USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia, Volume I > Part 23
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219
MOORE'S DESCRIPTION OF SAVANNAH.
in which there are many Bay-trees 80 Foot high. Westward you see the River winding between the Woods, with little Isl- ands in it for many Miles, and Toma-chi-chi's Indian Town stand- ing upon the Southern Banks, between 3 and 4 Miles distance.
" The town of Savannah is built of Wood; all the Houses of the first 40 Freeholders are of the same Size with that Mr. Ogle- thorpe lives in, but there are great Numbers built since, I believe 100 or 150, many of these are much larger, some of 2 or 3 Stories high, the Boards plained and painted. The Houses stand on large Lotts, 60 Foot in Front, by 90 Foot in Depth; each Lott has a fore and back Street to it; the Lotts are fenced in with split Pales ; some few People have Pallisades of turned Wood be- fore their Doors, but the Generality have been wise enough not to throw away their Money which, in this Country, laid out in Husbandry, is capable of great Improvements, though there are several People of good Substance in the Town who came at their own Expence, and also, several of those who came over on the Charity, are in a very thriving way ; but this is observed that the most substantial People are the most frugal, and make the least Shew, and live at the least Expence. There are some also who have made but little or bad Use of the Benefits they re- ceived, idling away their Times, whilst they had their Provisions from the publick Store, or else working for Hire, earning from 2 Shillings, the Price of a Labourer, to 4 or 5 Shillings, the Price of a Carpenter, per diem, and spending that Money in Rum and good Living, thereby neglecting to improve their Lands, so that when their Time of receiving their Provisions from the Publick ceased, they were in no Forwardness to maintain themselves out of their own Lands. As they chose to be Ilirelings when they might have improved for themselves, the Consequence of that Folly forces them now to work for their daily Bread. These are generally discontented with the Country; and if they have run themselves in Debt, their Creditors will not let them go away till they have paid. Considering the Number of People there are but very few of these. The Industrious ones have throve beyond Expectation ; most of them that have been there three Years, and many others, have Houses in the Town, which those that Let have, for the worst, 10€ per annum, and the best let for 30E.
" Those who have eleared their 5 Acre Lotts have made a very great Profit out of them by Greens, Roots, and Corn. Several have improv'd the Cattle they had at first, and have now 5 or 6 tame Cows; others, who to save the Trouble of Feeding them,
220
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
let them go into the Woods, can rarely find them, and when they are brought up, one of them will not give half the Quantity of Milk which another Cow fed near Home will give.
"Their Houses are built at a pretty large Distance from one another for fear of Fire ; the Streets are very wide, and there are great Squares left at proper Distances for Markets and other Con- veniences. Near the Riverside there is a Guard-house inclosed with Palisades a Foot thick, where there are 19 or 20 Cannons mounted, and a continual Guard kept by the Free-holders. This Town is governed by 3 Bailiffs, and has a Recorder, Register, and a Town Court which is holden every six weeks, where all Matters Civil and Criminal are decided by grand and petty Juries as in England ; but there are no Lawyers allowed to plead for Hire, nor no Attornies to take Money, but (as in old times in England) every man pleads his own Cause. In case it should be an Or- phan, or one that cannot speak for themselves, there are Persons of the best Substance in the Town appointed by the Trustees to take care of the Orphans, and to defend the Helpless, and that without Fee or Reward, it being a Service that each that is capa- ble must perform in his turn.
" They have some Laws and Customs peculiar to Georgia ; one is that all Brandies and distilled Liquors are prohibited under severe Penalties ; another is that no Slavery is allowed, nor Ne- groes ; a Third, that all Persons who go among the Indians must give Security for their good Behaviour ; because the Indians, if any Injury is done to them and they cannot kill the man who does it, expect Satisfaction from the Government, which, if not procured, they break out into War by killing the first white Man they conveniently can.
" No Victualler or Ale-house Keeper can give any Credit, so consequently cannot recover any Debt.
" The Free-holds are all entailed which has been very fortunate for the Place. If People could have sold, the greatest part, before they knew the Value of their Lotts, would have parted with them for a trifling Condition, and there were not wanting rich Men who employed Agents to Monopolize the whole Town : And if they had got Numbers of Lotts into their own Hands, the other Free-holders would have had no Benefit by letting their Houses, and hardly of Trade, since the Rich, by means of a large Capital, would underlet and undersell, and the Town must have been al- most without Inhabitants as Port Royal in Carolina is, by the best Lotts being got into a few Hands.
