Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I, Part 33

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1294

USA > Georgia > Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I > Part 33

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MATHEWS, GEORGE, governor of Georgia in 1787 and 1794-95, was born in Augusta county, Va., 1739. His father, John Mathews, was a native of Ireland. George won distinction in the incursions made against the Indians of the north- west territory. In 1775 he became a colonel and fought under Washington at Brandywine and Germantown. He was under Gen. Greene as colonel at the close of the war. He located in Oglethorpe county in 1785, and was elected in 1786, in one year's residence, governor of the state and representative in congress. He was re-elected governor in 1794-95, and during the last term was called on to sign the celebrated "Yazoo act." He did so, and his political death followed. In 1811 President Madison appointed him commissioner of the United States to negotiate for the annexation of Florida, but the president dis- avowed the treaty. While on his way to Washington for the avowed purpose of chastising the president, whose action he deemed a reflection on his integrity, Mr. Mathews was taken sick, and died at Augusta Aug. 30, 1812.

JACKSON, JAMES, governor of Georgia (1798-1801), was born in England Sept. 21, 1757. An orphan at fifteen years he came to Savannah in 1772, where he found John Wereat, an old friend of his father. He was elected clerk of the court in 1776, by the provincial congress, when only nineteen years old. In 1788, when elected governor, he modestly refused the office on account of his age. He was elected to the state convention that adopted the first constitu- tion of Georgia; was a representative to the first congress held under the Federal constitution, 1789-91; a United States senator, 1793 to 1795, when he resigned; state representative in 1796; governor of Georgia, 1798-1801; and United States senator from 1801 to March 16, 1806. He was defeated in a close contest for congress by Gen. Anthony Wayne in 1791. Gov. Jackson won distinction as a soldier; entering the revolutionary army at the age of seventeen he became successively lieutenant, captain, major and colonel, and was made brigadier- general after the war. He shared gallantly in the defense of Savannah and then repaired to South Carolina. He was with Col. Elijah Clarke in 1780, was on Gen. Sumter's staff during the resistance to Tarleton's attack on Blackstock's house, signalized himself at Cowper's under Gen. Pickens, and risked his life in 1781 in seizing the colors of the Seventy-first English regiment. Savannah was surrendered by the British to him July 12, 1782, and his gallant conduct was recognized by the people, who voted him the Tattnall house and lot for his "great and useful services." One of the most important of Mr. Jackson's public acts was defeating the big land steal scheme known as the "Yazoo fraud." The Georgia legislature sold 20,000,000 acres of land extending to the Missis- sippi river for $207,000. Gov. Jackson then in the United States senate denounced the scheme, resigned, came home, was elected to the legislature and had passed a "rescinding act" declaring the "Yazoo fraud" null and void. This territory was afterward ceded to the United States for $1,250,000. In March, 1780, Gov. Jackson fought and killed in a duel Lieut .- Gov. Wells. He was a prominent Mason and a member of the Society of Cincinnatus. He died March 16, 1806.

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EMANUEL, DAVID, came to Georgia about 1768 or 1770 and settled in Burke county. This part of the state was the scene of some severe skirmishing with the British and Mr. Emanuel participated in a number of them. He was a member of the legislature a number of terms and president of the senate. He was elected governor in 1801 and died in 1808. It is related that during the revolutionary war Emanuel was captured together with two companions by loyalists. All of them were sentenced to be shot. The execution took place and his companions were killed, but Emanuel escaped through the bad mark- manship of the soldier entrusted with the taking of his life.

TATTNALL, JOSIAH, governor of Georgia and United States senator, was. born at Bonaventure, near Savannah, Ga., in 1762. He was educated near Nassau. His father and grandfather were Tories and fled to England during the war, their estates being confiscated. The son ran away from England and at the age of eighteen he landed without a shilling in his pocket, on the north side of the Savannah river, and traveling alone on foot through the country, arrived at Parysburg, when he crossed into Georgia and then joined the army of General Wayne at Ebenezer. He was captain of the Chatham artillery in 1792, colonel of the First Georgia regiment in 1793, and brigadier-general of militia in 1800. He was a member of the Georgia legislature 1795-96, United States senator 1796-99, and governor of Georgia 1802. He died at Nassau, New Prov- idence, W. I., June 6, 1830.

