisoner and was about to move off with him to the jail when a Cedar Bluff storekeeper remarked, "That ain't Pat Calhoun, that's Ed Bruffey." Even in that remote country village, Ed Bruffey was known.

Captain Jackson, calling me to one side, told me to inform the sheriff that the United States mail train was held up, and a very serious offense was being committed. The sheriff decided to let the mail train go on through to Rome, and we passed the word around so that all of the party which had been on the special boarded the regular train. Our engineer was told to follow us as soon as possible. We rode on the regular passenger some two or three miles east of Cedar Bluff and dis- embarked. In a few minutes the special came up. It was decided to fight the duel then and there, and in a small open field a distance of fifteen paces was marked off and preparations made for the fight.

"Look out, "' some one in our party yelled, "here comes the sheriff and his posse."

Sure enough, down a hill there came elattering some dozen men on horseback, and armed with winchesters.

"Everybody on the car," Mr .. Barrett cried out, and we were quickly aboard and soon speeding down the railroad still going in the direction of Rome and nearer to the State line. We must have gone some ten miles when the special was stopped and the party again disembarked. I do not know to this day whether we were in Alabama or Georgia. Objection was made by Mr. Calhoun to Judge Tompkins going on the field, and the judge remained in the car. The train had stopped in a cut, and we had to walk about fifteen yards to reach a level place, and this was found to the left of the railroad and about a hundred feet therefrom.

Fifteen steps were paced off and Mr. Calhoun was placed facing the west, and Captain Williamson facing the east. The sun at that time

UNDER THE CODE DUELLO

was just descending below the horizon and the skies and woods were flooded with a golden light.

It was discovered that the box of cartridges had been left on the car, and I was sent back after them. I opened the box with my knife and handed it to Captain Jackson. The pistols which had been agreed upon were the new improved hammerless Smith & Wesson, and each party was to have five shots. Right here it might be mentioned that Captain Williamson was under the impression that the five shots were to be continuous. Captain King loaded Captain Williamson's weapon and placed it in his hand. Captain Jackson, after having slipped one cartridge into Mr. Calhoun's pistol, could not make the cylinder revolve. Mr. Bruffey volunteered to assist and, taking the pistol from Captain Jackson's hand, began to load it. Everything was so deathly still that the rustling of a leaf sounded like the rumbling of a train, when sud- denly there rang out a sharp report-

Bang!

"There, " exclaimed Mr. Bruffey, "I have shot my finger off."

Dr. Cooper offered to bind up the wound, but Mr. Bruffey, using his handkerchief to stop the hemorrhage, placed his hand against a sapling · and said:

"Don't worry about me, gentlemen, go on with the duel."

When all was in readiness the command was given by Captain King. Both pistols were raised and several sharp reports rang out. Captain Williamson had fired all five of his shots and none had taken effect. Mr. Calhoun had fired only one shot and still had four in reserve.

"Now, Captain Williamson, " said Mr. Calhoun, "I have four balls left, and I demand that you retract the insult you offered me."

Captain Williamson called to his second, Captain King, but Captain Jackson drew a pistol from his pocket, stating that he would be forced to shoot any person who moved upon the field.

To his antagonist, Captain Williamson then said:

"I have no shots left and you have four. You will have to fire them."

Mr. Calhoun, after hesitating a few moments, called to his second, Captain Jackson. But at this point, Captain Seay stepped forward and said that under Captain Jackson's own. ruling no one ought to move. Captain Jackson admitted this to be correct, whereupon Mr. Calhoun, facing Captain Williamson, said:

"Sir, I have your life in my hands, but I will say to you now that I meant no reflection on your character by my remark before the legis- lative committee, and, saying this, I fire my shots into the air." The four shots were so fired. Captain Williamson, then said to Mr. Calhoun, "Since you have made your statement, I gladly retract what I said to you." All parties shook hands and boarded the train for Rome, where the special was coupled to a train for Atlanta, and so ended without bloodshed what promised to be a fatal encounter.

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

But the Code Duello has passed. There is not a State in the Union nor a country on the globe in which the practice has not been condemned by public sentiment, crystallized into forms of law; and even in France, where the custom originated, its expiring gasp has at last been heard. On this side of the water it has slept the sleep of the dead for a score of years; and, except in the literature of a former time, its baleful effect upon our civilization is no longer seen or felt. In some respects, it was not an unmixed evil. It made men observant of the proprieties of speech, knowing full well the respon- sibility which attached to words. It protected the weak against the strong; and it safeguarded the honor of woman. There was no place for cowardice under a Code which put an iron emphasis upon manly virtue and which served to revive, in many of its finer phases, the heroic age of knighthood. But, when everything to the credit of duelling has been said and written, it still remains that for sheer destructiveness, its only rivals in the world's modern life have been pestilence and war. No arithmetic can count the graves it has dug, compute the hopes of happiness it has dashed to the ground, or num- ber the hearthstones over which it has hung the pall of a premature desolation. But the Fates have kindly inter- vened. With remorseless irony it has come to pass that, for this writer of epitaphs, an epitaph has at last been. written; that, for this insatiate archer, there has come at length an arrow whose point has found the pulsing heart- center of life; and that, goaded by the nightmare of its own hideous dreams, this murderous custom has at last fallen underneath its own fire on the Field of Honor.

