USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia, Volume I > Part 8
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1 Garcilasso de la Vega says two fathoms.
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64
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
ficial shell-heaps still attest how industriously in that olden time these margatiferous shells were collected by primitive peoples, who valued them not only for their flesh, but also for the glisten- ing beads they contained, and for their iridescent coverings from which various ornaments were manufactured. When pounded they were kneaded with clay and tended materially to give con- sistency and strength to the pottery of the region.
The denudation of the banks of these streams, and the destruc- tion of extensive forests in reducing wild lands to a state of culti- vation, have caused marked changes in the animal life of the country.
" Before these fields were shorn and tilled, Full to the brim our rivers flowed."
Limpid then, with constant volumes they pursued their accus -. tomed channels. Subsequently, becoming turbid with the soil washed from the slopes of a hundred hills, and no longer fed with regularity by well shaded and pure springs, but at one time en- feebled by drought and at another engorged by torrents, these streams have for many years been liable to sudden and violent fluctuations. Multitudes of margatiferous unios have consequently been torn from their habitats by unruly currents, and imbedded beyond life in sand bars and muddy deposits. The stable bot- toms upon which they rested and multiplied have been rendered both uncertain and unwholesome. Thus has it come to pass that a marked extinction of such animal life has ensued.
A melancholy occurrence which took place while the army was at Chiaha is thus narrated by Theodore Irving 1 in his "Conquest of Florida : "-
" A cavalier, one Luis Bravo de Xeres, strolling, with lance in hand, along a plain bordering on the river, saw a small animal . at a short distance, and launched his weapon at it. The lance missed the mark; but, slipping along the grass, shot over the river bank. Luis Bravo ran to recover his lance, but to his horror found it had killed a Spaniard who had been fishing with a reed on the margin of the river at the foot of the bank. The steel point of the lance had entered one temple and come out at the other, and the poor Spaniard had dropped dead on the spot. His name was Juan Mateos ; he was the only one in the expedi- tion that had gray hairs, from which circumstance he was called father Mateos, and respected as such. His unfortunate death was lamented by the whole army."
1 Quoting from Garcilasso de la Vega.
65
DEPARTURE FROM CHIAHA.
A month had well-nigh elapsed since the arrival of the Span- ianls at Chiaha. The men were entirely rested and the horses were again in good order. The governor resolved to take up the line of march for Coça on the Coosa River. Before leaving, yield- ing to the importunity of some in his command "who wanted more than was in reason," he asked from the cacique thirty women that he might take them with him in the capacity of slaves. The chief responded that he would consult with his principal men. Informed of the demand, and before answer had been made to it, the inhabitants fled by night from the town, taking their women and children with them. Although the ca- cique professed his regret at the course his people had pursued, and acknowledged his inability to control them, the governor, with thirty mounted men and as many foot soldiers, went in pur- suit of the fugitives. In passing the towns of some of the chiefs who had absconded he cut down and destroyed their maize fields. Proceeding along up the stream he found the natives congregated upon an island in the river to which his cavalry could not pene- trate. By an Indian he sent them word that if they would return and furnish him with some tamemes, he would not disturb their women, seeing in what special affection they were held. Upon this assurance they all came back to their homes.
Parting from the cacique of Chiaha with kind words, and hav- ing received from him some slaves as a gift, De Soto set out with his companions down the valley of the Coosa, and was soon, with- out further incident of moment, beyond the confines of the pres- ent State of Georgia. He had entered this territory early in March, 1540, and departed from it on the second day of July in the same year.
Thus did these mail-clad Spaniards, - the first Europeans who traversed the soil of Georgia, beheld the primal beauties of her forests, rivers, plains, and mountains, participated in the hospital- ities of her primitive peoples, and sought but found not the treasures hidden within her bosom, -disappointed, yet not de- spairing, pass onward in quest of richer native lords and goodlier countries ..