221
MOORE'S DESCRIPTION OF GEORGIA.
" The mentioning the Laws and Customs leads me to take notice that Georgia is founded upon Maxims different from those on which other Colonies have been begun. The Intention of that Colony was an Asylum to receive the distressed. This was the charitable Design, and the governmental View besides that was with Numbers of free white People, well settled, to strengthen the southern Part of the English Settlements on the Continent of America, of which this is the Frontier. It is necessary therefore not to permit Slaves in such a Country, for Slaves starve the poor Labourer. For, if the Gentleman can have his Work done by a Slave who is a Carpenter or a Bricklayer, the Carpenters, or Brick- layers of that country must starve for want of Employment, and so of other Trades.
" In order to maintain many People it was proper that the Land should be divided into small Portions, and to prevent the uniting them by Marriage or Purchase. For every Time that two Lotts are united, the Town loses a Family, and the Inconvenience of this shews itself at Savannah, notwithstanding the Care of the Trus- tees to prevent it. They suffered the Moiety of the Lotts to descend to the Widows during their Lives : Those who remarried to Men who had Lotts of their own, by uniting two Lotts made one to be neglected ; for the strength of Hands who could take care of one, was not sufficient to look to and improve two. These uncleared Lotts are a Nusance to their neighbours. The Trees which grow upon them shade the Lotts, the Beasts take shelter in them, and for want of clearing the Brooks which pass thro' them, the Lands above are often prejudiced by Floods. To pre- vent all these Inconveniences the first Regulation of the Trustees was a strict Agrarian Law, by which all the Lands near Towns should be divided, 50 Acres to each Free-holder. The Quantity of Land by Experience seems rather too much, since it is impos- sible that one poor Family can tend so much Land. If this Alott- ment is too much, how much more inconvenient would the unit- ing of two be ? To prevent it, the Trustees grant the Lands in Tail Male, that on the expiring of a Male-Line they may regrant it to such Man, having no other Lott, as shall be married to the next Female Heir of the Deceased, as is of good Character. This manner of Dividing prevents also the Sale of Lands, and the Rich thereby monopolizing the Country.
" Each Freeholder has a Lott in Town 60 Foot by 90 Foot, be- sides which he has a Lott, beyond the Common, of 5 Acres for a Garden. Every ten Houses make a Tything, and to every Tyth-
222
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
ing there is a Mile Square, which is divided into 12 Lotts, be- sides Roads ; Each Free-holder of the Tything has a Lott or Farm of 45 Acres there, and two Lotts are reserved by the Trus- tees in order to defray the Charge of the Publick. The Town is laid out for two hundred and forty Freeholds ; the Quantity of Lands necessary for that Number is 24 Square Miles ; every 40 Houses in Town make a Ward to which 4 Square Miles in the Country belong ; each Ward has a Constable, and under him 4 Tything Men. Where the Town-Lands end, the Villages be- gin ; four Villages make a Ward without, which depends upon one of the Wards within the Town. The Use of this is, in case a War should happen that the Villages without may have Places in the Town, to bring their Cattle and Families into for Refuge, and to that Purpose there is a Square left in every Ward big enough for the Out-Wards to encamp in. There is Ground also kept round about the Town ungranted, in order for the Fortifi- cations whenever Occasion shall require. Beyond the Villages commence Lotts of 500 Acres ; these are granted upon Terms of keeping 10 Servants, &c. Several Gentlemen who have settled on such Grants have succeeded very well, and have been of great Service to the Colony. Above the Town is a Parcel of Land called Indian Lands ; these are those reserved by King Toma-chi- chi for his People. There is near the Town to the East, a Gar- den belonging to the Trustees, consisting of 10 Acres ; the situa- tion is delightful, one half of it is upon the Top of a Hill, the Foot of which the River Savannah washes, and from it you see the Woody Islands in the Sea. The Remainder of the Garden is the Side and some plain low Ground at the Foot of the Hill where several fine Springs break out. In the Garden is variety of Soils ; the Top is sandy and dry, the Sides of the Hill are Clay, and the Bottom is a black rich Garden Mould, well watered. On the North-part of the Garden is left standing a Grove of Part of the old Wood as it was before the arrival of the Colony there. The Trees in the Grove are mostly Bay, Sassafras, Evergreen Oak, Pellitory, Hickary, American Ash, and the Laurel Tulip.1 This last is looked upon as one of the most beautiful Trees in the World ; it grows straight-bodied to 40 or 50 Foot high ; the Bark smooth and whitish, the Top spreads regular like an Orange- tree in English Gardens, only larger ; the Leaf is like that of a common Laurel, but bigger, and the under-side of a greenish Brown: It blooms about the Month of June ; the Flowers are
1 Magnolia grandiflora, the queen of the Southern forests.
223
PUBLIC GARDEN IN SAVANNAH.