MILLEDGE, JOHN, eighth governor of Georgia (1803-1806), was born in Savannah, Ga., in 1757. His ancestors came to Georgia with Oglethorpe. His early education was the best the colony afforded. Though at the outbreak of the revolution he was studying law in the king's attorney's office, he became active in the cause of liberty and was one of a party of seven that rifled the crown's powder magazine at Savannah and captured Gov. Wright in his own house. Mr. Milledge participated in the futile assaults upon Savannah and Augusta, and in other engagements in Georgia and South Carolina. At the age of twenty-three he was appointed attorney for the colony. He served in the legislature and was elected to the continental congress, resigning to become governor. In 1806 he was elected United States senator. In 1802 he was asso- ciated with James Jackson and Abraham Baldwin as a commissioner for ceding to the United States government certain portions of the territory of Georgia. Mr. Milledge was one of the first with whom the idea of establishing the state univer- sity originated. He died on Feb. 9, 1818.

MITCHELL, DAVID BRADIE, ninth governor of Georgia, was born in Scot- land, Oct. 22, 1766, and arrived in Georgia at the age of seventeen. He read law under Gov. William Stephens. He was elected solicitor-general in 1,795; repre- sentative to the legislature in 1796; major-general of the militia in 1804, and governor in 1809 to 1815, resigning in 1817, to accept an appointment from the president of the United States as agent to the Creek Indians. He died at Milledge- ville, Ga., April 22, 1837.

FARLY, PETER, tenth governor of Georgia, was born in June, 1773, in Madison county Va., and migrated with his father, Joel Early, and family, about the year 1795 to the county of Greene. He was graduated from Princeton college in I792. In 1802 he was elected to congress and supported the bill to prohibit the African slave trade, and voted for the impeachment of supreme court judge,

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Samuel Chase. He was elected judge of the superior court in 1807 and served until 1813. In the fall of that year he was elected governor. His entire admin- istration, civil and military, met the approbation of all classes up to the day on which he returned with his official veto to the house a bill continuing in force what was called "the alleviating law." He was defeated for re-election; returned to his estate in Greene county and, with the exception of two or three years as senator of that county, never took any part in the political affairs of the country. Gov. Early was married to Miss Smith of Wilkes county, sister of Colonel, afterward Gen. Thomas A. Smith of the United States army.

RABUN, WILLIAM, eleventh governor of Georgia (1817-18), was born in Halifax county, N. C., April 8, 1771, and removed to Wilkes county, Ga., in 1785. He was given the usual backwoods education, but acquired great informa- tion by reading and observation. For many years he represented Hancock county in both branches of the legislature. Being president of the senate in 1817, upon the resignation of Gov. Mitchell, he became governor. During his administration a tart correspondence took place between Gen. Jackson and himself relative to an attack on an Indian village called Cheha. Mr. Rabun died while governor, Oct. 24, 1819. Rabun county, Ga., was named after him.

TALBOT, MATTHEW, twelfth governor of Georgia (1819), was a Virginian by birth and settled in Wilkes county in 1785. He was a member of the legisla- ture from Wilkes county, and was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of Georgia. In 1808 he was elected to the senate and was president of that body from 1818 to 1823. By the death of Gov. Rabun he became governor, acting until the election of Gov. Clarke. He died in Wilkes county, Sept. 17, 1827.

CLARKE, JOHN, governor of Georgia (1819-23), was born in North Carolina in 1776. At the age of sixteen he was appointed lieutenant of a company and afterward captain of the continental militia. Under the command of his father, Gen. Elijah Clarke, a revolutionary hero, he fought and distinguished himself at the siege of Augusta and the battle of Jack's creek in 1787. He rose to be major- general, and at the dangerous period of the second war with Great Britain had command of the forces to protect the sea coast. In 1819 and 1821 he was elected governor over George M. Troup. In 1827 Gov. Clarke retired from public life and moved to West Florida, where he died Oct. 15, 1832. He was a friend, patriot and statesman whose warmth of heart, fixedness of purpose and inflexible virtue lives in the memory of his countrymen.