We may not follow them even until that day when, amid the smoke and thunder of battle at Mauvila, they barely escaped de- struction at the hands of the lion-hearted Alibamons. It lies not within our purpose to accompany them as, impeded by tangled brake, morass, and stream, often pinched by hunger, frequently opposed by the red warriors, now buoyed up by hope, again
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66
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
oppressed by apprehension, they painfully groped their way through vast and unknown regions this side and even beyond the Meschachepi. In the end, their golden visions vanished, the body of their leader silently and in darkness entombed in the Father of Waters, few in numbers and broken in spirit, their munitions exhausted, the survivors of this famous expedition fled from the land wherein they had garnered a harvest only of priva- tion, peril, sorrow, mortification and death.1
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1 Itinerary of Hernando de Soto, while marching through the Territory of the mod- ern State of Georgia, as contained in the True Relation given by a Fidalgo of Elvas. March 3, 1540. Left Anhaica [Talla- hassee, Fla. ? ].
March 7, 1540. Crossed a deep river [Ocklockony ?].
March 9, 1540. Arrived at Capachiqui.
March 21, 1540. Came to Toalli.
March 24, 1540. Left Toalli.
March 25, 1540. Arrived at Achese.
April 1, 1540. Departed from Achese.
April 4, 1540. Passed through the town of Altamaca.
April 10, 1540. Arrived at Ocute.
April 12, 1540 .. Left Ocute.
Passed through a town whose lord was called
Cofaqui, and came to the province of another lord named Patofa.
April 14, 1540. Departed from Patofa.
April 20, 1540. Lost in a pine barren. Six days consumed in fording two riv- ers and in the effort to find a way of escape.
April 26, 1540. Set out for Aymay. Reached Aymay before nightfall. April 28, 1540. Departed for Cutifachi-
qui.
May 3, 1540. Left Cutifachiqui.
May 10, 1540. Arrived at Chelaque.
May 15, 1540. Arrived. at Xnalla.
May 20, 1540. Arrived at Guaxule.
May 22, 1540. Arrived at Canasagua.
June 5, 1540. Arrived at Chiaha.
July 1, 1540. Departed from Chiaha.
CHAPTER III.
GRANT TO THE LORDS PROPRIETORS OF CAROLINA. - EARLY POSTS SOUTH OF THE SAVANNAH RIVER. - SPANISH MINING OPERATIONS IN THE APA- LATCY MOUNTAINS. - MARGRAVATE OF AZILIA. - GOVERNOR MOORE'S EXPEDITION. - MISSION OF SIR ALEXANDER CUMING. - SALE AND SUR- RENDER BY THE LORDS PROPRIETORS.
THE claim of Great Britain to the coast of North America lving between the fifty-sixth and twenty-eighth degrees of north latitude rests upon the discovery of Sebastian Cabot, who, under a commission from and at the charge of the king of England, visited and sailed along that portion of the western continent. After the discovery of Florida by Juan Ponce de Leon, Spain does not appear to have attempted any conquest of that region until the expeditions of Narvaez in 1527 and of De Soto in 1539. By neither of these were any permanent settlements ef- fected. The earliest grant of the lower portion of this terri- tory was made by his majesty King Charles I., in the fifth year of his reign, to Sir Robert Heath, his attorney-general. In that patent it is called Carolina Florida, and the designated limits extended from the river Matheo in the thirtieth degree to the river Passa Magna in the thirty-sixth degree of north lati- tude. There is good reason for believing that actual possession was taken under this patent, and that considerable sums were expended by the proprietor and those claiming under him in the effort to colonize. Whether this grant was subsequently surren- dered, or whether it was vacated and declared null for non user or other cause, we are not definitely informed. Certain it is that King Charles II., in the exercise of his royal pleasure, deemed it proper to make to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina two grants of the same lands, with some slight modifications of boundaries. The last of these grants, bearing date the 30th of June in the seventeenth year of his reign, conveys to the Lords Proprietors all that portion of the New World lying between the thirty-sixth and the twenty-ninth degrees of north latitude. While the English under this concession were industriously engaged in peopling a portion of the coast embraced within the specified limits, it is
68
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
notorious that the Spaniards occupied only St. Augustine and a few adjacent points.