SECTION II

Landmarks and Memorials

SECTION II

Landmarks and Memorials

CHAPTER I

Hernando De Soto: Memorials of his March through Georgia in 1540

O N March 30, 1539-nearly two centuries before Georgia received her charter from the Crown of England-there landed at Tampa Bay, on the coast of West Florida, a band of Spaniards, six hundred strong, under the command of the renowned adventurer, Hernando De Soto. These cavaliers of Spain were clad in handsome armor and provided with horses splendidly caparisoned, and resembled rather a cavalcade of knights en route to tournament than a band of adventurous argonauts seeking for hidden treasure in an unsubdued wilderness. The avowed purpose of the expedition was to discover the fabulous wealth of the New World; and, after claiming the country in the name of Charles V and planting the flag of Spain in the white sands of Florida, De Soto pointed his jeweled sword toward the North.

So far as authentic records go, these were the first Europeans to set foot upon the soil of Georgia. From time to time navigators had skirted the coast, entering perhaps for a short distance the mouths of rivers, but none had ventured to explore the interior, at least beyond the range of tide water. It was still an unknown land

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

when De Soto stood upon its borders and peered into its vast solitudes in the spring of 1540. But before tracing the route which lay before these bold but deluded Spaniards, let us cross the water to the ancient town of Seville and take a hasty survey of the events to which this strange spectacle on the shores of the New World was only the dramatic culmination .*

Hernando De Soto, at the time of this expedition to America, was perhaps the foremost man of his age at the Court of Spain. As a lieutenant-general under the re- nowned Pizarro, he bore a conspicuous part in the con- quest of Peru and returned home flushed with distinction and enriched with the spoils of the Incas. But life at the Spanish Court grew tame to one whose breast was aglow with the spirit of adventure; and, envious of the greater fame of his old chieftain, he sought and obtained from

*Original Sources. Four original manuscripts deal with the history of De Soto's expedition:

(1) The brief report of Biedma, an officer of the expedition, presented to the King, in 1544, immediately after the return to Spain.

(2) Next, in point of time, but of first importance for detail and gen- eral appearance of reliability, is the narrative of an anonymous Portugese cavalier of the expedition, commonly known as the Gentleman of Elvas, originally published in the Portugese language, in 1557.

(3) Third, in order, comes the Spanish narrative of Garcilaso, written but not published in 1587, a document which deals in gross exaggerations.

(4) The last original account is an unfinished report in Spanish by Ranjel, Secretary of the expedition, written soon after reaching Mexico, but not published, except in mutilated extracts, until 1851. Secondary Authorities:

(1) Researches on America, by James H. McCulloh (1816).

(2) The Conquest of Florida, by Theodore Irving (1845).

(3) History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Mississippi Valley, by John M. Monette, M. D. (1848).

(4) History of Georgia, by Bishop Wm. B. Stevens, M. D., Vol. I (1847).

(5) Synopsis of the Indian Tribes within the United States, East of the Rocky Mountains, by Albert Gallatin (1836).

(6) History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, by Albert J. Pickett (1851).

(7) History of Hernando De Soto and Florida, by Barnard Shipp (1881).

(8) History of Georgia, by Chas. C. Jones, Jr., Vol. I (1883).

(9) Romantic Passages in Southwestern History, by A. B. Meek (1857), including Pilgrimage of De Soto (1839).

(10) Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900), House Docu- ment, Vol. 118.

HERNANDO DE SOTO

the Spanish Crown permission to explore an indefinite region of the New World, then known by the name of Florida. It will doubtless be remembered that the ill- fated Ponce de Leon, in search of his fabled fountain of youth, some years before, had bestowed this name upon what he took to be an island of vast magnitude and of untold wealth.

Dazzled by the prospect of enlarging the boundaries of his empire, the King readily granted this coveted boon. It was agreed that certain royalties accruing from the treasures obtained on the expedition, whether taken from graves and temples or discovered in mines, were to revert to the Crown; and, in order that he might the more readily command a convenient base of operations for the hazardous enterprise, De Soto was commissioned Governor of the Island of Cuba. It was not a difficult task to obtain followers. The age was one of romance. Tales of fabulous wealth had fired the imagination of the Spaniard. De Soto himself was sanguine of success; and though the conquest of Peru had netted him 180,000 crowns of gold, he expected to find still vaster treasures on this new voyage to the West.

