USA > Georgia > The bench and bar of Georgia: memoirs and sketches. With an appendix, containing a court roll from 1790-1857, etc., volume II > Part 32
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son, a young lady of distinguished merit and beauty, daughter of Miller Woodson, Esq. Soon after his marriage, he fixed his resi- dence in the town of Eatonton, Putnam county. Of his success, whether immediate or gradual, in his profession during the first few years of his practice, the author has no certain information. It is presumed, however, from circumstances, that it was quite fair, and adequate to the wants of a growing family ; for we soon find him bidding adieu to his lovely wife and babes for the hardships of the camp. His country called, and he made the sacrifice. A companion in arms *- ,-one whom he loved as a brother, and who was admitted to the bar with him-has communicated to the author the following particulars :-
The Ocmulgee circuit, which now comprises the central counties of the State, was then a frontier-region, to which the Indian right of occu- pancy had but recently been extinguished ; but the soil and climate gave assurance that it would soon be inhabited by a dense and thrifty popula- tion, among whom our young aspirant for professional distinction deter- mined to take up his abode. Some time in the year 1809, he established himself at Eatonton, the seat of justice for the county of Putnam, where he continued to reside until the rapidly-increasing population and com- merce of Macon promised, as he supposed, a better theatre for his future operations. It is not quite certain that his removal to Macon was a fortunate one : at any rate, after the lapse of a few years he gave prefer- ence to another home, at Perry, the court-house village of Houston county, where he passed the residue of his life.
When the war of 1812 was declared by the United States against Great Britain, Mr. Strong had begun to realize the fruits of a growing practice, which the comfortable support of a young and interesting family required him to cultivate and enlarge by unremitting attention to his office ; but, heartily approving the belligerent measures of his Government, he determined to take a part in the first campaign to which the troops of Georgia might be summoned. In the fall of 1813, a requisition was made by the Federal Government on the Executive of Georgia, in response to which three thousand six hundred men, chiefly volunteers, were detailed from the body of our militia and ordered to rendezvous at Fort Hawkins, a frontier-station on the left bank of the Ocmulgee River, near the place on which the city of Macon has since been built. Here Mr. Strong, then bearing the commission of lieutenant, took his place in a squadron of six hundred dragoons commanded by Major Frederick Freeman. This army, comprising much of the young and ardent chivalry of Georgia, was placed under the command of Brigadier-General John Floyd, of whose gallantry and accomplishments all were justly proud, and had orders to march with- out delay against the Creek Indians, a tribe that numbered many thousand warriors, who had been seduced into alliance with Great Britain.
The first encounter with the enemy took place on a spacious plain at the two towns of Autossee and Tallisee, situated on the left bank of the Tallapoosa River, not far above the confluence with the Coosa, in the (then) Territory of Alabama. In a desperate charge on one of the Indian
* Major Joel Crawford.
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towns, Lieutenant Strong had his horse shot under him, and many of his companions in arms fell ; but the survivors had the gratification of seeing the enemy completely routed and their towns laid in ashes. Some weeks afterward, General Floyd met the enemy in great force near a large creek called Cauleebe. The action took place in the night, in which the troops exhibited more than wonted courage, and with the accustomed result of complete victory. Lieutenant Strong's corps being absent on a foraging- party, he could take no other part in the battle than the duties of staff- officer, and, that he might act in the most effective position, tendered his services to the general as field-aid for the occasion.
Lieutenant Strong's professional status conferred on him peculiar qualifi- cations for the office of judge-advocate, the duties of which he performed during the campaign. As a reward for these meritorious services, he was subsequently elected by the General Assembly to a high berth in the general staff of the State's militia, with the rank, title, and pay of lieute- nant-colonel. He did not remain, however, long in this office, having in the fall of 1817 (as well as I remember) been elected Judge of the Superior Court for the Ocmulgee circuit, and afterward to the same office in the Flint circuit. His popularity was so decidedly strong that he seldom failed in a canvass for an office until the infirmities of age began to manifest themselves, and until the progress of general scholarship, and especially that of the profession of law, brought better-educated and abler men on the stage of active life.
