USA > Georgia > The bench and bar of Georgia: memoirs and sketches. With an appendix, containing a court roll from 1790-1857, etc., volume I > Part 14
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dency. His course was ratified by his constituents, as the follow- ing document will show :-
GEORGIA .- By Charles J. MeDonald, Governor of said State.
To the Honorable EDWARD J. BLACK, Esq., greeting :-
Whereas, by the second section of the first article of the Constitution of the United States, it is ordained and established that the House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States : and whereas, by the returns made agreeably to law, of the election held on the first Monday in October last for eight members to represent this State in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States for two years from and after the third day of March next, you, the said Edward J. Black, were duly elected one of the said Representatives : These are therefore to commission you, the said Edward J. Black, to take session in the House of Representatives of the United States for two years from and after the third day of March next as aforesaid, and to use and exercise all and every the privileges and powers which of right you may or can do by virtue of the said Constitu- tion, in behalf of this State.
Given under my hand and the great seal of the State, at the Capitol in Milledgeville, this twelfth day of November, in the year eighteen hundred and forty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the sixty- seventh.
By the Governor :
CHARLES J. MCDONALD.
J. W. A. SANFORD, Secretary of State.
Such a testimonial, granted three times in succession, is no small honor to any man ; for Mr. Black was six years a member of Con- gress,-from 1839 to 1845. He made several speeches there, which gave him a high reputation in debate and for elegant scholarship. His diction partook of the purity of Wilde, with a good deal of his elevation of sentiment, and of the causticity of Randolph when im- paling an adversary. The comparison is not intended as perfect, but merely to denote qualities more or less developed. Mr. Black was unquestionably a man of genius, and as such deserves to have credit with posterity.
Ilis nature was impulsive, his organization acute. He felt a pas- sion for excellence, and took proper models in history for his guide. He lived to see much of the world,-much that wealth and posi- tion could alone command. His imagination was too prolific and his taste too severely disciplined to be content with the attainable. Hc looked for the sublime in the intellect and the affections which is not permitted to man. What generous heart does not sympathize with the longings of his soul, and who that has experience cannot bear witness to the illusion ? Such pictures of glory had blessed the visions of his boyhood, and in his mature life he grasped the crown only to find it a shadow, the mockery of happiness.
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Like other men of genius who have a vulture within, goading them to action and devouring the current of life, Mr. Black had a con- stitutional malady which preyed upon his spirits. He was often sad, perhaps murmured, unwisely demanding why he was so smitten. But it is said of him, in the beautiful tribute to be found in the early part of this memoir, that he looked up in the dying hour and saw that all was right : his gloom vanished, and the darkness of this world gave way to the light of another, where the children of the Most High are exempt from suffering.
The author was acquainted with Mr. Black. They spent an evening together, more than twenty years ago, at the hospitable mansion of a well-known citizen .* He was all that has been claimed for him in the vivacity of his wit and the art of making others happy by his conversation. He was then in the zenith of his manhood, apparently free from disease, and bade fair to survive the humble invalid who now dictates this grateful offering to his memory. Mr. Black died in the forty-third year of his age, mourned by his relatives and lamented by his country.
.
V.
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL.
Tms gentleman was born on the 17th day of February, 1787, in the State of North Carolina, and graduated at Chapel Hill University in 1806. The next year he came to Georgia, and read law in the office of Judge Griffin, of Wilkes county, having, at the same time, charge of a female academy. Compelled by ill health to resign his practice, Judge Griffin transferred it to Mr. Camp- bell, who in due time became prominent and successful at the bar.
Mr. Campbell was elected Solicitor-General of the Western Cir- cuit on the 10th of November, 1816. At the expiration of his term of office he was elected a Representative in the Legislature from Wilkes county. His course proving satisfactory to his con- stituents, they re-elected him the three succeeding years. During this time he formed a professional connection with Garnett An-
* The late General Blackshear of Laurens county.