TROUP, GEORGE MICHAEL, governor of Georgia (1823-27), senator and congressman, was born at McIntosh's Bluff, Tombigbee river, in the part of Georgia now Alabama, Sept. 8, 1780. His father was born in and educated in England and was a successful merchant and planter. His mother, Catharine Mc- Intosh, came of a family distinguished in colonial days and the revolution. He was graduated from Princeton in 1797, and admitted to the Savannah bar in 1800. He was a member of the legislature (1801-03); representative to congress (1806-12); U. S. senator (1816-18). He was defeated for governor in 1819 and 1821 and elected in 1823 and 1825. Mr. Troup retired from the government in November, 1827, with a popularity unsurpassed by that of any former chief magistrate. In 1828 he was recalled to the United States senate, an appointment he accepted with regret. Gov. Troup was a great champion of state rights and sovereignty. It was under the conviction that these were imperiled that he declared, in 1823, that

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he would have been carried on his death bed to the capital rather than not have given his vote against the force bill. He retired from public life in 1833. He was the same year nominated for the presidency by a Georgia state rights convention. He died in Montgomery, Ga., April 26, 1856.

FORSYTH, JOHN, governor of Georgia (1827-29) and United States secretary of state under Jackson and Van Buren, was born in Frederick county, Va., Oct. 22, 1870. His father was a revolutionary soldier, and with the son settled in Georgia in 1784. Mr. Forsyth graduated from Princeton college in 1799, and was admitted to the practice of law in 1802, and a short time afterward was appointed attorney-general for the state. He was elected to congress in 1811, and to the United States senate in 1818. In 1819 he resigned to accept an appointment as minister to Spain. In 1823, while in Spain, he was again elected to congress, and again in 1825; governor of Georgia in 1827, and United States senator in 1829. He resigned in 1834 to become secretary of state under President Jackson, and was reappointed by President Van Buren, serving until 1841. Mr. Forsyth was one of the most brilliant of Georgia's many bright statesmen. He was an orator, diplomat, and statesman. He championed President Jackson in the debate on the removal of deposits from the United States banks, and as the premier of two able presidents he carried on some of the most important transactions with foreign powers that the government had engaged in since the war of 1812. He died in Washington, D. C., Oct. 21, 1841. Mr. Forsyth married a daughter of Josiah Meigs, at one time president of Franklin college, and to them were born several children. Before his death the legislature of Georgia had named a county in honor of Mr. Forsyth, and the county seat of Monroe also bore his name thirty years.

GILMER, GEORGE ROCKINGHAM, governor of Georgia (1829-31 and 1837-39), and congressman, was born in that part of Wilkes, now Oglethorpe county in 1790. His parents were of Scotch descent, and they located in Georgia in 1784. George was educated at Wilson's school at Abbeville, S. C., and at Dr. Waddell's Georgia academy. On account of his health soon after being admitted to the bar in 1813, he was appointed first lieutenant in the regular army. He served in the Creek war with distinction. He was elected state representative 1818-20; representative to congress, 1821-23, and governor in 1828, being defeated in 1830. He was a member of congress in 1833-34, presidential elector on the Hugh L. White ticket in 1836, a second time governor of Georgia in 1837-39, presidential elector for Harrison and president of the electoral college in 1840, trustee for thirty years of the state university of Georgia. He died at Lexington, Ga., Nov. 15, 1859.

LUMPKIN, WILSON, governor (1831-34) and senator, was born in Pittsylvania county, Va., Jan. 14, 1783. When he was one year old his father removed to Georgia and settled in that part of the state then known as Wilkes county, now Oglethorpe. He received a common-school education, and picking up the ele- mentary points of law by serving as clerk to his father, clerk of the court, he studied the profession. At the age of twenty-one years he was elected to the state legisla- ture, serving a number of terms between 1805 and 1815. He was elected to congress in 1815, and again in 1827 and 1829, and governor in 1831 and 1833. He was appointed by President Jackson, in 1835, one of the first commissioners under the Cherokee treaty. He was elected United States senator in 1837, in place of John P. King, resigned, serving until March 3, 1841. Mr. Lumpkin was one of the most active and useful men Georgia has had. He died in 1870.

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SCHLEY, WILLIAM, governor (1835-37), was born in the city of Frederick, Md., Dec. 10, 1786. His education was acquired in the academies at Louis- ville and Augusta, Ga. He was admitted to the bar in 1812, and continued the practice of law until 1825, when he was elected judge of the superior court of the middle division of Georgia, the duties of which he ably discharged until 1828. In 1830 he was elected a member of the legislature from Richmond county, and in 1832 was elected a member of congress. In 1835 he was elected governor of Georgia. During his administration the Creek war broke out, and in his first message to the legislature, in 1836, he strongly recommended the construction of the Western & Atlantic railroad. Mr. Schley was a public-spirited citizen in every relation and a man of advanced ideas. He was a prominent democrat, believing in the strictest construction of the United States constitution, and the withholding of all powers from congress which were not expressly delegated to it. He died at Augusta, Ga., Nov. 20, 1850.