Judge Strong's politics were derived from the Republican school of Jefferson ; and no citizen of this State advocated with more persevering uniformity the progress of wholesome reform. During the twenty years' struggle for the institution of a Supreme Court of Judicature, he was found among the active supporters of that measure. To one who knows what is properly meant by a "judiciary system," and a stranger to the vile op- position that was made to this indispensable reform, it would seem in- credible that men could be found, in this or in any other civilized state, stupid or depraved enough to war against the establishment of a Supreme Court for the correction of errors. Amid the hurry and disturbances of a circuit-administration, the most accomplished and righteous judge is liable to be betrayed into misconceptions of the law; much more one who may be deficient in both moral and mental endowments,-acting under assurances, too, that his decisions are conclusive, because subject to no revision, not even the responsibility which arises from an accurate report and publication of his judgments. Yet it is certainly true that, under the drill of demagogues and party tools, the people were taught to decry the institution as useless, if not dangerous to civil liberty. When the measure was at length carried in the General Assembly, the same timor- ous folly and wayward perverseness found means to clog it with con- ditions which, in subjecting the officers of court to useless labor, privation, and expense, have essentially impaired its value to the country.
The subject of this sketch was at all times distinguished by great generosity and frankness. Selfishness, duplicity, and avarice were strangers to his bosom; whilst courage of a high order served him in every emer- gency. Few men had more pleasure in the companionship of friends and scenes of hospitality ; in few were the professions of friendship more sincere.
After this full and satisfactory sketch by a gentleman so com- petent, it is unnecessary to add further remarks on the legal career
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of Judge Strong. The author thinks proper to say, however, that after the Supreme Court was established, and Judge Strong attended the first term in 1846, the judge, after closing his argu- ment, addressed a few observations to the court, which, coming from one so venerable and so highly respected, were received in the kindest spirit by the talented judges on the bench,-Lumpkin, Nisbet, and Warner. The substance of Judge Strong's remarks, as stated to the author, was about this :- "May it please your Honors :- My experience at the bar dates back near forty years. I thank God that my life has been spared to this hour to behold a tribunal for the correction of errors. I can adopt the language of one of old, with slight variation, and say, Now, Lord, let thy servant depart in peace ; for mine eyes have beheld the salvation of the Judiciary of Georgia." He then bowed gracefully to the court, and retired. It was a scene of moral grandeur; and it touched every heart. The response of Judge Lumpkin was in his usual felicitous style. The author regrets that he is not in pos- session of the precise remarks of both parties, that he might gratify his readers with a specimen of elegant courtesies.
Without attempting a connected narrative, the author will merely glance at a few prominent passages in the life of Judge Strong, which will show his true character.
In the year 1821, Gov. Clark, for some cause, declared the office of Secretary of State vacant, and appointed a successor to Col. Abner Hammond, whose term had not expired; nor had he tendered his resignation. Col. Hammond, feeling himself aggrieved, and that he had been deprived of his office without authority of law, applied, through his counsel, to Judge Strong, then presiding in the Ocmulgee circuit, for a mandamus requiring the Governor to reinstate him in his public trust. Judge Strong granted the writ, and on the hearing sustained the process,-thus restoring Col. Hammond against the whole weight and influence of the Executive. It was a proceeding in which the ardent feelings of Gov. Clark were actively enlisted ; but the stern and virtuous judge made no distinction as to the rank of parties. It was sufficient for him that the law had been disregarded, and that he was applied to for the corrective. His opinion was extensively published at the time, and has been reproduced in pamphlet form, by direction of the Legislature, in a recent case, wherein Gov. Towns was made the subject of a mandamus, as may be seen by the case of Low vs. Towns, Governor, &c., in the eighth volume of Georgia Reports. The author has not succeeded in obtaining a copy of Judge Strong's
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opinions, so as to show the material points involved. In reference to it, the author received the following note from Major Joel Crawford :-
I was confined to a bed of sickness at Milledgeville when Hammond's mandamus case was argued and determined. Of course, I witnessed nothing of it; but it was certainly one of those cases that might shake the nerves of a timorous judge, because of its novelty, and the standing and character of the parties. According to the public opinion of that day, the judge acquitted himself with great credit.
