USA > Georgia > Statistics of the state of Georgia : including an account of its natural, civil, and ecclesiastical history ; together with a particular description of each county, notices of the manners and customs of its aboriginal tribes, and a correct map of the state > Part 19
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TowNS .-- Elberton is the capital, situated in the centre of the county, on the waters of Falling creek, 90 miles N. N. E. of Milledgeville, 78 from Augusta, 32 from Carnesville, 26 from Lexington, 23 from Petersburg, and 11 from the Savannah river. It has the usual county buildings, one hotel, one aca- demy, &c. Population 300. The water is excellent, and the town healthy. Made the county site in 1790.
Ruckersville is on Van's creek, four miles from the Savan- nah river, and seven miles from Elberton. Population about 200. It is a healthy and thriving place, and the inhabitants are noted for their hospitality.
Petersburg is at the junction of the Savannah and Broad rivers. This was once among the most prosperous towns in Georgia ; but it is now in a state of dilapidation. A feeling of melancholy and loneliness is experienced by the visitor when he remembers what the town was in former days.
NATURE OF THE SOIL .- The lands from Elberton to Pe- tersburg, and across to each of the rivers, were originally
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very fertile, but have been impoverished by bad cultivation, although they still continue to produce well. The lands on the Savannah and Broad rivers are very superior, adapted to the cultivation of corn, cotton, and wheat. The lands on Savan- nah river are less subject to freshets than those on the Broad river, and are worth, on an average, ten dollars per acre. There is in this county a section known by the name of the Flat Woods, extending from Broad to Savannah river, from five to seven miles in breadth, commencing just below Colonel Heard's plantation, and extending to Mr. Tate's, about seven miles. The growth is black-jack and whortleberry. The soil is of a black colour, mingled with oxyde of iron, adapted to corn. It retains manure better than the other lands. Value, $5 per acre. There are excellent lands on Beaver Dam creek, worth from five to eight dollars per acre.
PRODUCTIONS, AVERAGE PRODUCT PER ACRE .- The pro- ductions are cotton, corn, wheat, rye, oats, tobacco, &c. Grasses do not succeed. Cotton averages 500 pounds per acre, corn three barrels do .; wheat, seven bushels do.
MANUFACTURES, MILLS, BOATING BUSINESS .- It is proposed to erect a cotton factory* on Broad river, four miles above its junction with the Savannah, where there is a fine fall. Capi- tal $32,000. It is intended to run 5,000 spindles; 1500 are procured.
Elbert factory, on Beaver Dam creek, six miles from Ruckersville.
Much of the produce of this county is carried in boats down the Savannah river, to Augusta. The boats are gene- rally 75 feet in length, six feet wide, pointed at both ends, and having round bottoms. When loaded, they draw 15 inches. They are under the care of a patroon and six hands, and carry from 40 to 60 bales of cotton. The trip to and from Augusta consumes six or seven days. Rates of boating to Augusta, from 75 cents to $1 per bale.
ROADS, BRIDGES, FERRIES .- The roads are in a bad condi- tion, as well as the bridges. Six public ferries on the Savan- nah, six on Broad river, besides several private ones.
* Now in successful operation.
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RELIGIOUS SECTS, EDUCATION .- Missionary Baptists, Me- thodists, Presbyterians, Christians, and a few Episcopalians. There are 18 or 20 churches in the county. A deep inter- est is felt in the cause of education.
CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE, AMUSEMENTS .- Were we called upon to name the section of Georgia in which the citizens dis- play the most kindness and hospitality, we should feel a strong inclination to say it is in Elbert county. The inhabitants are patriotic and intelligent, simple in their manners, and devoted in their attachment to Georgia. Fox-hunting is a favourite amusement.
CLIMATE, DISEASES, LONGEVITY .- The climate is pleasant. The lower part is subject to bilious fevers and chills. The up- per part is as healthy as any region in the United States. The instances of longevity are uncommonly numerous. There are now living-Mrs. Sarah Harbin, aged 95 ; Mrs. Murray, over 94; Mr. Wm. Gaines, 91; William Ward, 92 ; Mrs. Teasley, over 85; Barbary, a negro woman belonging to Mr. Colson, is now living, over 100; Mrs. Heard, the widow of the Hon. Stephen Heard, died at the age of 83.