white, fragrant like the Orange, and perfume all the Air around it ; the Flower is round, 8 or 10 Inches diameter, thick like the Orange-Flower, and a little yellow near the Heart : As the Flowers drop, the Fruit, which is a Cone with red Berries, suc- ceeds them. There are also some Bay-trees that have Flowers like the Laurel, only less.
" The Garden is laid out with Cross-walks planted with Orange- trees, but the last Winter a good deal of Snow having fallen, had killed those upon the Top of the Hill down to their Roots, but they being cut down, sprouted again, as I saw when I returned to Savannah. In the Squares between the Walks were vast Quantities of Mulberry-trees, this being a Nursery for all the Province, and every Planter that desires it, has young Trees given him gratis from this Nursery. These white Mulberry- trees were planted in order to raise Silk, for which Purpose sev- eral Italians were brought, at the Trustees' Expence, from Pied- mont by M' Amatis ; they have fed Worms and wound Silk to as great Perfection as any that ever came out of Italy ; but the Italians falling out, one of them stole away the Machines for winding, broke the Coppers, and spoiled all the Eggs which he could not steal and fled to South Carolina. The others, who continued faithful, had saved but a few Eggs, when M' Ogle- thorpe arrived, therefore he forbade any Silk should be wound, but that all the Worms should be suffered to eat through their Balls in order to have more Eggs against next Year. The Italian Women are obliged to take English Girls Apprentices, whom they teach to wind and feed ; and the Men have taught our Eng- lish Gardeners to tend the Mulberry-trees, and our Joyners have learned how to make the Machines for winding. As the Mul- berry-trees increase, there will be a great Quantity of Silk made here.
" Beside the Mulberry-trees there are in some of the Quarters in the coldest part of the Garden, all kinds of Fruit-trees usual in England such as Apples, Pears, &c. In another Quarter are Olives, Figs, Vines, Pomegranates and such Fruits as are natural to the warmest Parts of Europe. At the bottom of the Hill, well- sheltered from the North-wind, and in the warmest part of the Garden, there was a Collection of West-India Plants and Trees. some Coffee, some Cocoa-Nuts, Cotton, Palma-Christi, and several West Indian physical Plants, some sent up by ME Eveliegh a pub- lick-spirited Merchant at Charles-Town, and some by Dr Hous- toun from the Spanish West Indies, where he was sent at the Ex-
224
THIE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
pence of a Collection raised by that curious Physician, Sir Hans Sloan, for to collect and send them to Georgia where the Climate was capable of making a Garden which might contain all kinds of Plants ; to which Design his Grace the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Derby, the Lord Peters, and the Apothecary's Com- pany contributed very generously, as did Sir Hans himself.1 The Quarrels among the Italians proved fatal to most of these Plants, and they were labouring to repair that loss when I was there, Mr. Miller being employ'd in the room of D' Houstoun who died in Jamaica. We heard he had wrote an Account of his having obtain'd the Plant from whence the true Balsamum Capivi is drawn ; and that he was in hopes of getting that from whence the Jesuit's Bark is taken, he designing for that Purpose to send to the Spanish West Indies.
" There is a plant of Bamboo Cane brought from the East Indies, and sent over by Mr. Towers, which thrives well. There was also some Tea seeds which came from the same Place; but the latter, though great Care was taken, did not grow.
" There were no publick Buildings in the Town, besides a Storehouse ; for the Courts were held in a Hut 36 Foot long and 12 Foot wide, made of split Boards, and erected on ME Ogle- thorpe's first Arrival in the Colony. In this Hut also Divine Service was perform'd ; but upon his Arrival this time, ME Ogle- thorpe order'd a House to be erected in the Upper Square, which might serve for a Court House and for Divine Service till a Church could be built, and a Work-house over against it; for as yet there was no Prison here." 2
Having perfected his arrangements to promote the best in- terests of that portion of the colony located upon and near the Savannah River, having ordered Mr. Walter Augustine and Mr. Tolme 3 to complete the survey of the country lying between the Savannah and the Alatamaha rivers with a view to the location and construction of a highway connecting the towns of Savannah and Darien, having " raised fifty Rangers and one hundred work- men " to assist in his contemplated labors on St. Simon's Island, and having sent Captain McPherson " with a Parcel of his Ran-
1 On the 20th of February, 1734, the death of William Houstoun was reported to the trustees, whereupon, on the rec- ommendation of Sir Hans Sloane, Robert Millar was appointed to succeed him as Botanist to the Colony of Georgia, at a salary of £150 per annum.