In the heated controversy between Gov. Troup and President Adams in 1825, growing out of the treaty of the Indian Springs, Judge Strong was a zealous supporter of "Troup and the Treaty." The death of McIntosh and other chiefs, inflicted by the people of their own tribe for signing the treaty, caused Gov. Troup to institute a severe scrutiny into the conduct of Col. John Crowell, the United States Agent for Indian Affairs, who, it was suspected, had encouraged the opposition of the Indians to the treaty and had connived at the murder of the chiefs. It would be tedious here to notice all the occurrences which influenced Gov. Troup in this matter. The President had despatched Col. T. P. Andrews as Special Agent, and Major-General E. P. Gaines in the twofold capacity of High-Commissioner and Military Chief,-in the first to try negotiation, and, that failing, then to employ the force of the General Government to bring Gov. Troup and the State of Georgia into subjection. It is known that the conflict was possible, and that the people were highly excited. As the correspondence pro- gressed, the dispute became more bitter. For offensive language, Gov. Troup had suspended all official intercourse with the Special Agent and the High-Commissioner. The Governor had abundant reasons to justify this apparently harsh course. Among a number of affidavits of the most respectable citizens is the following by Judge Strong, which is copied entire, as an index to the times :-
GEORGIA, BIBB COUNTY .- Personally appeared before me Christopher B. Strong, of the State and county aforesaid, who, being duly sworn, saith, on the 11th day of August, in the year 1825, at the Indian Springs in the county of Monroe, in said State, he heard a conversation commence between Gen. Edmund P. Gaines, of the United States army, and Milton Cooper, of Putnam, in which Gen. Gaines appeared to manifest much passion ; and, after this deponent got near enough to hear what was said, he heard the gene- ral say, "He is a demagogue ; his partisans are demagogues ; he is guilty of treason, and the commissioners have stated wilfully falsely,"-or words to that effect. I was informed, by several gentlemen then present, that the former epithets were used in relation and applied to Gov. Troup, of Georgia. A severe controversy ensued betwixt the general and myself, which it is unnecessary here to detail.
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This deponent further saith that, from what passed at that time, he has no doubt but that the first-mentioned expressions were used by General Gaines in direct relation to Governor Troup.
CHRISTOPHER B. STRONG.
Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 23d day of October, in the year of our Lord Christ 1825.
ELI S. SHORTER, Judge of the Superior Court.
Here further notice of that celebrated contest, in which the Exe- cutive of Georgia was triumphant, will be forborne. As Judge Strong was a public witness adduced to the Legislature, his testi- mony has been deemed pertinent to this memoir.
In 1828, Judge Strong was elected to the bench of the Flint circuit, and again in 1831. A very exciting trial came on before him at the Fall Term in 1832. In August of that year, Henry Byrom killed Thomas M. Ellis in the city of Macon. The accused was a noted gambler, and was supported by a powerful influence growing out of the failure of the Bank of Macon, of which Mr. Ellis had the chief control, as one of the directors, when it suspended payment. Byrom was a desperate, bloodthirsty man, who pre- tended to have been injured by the failure of the bank and that Mr. Ellis had denied him redress. At early dawn, as Ellis was on his way to the market-house, Byrom met him in the street and used some insulting remark. Ellis, constitutionally fearless, raised his cane as if to strike, when Byrom drew a pistol and shot him through the body. The slayer was committed to prison. Great and persevering efforts were made to discharge him on bail, without success. Byrom's friends, paying large fees, had secured the ablest counsel at the bar. Washington Poe, Esquire, was the Solicitor- General, and manfully battled for the public justice.
The trial opened : the witnesses were examined, and the counsel on both sides heard. A rumor was afloat that, in the event of conviction, a rescue would be attempted in the court-room, and that the prisoner, at the moment the verdict was delivered, would shoot the judge, and then the uproar would commence. This had reached the ears of Judge Strong. He provided himself with a brace of pistols, charged the jury with firmness, and continued in his seat, with a pistol in each hand concealed under his cloak, until the return of the jury. While their names were called, he kept his eyes fixed on the prisoner, and had determined, if the verdict had been " guilty" and the prisoner had made the slightest demonstration, to have shot him dead in the box. But he was spared the dreadful alternative. These facts the author had from the lips of Judge
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Strong himself. Byrom was soon afterward killed in Milledge- ville, by the proprietor of McComb's hotel, in self-defence.