MINERAL SPRINGS .- There is a sulphur spring one mile from Ruckersville, on the road to Petersburg. Near Mr. Rucker's plantation is a spring which formerly had considera- ble reputation. The Big and Little Holly springs are celebra- ted for the excellency of the water.
EARLY SETTLERS .- Among the early settlers were the Al- lens, Heards, Ruckers, Banks, Olivers, Whites, Tates, Wat- kins, Baileys, Blackwells, and others.
ANTIQUITIES .- There is a mound in this county which is worthy of notice. It is situated on the Savannah river, about three miles above Petersburg, on the plantation of Captain Rembert. Bartram, the celebrated botanist, who travelled through Georgia, visited this mound, and thus describes it: " These wonderful labours of the ancients stand in a level plain, very near the bank of the river, now 20 or 30 yards from it. They consist of conical mounts of earth, and four square terraces. The great mount is in the form of a cone, 40 or 50 feet high, and the circumference of its base two or three hundred yards, entirely composed of the loamy rich
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earth of the low grounds: the top, or apex, is flat ; a spiral path, or track, leading from the ground up to the top, is still visible, where now grows a large, beautiful spreading red cedar. There appear four niches excavated out of the sides of this hill, at different heights from the base, fronting the four cardinal points. These niches, or sentry-boxes, are entered into from the winding path, and seem to have been meant for resting places, or look-outs. The circumjacent level grounds are cleared, and planted with Indian corn at present ; and I think the proprietor of these lands, who accompanied us to this place, said that the mount itself yielded above one hundred bushels in one season." Bartram describes these mounds as they appeared to him in 1773. In 1848, accompanied by Captain Rembert, the author of this work visited these mounds. The large one corresponds exactly with Bartram's description of it, with this exception, that the sides and summit are covered with a growth of large cane, and several large trees. The smaller mounds have been almost destroyed. Captain Rembert has excavated the smaller mounds, and found human skeletons, jars, pipes, beads, breastplates, stone hammers, hatchets, arrow heads, &c., &c. Some of these are now in our possession, and are really objects of curiosity.
REMARKABLE MEN .-- Gen. Samuel Blackburn was of Irish descent. He was a classical scholar, and for some time after his removal to Georgia, taught the academy in Washington, Wilkes county. Whilst thus employed, he prepared himself for the practice of the law. His fine voice, expressive features, noble person, perfect self-possession, keen wit, and forcible lan- guage, directed by a well cultivated and powerful intellect, made him one of the most eloquent men of his time. He married Gov. Matthews's daughter, and soon after settled in Elbert county, on Broad river. He was advancing success- fully in his profession and political influence, until the meeting of the Legislature of 1795. He was a member of the Legis- lature which passed the infamous Yazoo act, which rendered him so unpopular, that he left the State and went to Virginia, where he practised law until his death. He was several times a member of the Legislature in Virginia from Bath county. In politics he was a federalist. His powerful and
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abusive denunciations of the republicans when he was a mem- ber of the Virginia Legislature, made him long remembered. He died March 2d, 1835, in Bath county, Virginia, aged 77 years.
BEVERLY ALLEN. -- In the year 179-, Beverly Allen and Billy Allen carried on the business of merchandise, in the county of Elbert. Their store-house and residence were on the hill rising from Beaver Dam creek, on the side of the road leading from Fish Dam ford on Broad river, to the Cherokee ford on the Savannah. They were both young, and belonged to a family which emigrated from Virginia to Georgia, soon after the revolutionary war. Beverly Al- len was handsome, with a fine voice and ardent tempera- ment. He was one of the converts of Bishop Asbury, during his tour through Georgia. From public praying he com- menced exhorting, and soon after preaching. Without any of the learning of Whitefield; he had much of his enthusias- tic eloquence. Preaching was a rarity when Beverly Al- len became a convert. Men pricked up their ears, their souls were stirred within them, when they heard striking exhibi- tions of the punishments of the lower world for their sins, and the joys of the upper for their repentance.
When Beverly Allen held forth upon these subjects, the whole population crowded together to hear him. He became the idol of the people.