CRAWFORD, GEORGE WASHINGTON, was born in Columbia county, Ga., Dec. 22, 1798. He was graduated from Princeton college in 1820, and was admitted to the bar in 1824. From 1827 to 1831 he was attorney-general of Georgia, and then was elected to the legislature, serving from 1837 till 1841. In 1843 he was elected governor, on the whig ticket, and in 1845 he was re-elected. His administration was an excellent one, distinguished for the adjustment of the state's finances and the restoration of its credit. In securing this end Gov. Crawford pledged his personal estate to the extent of $150,000. In 1849 he entered the cabinet of President Taylor, as secretary of war, but resigned in 1850, when the president died. In 1861 he presided over the Georgia secession convention. He spent several years in Europe, and on his return lived in retirement at his home in Richmond county, where he died after the war.

M'DONALD, CHARLES JAMES, nineteenth governor of Georgia (1839-43), was born in Charleston, S. C., July 9, 1793. In his early infancy his parents moved to Hancock county, Ga. He received an academic education under the direction of Rev. Nathan S. Beman, and was graduated from Columbia college, South Carolina. He was admitted to the bar in 1817, and a few years later was in the enjoyment of an extensive practice. He was elected solicitor-general of Flint circuit in 1822, judge of the superior court in 1825, state representative in 1830, state senator in 1834 and 1837; and governor in 1839 and 1841. In 1850 he was defeated for governor by Howell Cobb. He was elected judge of the supreme court of Georgia in 1857. As governor, Mr. McDonald was fearless and guided by practical wisdom and integrity. He took an issue with the legislature which caused much excitement. In 1838 the state was suffering from the panic of 1837, and an obligation of $300,000 had been protested. The legislature refused relief, but, on the contrary, reduced the state taxes 20 per cent. Gov. McDonald promptly outlined and carried out a policy that alleviated the financial distress. He vetoed the act reducing taxes, and when the legislature was about to adjourn, and leaving $110,000 of expense unprovided for, he boldly closed the treasury and suspended payments. He held his ground, and the measure of relief he recom- mended was passed. He died Dec. 16, 1860.

TOWNS, GEORGE WASHINGTON, governor of Georgia (1847-51), was born in Wilkes county, May 4, 1801. The family was from Virginia, and the father was a soldier of the revolution. The boy educated himself by perusing books and studying at night, and when he attained his majority he had a good

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foundation in science and in literature. He began life as a merchant, then turned his attention to law and began its practice in Talboton, Talbot county, Ga., in 1826. He was elected from that county to the state legislature and senate, and in 1834 was sent to congress and served until 1839. He was again elected to that body in 1845. He was elected as a democrat, governor, in 1847, over Gen. Duncan L. Clinch. Gov. Towns was a Chesterfield in address. Nothing could exceed the suavity of his disposition and the ease of his manner. He was truly a refined gentleman, courteous and unpretending with the plain, and diplomatic with the precise, just as the society he was in for the time being demanded such an exhibition of char- acter. He had a friendly word, a kind recognition for each individual. The charm was complete; he satisfied all. At the bar his rank was decidedly high as an advocate. He possessed all the requisites of an orator to control the jury. Of him, Stephen F. Miller says: "His return to the bar was hailed by his professional brethren with universal cordiality. All within his attendance looked forward to much enjoyment in his society, to much improvement by his example. There had been a Forsyth, with his fluent simplicity and inimitable sneer; a Berrien, with his musical phrase and classic gesture; a Wilde, polished in diction and lofty in thought ; a Colquitt, with the arrows of nature barbed for the rhinoceros or softly edged for the hare; there had been such advocates in Georgia, honored, glorious; yet it was the prestige of Gov. Towns to differ from them all, perhaps to excel them all, in the spontaneous gushings of the heart, in the electric sympathy that, kindling with the orator, burst out and blazed in every bosom; court, jury, bar, audience, all melted, all subdued by the occasion." Gov. Towns was married to a daughter of the Hon. John W. Jones, of Virginia, speaker of the United States house of representatives. He died in 1854.

