USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II > Part 82
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spot. Payne sympathized deeply with the red man, and when arrested by Colonel Bishop at the home of Chief Ross at Flint Springs, he found papers which contained bitter criticisms concerning the treatment of the Cherokee Indians. Payne was carried to Spring Place, where a short time he was imprisoned in the Vann house.
At Kenan Spring, not far from Red Clay, dwelt "Chief Rattling Gourd, " renowned as a counselor. The home where he dwelt is no more, only a few foundation stones remain, but the land surrounding still bears his name, and is called the "old Rattling Gourd field." He did not die in this country, as stated, but went West with his tribe, educated himself and became an officer of some importance. In this section dwelt also old "Deer-in-the-Water," "Sleeping Rabbit," "Otter Lifter" and "Seven Nose, " whose very names have reference to stirring accounts of legendary adventure, and who were renowned in their day as leading men in their tribe. South of where the town of Dalton now stands dwelt Chief Red Bird near the beautiful Hamilton Spring. He was a devotee of the race- track and met an untimely death, for while drunk he was thrown from his horse. He was buried directly west of the spring, and his grave is now covered by a railroad embankment. Two miles south of the town lived "Drowning Bear, " a mighty hunter. His feats are still recalled, and a creek which flows through the place bears the name of Drowning Bear Creek. Near the center of the town was the ball ground, a beautiful level spot shaded by forest trees, where the contending parties, with faces painted in the brightest of colors, headed by their chiefs, met and engaged in ball playing. A monument to the Confederate dead now marks this place.
The Council Ground of the Cherokee Indians was ideally located. On the east and west it was protected by the hills, through which roamed game in abundance, deer, turkeys, foxes, wolves and bears, and which the Indians never killed unnecessarily. Four immense springs in a radius of two miles were included in the Council Ground which extended north and south for some distance, its exact size is now a matter of conjecture. As the Indians burned the leaves every year no undergrowth marred the beauty of the forest, which resembled a park.
On Georgia soil stood the council house, very near the center of the Council Ground, and less than 100 feet from the Tennessee line. This council house was later renowned as the treaty cabin, for it was occupied, so says tradition, by General Winfield Scott and General Twiggs, who were sent to Red Clay to remove the Indians. About 1850 it was moved to a spot a few feet northwest, and a large rambling dwelling now stands on the original site of the council house. In 1911 it was demolished.
East of the council house was a large grove of oaks, where the chiefs and counselors smoked their pipes and deliberated upon the affairs of their nation. Not far distant was the grave of Sleeping Rabbit, a famous chief
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and warrior. A mound of rocks overgrown with bushes and vines, still marks his resting place. The famous Indian cure-all, Tuc-a-le-chee-chee- wah-wah (drink and live spring), is nearby. To this spring the Indians brought their sick, believing they could be cured by drinking the water. This failing, they immersed the patients in the water, and if a cure was not effected, other remedies were deemed fruitless, and they were left to die. About a mile north of the old council house was Deep Spring. Tra- dition tells us that the Indians held this beautiful dark blue spring in greatest awe, for they believed it bottomless. A ledge of rock projects itself across the upper east side and falls sharply back, and at this spot no bottoni has ever been found, either by the red or white man. Tradition says that when the edict of banishment came that many Indians gathered from the tribes and cast their treasures into its depths, happier to bury them in the sacred waters than to leave them to the paleface.
When the dusky warriors and maidens were gathered together for re- moval westward, the assembled chiefs and counselors met at the Council Ground under the spreading oaks and murmuring pines, and after smoking the pipe of peace, in imploring attitudes turned their dark eyes to heaven, pulled the swinging limbs to them, and in their wild devotion bedewed the sprigs and branches with their tears. When the final departure drew near all arms were taken from the Indians and they were marched between files of soldiers. Tradition says that a chief known as "Big Bear" had but a short time before buried his wife and only child, and that in his deep grief he implored that he be spared the life of an exile. His prayers were unheeded and he was forced to take up the march. He se- cured a bayonet and hiding it under his blanket, as he passed by the graves of his loved ones, broke from his companions and threw himself across the mound, and, falling upon the sharp bayonet, he was pierced to the heart, thus dying by those he loved dearer than life. And today, "side by side, in their nameless graves the lovers are sleeping," for General Twiggs, in sympathy, ordered a Christian burial. The Indians turned their faces westward, journeying hundreds of miles, through forest and over desert, sometimes drenched with rain, sometimes consumed with thirst, thousands dying on the long march of months, and thus began the "exile. without an end and without an example in story."*
March, 1913.