Although in 1670 England and Spain entered into stipulations for composing their differences in America, stipulations which have since been known as the American Treaty, the precise line of separation between Carolina and Florida was not defined. Disputes between these powers touching this boundary were not infrequent. In view of this unsettled condition of affairs, and in order to assert a positive claim to and retain possession of the debatable ground, which neither party was willing either to re- linquish or clearly to point out, the English located and main- tained a small military post on the south end of Cumberland Island, where the St. Mary's River empties its waters into the Atlantic. In 1720, apprehending that the French or Spanish forces would take possession of the Alatamaha River, King George I. ordered General Nicholson, then governor of South Carolina, with a company of one hundred men to secure that
river as being within the bounds of South Carolina, and to erect a fort at some suitable point, with an eye to the protection of his majesty's possessions in that quarter and the control of the navigation of that stream. The fort was located near the con- fluence of the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers and was named King George. Having been accidentally destroyed by fire, it was sub- sequently rebuilt at the expense of the province of South Caro- lina, but in an insubstantial manner. The garrison clamored for better accommodations. The locality, lonely and uninteresting at best, proved very unhealthy. The soldiers refused to exert themselves in procuring wholesome water, neglected to plant gardens, and proved insubordinate when ordered to prepare in- closures for cattle which General Nicholson proposed to send to them. They were so lazy that they would not even fish and hunt. Within a few years the post was abandoned. In 1727 the Crown was memorialized to reinstate this fort, as an evidence of English proprietorship in the territory, and to relieve the gar- rison at stated intervals from Port Royal. Orders were, in 1729, issued to Governor Robert Johnson, who had been appointed royal governor of South Carolina in the room of Nicholson with the full authority of captain-general and commander-in-chief, to reestablish this deserted post on the Alatamaha. They were never carried into effect. It was contemplated also to lay out two towns on the Alatamaha, but this purpose failed of execu- tion. Upon these efforts of the English to maintain a show of
69
SPANISH MINING OPERATIONS.
ocenpancy within the disputed territory the Spaniards looked for til while with an eye of seeming indifference.
By the treaty of Seville in 1729 commissioners were appointed, among other things, to determine the northern boundary line of Florida which should form the southern limit of South Carolina. Nothing, however, was concluded in this regard, and the question remained open and a cause of quarrel until the peace of 1763, when Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain. It will be perceived that at the date of the colonization of Georgia this southern boundary line was in dispute between Great Britain and Spain. It proved, as we shall see, a source of inquietude and extreme peril to the settlers under Oglethorpe.
In recalling the instances of temporary occupancy, by Europe- ans, of limited portions of the territory at a later period conveyed to the trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia, it is proper that we should allude to mining operations conducted by the Spaniards at an early epoch among the aurifcrous mountains of Upper Georgia. Influenced by the representations made by the returned soldiers of De Soto's expedition of the quantity of gold, silver, and pearls existent in the province of Cosa, Luis de Velasco dispatched his general, Tristan de Luna, to open communication with Cosa by the way of Pensacola Bay. Three hundred Span- ish soldiers of this expedition, equipped with mining tools, pene- trated to the valley of the Coosa and passed the summer of 1560 in northern Georgia and the adjacent region. Juan Pardo was subsequently sent by Aviles, the first governor of Florida, to establish a fort at the foot of the mountains northwest of St. Augustine in the province of the chief Coaba. It would seem, therefore, that the Spaniards at this early period were acquainted with and endeavored to avail themselves of the gold deposits in Cherokee Georgia.
The German traveler, Johannes Lederer, who visited North Carolina and Virginia in 1669 and 1670, and wrote in Latin an account of his adventures, asserts that the Spaniards were then working gold and silver mines in the Appalachian Mountains. He avers that he saw specimens of the ore in the possession of the natives, and that he brought back samples with him. "Had I had with me," he adds, " half a score of resolute youths who would have stuck to me, I would have pushed on to the Spanish mines."
In 1690, while journeying over the " Apalathean Mountains " for inland discovery and trade with the Indians, Mr. James
70
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
Moore was informed by them that the Spaniards were at work in mines within twenty miles of the place where he then was. The Indians described to him the bellows and furnaces used by them, and offered to convey him to the spot where their opera- tions were being conducted. A difference between himself and his guides prevented his visiting these mines. Subsequently lie volunteered to lead a party to them, but the sclieme was aban- doned. .