Some time in the year 1795, Beverly Allen, with his brother, went to Augusta, to buy goods with the money they had, and the credit they could obtain. Whilst there, the foreign merchant of whom they had purchased their first stock of goods, found them buying goods of others, instead of first discharging their debt to him. He caused a Ca. Sa. writ to be issued for their arrest, returnable to the United States Dis- trict Court. The Allens being informed of this, armed them- selves and took possession of a room in the public house, and fastened the doors against entrance. The marshal Forsyth, the father of the celebrated John Forsyth, pursued them, forced open the door, and was upon his entrance shot dead by Beverly Allen. The Allens immediately fled to Elbert county, and were pursued by a warrant for their ar-
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rest, upon a charge of murder. William Barnet, for a long time afterward a well-known public man, and member of the Le- gislature, and member of Congress, was the Sheriff of Elbert county. Upon receiving the warrant he assembled a large guard, and went in pursuit. The Allens had concealed them- selves in a high log-house, which stood for a long time after the event alluded to, on the side of the road near Beaver Dam creek. The place of their concealment being communicated to the Sheriff, he surrounded it with his guard. The doors were barricaded so as to prevent entrance. After many fruit- less attempts to get the Allens out, the house was set on fire. Billy Allen, finding resistance in vain, opened the doors and gave himself up. The fire was put out, and search com- menced for Beverly Allen, the principal offender. He was at first concealed between the ceiling of the cockloft, and the roof. The Allens were immediately confined in the jail of the county. This became known to the people. The news spread that the servant of God was in jail for resisting an effort to take from him his liberty, to separate him from his home, friends, and flock, by confining him in jail in Augusta, through the process of the United States Court, the instrument by which the federalists intended to deprive the people of their rights, and for a debt to one who was not a citizen of the State. In these days the people were a law unto them- selves. The restraints of government were very slight during the dominion of Great Britain, and scarcely felt at all in the States, especially on the frontiers of the new States ; voluntary associations called Lynch Men afforded some protection against thieves. Personal rights were secured from violation only by the sure aim of a good gun, or a heavy fist and a fearless spirit. Liberty, and especially liberty of person was, from the habits of speaking, acting, and feeling of the times of the Revo- lution, and immediately after, considered by many as the chief good. In such times, among such people, operated upon by such causes, the Allens could not remain prisoners. The Sheriff, finding that their rescue would be attempted, set off with his prisoners for Washington, Wilkes county. He was headed on the road, and considered it safest to return. He
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increased his guard to sixteen men, but many of these proved to be the friends of the prisoners. On the night after his re- turn from the attempt to secure the prisoners, in Wilkes jail, the jail of Elbert was attacked by 200 men, the doors forced open, and the Allens permitted to escape. The friends of the prisoners on guard, had, previous to the attack, taken the powder from the locks of the guns of all the guards, from whom any danger was apprehended, except one. Beverly Allen fled to the most distant western frontier of the United States. He lived to old age, apprehensive during his entire life, that he might be arrested for the killing of Forsyth. Billy Allen, whose crime consisted in being in company with his brother when the act of violence was done, was permitted soon after to return to his home, where he remained unmo- lested during his life. As soon as search after Beverly Allen had ceased, inquiries began to be made about the persons who were engaged in his rescue. John Rucker, one of the rescuers, used to amuse himself after the alarm had passed away, by telling some of the incidents which he said happened to him whilst concealed to avoid arrest, and which became a sort of sing-song among all the little boys of the country for a long time afterwards. Middleton was Barnet's deputy. They were small, active, quick-spoken men. One of the guard, Thomas Gilmer, was a very fat man, weighing three hundred. Rucker said he had fled to the Savannah river, and concealed himself under its bank. Whilst hid, he heard a great many small frogs crying " Middleton and Barnet ! Middleton and Bar- net ;" and imitating what he was describing, he would com- press his lips, and drawing his voice only from his teeth, very quick, he would imitate the sound of the frogs. He said he stood this cry withont flinching, but after a while he heard a big bullfrog cry out, "Tom Gilmer ! Tom Gilmer!" and this he would repeat with swelled cheeks, and full voice, which he said he could not stand. He then plunged into the water, and made for the Carolina side of the river.
THE FREEMANS-Col. Halman Freeman and John Free- man, were among the first settlers of Wilkes county. They both engaged in the strife between the Whigs and Tories of Upper Georgia, during the latter part of the revolutionary
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war ; Col. Halman Freeman commanded a regiment in the battle of Jack's creek, between the Georgians and Creek Indians, in the year 1779. His only daughter married Dr. William W. Bibb.