COBB, HOWELL, governor of Georgia from 1851 to 1853, was born at Cherry Hill, Jefferson county, Ga., Sept. 7, 1815. His father was Col. John H. Cobb, of Greenville, N. C., who removed to Georgia when young, and his mother, Sarah Roates, of Fredericksburg, Va. Howell Cobb was graduated at Franklin college, Athens, in 1834, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1836, and chosen an elector on the Van Buren ticket the same year. He was elected solicitor-general in 1837, representative to congress in 1842, 1844, 1846 and 1848, and speaker of the house in 1849; governor of Georgia, as nominee of the Union party, in 1851, and representative in congress in 1854. In 1857 he was appointed United States secre- tary of the treasury, by President Buchanan, a position which he resigned in 1860. He was president of the confederate provisional congress, and brigadier and major general in the army of the Confederate states. Mr. Cobb's familiarity with the rules, skill as a debater, and his bold championship of slavery, made him the leader of the southern party in the house in 1847, and he was elected speaker in 1849 after a long contest. He demanded the extension of slavery into Cali- fornia and New Mexico by federal authority, and advocated the compromise measures of 1850. Upon the latter issue he boldly antagonized the extreme men of his own state, and accepting the nomination for governor from the Union party (1851) took the stump and was triumphantly elected. After his term of governor he resumed the practice of law, though continuing to take an active part in politics. He stumped the north in 1856 for Buchanan, and in 1857 became his secretary of the treasury. He found the treasury full and the bonds representing the national debt at a premium of 16 to 18 per cent. He used the surplus funds in the treasury in purchasing this indebtedness at this high premium, but the approach of the civil war so affected the national credit that he was compelled to attempt to borrow at an exorbitant discount the

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money necessary to defray the ordinary expenses of the government. On Dec. 10, 1860, he resigned, giving as a reason that the state of Georgia (then about to recede) needed his services. His name was mentioned before the Charleston convention for president, but a division in the Georgia delegation caused him to withdraw it in a good-tempered but patriotic letter. He warmly advocated secession and was author of those much-quoted words, "The hour of Georgia's dishonor in the union should be the hour of her independence out of the union." He was elected permanent president of the convention of seceding states, which

met in Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 4, 1861. He was not a favorite of President Davis of the Confederacy, and so withdrew to private life. On the demand of Georgia members of congress that body appointed him brigadier-general in the Confederate army and soon promoted him to a major-generalship. After the close of the war Gen. Cobb opposed reconstruction vigorously, maintaining its effect would retard the restoration of the south to the union, keep back its prosperity, and destroy the negro race. He died in New York city Oct. 9, 1868.

JOHNSON, HERSCHEL VESPASIAN, governor of Georgia and senator, was born in Burke county, Ga., Sept. 18, 1812. He was graduated from the state university at Athens in 1834 and a year later settled in Augusta and began the practice of law. He entered public life during the presidential campaign of 1840, taking the stump, after declining a congressional nomination. He was defeated for congress in 1843, canvassed the state as presidential elector in 1844 on tlie Polk ticket, withdrew his name when urged for governor in 1845, and in 1847 was appointed to the United States senate to fill the unexpired term of Walter T. Colquitt, February, 1848, to March 3, 1849. He was delegate to the Baltimore national convention in 1848, and was elected judge of the superior court in 1849, delegate to the Pierce democratic national convention, and elector for the state at large in 1851. Resigning his judgeship upon his nomination for governor in 1853, he was elected to the latter office, and re-elected in 1855. He was nominated for vice-president on the Douglas ticket in 1860; elected Confederate state senator in November, 1862; president of the state constitu- tional convention that repealed secession, repudiated the war debt of $18,000,000, and abolished slavery in October, 1865; and in January, 1866, after the restoration of the state to the union, United States senator, though he was disfranchised by acts of congress and did not serve. He was appointed, in 1873, judge of the superior court, an office which he held until his death, Aug. 16, 1880. As an orator, a constitutional lawyer and jurist Judge Johnson took high rank. He was a master of classical diction, his state papers being the most finished in the state archives. Originally a strong "southern rights" man, he neveretheless acquiesced in the compromise measure of 1850, and later opposed secession. He married Mrs. Annie Polk Walker, a niece of President Polk, and a highly intellectual and beautiful woman.

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Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I, Part 33

Author: Publication date: 1859 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association Number of Pages: 1294

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1294