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drews, Esq., who attended to all the court-business in his absence, thereby enabling him to devote his time to the public service. Mr. Campbell has the honor of being the first man in Georgia to intro- duce a bill for the education of females. Though he defended the measure with zeal and ability, a majority of the Legislature did not concur with him in opinion, and it was defeated. He was in- dustrious in his habits, liberal in his views, and ever watchful of the public interests,-especially for the diffusion of knowledge among the masses as an element of public happiness and prosperity. His character as an intelligent, trustworthy man secured him a com- mission from the General Government which has rendered his name conspicuous before the country.
On the 16th of July, 1824, Col. Duncan G. Campbell and Maj. James Meriwether were appointed, by President Monroe, Commis- sioners to form a treaty with the Creek Indians for the sale of their lands in Georgia and Alabama. It is unnecessary to notice here the difficulties in the way, the preparation for the treaty, the postponement at the instance of the Agent, the correspondence with the War Department, and the instructions given to the Com- missioners, and by the latter to the employees of the Government, in arranging for the council at Broken Arrow, in Alabama. On the 7th of December, 1824, the Commissioners met the chiefs, and, through an interpreter, delivered an address, offering an equal quantity of land west of the Mississippi in exchange, and to pay money besides. The reply was not conclusive; and a long talk was made to them, full of kindness, and eloquent in its simplicity. The following is a passage :-
Brothers, we plainly sce, and we know it to be true, from the talks of the President, the Secretary of War, the Governor of Georgia, the Georgia delegation in Congress, and the Legislature of Georgia, for years past, that one of two things must be done :- you must come under the laws of the whites, or you must remove. Brothers, these are not hard proposi- tions. If you intend to be industrious and go to work in earnest, our laws will not be burdensome. But the difference would be so quick and so great that it might at first make you restless and uneasy. But, let you go where you will, a change in your condition will be the study of Christians and the work of the Government. Brothers, we now tell you what we, in the name of your father the President, want you to do. We want the country you now occupy. It is within the limits of Georgia and Alabama. These States insist upon having their lines cleared. The President will do this by giving you a better country, and will aid you in removing, protect you, where you may go, against whites and all others, and give you a solemn guarantee in the title and occupancy of the new country which you may select. We now leave you, to pause, to examine and decide.
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The following closes the reply of the chiefs :-
Brothers, we have already parted with various tracts of our land, until our limits are quite circumscribed : we have barely a sufficiency left us. The proposal to remove beyond the Mississippi we cannot for a moment listen to. Brothers, we have among us aged and infirm men and women, and helpless children, who cannot bear the fatigues of even a day's jour- ney. Shall we, can we, leave them behind us ? The answer is in your own hearts. No! Again : we feel an affection for the land in which we were born ; we wish our bones to rest by the side of our fathers. Con- sidering, then, our now circumscribed limits, the attachments we have to our native soil, and the assurances which we have that our homes will never be forced from us so long as the Government of the United States shall exist, we now positively decline the proposal of a removal beyond the Mississippi, or the sale of any more of our territory. Brothers, we feel gratified by the friendly disposition manifested toward us by you, and, as we meet friendly, so we hope to part.
On the 16th December, the Commissioners met the Indian coun- cil again, and explained several treaties, some before the Revolu- tion, showing that "the lands which the nation occupied were not held by title, but reserved to them simply for hunting-grounds." The exchange of lands was then renewed, acre for acre, -that the United States would pay the sum of $500,000 for all the lands in Alabama and Georgia, or would pay $300,000 as the difference in Georgia alone, besides paying the nation for their improvements and all the expenses of removal. To all this, the Little Prince said, "We should listen to no old treaties ; that at New York the nation gave up land, and that General Washington gave them the balance and told them it was theirs ; and that they never intended to spare another foot." On the 18th, when the Commissioners asked the council if they still hesitated in their determination of ceding lands on no terms, the Big Warrior's deputy answered " that he would not take a houseful of money for his interest in the land," and that this might be taken for a final answer.
Thus the treaty at Broken Arrow failed, as the Commissioners reported, from the insidious means which had been resorted to in exciting the prejudices of the Indians. After adjournment, the Commissioners represented to the Secretary of War that a treaty could be effected with McIntosh and a proper number of chiefs for the lands in Georgia. Accordingly, on the 18th January, 1825, Mr. Calhoun transmitted another commission, under which the treaty of the Indian Springs was held, on the 12th February, 1825.
