USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia, Volume II > Part 26
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Severely scourged, they sued for peace. Within less than three months the war was ended. So crippled was the Cherokee na- tion that for some time it was rendered incapable of annoying the frontiers. The American loss did not exceed fifty men. To the savages, thus humbled, impoverished, and decimated, a mis- erable repose was accorded. Articles of a definitive treaty of peace were subsequently concluded, and, on the 20th of May, 1777, signed at Dewit's corner, between the States of South Car- olina and Georgia on the one part and the Cherokee nation on the other. By this treaty Carolina acquired considerable terri- tory ; and Fort Rutledge, with a garrison of two independent
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CONFERENCE WITH GENERAL LEE.
companies, was established at Seneca. Friendly intercourse was resumed which, for several years, remained uninterrupted.1
The enemy having retired from the Carolina coast, General Charles Lee, then in command of the Southern Department, di- rected his attention to concerting measures for the protection of the States of South Carolina and Georgia. Through President Rutledge he requested the council of safety in Savannah to send two of their number to Charlestown that they might "confer with him upon the state of Georgia and the mode of putting it in the best posture of defence against all enemies external and internal." Jonathan Bryan, John Houstoun, and Colonel Lach- lan McIntosh were deputed to wait upon the general. They arrived in Charlestown while the city was still rejoicing over the defeat of the British fleet before the palmetto-covered walls of the fort on Sullivan's Island. To them was prompt and atten- tive audience accorded. The venerable patriot, Jonathan Bryan, spoke for his committee and the people of Georgia. After re- counting the numerous depredations committed on the southern and southwestern frontiers by lawless bands swarming from Flor- ida, and the desolation wrought along the coast by privateers commissioned by Governor Tonyn, he suggested a plan of opera- tions by which these banditti might be slain or dispersed and the town of St. Augustine captured. The defenseless condition of the State and the immediate want of assistance were earnestly pressed upon the attention of the general.
"Not one of the thirteen United Colonies," said the committee, " is so weak within or so exposed from without. To the east the inhabitants suffer the ravages of British cruisers. Their negroes are daily inveigled and carried away from their plantations. British fleets may be supplied with beef from several large islands, well stocked with cattle, which line their coasts, and round which large ships may sail. To the south they have the Province of East Florida, the inhabitants and soldiery of which must of necessity make inroads upon Georgia for the article of pro- vision with which they have been heretofore chiefly supplied. Georgia here stands as a barrier to South Carolina and effectu- ally secures that Province against the like depredations."
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1 Sce McCall's History of Georgia, vol. the American Revolution, vol. ii. chap. ii. p. 87. Savannah. 1816. Ramsay's xvii. Charleston. 1821. Moultrio's Me- moirs of the American Revolution, vol. i. p. 185. New York. 1802. Ilistory of the Revolution of South Caro- lina, vol. i. pp. 157, 350. Trenton. MDCCLXXXV. Drayton's Memoirs of
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The presence of British troops in St. Augustine, the proximity of Indian nations capable of placing in the field fifteen thousand gun-men and supplied with ammunition from East and West Florida, the existence of a large slave population liable to be tampered with and incited to deeds of violence, and the great advantages which would accrue to England from the conquest of Georgia, aside from the inability of the inhabitants to provide for their security, were all suggested as arguments to induce the General and the Continental Congress to undertake the protection of the State by furnishing at least six battalions of infantry, by supplying guard-boats, erecting forts at strategic points, and by purchasing cattle with which to compliment the Indians and secure their friendship. "Moved by the representations of the committee, General Lee at once resolved upon an expedition for the reduction of St. Augustine. Assembling the troops from North Carolina and Virginia, who were still on duty in Charles- town, he informed them that he had planned a secret expedition which, although it involved but little danger, promised large success and abundant booty. He further stated that lie would not personally participate in the spoils, but would surrender his share to the volunteers who engaged in the enterprise. These troops responded favorably to his appeal and volunteered for the service. By the 6th of August four hundred and sixty men, " drawn from the first, second, third, and fourth regiments of infantry, rangers, and artillery," were contributed by the Caro- lina authorities.