The place in which John Freeman lived was first settled by a Scotch colony, under the direction of Lord George Gor- don. Exertions have been made to ascertain whether this Lord Gordon was the fanatic who led the anti-Catholic mob of London, in the year 177-, but in vain. Lord Gordon left Broad river, upon the commencement of the revolutionary war. The Scotch people whom he brought to Broad river had given their indentures of service to him for five years, to pay his expenses in bringing them to this country. Upon . going over he sold them for servants .*
The following, with some slight alteration, is from Mrs. Ellet's " Heroic Women of the American Revolution :"
NANCY HART .- In this county is a stream, formerly known as " War-woman's Creek." Its name was derived from the character of an individual who lived near the entrance of the stream into the river. This person was Nancy Hart, a woman ignorant of letters and the civilities of life, but a zealous lover of liberty and the " liberty boys," as she called the Whigs. She had a husband, whom she denominated "a poor stick," because he did not take a decided and active part with the defenders of his country, although she could not conscientiously charge him with the least partiality towards the Tories. This vulgar and illiterate, but hospitable and valorous female patriot, could boast no share of beauty-a fact she herself would have rea- dily acknowledged had she ever enjoyed an opportunity of looking in a mirror. She was cross-eyed, with a broad angular mouth, ungainly in figure, rude in speech, and awkward in manners, but having a woman's heart for her friends, though that of a Catrine Montour for the enemies of her country. She was well known to the Tories, who stood in fear of her revenge for any grievance or aggressive act, though they let pass no opportunity of worrying and annoying her when they could do so with impunity.
* From MS. kindly furnished by the Hon. George R. Gilmer.
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On the occasion of an excursion from the British camp at Augusta, a party of Tories penetrated into the interior, and having savagely murdered Colonel Dooly in bed, in his own house, they proceeded up the country for the purpose of perpe- trating further atrocities. On their way, a detachment of five of the party diverged to the east, and crossed Broad river, to make discoveries about the neighbourhood, and pay a visit to their old acquaintance, Nancy Hart. On reaching her cabin, they entered it unceremoniously, receiving from her no wel- come but a scowl ; and informed her they had come to know the truth of a story current respecting her, that she had se- creted a noted rebel from a company of king's men who were pursuing him, and who, but for her aid, would have caught and hung him. Nancy undauntedly avowed her agency in the fugitive's escape. She told them she had at first heard the tramp of a horse rapidly approaching, and had then seen a horseman coming towards her cabin. As he came nearer, she knew him to be a Whig, and flying from pursuit. She let down the bars a few steps from her cabin, and motioned him to enter, to pass through both doors, front and rear, of her single-roomed house ; to take the swamp, and secure himself as well as he could. She then put up the bars, entered her cabin, closed the doors, and went about her business. Pre- sently some Tories rode up to the bars, and called out boister- ously to her. She muffled her head and face, and opening the door, inquired why they disturbed a sick, lone woman. They said they had traced a man they wanted to catch, near her house, and asked if any one on horseback had passed that way. She answered no, but she saw somebody on a sorrel horse turn out of the path into the woods some two or three hun- dred yards back. " That must be the fellow," said the Tories ; and asking her direction as to the way he took, they turned about and went off. " Well fooled;" said Nancy, "in an opposite course to that of my Whig boy ; when, if they had not been so lofty-minded, but had looked on the ground inside the bars, they would have seen his horse's tracks up to that door, as plain as you can see the tracks on this here floor, and out of 'tother door down the path to the swamp."
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This bold story did not much please the Tory party, but they could not wreak their revenge upon the woman who thus unscrupulously avowed her daring aid to a rebel, and the cheat she had put upon his pursuers, otherwise than by ordering her to aid and comfort them by giving them something to eat. She replied, " I never feed king's men if I can help it; the villains have put it out of my power to feed even my own family and friends, by stealing and killing all my poultry and pigs, except that one old gobbler you see in the yard."
" Well, and that you shall cook for us," said one, who ap- peared the head of the party ; and raising his musket, he shot down the turkey, which another of the men brought into the house, and handed to Mrs. Hart, to clean and cook without delay. She stormed and swore a while -- for Nancy occasion- ally swore-but seeming, at last, resolved to make a merit of necessity, began with alacrity the arrangements for cooking, assisted by her daughter, a little girl some ten or twelve years old, and sometimes by one of the soldiers, with whom she seemed in a tolerably good humor, exchanging rude jests with him. The Tories, pleased with her freedom, invited her to partake of the liquor they had brought with them, an invitation which was accepted with witty thanks.