Transactions attended with more or less difficulty,-menaces on the one hand and defiance on the other,-and a variety of events, -much severe writing, toil, opposition,-all crowned with victory
----
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at last in behalf of Georgia and her gallant defenders, are worthy of note in this memoir, as they were connected with the treaty which Col. Campbell had negotiated. A bare reference to some of them is all that our limits will permit, beginning with the letter of the commissioners to Gov. Troup, announcing the treaty :-
INDIAN SPRINGS, February 13, 1825.
SIR :- Your express has this moment reached us, and delivered your communication covering the proceedings of Congress upon the Indian question. We are happy to inform you that the "long agony is over," and that we concluded a treaty yesterday, with what we consider the na- tion, for nearly the whole country. We enclose you a copy,-also despatches for the Government. These last are addressed to your care, to secure their certain transmission by to-morrow's mail. The original treaty will be conveyed by our secretary (Dr. Meriwether) to Washington City, by the stage leaving Wilkes on Thursday next. We are still in time for ratification by the present Senate, and beg leave to offer you our sincere congratulations upon the more than successful issue of a negotiation in which you have been an ardent co-worker.
With great consideration and respect,
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL,
JAMES MERIWETHER.
1. Letter from Gov. Troup to the Senators and Representatives in Congress from Georgia, in relation to the conduct of the Agent, the threats to injure McIntosh and his chiefs, carly removal of the Indians, organization of the territory, &c. February 17, 1825.
2. Proclamation of Gov. Troup, that the treaty had been rati- fied by the United States Senate, forbidding trespasses on the lands embraced in the treaty, and calling upon all citizens, officers, and magistrates, to observe the provisions of the treaty and to punish all violators thereof. March 21, 1825.
3. Letter from Gen. William McIntosh to Gov. Troup, alluding to the information given by the Agent to the War Department, that chiefs of the lowest grade had signed the treaty, and that there would be hostilities in consequence. March 29, 1825.
4. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. McIntosh, asking his assent to the survey of the lands before removal, and promising protection. March 29, 1825.
5. Letter from Gov. Troup to the Commissioners, stating that the Indians would hold a council for the purpose of taking measures to remove, that an advance-party would explore the country west of the Mississippi, and wanted two thousand dollars to bear expenses. April 4, 1825.
6. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. McIntosh, expressing the opinion that there would be no danger of any hostility in conse- quence of the ratification of the treaty, and that the Commissioners
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had been requested to advance the funds necessary for the ex- ploring-party. April 4, 1825.
7. Letter from Col. Campbell to Gov. Troup, accepting the offer of an advance of two thousand dollars to the Indians, to be reim- bursed out of the treaty-appropriation. April 7, 1825.
8. Letter from Gen. McIntosh to Gov. Troup, assenting to the survey of the lands, and suggesting difficulties instigated by the Agent. April 12, 1825.
9. Memorial of Gen. McIntosh and his chiefs to the Legislature of Georgia, reviewing the history of the tribe, their friendly re- lations with the whites, their intended removal West, and asking donations as the wants and distresses of the Indians and the dig- nity of the State may justify,-concluding thus :- "Friends and Brothers :- We finally assure you that our attachment toward our old friends and neighbors shall never cease, and that we will carry with us the feelings of true and devoted friendship toward the State of Georgia, to the United States, and the Legislature of Georgia. If we should be so happy as to experience any token of their regard, we will teach our children to remember it with grati- tude, and cause it to be handed down to the succeeding generations of our nation, that they may forever know that Georgia was their friend in the hour of distress." April 12, 1825.
10. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. McIntosh, expressing the hope that he would meet the Little Prince and council in good friendship, and a desire that they would all be united in brotherly affection before their removal. April 16, 1825.
11. Letter from Gen. McIntosh to Gov. Troup, stating that "we do hereby absolutely, freely, and fully give our consent to the State of Georgia to have the boundary belonging to said State surveyed at any time the Legislature of Georgia may think proper, which was ceded at the late treaty at the Indian Springs." Signed in behalf of the nation, and by the consent of the chiefs of the same. April 25, 1825.