What further befell this project, upon the successful accom- plishment of which the Georgians had confidently fixed their hopes, is thus succinctly told by Dr. Drayton : "From the 8th to the 15th of August, in the most unhealthy season of the year, when the constitution is severely tried with heat and moisture, and the effluvia of the flowed rice fields is scattering sickness through the land, did General Lee march off on this expedition with the Virginia and North Carolina troops and some of the Colony troops, without necessaries being provided, without even a field-piece or a medicine chest. The rest of the Colony troops, with artillery and such necessaries as could be obtained on the emergency, were sent on by water on the 8th of August, and, going through the inland navigation by the way of Beaufort, they arrived at Savannah on the 17th of that month. General Howo and Colonel Moultrie followed soon after, and General James Moore of North Carolina was left in command at Charlestown.
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FAILURE OF THE FLORIDA EXPEDITION.
" On the 18th of August General Lee reviewed, on the green at Yamacraw, every corps, as well the Georgia battalion as the troops which had arrived from South Carolina ; and, about the 22d of August a part of the South Carolina troops and Colonel Muhlenburg's regiment marched for Sunbury. After this, troops were detached from Savannah and stationed at Skiddeway island, Ogechie, Ausabaw island, and other places betwixt Savannah and Sunbury ; while the remainder were quartered in Savannah and its vicinity. The hopes which General Lee had encouraged, in consequence of his conversation with Mr. Bryan, had not been realized, as neither boats, provisions, nor stores were to be pro- cured sufficient for the exigencies of the expedition. There was scarce an officer of the South Carolina troops who had not a vio- lent fit of illness ; and those of the other corps suffered in an equal degree, while fourteen or fifteen men were buried each day at Sunbury ; unfortunate sacrifices to so inclement a season.
" During all this time the expedition had not proceeded farther than Sunbury, as, from a want of stores, General Lee had sent to Augusta to have a list of articles procured which Colonel Moultrie had given in as necessary. At this time General Lee may be fairly said to have been in check not by the enemy but by his own hasty and improvident movements, and the force which he had with him was every day becoming less able to carry on the expedition against Florida or to cope with the enemy. From all this, however, he was fortunately relieved by a recall to the northward where General Howe, having taken New York, was becoming very formidable. General Lee accordingly left Savannah early in September, ordering the Virginia and North Carolina troops to follow him, and leaving the troops much greater sufferers by his conduct than by the arms of the enemy. And in this manner ended the East Florida expedi- tion." 1
In arranging the details of, and in suitable preparation for this expedition General Lee was seriously at fault. Flushed by the recent victory in Charlestown harbor, and acting precipitately upon the suggestion of others, he began his movement without reflection and in the absence of requisite supplies and needful transportation. The affair too was planned and inaugurated at a
1 Drayton's Memoirs of the American Trenton. MDCCLXXXV. McCall's Ilistory of Georgia, vol. ii. p. 95. Savan- nah. 1816.
Revolution, vol. ii. p. 335. Charleston. 1821. Compare Ramsay's History of the Revolution of South Carolina, vol. i. p. 152.
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season of the year when, to unacclimated troops, a hot sun and marish grounds were enemies far more dangerous than the weap- ons of the foe against whom their energies were to be directed. It is singular that a soldier of General Lee's training and repu- tation should have been guilty of such neglect.
Colonel Moultrie, to whom the immediate command was ten- dered, declined to assume the offensive until he should be fur- nished with at least eight hundred men and such supplies as he then enumerated.1 Doubtless the general was encouraged to im- mediate action by the eager Georgians who were chafing, under the indignities and losses to which they had been subjected by the Floridian banditti. With them the wish was father to. the thoughit, and they yearned to see the nest destroyed in which such foul birds were sheltered. Jonathan Bryan and Nathan Brownson reflected the general sentiment of the community when, in answer to certain questions propounded by General Lee, they responded : "that an irruption into the Province of East Florida will be attended with the most salutary consequences to this Province, and of course render service to the whole con- tinent." The failure of the expedition was a grievous disappoint- ment to Georgia. Its abandonment, in the language of McCall,2 "gave confidence to the enemy and induced many to join them who had previously been inactive."
Of the defenseless condition and needs of Georgia the Conti- nental Congress was not unmindful. Sixty thousand dollars were appropriated to defray the charge of enlisting two additional battalions (one of them to consist of riflemen) to serve in that State. The legislatures of Virginia and of the Carolinas were requested to allow recruits for these organizations to be obtained within their borders. Four galleys were ordered for the protec- tion of the coast, and two artillery companies, of fifty men each, were to be raised as garrisons for the two forts to be erected, one at Savannah, and the other at Sunbury.