Thus are we advised that the Spaniards, long before the ad- vent of the English colonists, permeated the valleys of the Cher- okees in earnest quest for gold. Thus are we enabled to ac- count, with at least some degree of probability, for those traces of ancient mining observed and wondered at by the early set- tlers of Upper Georgia, - operations of no mean significance, conducted by skilled hands and with metallic tools, which can- not properly be referred either to the red race or to the follow- ers of De Soto.
In June, 1717, Sir Robert Mountgomery secured from the Pala- tine and Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina a grant and release of all lands lying between the rivers Alatamaha and Savannah, with permission to make settlements also on the south side of the former river. This territory was to be erected into a distinct province, " with proper jurisdictions, privileges, preroga- tives, and franchises, independent of and in no manner subject to the laws of South Carolina." It was to be holden of the Lords Proprietors by Sir Robert, his heirs and assigns forever, under the name and title of the Margravate of Azilia. A yearly quit-rent of a penny per acre for all lands " occupied, taken up, or run out," was to be paid ; such payment, however, was not to commence until three years after the arrival of the first ships transporting colonists. In addition, Sir Robert covenanted to render to the Lords Proprietors one fourth part of all the gold, silver, and royal minerals which might be found within the lim- its of the ceded lands. Courts of justice were to be organized, and such laws enacted by the freemen of the Margravate as miglit conduce to the general good and in no wise conflict with the statutes and customs of England. The navigation of the rivers was to be free to all the inhabitants of the colonies of North and South Carolina. A duty, similar to that sanctioned in South Carolina, was to be laid on skins, and the revenue thus derived was to be appropriated to the maintenance of clergy.
Sir Robert, in consideration of this cession, engaged to trans-
71
THE MARGRAVATE OF AZILIA.
port at his own cost a considerable number of families, and all necessaries requisite for forming new settlements within the spe- cified lands. It was mutually covenanted that if such settle- ments were not made within three years from the date of the grant it should become void.
In the " Discourse concerning the Designed Establishment of a New Colony to the South of Carolina in the most delightful Country of the Universe," prepared by himself and printed in London in 1717, Sir Robert in glowing terms unfolds the at- tractions of his future Eden. Sympathizing in the views enter- tained by Colonel Purry, and submitted only a few years after- wards to the Duke of New Castle in aid of a Swiss colonization on the left bank of the Savannah, Sir Robert proclaims the Southern bounds of Carolina " the most amiable country of the universe," and affirms " that nature has not blessed the world with any Tract which can be preferable to it; that Paradise with all her virgin beauties may be modestly supposed at most but equal to its native excellencies." "It lies," he continues, " in the same latitude with Palestine herself, that promised Canaan which was pointed out by God's own choice to bless the labors of a favorite people." After commending in the high- est terms its woods and meadows, mines and odoriferous plants, soil and climate, fruits and game, flowers and agricultural capa- bilities, streams and hills, he proceeds to explain his plan of set- tlement. He did not propose to satisfy himself " with building here and there a fort, the fatal practice of America, but so to dispose the habitations and divisions of the land that not alone our houses but whatever we possess will be inclosed by military lines, impregnable against the savages, and which will make our whole plantation one continued fortress. It need not be sup- posed that all the lands will thus be fortified at once. The first lines drawn will be in just proportion to the number of men they inclose. As the inhabitants increase, new lines will be made to inclose them also, so that all the people will be always safe within a well-defended line of circumvallation. . . . At the arrival therefore of the first men carried over, proper officers shall mark, and cause to be entrenched a square of land in just proportion to their number. On the outsides of this square, within the little bastions or redoubts of the entrenchment, they raise light timber dwellings, cutting down the trees which every- where encompass them. The officers are quartered with the men whom they command, and the governour in chief is placed
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72
THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
exactly in the centre. By these means the laboring people (be- ing so disposed as to be always watchful of an enemy's approach) are themselves within the eye of those set over them, and all to- gether under the inspection of their principal.