Six hundred men, picked with discrimination from the chivalry of Spain, were obtained for the expedition. Says Jones :* "This little army was composed of men accustomed to wars, skilled in the use of weapons, and inured to hardships. Scarcely a gray head appeared amongst them." Twelve priests, eight clergymen of in- ferior rank, and four monks accompanied the army, showing that, in the feverish thirst for conquest, the con- version of the aborigines was not forgotten. Moreover, men of letters, to perpetuate the events of the march and to acquaint posterity with the details of an affair so momentous, were found eager to accompany the ad- venturous knights.

*Jones: History of Georgia, Vol. I, p. 38.

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

In due time De Soto embarked for Cuba. IIere, busy with preparations for a protracted march over land, he remained until the spring of the year following. On Sunday, May 18, 1539, in a fleet of nine vessels, he sailed from Havana to Florida, arriving at Tampa Bay within twelve days thereafter, where he set up the royal standard of his sovereign. Thus began one of the most eventful marches in the history of time. But fate de- lights in strange ironies. Four years later, after wander- ing to the distant slopes of the Rocky Mountains, a remnant of the once buoyant band, haggard and exhaust- ed, found themselves upon the borders of Mexico. But De Soto was not among them. The bold leader of the enterprise, who expected to eclipse the fame of Pizarro, slept beneath the turbid waters of the Mississippi.

Memorials of De Soto's march still abound. In the neighborhood of Tallahassee, where most of the his- torians locate the ancient town called by the Spaniards, Anhayca, pieces of Spanish armor have been found, in addition to other European relics of a remote period. While the accounts furnished by the Spanish narrators are quite full it is difficult, in a study of ancient towns and villages, to make the descriptions in each case con- form to modern landmarks; but there are monumental remains still extant which will serve as sign-boards to the antiquarian.

On Wednesday, March 3, 1540, after wintering at Anhayca, the army began once more to move northward. Its objective point at this time was Yupaha, a province governed by a woman, whose chief city was reported to be one of great size. Among some Indians captured by a roving party of Spaniards was a lad who spoke know- ingly of this queen and of certain chiefs who paid tribute to her in gold; and so vividly did he describe the process of taking the yellow metal from the earth, of melting it in crucibles, and of taking it therefrom refined and puri-

HERNANDO DE SOTO

fied that the eyes of the Spaniards began to sparkle with triumph. At last, they were fringing the Land of Gold.

Four days later, beyond a doubt, the Spaniards stood upon Georgia soil, having crossed the Ocklockonee River. Within forty-eight hours they came to an Indian village called Capachiqui. Here, at sight of the Europeans, there was at first great consternation among the natives, who took flight as the Spaniards approached; but when five of the Spaniards visited some Indian cabins, encom- passed by a thicket, they were attacked from ambush. As a result, one was killed and three were badly wounded. Says Jones: "Thus does the Gentleman of Elvas record the death of the first Spaniard who fell upon what is now the soil of Georgia."

Toalli, the next Indian village at which the Spaniards arrived, on the 21st of March, is located by Jones at some point south of Ocmulgee River, perhaps in the present county of Irwin; and, after remaining here for three days, they made a short journey to Achese, a village located upon the above-named stream, in the neighbor- hood of what is now the town of Abbeville. According to Gallatin, Achese or Ochiis was the Muscogee name for the Ocmulgee River. Here the inhabitants likewise fled before the Europeans; but the chief was found to be friendly and he informed De Soto that further on there reigned a powerful king whose country was called Ocute. To assist him in finding the place a guide was furnished. On the first of April, De Soto resumed his march, skirt- ing the edge of a river whose shores were found to be thickly inhabited. Within four days, he arrived at Alta- maco, the locality of which is unidentified; but on the tenth day he reached Ocute, the principal town of which was probably somewhere in the neighborhood of the present city of Dublin. According to Colonel Jones, the banks of the Oconee River in this neighborhood give token that in former times the aboriginal population was

56 .

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

somewhat dense. On approaching the town, he was met by 2,000 Indians, bearing as a present from the chief an abundance of wild game, including partridges and turkeys.

Here he remained until April the 12th. When ready to depart, he obtained from the chief four hundred burden-bearers to accompany him on the march; and, after passing through Cofaqui, he came to Patofa, the chief of which town received him with every mark of consideration. It is astonishing how kindly the Span- iards were treated by the natives when the rapacious character of the expedition is taken into account. They misused women; they employed men as beasts of burden; supplies of every kind were appropriated by them; and in quest of costly ornaments they even ransacked temples and burial places of the dead.