Meanwhile, however, Georgia was neither tardy nor parsimo- nious in devising measures for her self-protection. Captain Bowen was accredited to the governor at Cape François for the purpose of purchasing armed vessels, warlike stores, and medicines neces- sary for troops in the field. Captain Pray was, on the 18th of October, 1776, directed by the council of safety to proceed to
1 Moultrie's Memoirs of the American
2 Ilistory of Georgia, vol. ii. p. 96. Sa- Revolution, vol. i. p. 185. New York. vannah. 1816. 1802.
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GEORGIA PREPARES FOR BATTLE.
St. Thomas and there procure seamen, small arms, ammunition, and swivels. He was empowered to mount on the vessel engaged to transport his cargo to Georgia as many carriage guns as she could conveniently bear.
For the defense of the southern frontier all available troops were posted at Darien, at Fort Howe, at Beard's Bluff,1 and at Fort McIntosh. Thus did Georgia, by every means at command, prepare for battle.
1 While Lieutenant Bugg with a de- tachment was marching to this point he was surprised by a party of Indians con- cealed in the swamp of Beard's Creek. Three of his men were killed, and his detachment was put to flight. Subse-
quently Captain Chesley Bostwick was ordered to that post, with his company. HIe there built a small stockade fort. See McCall's History of Georgia, vol. ii. p. 97. Savannah. 1816.
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CHAPTER XIII.
CONSTITUTION OF 1777. - FORT MCINTOSH ATTACKED BY FUSER, BROWN, CUNNINGHAM, AND MCGIRTH. - DEFENDED BY CAPTAIN WINN. - THE FORT SURRENDERS. - TREACHERY OF THE ENEMY. - EXPEDITION FROM EAST FLORIDA MET AND DISPERSED BY COLONEL MCINTOSH. - PRESIDENT BULLOCHI REQUESTED " TO TAKE UPON HIMSELF THE WHOLE EXECUTIVE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT." - DEATH OF MR. BULLOCH. - BUTTON GWIN- NETT APPOINTED PRESIDENT. - COLONEL LACHLAN MCINTOSH ADVANCED TO THE GRADE OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL. - GWINNETT PLANS AN EXPEDI- TION AGAINST EAST FLORIDA. - AFFAIR BETWEEN COLONEL BAKER AND COLONEL MCGIRTH. - COLONEL SAMUEL ELBERT. - LIEUTENANT WARD ATTACKED AND SLAIN. - DISASTROUS FAILURE OF GWINNETT'S EXPEDI- TION. - JOHN ADAM TREUTLEN ELECTED GOVERNOR. - DISAGREEMENT BE- TWEEN GWINNETT AND MCINTOSHI. - DUEL AND DEATH OF GWINNETT. - MCINTOSH LEAVES GEORGIA AND IS ASSIGNED TO DUTY BY GENERAL WASHINGTON. - NOTICE OF BUTTON GWINNETT.
IN obedience to the proclamation and circular letter of Presi- dent Bulloch, the various parishes of Georgia, within the specified time, proceeded to the election of delegates to the constitutional convention which was ordered to assemble in Savannah on the first Tuesday in October, 1776. These delegates were men of re- pute in the communities from which they came. They had been carefully chosen, were pronounced friends of liberty, and were not insensible to the weighty obligations resting upon them. At this crisis of the nation's fate so numerous were the subjects claiming the attention of the convention, and so exhaustive were its deliberations, it was not until the 5th of February, 1777, that satisfactory conclusions were reached, and that the constitution was promulgated which for twelve years defined and supported the rights of Georgia as an independent State.
The preamble of this instrument 1 reads as follows : " Whereas the conduct of the Legislature of Great Britain for many years past has been so oppressive to the people of America that of late years they have plainly declared and asserted a right to raise taxes upon the people of America and to make laws to bind them in all cases whatsoever without their consent ; which conduct
1 See A Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia, etc., p. 7, by Robert and George Watkins, Philadelphia. 1800.