2 Moore's Voyage to Georgia, pp. 23-33. London. 1744.
3 Mr. Hugh Mackay, Junior, with ten rangers was detailed as an escort, and two pack-horses carried the provisions. Tomo- chi-chi furnished some Indian guides.
225
OGLETHORPE DEPARTS FOR FREDERICA.
gers " overland to support the Highlanders 1 on the Alatamaha, Mr. Oglethorpe, on the 12th of February, 1736, returned to the Symond and the London Merchant, lying at anchor in Tybee Roads.
Finding their captains unwilling to risk their ships without having previously acquired a knowledge of the entrance into Jekyll Sound, he bought the cargo of the sloop Midnight, which had just arrived, on condition that it should be at once delivered at Frederica, and with the understanding that Captains Cornish and Thomas should go on board of her, acquaint themselves with the coast and entrance, and then return and conduct their vessels to that place. During their absence these ships, - the Symond and the London Merchant, - their cargoes still on board, were to remain at anchor at Tybee Roads, in charge of Francis Moore, keeper of the stores. Mr. Horton and Mr. Tanner, with thirty single men of the colony, and cannon, arms, ammunition, and intrenching tools, were ordered to proceed to the southward in the sloop Midnight. The workmen who had been engaged at Savannah and Tomo-chi-chi's Indians were directed to rendez- vous at convenient points whence they might be transported as occasion required. The sloop sailed for St. Simon's Island on the morning of the 16th, and in the evening of the same day Mr. Oglethorpe set out in the scout-boat 2 to meet that vessel at Jekyll Sound.
Captain Hermsdorf, two of the colonists, some Indians, and Captain Dunbar with his boat accompanied him. Passing through channels, separating the islands from the main, varying in width from two hundred yards to more than a mile, the voyagers now
1 These Highlanders, under the com- mand of Captain Hugh Mackay, were then posted on the Alatamaha River, within one mile and a half of the point where Fort King George formerly stood, and where his majesty's Independent Company had been stationed for several years. The want of supplies and the lack of facile communication with Carolina had obliged that troop to abandon its camp and destroy the fort. Moore's Voyage to Georgia, p. 34. London. 1744.
2 Of one of these scont-boats Mr. Fran- cis Moore furnishes the following descrip- tion : "This was a strong-built, swift Boat, with three swivel Guns and ten Oars, kept for the visiting the River-
Passages and Islands, and for preventing the Incursions of Enemies, or Runaways, from whence it is called Scout-boat. The. Crew is composed of Men bred in Amer- ica, bold and hardy, who lie out in the Woods, and upon the Water, Months to- gether, without a House or Covering. Most of them are good Hunters or Fish- ers. By Killing Deer and other Game they can subsist themselves in case their Provisions should fail ; but indeed, on these Sea Islands no one can starve, since, if at the worst a Man was lost, there are Oysters and Shell-fish enough to sub-ist him."-Voyage to Georgia, p. 20. London. 1744.
15
1
1
226
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
skirted along bluffs clothed with pines, cedars, live-oaks, and vines even to the water's edge, all mirrored in the placid surface of the sea-green estuaries, and again pursued their southward course across bold sounds and through creeks permeating low- lying and wide-extended marshes. Rowing between Wilmington Island and the main, Mr. Oglethorpe paused to inspect the settle- ment of Mr. Lacy. He and five gentlemen had there located their five hundred acre grants, and built their houses near together for mutual protection. These they had palisaded and defended with cannon. Masters and servants composed the garrison, and a guard was mounted every night. Above one hundred acres of land had been cleared in the vicinity of the fort. " Milk, cattle, hogs, garden-stuff and poultry " abounded. This fort commanded the water passage between the islands to Savannah. Mr. Lacy had here experimented in making potash, but finding its produc- tion unprofitable he was then sawing timber for the Sugar Islands, and splitting staves for Madeira. At the " Northward- most point " of Skidoway Island the party again stopped and visited the village, guard-house, and battery of cannon there situ- ated. The free-holders of the island performed guard-duty at the battery, and about thirty acres of rich land in the neighbor- hood had been cleared and cultivated. Leaving Skidoway on the left, and the mouths of Vernon and Ogeechee rivers on the right, and conducted by the master, Captain Ferguson, who was " perfectly acquainted with all the water passages and in the darkest night never missed the way" although there were so many channels as " to make a perfect labyrinth," the scout-boat and her consort pressed forward toward their destination. "Mr. Oglethorpe being in haste," says one of the party, "the men rowed night and day and had no other rest than what they got when a snatch of wind favoured us. They were all very willing, though we met with very boisterous weather. The men vied with each other who should be forwardest to please Mr. Ogle- thorpe. Indeed, he lightened their fatigue by giving them re- freshments which he rather spared from himself than let them want. The Indians, seeing the men hard laboured, desired to take the oars, and rowed as well as any I ever saw, only differing from the others by taking a short and long stroke alternately, which they call the Yamassee stroke."