" The redoubts may be near enough to defend each other with musquets, but field pieces and patareros will be planted upon each, kept charged with cartridge shot and pieces of old iron. Within these redoubts are the common dwellings of the men who must defend them. Between them runs a palisadoed bank, and a ditch which will be scoured by the artillery. One man in each redoubt, kept day and night upon the guard, will give alarm upon occasion to the others at their work. So they cultivate their lands, secure their cattle, and follow their business with great ease and safety. Exactly in the centre of the inmost square will be a fort defended by large cannon, pointing every way, and capable of making strong resistance in case some quarter of the outward lines should chance to be surprised by any sudden acci- dent, which yet, with tolerable care, would be impracticable.
" The nature of this scheme, when weighed against the igno- rance and wildness of the natives, will show that men, thus settled, may at once defend and cultivate a territory with the utmost satisfaction and security even in the heart of an Indian country. Then how much rather a place considerably distant from the sav- age settlements.
" As the numbers shall increase, and they go on to clear more space of land, they are to regulate their settlements with like re- gard to safety and improvement ; and, indeed, the difference as to time and labour is not near so great as may be thought betwixt enclosing land this way and following the dangerous common method. But what is here already said will serve the end for which it has been written, which was only to give a general notion of the care and caution we propose to act with."
After picturing Azilia in the plenitude of her beauty and ma- tured growth, and having endeavored to demonstrate the fact that colonists at the very outset might reasonably anticipate the enjoy- ment of wealth, safety, and liberty, Sir Robert proceeds to give the following explanation of the engraved " plan, representing the form of setting the districts or county divisions in the Mar- gravate of Azilia," with which his " Discourse " was illustrated. "You must suppose a level, dry, and fruitful Tract of Land in some fine Plain or Valley, containing a just Square of twenty Miles each way, or two hundred and fifty-six thousand Acres, laid out and settled in the Form presented in the Cut annexed.
1
A Plan representing the Form or Guntu Divisions in
of Feeling the Districts. the Margravate of Azilia.
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73
THE MARGRAVATE OF AZILIA.
" The District is defended by sufficient Numbers of Men who, dwelling in the fortified Angles of the Line, will be employed in cultivating Lands which are kept in hand for the particular advantage of the Margrave. These Lands surround the district just within the Lines, and everywhere contain in Breadth one Mile exactly.
"The Men thus employed are such as shall be hired in Great Britain or Ireland, well disciplined, armed, and carried over on condition to serve faithfully for such a Term of Years as they before shall agree to. And that no Man may be wretched in so happy a Country, at the expiration of those Peoples' Time, besides some other considerable and unusual Incouragements, all such among them who shall marry in the Country, or come married thither, shall have a right of laying claim to a certain Fee-Farm, or Quantity of Land, ready cleared, together with a house built upon it, and a stock sufficient to improve and cultivate it, which they shall enjoy, Rent and Tax free during Life as a reward for their Services. By which Means two very great Ad- vantages must naturally follow. Poor laboring Men, so secured of a fixed future settlement, will be thereby induced to go thither more willingly and act when there with double Diligence and Duty. And when their Time expires, possessing just Land enough to pass their Lives at Ease, and bring their Children up honestly, the Families they have will prove a constant Seminary of sober Servants, of both Sexes, for the Gentry of the Colony, whereby they will be under no necessity to use the dangerous Help of Blackamoors, or Indians. The Lands set apart for this Purpose are two Miles in Breadth, quite round the District, and lie next within the Margrave's own reserved Lands above mentioned.
" The 116 Squares, each of which has a House in the Middle, are every one a Mile on each Side, or 640 Acres in a Square, bating only for the Highways which divide them. These are the Estates belonging to the Gentry of the District who, being so confined to an Equality in Land will be profitably emulous of outdoing each other in Improvement, since that is the only way left them to grow richer than their Neighbors. And when the Margravate is onee become strong enough to form many Districts, the Estates will be all given gratis, together with many other benefits, to honest and qualified Gentlemen in Great Britain, or elsewhere, who, having numerous and well-educated Families, possess but little Fortunes other than their Industry, and will therefore be chosen to enjoy these Advantages, which they shall
:
74
TIIE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
pay no rent or other Consideration for, and yet the Undertaking will not fail to find its own Account and Prosperity.
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