WILLIE S. WHITE.
WILCOX
Abbeville. Wilcox County was organized in 1857 from Dooly, Irwin and Pulaski, and was named for General Mark Wilcox, a distinguished officer of the State
*Authorities consulted: White's Statistics, Rev. A. R. T. Hambright and. Mr. F. T. Hardwick.
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militia and a dominant figure in ante-bellum State poli- tics. Abbeville was made the new county-seat. Some of the more prominent of the early pioneer citizens of the county were: G. R. Reid, D. Reid, J. L. Wilcox, M. G. Fortner, Thomas Warren and James Holt. On Septem- ber 5, 1883, the town was incorporated, with Stephen Bowen as mayor and Messrs. W. A. McLane, Robert J. Fitzgerald, L. M. Gunn, S. N. Mitchell, James A. Stubbs and E. V. Johnson as councilmen. Abbeville is located on the Ocmulgee River, and when a part of the county was taken to form Dodge, in 1870, it left Abbeville near the extreme eastern edge of Wilcox.
WILKES
Washington. On the site of Heard's Fort, in 1780, arose the present town of Washington, the first town in the United States to be named for the great commander-in-chief. Its charter of incorporation was granted by the Legislature on December 7, 1805, in an Act providing for its better regulation. The commis- sioners named at this time were: Francis Willis, James Corbett, Felix H. Gilbert, Thomas Terrell and William Sanson .* In the neighborhood of Washington, there were two pioneer schools of wide note, one of them taught by Rev. Hope Hull, who was probably the first Methodist preacher in Upper Georgia; the other taught by Rev. John Springer, the first Presbyterian minister ever or- dained in the State. Among the pupils of Dr. Springer were Jesse Mercer and John Forsyth, both of whom were destined to the highest honors. When Josiah Penfield left at his death a sum of money with which to found a school, Jesse Mercer sought by every means within his power to secure this school for Washington; and his failure to do so was one of the keenest regrets of his life. But he nevertheless made this school the object of his
*Clayton's Compendium, p. 278.
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most devoted interest, and today it bears the name of Mercer University. One of the first plants ever estab- lished in Georgia for the manufacture of cotton and wool- len goods was located near Washington, where likewise the first cotton gin was erected. The name of this pio- neer industrial enterprise was the Wilkes Manufacturing Company, as appears from an Act approved December 13, 1810; and, included among the stockholders were: Matthew Talbot, Bolling Anthony, Benjamin Sherrod, John Bolton, Frederick Ball, Gilbert Hay and Joel Ab- bott .* In the old Heard House, in Washington, a land- mark which formerly faced the town square, was held the last meeting of the Confederate Cabinet. Some of Georgia's most distinguished sons have been residents of this historic town; but since these have already been mentioned in Volume I, it is needless to repeat them here. The reader is also referred to the preceding volume of this work for additional facts in regard to Washington.
Wilkes in the With respect to the part which the County of Wilkes Revolution. played in the drama of the Revolution, it is enough to say that the name by which the Tories called it was the Hornet's Nest. The expression is most apposite. For nowhere was the spirit of independence so characteristic of the rugged frontiersman, more defiant of tyranny or more eager to accept the gage of battle than in the forest stretches of upper Georgia. The most wanton acts of bru- tality known to the reign of terror under Toryism were perpetrated in Wilkes upon defenceless women and children by Tory bands who respected neither age nor sex-who felt neither pity nor remorse. The wild car- nivals of slaughter which occurred in Wilkes, where the torch and the bludgeon alternately flashed in the eyes of helpless victims, doomed to an ignominous death, shåmed even the savage orgies of the ancient Aztecs. But it was not until the fall of Savannah into the hands of the British, exposing the up-country to the perils of invasion, that scenes of unbridled license like these transpired. Then it was that Elijah Clarke began to ride night and day through the wilderness, gathering his faithful dragoons. It is estimated that not less than 300 frontiersmen were enlisted-first and last-under his standard, though he never seems to have commanded more than 100 men in any engagement.