On the morning of the 18th the island of St. Simon was reached. The sloop Midnight had come in ahead of, and was waiting for, Mr. Oglethorpe. He immediately set all hands to
227
FREDERICA LOCATED.
work. The tall grass growing upon the bluff at Frederica was burnt off, a booth was marked out " to hold the stores, - digging the ground three Foot deep, and throwing up the Earth on each Side by way of Bank, -and a Roof raised upon Crutches with Ridge-pole and Rafters, nailing small Poles across, and thatching the whole with Palmetto-Leaves. Mr. Oglethorpe afterwards laid out several Booths without digging under Ground, which were also covered with Palmetto-Leaves, to lodge the Families of the Colony in when they should come up; each of these Booths was between thirty and forty Foot long, and upwards of twenty Foot wide. . . . We all made merry that Evening, having a plentiful Meal of Game brought in by the Indians.
" On the 19th, in the Morning, Mr. Oglethorpe began to mark out a Fort with four Bastions, and taught the Men how to dig the Ditch, and raise and turf the Rampart. This Day and the following Day were spent in finishing the Houses, and tracing out the Fort." 1
Such was the simple beginning of Frederica.2 Near this town Mr. Oglethorpe fixed the only home he ever owned in the prov- inee. In its defense were enlisted his best energies, military skill, and valor. Brave are the memories of St. Simon's Island. None prouder belong to the colonial history of Georgia.
Three days afterwards arrived from Savannah a periagua with workmen, provisions, and cannon, for the new settlement. Cap- tains Cornish and Thomas returned from the south ward to Tybee Roads on the 26th and, although persuaded of the fact that there was ample water for the conveyance of their vessels to Frederica, still refused to conduct the Symond and the London Merchant to the southward. Mr. Oglethorpe was compelled, against his will, to order that their cargoes should be unloaded into the Peter and James, which could not carry above one hundred tons, and that the remainder be transferred in sloops to Savannah for safe storage until opportunity offered for conveying it to its original destination. He was also forced to the great inconvenience and expense of collecting periaguas 3 sufficient for the transportation of the colonists from Tybee Roads to St. Simon's Island.
These preliminary labors having been inaugurated at Frederica,
1 Moore's Voyage to Georgia, etc., p. 44. London. 1744.
2 Named by Oglethorpe and the trus- tees after Frederick, Prince of Wales.
3 " Long, flat-bottomed boats carrying from 20 to 35 tons. They have a Kind
of a Forecastle and a Cabbin : but the rest open, and no Deck. They have two Masts which they can strike, and Sails like Schooners. They row generally with two Oars only." - Moore's Voyage to Georgia, p. 49. London. 1744.
LOTTE
228
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
Mr. Oglethorpe set out on his return to the mouth of the Savan- nah to superintend the transfer of passengers and stores. Deflect- ing from his direct course that he might see the Highlanders at Darien, so soon as his boat came in sight he was saluted by all the men " under arms." These Highlanders were not a little rejoiced to welcome Mr. Oglethorpe, to learn that a town was to be settled so near them, and to be assured that direct communi- cation by land would soon be established between that point and Savannah. Although invited by Captain Hugh Mackay, the commander of the settlement, " to lie in his Tent where there was a Bed and Sheets (a Rarity as yet in this Part of the World) Mr. Oglethorpe excused himself, chusing to lie at the Guard Fire, wrapt in his Plad, for he wore the Highland Habit. Capt. Mackay and the other Gentlemen did the same, tho' the Night was cold." With the condition of affairs at New Inverness he was well pleased, and congratulated the Scotchmen upon their industry, progress, and soldierly appearance.
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