The character of Judge Strong for high moral courage in the discharge of his duty was so well known that his name was honor- ably presented under these circumstances. Mr. Webster, as Secre- tary of State during part of Mr. Tyler's administration, had in- quired of members of Congress from Georgia if they knew any gentleman of their State, of resolute character, suitably qualified in other respects for the office of Judge of the district courts of Florida, who would administer law faithfully and check that spirit of outrage which had lately broken out in lynching persons to death, burning court-houses and the public records, and defying the criminal justice of the Territory. The reply was, that if Judge Strong could be prevailed on to accept he would be the very man for the station. His peculiar qualities were then stated to the Secretary, and through him to the President,-all without his know- ledge. Whether Judge Strong ever received any official communi- cation on the subject, the gentleman* who gave the author these facts was not advised.
As a politician, Judge Strong always belonged to the State- Rights school, of which Mr. Jefferson and Gov. Troup were the exponents each in his day. The greatest State-Rights meeting ever held in Georgia was at Milledgeville, on the 13th November, 1833, over which Judge Strong presided,-truly a distinguished honor, of which he retained a pleasant recollection to the close of his life. As the proceedings of this meeting are noticed at con- siderable length in the memoir of Gen. R. A. Beall, in this work, the author will omit them here.
Judge Strong was a supporter of Mr. Clay for the Presidency in 1844. In the spring of that year, while making a speech at his public reception in Macon in reply to Mr. Poe, the Mayor, Mr. Clay pleasantly alluded to his friend Judge Strong as a witness to certain things in Virginia, connected with parties, thirty or forty years ago. Then, turning to Judge Strong with a smile, he apolo- gized for classing him with old men, as he (Mr. Clay) knew that his friend was a widower, and therefore, while such, could never become old.
At the request of the author, a nephewt of Mrs. Strong gave the following particulars relative to the family of the judge :-.
* Hon. Lott Warren.
¡ Dr. Creed Taylor Woodson.
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Samuel Strong, the father of C. B. Strong, married a Miss De Graf- fenreid, a sister of the wife of Miller Woodson, who was the father of Lucy Ann Woodson, who married her cousin, C. B. Strong. On his mother's side his ancestors were from Switzerland. The De Graffenrcids were and are among the nobility of that country. His great-grandfather was a baron of Switzerland. In reading the history of North Carolina, you will find mention made of De Graffenreid who had a grant from Queen Anne for a large domain of land in North Carolina, where New Berne (Newbern) now stands. He gave the name to that place. Afterward, before things were properly maturcd, he embarked for Switzerland, and died on the way. While in this country, he was taken prisoner by the Indians; and the only thing that saved him from their cruel butchery was the coat of arms he wore in his bosom, which induced the savages to believe that he was a king, and it being against their laws to kill a king.
In another part of the same letter, the writer says of Judge Strong :-
He removed from Eatonton to Macon in the year 1825, where he resided about twenty years; from thence to Perry, Houston county; and, a short time before his decease, to Vienna, Dooly county. As to the papers and letters belonging to C. B. Strong, I presume they are all in Perry. I have made no examination of them. C. T. Strong, I expect, will take charge of them. If any of them are of service to you, of course you can get them. I believe I have now answered all of your questions. Joel Crawford, an old friend, can give you more information relative to Judge Strong than probably any one else can of my acquaintance.
In Wheeler's History of North Carolina, under the head of "Craven county," (p. 110,) is the following paragraph :-
Its capital is Newbern, one of the largest and oldest towns in the State, beautifully located at the confluence of the Neuse and Trent Rivers. It derives its name from Bern, the place of nativity of Christopher Baron de Graaffenreidt, who, in 1709, emigrated to this State and settled near this place. He had purchased of the Lords-Proprietors ten thousand acres of land for ten pounds sterling for every thousand acres and five shillings quit-rent. In the month of December, 1710, the Palatines, as they were called, landed in Carolina, and fifteen hundred Swiss. The fatal attack of the Indians already alluded to, in 1711, had like to have destroyed this colony, which was a great acquisition to North Carolina. De Graaffenreidt and Lawson, the surveyor of the Colony and its earliest historian, while ascending the Neuse were seized by the Indians. Lawson was massacred, and the baron narrowly escaped. He became disgusted with the country, and sold his interest to Thomas Pollock for £800, and returned to Switzerland.