*Clayton's Compendium, p. 667.
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It is not a little singular that a county like Wilkes, which bore so dramatic and prominent a part in the struggle for independence, should possess a dearth of unmarked graves. Few of the last resting places of the Revolutionary veterans of Wilkes are known, though the whole region fairly bristled with steel, when the crimson tide of invasion reached the foothills. The explanation is doubtless to be found in the unsettled con- ditions of pioneer life on the exposed frontier. Elsewhere will be found a partial and incomplete, but somewhat lengthy, list of the officers and privates who took part in the battle of Kettle Creek. Where these brave men lie, who supported the arms of Washington, beside what streams, or in what hidden nooks and corners of the forest, will be known only when the sea and the land alike shall give up their dust, but with the light before us it may be gravely doubted if there is a belt of woods on the American continent which is richer in heroic ashes or represented by brighter or prouder names on the muster rolls of the Revolution.
Heroic Women of the Reign of Terror under Toryism. Nor were the women of Wilkes cast in less heroic molds. Hannah Clarke-though little is said of her by the historian-was one of the bravest heroines of the Revolution. Due to the exploits of her husband as a leader of the Whigs in upper Georgia, it fell to her lot to endure many hardships and indignities at the hands of the Tories. The ordeals which she experienced during these troublous times were manifold. On one occasion, when Colonel Clarke was absent from home, the roof over her head was burned, and, with a family of several children, she was driven shelterless into the forest. Later she was robbed of a horse on which she was riding to meet her husband, near the border line between North Carolina and Georgia; and, at still another time, when accompanying her husband on one of his campaigns, a horse was shot from under her, and it was only by a miracle that she escaped instant and violent death. The mishap occurred on the outskirts of a field where a skirmish was in progress. Two children were with her in the saddle, both of whom likewise escaped withont harm. It was not unusual for this fear- less woman to attend her husband in his campaigns, in order to be near at hand in the event he should happen to be wounded or fall a prey to the malaria of the swamps. She was present at the siege of Angusta, when Colonel Brown surrendered; and, notwithstanding the numerous insults and outrages heaped upon her by the Tories, she counseled humanity in the treatment of prisoners. Mrs. Clarke attained to a ripe old age and lived to see the State of Georgia prosperous and contented under the Federal Constitution. She survived General Clarke by twenty-eight years. According to White, she was buried beside her illustrious husband at Woodburn. But no trace of either grave can be found within the present borders of Wilkes. Testimony at this day points conclusively to the burial-place of General Clarke in what is now the County of Lincoln.
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Nancy Hart, at the time of her celebrated encounter with the Tories, was a resident of Wilkes, living near the Beaver Dam ford, on the Broad River, in a section afterwards formed into Elbert.
Sarah Williamson, if somewhat more cultured, was not a whit less courageous than either of the above-named heroines of Wilkes. She came of an excellent old Huguenot family, and, before her marriage to Micajah Williamson, was Sarah Gilliam, of Henrico County, Va., a niece of the distinguished Dr. Deveraux Jarratt, an Episcopal clergyman. It is said that Colonel Williamson, who was then a man of large means, gave sixty negroes for the fertile upland plantation, over which he installed his fair bride as the young mistress. She proved to be an expert man- ager; and, when her husband was at the front, she not only ran the plantation, but also kept the looms and the ovens busy, furnishing supplies to the army as well as to her own household. Nor did she escape the perils incident to frontier life during the reign of terror in upper Geor- gia. The Tories, incensed by the activities of her husband, took peculiar delight in annoying Mrs. Williamson. One day they made a raid upon her home, and, after gorging themselves with plunder, applied the torch. It is said that the Tories also hanged her eldest son in her presence, com- pelling her by force to witness the murder of her own offspring. Colonel Williamson received a number of severe wounds, from the effects of each of which his devoted wife nursed him back to health. When the home place was burned by the Tories, she refugeed with her slaves to North Carolina, where she remained until hostilities ceased.