12. Letter from Brig .- Gen. Alexander Ware, informing Gov. Troup of the murder of McIntosh on the morning of the 30th of April, by the Indians hostile to the treaty, who fired from two to four hundred guns at the house of McIntosh, killing him, burning his houses, carrying off his negroes and other property. The hos- tile party in the nation exceeds four thousand warriors, and the friendly party now reduced to only five hundred. "They implore protection ; they need it; they are constantly coming in,-say the road is covered with others." May 1, 1825.
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13. Letter from Gov. Troup to the President of the United States, relating the death of McIntosh,-" a chieftain whose virtues would have honored any country." The preparations for this tragedy were long notified to the Government in the conduct of the Agent. Atonement shall be made for the death of McIntosh and his friend Tustunnuggee, the old chief of Coweta, who perished with him. May 3, 1825.
14. Letter from Gov. Troup to Joseph Marshall, advising quiet until measures are taken to avenge the death of McIntosh by the whites. May 3, 1825.
15. Letter-from Peggy (wife) and Susannah (daughter) of Gon. McIntosh-to the Commissioners, informing them of the dreadful butcheries of the hostile Indians, the killing of Col. Samuel Hawkins, distressed situation of the friendly Indians, destitute women and children flying to the white settlements. May 3, 1825.
16. Orders of Gov. Troup to Major-Generals Wimberly, Shorter, and Miller to hold their divisions in readiness to march at a moment's warning, either by detachments or otherwise, as may be commanded by authority of the Legislature or the Executive. May 5, 1825.
17. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. Ware, to provide for the comfortable maintenance of the friendly Indians who had taken refuge in the white settlements, the expense to be borne by Georgia in the first instance and reimbursed by the United States. May 5, 1825.
18. Letter from Gov. Troup to the Secretary of War, enclosing a copy of Gen. Ware's letter, and notifying him that measures had been adopted for the protection of the frontiers, and for the safety of the friendly Indians, until the authority of the United States can be effectually interposed for these objects; and that the expenses incurred will be chargeable to the United States. May 5, 1825.
19. Letter from Brig .- Gen. McDonald to Gov. Troup, giving information, on the authority of Mr. Freeman, that the Indians had determined to take the life of the Agent,-both parties being hostile to him,-and advising that military supplies be furnished the Agent, to enable liim, with three or four hundred Indians who would stand up to him, to defend themselves. May 6, 1825.
20. Letter from Gov. Troup to the Secretary of War, enclosing copy of letter from Gen. McDonald, and stating that up to date not a word had been heard from the Agent. May 9, 1825.
21. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. McDonald, referring to a
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letter from the Agent to Mr. Bozeman, published that morning, the contents of which being inconsistent with the representations made by Mr. Freeman, the measures taken for the safety of the Agent will be arrested, there being no prospect of danger to him, from his own admissions. May 10, 1825.
22. Affidavit of Francis Flournoy, who was in Gen. McIntosh's house at the murder and burning : from two to four hundred Indians surrounded the house about daylight, set a guard round it, fired the buildings, and shot fifty bullets into the general and as many into Tustunnuggee. The females and children were stripped of their clothing, the premises plundered of every thing valuable, carried off all they could, and destroyed the balance. May 16, 1825.
23. Presentments of the Grand Jury of the United States Cir- cuit Court for the District of Georgia, recommending a strict investigation of the Indian atrocities and the conduct of persons concerned, and the punishment of the authors, perpetrators, aiders, and abettors of the crimes committed, and that adequate protection and succor be afforded to the fugitive. Indians while danger con- tinues, and that copies of the presentments be certified to the President of the United States, and to the Governor of Georgia. May Term, 1825.
24. Statement of facts by twenty-four chiefs, friends of McIn- tosh, in which it is denied that McIntosh or his party, or any council of the nation, ever made a law "that, if any Indian chief should sign a treaty of any lands to the whites, that he should certainly suffer death ;" so that this pretext for the murder of McIntosh is false. May 17, 1825.