In relation to family ties, it may be stated that Nathaniel W. Henry, a son of the celebrated Patrick Henry, married a sister of Mrs. Strong. This led to a visit from her nephew, the grandson of the illustrious orator, who was persuaded by his uncle and aunt in Macon to spend several months with them, or within visiting-
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distance, before his return to Virginia. The trustees of the Marion Academy, in Twiggs county, engaged young Patrick Henry to take charge of their institution if upon trial he was pleased with the employment. Knowing the anxiety of a father respecting an absent son, the author wrote a letter, to which the following is a reply :-
LEAKSVILLE, N.C., June 20, 1832.
DEAR SIR :- I would solicit your pardon for the delay which has occurred in replying to your invaluable favor of the 19th ult. That a single moment should have been lost in acquitting myself of so high an obligation is to me a source of no inconsiderable self-reproach.
Believe me, dear sir, that I not only appreciate, but do even idolize, the motive which prompted your late communication. The thoughtful civility of the gentleman, and the benign, endearing spirit of the philan- thropist, so conspicuously displayed therein, will lay my heart under tribute to your name through the remaining days allotted to me in this life.
To have received from a well-known friend the testimonials you present in behalf of my son's honorable conduct, popularity, and prospects, would have afforded me a delightful solace, an exulting gratification. But proceeding, as it does, from a remote stranger, evincing the warmest personal interest in the fortunes of his son, so favorably spoken of, this testimonial becomes transcendent in value, and exerts upon my sensibili- ties an effect absolutely overpowering.
Being thus checred and enraptured by the intelligence in your late letter respecting my dear boy, you may well infer, dear sir, that the precious news required no apology for its communication. Rather might I be deemed a stoic or a barbarian if my bosom withheld a fervid response of gratitude and homage for what you have been pleased to write me in a manner so ingenuous and pregnant with sublimated sentiment. Upon the whole, dear sir, propriety seems to exact from me an apology for the enthusiastic emotions elicited by your letter. It is only by substituting yourself in my situation that you could so realize as to tolerate the parental feeling which transports me on the present occasion.
When Patrick pioneered his way into Georgia through the rigors of the last winter, the highest, the fondest appreciation of his merits forbade the hope of his being destined to attract so largely the patronage of her sons. From the generosity and commanding influence of his uncle, Judge Strong, I knew he would derive very material facilities to advance- ment. I could scarcely dream, however, that such a host of generous and distinguished citizens held themselves in readiness to emulate the judge's devotion and unite with him in raising the dear boy to a station in business and an attitude in society wellnigh too conspicuous for his years.
Among those gentlemen I shall ever cherish Judge Warren and your- self as prominent friends of my son, who, in fostering him with so much kindness, have appropriately testified their civic veneration for the memory of his immortal ancestor. Allow me then, dear sir, to lay emphasis on the gratification it affords to number you among the patrons and associates of my son. From him I have long since learnt your standing as a gentleman
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and your distinction in the wide circle of all those attainments connected with legal science.
May I therefore solicit your courtesies toward him in the bland, imposing capacity of a mentor ? By the treasures of your library, the lights of your conversation, and personal attentions in the social circle, you may be enabled to exert a salutary agency in maturing the intellect and taste of a youth who entertains for you the strongest predilections.
I am, dear sir, both humbled and animated by the deferential terms in which you express your feelings toward the sons of Patrick Henry. While it is their highest pride to see the memory of such a father idolized by " AN ADMIRING WORLD," and especially by the patriot-illumined spirits of our own land, they cannot but lament their own comparative unworthi- ness,-their inability, in a word, to achieve for the human race the least of his mighty triumphs. Those who claim descent from a great man, if possessed of well-tempered, philosophic feeling, have perhaps as much to depress as exalt them in their own estimation. Unless (which is rarely the case) they inherit the ancestral talent with the name, their nearest approximation to the parent must necessarily be in copying after some of his virtues.
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