The family of children reared by this extraordinary woman was patri- archal in size and distinguished in character. Five sons lived to complete useful careers. Her daughters-six in number-became famous belles of the up-country, during the era of peace which followed the Revolution, and they each married husbands who attained to high eminence in public affairs. Nancy married John Clarke, who afterwards became Governor of Georgia. Sarah married first Judge Griffin and, after his death, Judge Tait, the latter of whom served for ten years in the United States Senate from Georgia. Susan married Dr. Thompson Bird. Her daughter Sarah became the wife of Judge L. Q. C. Lamar, Sr., and the mother of the great jurist and statesman of the same name, who served on the Supreme Bench of the United States, in the national Senate, and in the Cabinet of President Cleveland. Mary married Duncan G. Campbell, for whom Campbell County was named, and who signed the famous treaty of Indian Springs. He was also the pioneer champion of female education in Georgia. His son, John A. Campbell, occupied a seat on the Supreme Bench of the United States and took part as a commissioner in the celebrated conference at Hampton Roads. Martha married a Fitch and Elizabeth a Thweat, both men of fine business and social connections. Thus it will be seen that, besides landing for her daughters the capital prizes in the matrimonial lottery, Sarah Will- iamson also furnished from among her descendants, two illustrious judges to wear the ermine of the nation 's highest court of appeals.
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How a Great Chris- It is not generally known that the tian School was Fi- handsome fortune upon which Mer- nanced by a Colonial Jew. cer University was built came from the coffers of a Colonial Jew, whose grave is still to be found by the wayside, near his old home, on the Augusta road, some eight miles from Washington, Ga., where, according to his express wishes, he was buried in an upright position. There is no lack of evidence to support the statement . that the original endowment of the great Baptist school- barring, of course, the Penfield legacy-was derived in this manner. The facts are well known to the people of Washington. But to give them the proper attestation, Dr. H. R. Bernard, auditor of the Mission Board of the Georgia Baptist Church, may be cited as authority for the story which is here told. In a communication, dated October 12, 1911, and addressed to Dr. Joseph Jacobs, of Atlanta, a former pupil, this well-known Baptist minis- ter, narrates the story as follows: Says he :
"Dear Friend: In 1798 a Mr. Simons, a resident at the time, I sup- pose, of Wilkes County, Georgia, married a Miss Nancy Mills. Mr. Simons was an Israelite. He was a man of considerable means and very active and very popular in business circles; and in the course of time accumu- lated a handsome property. In his day we would have said that he was rich. The date of his death I do not find recorded, but it was some time previous to 1827. His large estate was heired by his widow, Mrs. Nancy Simon. Jesse Mercer, a very devout and worthy Baptist minister, a man of very high standing in his denomination and in this county, who had lost his wife some time before, married Mrs. Simons and came into possession and into control of large means.
"During the lifetime of Mrs. Simons, after her second marriage, which covered a period of less than fourteen years, she readily entered into the benevolent enterprises suggested by her husband, Mr. Mercer. Mr. Mer- cer, in his own right, was not worth property, but he was a man of thrift and fine business judgment, and was benevolently inclined, and conceived that the very best thing he could do for after generations was to found a college. Mercer University was the result, a very flourishing institution in Georgia at this time, with many years of useful service back of it, and with a prospect of useful service for years to come. It numbers now about 400 students.
"Mr. Mercer lived fourteen years after his second marriage, and he and his wife, agreeing always, contributed continuously to the enterprise
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
of founding Mercer University. At his death he willed, with advice from his wife, formerly given, all the residue of his estate, after his honest debts were paid, to the endowment of Mercer University. I have tried to ascertain from our records the exact amount of his benefactions to the university, but have not been able to do so. It is safe, however, to esti- mate from $40,000 to $400,000. So you see that Mercer University is largely indebted to the skill and enterprise of a Jewish financier, for much the larger part of its life and power.
"A copious Providence this, which founds a Christian college on Jewish corner-stones.
"By the way, Mr. Simons-or Captain Simons, as he is sometimes re- ferred to-is down in our history as a remarkably kind and faithful hus- band. His wife, while not a professed religionist of any faith, was fond of going to church and entertaining ministers at her home. In all this she was warmly supported by her good husband. In fact, he frequently attended religious services with her. She, too, was-in the lifetime of both her husbands-a most estimable wife, fulfilling every obligation that came to her as' a married woman. She was devoted to the interests of her home and did her part at every point.