25. Letter from Gov. Troup to the chiefs, stating,-
I hope that the worst is over. 'Tis true that McIntosh and his friends who have been so cruelly murdered cannot be restored to life; but the Great Spirit, who is also good and merciful, will look down upon your sufferings with pity and compassion. He will wipe the tears from your eyes, and soften the hearts of even your enemies among the whites; so that if your Great Father [the President] should turn his car from your complaints, or shall fail to punish the white men who, in his name, have disturbed your peace and brought the heaviest afflictions upon you, he will have to answer for it both to his white children and the Great Spirit. It cannot be doubted, therefore, that all will yet be right. In the mean time, continue to do as I have advised you, and until you hear from me. My officers everywhere are ordered to take care of you and make you com- fortable. May 21, 1825.
26. Message of Gov. Troup to the Legislature (special session)
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on the subject of the treaty and the disposition of the lands. Referring to the Indians, he said :-
Having their own pledge that the peace should be kept among them- selves, I wished to see no interruption of it by the Georgians; and, honor- ably for them, there has been none. I verily believe that, but for the insidious practices of evil-minded white men, the entire nation would have moved harmoniously across the Mississippi. The massacre of McIn- tosh and his friends is to be attributed to them alone. That chieftain, whose whole life has been devoted to Georgia as faithfully as to his own tribe, fell beneath the blows of the assassins when reposing in the bosom of his family upon the soil of Georgia, -the soil which he had defended against a common enemy and against his own blood, which he had relinquished forever to our just demands, and which he had abandoned to our present use only because we asked it. So foul a murder, perpetrated by a foreign foree upon our territory and within our jurisdiction, called aloud for ven- geance. It was my settled purpose, having first consulted the Government at Washington, to have dealt out the full measure of that vengeance,-so that honor, humanity, justiee, being satisfied, whatever stain may have been left upon our soil, none should upon the pages of our history. May 23, 1825.
With this message the documents from which the foregoing abstract is made were transmitted to the Legislature, besides other papers relating to the negotiations with the Creeks and the mat- ters growing out of them.
27. In the annual message of Gov. Troup, the Indian difficulties, the course of the General Government and of its functionaries from the major-general down, are specially reviewed, and are thus summed up :-
The result of all which is, that, judging the motives and objects of human action by the results, the agents of the United States, whether commissioned for that purpose or not, must have been intent on vindi- cating the conduct of the Agent for Indian Affairs and opening the way for the rupture of the treaty ; for that conduct has been vindicated and approved by them, and all the materials, as it is understood, collected for that rupture, whilst the Indians remain unreconeiled either to one another or to the treaty, and a large portion of them more embittered and exas- perated against the authors of it than ever.
28. Letter from Major-General Edmund Pendleton Gaines to Gov. Troup, acknowledging the receipt of certain correspondence and the instructions to Captain Harrison. June 13, 1825.
29. Orders of Gov. Troup to Captain James Harrison, com- manding Twiggs county cavalry, to repair to the frontier for the protection of our citizens and others, with their property, against the assaults of the enemy, and to chastise all who shall be mad enough to commit aggression. June 10, 1825.
30. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. Gaines, notifying him, before he communicated with his Government or met the Indians
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in convention, that the laws of Georgia were already extended over the ceded territory, and that it was the duty of the Governor to execute them there,-the act of the Legislature on the subject appearing in the morning papers. June 14, 1825.
31. Letter from Gov. Troup to Gen. Gaines, apprizing him that the Governor of Alabama would be requested to join in marking the line between that State and Georgia; and, "if that concert and co-operation be refused, we will proceed to run the line without them, as we will also proceed in due time to make the survey of the lands within our limits, disregarding any obstacles which may be opposed from any quarter." June 13, 1825.
32. Letter from Gen. Gaines to Gov. Troup, stating that, in his conference with the Indians relative to the treaty and the matters springing from its execution, he is "distinctly authorized to state to the Indians that the President of the United States has sug- gested to Gov. Troup the necessity of his abstaining from his entering into and surveying the ceded land until the time pre- scribed by the treaty for their removal." June 14, 1825.
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