The spring, of which every settlement has one near at hand, was just at the edge of the swamp, and a short distance within the swamp was a high snag-topped stump, on which was placed a conch-shell. This rude trumpet was used by the family to give information, by means of a variation of notes, to Mr. Hart, or his neighbors who might be at work in a field or clearing just beyond the swamp, that the " British- ers" or Tories were about ; that the master was wanted at the cabin, or that he was to "keep close," or "make tracks" for another swamp. Pending the operations of cook- ing, Mrs. Hart had sent her daughter Sukey to the spring for water, with directions to blow the conch in such a way as would inform him there were Tories in the cabin, and that he " keep close" with his three neighbors who were with him, till he should hear the conch again.
The party had become merry over their jug, and sat down to feast upon the slaughtered gobbler. They had cautiously
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stacked their arms where they were in view and within reach ; and Mrs. Hart, assiduous in her attentions upon the table and to her guests, occasionally passed between them and their muskets. Water was called for, and as there was none in the cabin-Mrs. Hart having so contrived that-Sukey was again sent to the spring, instructed by her mother to blow the conch so as to call up Mr. Hart and his neighbours imme- diately. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hart had slipped out one of the pieces of pine which constitutes a "chinking" between the logs of a cabin, and had dexterously put out of the house, through that space, two of the five guns. She was detected in the act of putting out the third. The party sprang to their feet. Quick as thought Mrs. Hart brought the piece she held to her shoulder, and declared she would kill the first man who approached her. All were terror-struck, for Nancy's ob- liquity of sight caused each one to imagine her aim was at him. At length one of them made a motion to advance upon her. True to her threat, she fired. He fell dead upon the floor! Instantly seizing another musket, she brought it to the position in readiness to fire again. By this time Sukey had returned from the spring, and taking up the remaining gun, carried it out of the house, saying to her mother, " Daddy and them will soon be here." This information increased the alarm of the Tories, who understood the necessity of recover- ing their arms immediately. But each hesitated, in the confi- dent belief that Mrs. Hart had one eye at least upon him for a mark. They proposed a general rush. No time was to be lost by the bold woman ; she fired again, and brought down another Tory. Sukey had another musket in readiness, which her mother took ; and posting herself in the doorway, called upon the party to "surrender their d-d Tory car- casses to a Whig woman." They agreed to surrender, and proposed to " shake hands upon the strength of it;" but the conqueror kept them in their places for a few moments, till her husband and his neighbours came up to the door. They were about to shoot down the Tories, but Mrs. Hart stopped them, saying they had surrendered to her, and, her spirit being up to. boiling heat, she swore that " shooting was too good for them." This hint was enough. The dead man was dragged out of
16
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the house ; the wounded Tory and the others were bound, taken out beyond the bars, and hung! The tree upon which they were swung was pointed out in 1838, by one who lived in those bloody times, and who also showed the spot once oc- . cupied by Mrs. Hart's cabin, accompanying the designation with this emphatic remark : " Poor Nancy! she was a honey of a patriot, but the devil of a wife !"
NAME .- The following sketch was furnished by Dr. John- son, of Charleston, S. C., who says : For the particulars in the subjoined notice of General Elbert, I am wholly indebted to the friendly researches of Mr. I. K. Teft, of Savannah. The parents of Samuel Elbert were both natives of England, and his father a Baptist minister in Prince William parish, South Carolina, in which settlement their son Samuel was born in the year 1740. At an early age he became an orphan, and went to Savannah to seek employment and earn his subsistence. Here he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and continued to be so engaged until the commencement of the American Revolu- tion ; here also he married Miss Elizabeth Rae, daughter of a planter in the vicinity of Savannah.
The first evidence that we find of Elbert's partaking in the all-absorbing incidents of the Revolution, is his signature to a document pledging his allegiance to the King of Great Britain, dated the 4th of June, 1774, thus : "Samuel Elbert, Captain of the Grenadier Company."* A Council of Safety was ap- pointed on the 22d of June, 1775, of which he was elected a member. The General Assembly of Georgia passed a resolu- tion to raise a battalion of continental troops ; and on the 4th of February, 1776, the following field officers were ap- pointed : Lachlan McIntosh, Colonel ; Samuel Elbert, Lieu- tenant Colonel ; Joseph Habersham, Major.
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