On leaving Patofa, De Soto taxed the king for enough maize to last the expedition four days ; but it so happened that soon after leaving the Indian village, he lost the trail which he was following. For several days, the Spaniards wandered blindly through the pine barrens, fording with difficulty two rivers, probably the sources of the Great Ogeechee; and swimming another, supposed by Jones to be Briar Creek, in what is now the county of Burke. On the 28th day of April, the expedition arrived at Cuti- fachiqui, a town which Monette locates just north of Augusta at a point where Broad River enters the Savan- nah. McCulloh places it on the Ocmulgee River, near Macon; but, according to other authorities, including Pickett, Gallatin, Jones, Mooney and others, it occupied the site of Silver Bluff, on the Carolina side of the Savannah River, some twenty-five miles below Augusta. It was here that George Galphin, the celebrated Indian trader, afterwards lived during Colonial times. Mooney thinks it was probably an ancient capital of the Uchees.

HERNANDO DE SOTO

It was not without the greatest difficulty that the Spaniards reached Cutifachiqui. Four Indians were captured who refused to give them any information con- cerning adjacent villages; but one of them having been burned alive the information was at last forthcoming that Cutifachiqui was only two days off and was ruled by a woman. Yupaha, therefore, seemed to be at hand. On learning of De Soto's approach, the queen sent canoes to assist him across the river; and when he came into her presence she threw over his head a string of pearls. Moreover, food in abundance was given to his famished men and horses.

But De Soto ill-requited the queen's kindness. He began a systematic search for pearls of which he learned that she possessed a goodly number; desecrated graves, taking therefrom many costly ornaments, including figures made from iridescent shells ; and even invaded the temple, leaving it poorer in sacred relics. On hearing that the queen's mother was a widow, he expressed a desire to meet her and tried persistently to do so; but her ladyship eluded him at every turn. At last the queen herself became so incensed at the outrages perpetrated upon her subjects by the Spaniards that when De Soto announced his purpose to continue his journey she refused either to grant him supplies or to give him directions.

Thereupon the Spanish Governor put her under arrest; and, upon resuming his march, on the third day of May, he compelled her to accompany him on foot, escorted by female attendants. While at Cutifachiqui, the Spaniards found hatchets and other implements made of copper, some of which appeared to be mixed with gold. On inquiry they were informed that the metal had come from an interior mountain province called Chisca, but the country was represented as thinly populated and the way as impassible for horses. Some time before, while advanc- ing through lower Georgia, they had heard of a rich and plentiful province called Coosa, toward the north-west;

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

and now by the people of Cutifachiqui tliey were informed that Chiaha, the nearest town of the Coosa province was twelve days inland. As both men and animals were already nearly exhausted, De Soto determined not to attempt the passage of the mountains then, but to push on at once toward Coosa and recuperate before under- taking further exploration.

However, the first objective point of the Spaniards, after resuming the journey, was Gauxule, situated near the extreme northern limits of the queen's domain, in a mountainous region. Hardships multiplied, but in seven days the province of Chelaque was reached. Both Mooney and Jones identify Chelaque as Cherokee, Geor- gia; and, according to the latter, De Soto was now probably within the confines of the present county of Franklin. The country was almost destitute of maize. It was also extremely uneven; and not less than five days were spent in reaching Xualla, the next town at which the Spaniards stopped. Pickett locates this town in Habersham County, near what is now the town of Clarks- ville; and there are Spanish antiquities in the neighbor- hood which seem to warrant this impression. Irving locates it on the site of a former Indian town at the head of the Chattahoochee River; while, according to Jones, it was situated in Nacoochee Valley, near the foot of Mount Yonah. There are also numerous relies in this vicinity, which point to the Spaniards.

From this place, De Soto seems to have moved in a westerly direction; but scarcely were his columns in motion before the queen succeeded in making her escape into the forest, and so effectually did she elude pursuit that efforts to recapture her proved fruitless. The journey from Xualla to Gauxule consumed five days. Mountains arose on every hand, with intervening valleys, rich in pasturage and irrigated by clear and rapid

HERNANDO DE SOTO

streams. Gauxule, according to Jones, occupied the site of Coosawattee Old Town in the county of Murray. Two more days of travel brought the Spaniards, on the 22nd day of May to Conasauga, which, according to Meek and Pickett, was a town on the Conasauga River, in Murray County, but which, according to Jones, was between the Conasauga and the Coosawattee Rivers, in Gordon Coun- ty, on the site of New Echota. Thence dispatching an Indian messenger ahead to announce his arrival, De Soto, on June 5, 1540, reached Chiaha, which most of the au- thorities identify as the modern city of Rome, between the Oostanaula and the Etowah Rivers.

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 5

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