"Sincerely your friend,
(Signed)
"H. R. BERNARD.""
Eccentric Cap- tain Simons. To quote a local historian :* "The old brick academy, in which Jesse Mercer preached before the church was built, stood near the home of a young widow, a very charming "sister Baptist "-Mrs. Nancy Simons, daughter of John Mills, and widow of Captain Abram Simons. Mr. Mercer admired her very much, and on the 11th day of December, 1827, they were married. As Mr. Mercer got the greater part of the money which founded Mercer University from this wife it is interesting to know something of Captain Simons, the man who made the money. He lived six miles east of Washington, Ga., on the Augusta road; his old home is standing yet; upstairs in it is a very large room built for dancing, and is today called the 'ball-room.' Abram Simons was a colonial Jew, of strong plain sense, though uneducated; he made a large fortune and was sent to the Legislature.
"Mr. Mercer, in writing his wife's obituary, said Simons was a man of the world, who loved to surround himself with men of high standing and ' big names.' In short, he was a sporting man, was a member of the Au- gusta Jockey Club, and entertained lavishly. However, this was not very much to the taste of the refined little woman, whose veins were filled with the aristocratic blood of the Mills. Yet, it is said she loved her husband, and he was extravagantly proud of her.
*Miss Annie M. Lane, Regent, Kettle Creek Chapter, D. A. R., Wash- ington, Ga.
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"Not long ago I visited the grave of Captain Simons. It is on the roadside in a rock enclosure. No monument or stone tells who is buried there, though he was a Revolutionary soldier, and a man of wealth.
Buried in an Up- right Position. " When he came to die he had his grave prepared and walled up with solid rock. He left orders that they bury him standing on his feet with his musket beside him to fight the devil with. His orders were carried out. His coffin was placed on the end, and this necessitated the digging of a grave twice the usual depth.
The Widow Simons. "Nancy Simons Mereer made Jesse Mereer an excellent wife. With refined and cultured man- ners she entertain his friends in a manner which was to his taste. She was a beautiful little dark-eyed woman, who always dressed faultlessly.
"In the book called 'The Story of Wilkes County,' by Miss Bowen, I find the following: 'It is said that when Mr. Mereer went to the tailor for new clothes, Mrs. Mercer always went with him and was always very particular to order that the backs of his waisteoats should be made of yellow satin. Yellow was her favorite color, and always graeed the ribbons of her best bonnets and caps.' "
"Mercer's Cluster." "Mr. Mereer's life was now greatly to his taste, with a fortune at his disposal and a relaxation from the hard frontier life. His pen was employed in writing for the press, and his fame went abroad. About this time he had published 'Mer- eer's Cluster,' a book of poems, later converted into hymns.
The Christian Index. "In 1833 the Christian Index, which had been edited for several years at Philadelphia, with the approval of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, under whose auspiees the paper was first commenced at Washington, D. C., the management was transferred to Jesse Mercer. He bought at his own expense new press and type, costing $3,000, and removed the Index to Washington, Ga. It was published (that and a temperance paper) in a two-story dwelling at the corner of Main and Depot Street =. Some years after the Index was moved to Penfield, Ga. My father, Dr. James H. Lane, bought the house and had it remodeled, and when the old mantels and wainscotings were taken down old manuscripts of interest were found. I was born in that house. We have an old writing desk at which Jesse Mercer did his editorial work.
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
Mr. Mercer's Great "On account of failing health, Mr. Mercer Disappointment. gave up the editorship of the paper, and in 1840 . he gave it to the State Baptist Convention, with all its appendages. Mr. Mercer had purchased the old brick school-house near his home, on 'Mercer Hill,' and it was the dream of his life to establish a college there. A man by the name of Josiah Penfield, of Savannah, left $2,500, on the condition that they raise the same amount to build a school for the education of young preachers. In 1833 the legacy was turned over to the convention, and Mr. Mercer made a hard fight to have the school located at Washington, Ga., and it was the disap- pointment of his life that the school was located at Penfield. However, he made donations of large sums of money at different times to maintain the- college. In 1838 the name of Mercer University was given it.
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