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CONSTITUTION OF 1777.
being repugnant to the common rights of mankind hath obliged the Americans, as freemen, to oppose such oppressive measures, and to assert the rights and privileges they are entitled to by the laws of nature and reason : and accordingly it hath been done by the general consent of all the people of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- lina, South Carolina, and Georgia, given by their representatives met together in General Congress in the City of Philadelphia :
" And whereas it hath been recommended by the said Con- gress on the fifteenth of May last to the respective Assemblies and Conventions of the United States where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs hath been hitherto established, to adopt such government as may, in the opinion of the represen- tatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular and America in general :
" And whereas the independence of the United States of Amer- ica has been also declared on the fourth of July one thousand seven hundred and seventy six by the said honorable Congress, and all political connection between them and the Crown of Great Britain is in consequence thereof dissolved:
" We therefore, the Representatives of the people, from whom all power originates and for whose benefit all government is in- tended, by virtue of the power delegated to us, do ordain and de- clare, and it is hereby ordained and declared that the following rules and regulations be adopted for the future government of this State."
Then follow sixty-three articles creating the legislative, execu- tive, and judicial departments of the State government, defining the powers and provinces of each, and providing the machinery for the safe guidance of the new commonwealth.
The following analysis of this important instrument will not be deemed inappropriate.
The legislative, executive, and judicial departments were de- clared separate and distinct, so that neither should intrench upon or presume to exercise the powers properly belonging to the other.
The legislature was to be composed of members coming from and elected by the people. They were to be annually chosen on the first Tuesday in December from the inhabitants of the re- spective counties composing the State, and must have resided at
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least twelve months in Georgia and three months in the county which they were severally selected to represent. They were to be of the Protestant religion, at least twenty-one years of age, and possessed in their own right of two hundred and fifty acres of land, or of property to the value of two hundred and fifty pounds. To the freeholders of Glynn and Camden who, on ac- count of their proximity to Florida, were in a state of constant alarm, was accorded the privilege of electing one representative each from some other county until their affairs were in a more settled condition.
The first Tuesday in January in each year, and the town of Savannah, or such other place as the House of Assembly for the time being should direct, were named as the time and place for the annual convocation of the legislature.
On the first day of their meeting the representatives were di- rected to proceed to the choice of a governor, whose title should be Honorable, and to the election of an executive council to be selected from their own number. These elections were to be as- certained by ballot. There were to be two members of this executive council from each county entitled to send ten represen- tatives. The executive council being thus selected, the remain- ing representatives constituted the House of Assembly; and a majority of such members was declared competent for the trans- action of business. At least one member of the executive coun- cil from each county was required to be in constant attendance at the residence of the governor. All members were entitled to be present if they so desired ; and, in the performance of this service, they could rotate with each other for a longer or shorter period as they might agree among themselves.
Each House of Assembly was to expire annually on the first Monday in December.
Parishes were abolished and counties erected in their stead. The ceded lands north of the Ogeechee were formed into a county and named Wilkes. The parish of St. Paul constituted a second county, and was called Richmond. A third county was erected out of the parish of St. George, and named Burke. The parish of St. Matthew and that part of St. Philip lying above the Cannouchee River were consolidated into a fourth county called Effingham. Christ Church Parish and that part of the parish of St. Philip lying below the Cannouchee River were united into a fifth county, and named Chatham. By the union of the parishes of St. John, St. Andrew, and St. James was the
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ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES.
county of Liberty formed. The parishes of St. David and St. Patrick were made to constitute a seventh county which was named Glynn. The eighth county, called Camden, was com- posed of the parishes of St. Thomas and St. Mary.
On account of the paucity of their population the counties of Glynn and Camden were declared entitled to only one represen- tative each. The county of Liberty, being composed of three populous and wealthy parishes, was allowed fourteen members in the House of Assembly. Each of the other counties was permit- ted to send ten representatives. The port and town of Savan- nah were allowed four members to represent their trade. For the same reason two members were accorded to the port and town of Sunbury. It will be perceived that in naming these counties the convention was not unmindful of the debt of grati- tude which Georgia, in common with her sister American col- onies, owed to distinguished statesmen and friends in England who had espoused the cause of justice, humanity, and liberty. As a tribute to the early and conspicuous devotion of the citizens of St. John's Parish to the cause of freedom, the consolidated parishes of St. John, St. Andrew, and St. James were called LIB- ERTY COUNTY.
In the case of counties subsequently to be laid out by order of the House of Assembly it was ordained that " at their first insti- tution each county shall have one member, provided the inhabit- ants of the said county shall liave ten electors ; and if thirty, they shall have two; if forty, three; if sixty, four; if eighty, six; if one hundred and upwards, ten ; at which time two execu- tive Councillors shall be chosen from them as is directed for the other counties."
With the House of Assembly rested the power to frame laws and regulations conducive to the good order and well-being of the State, to repeal such as proved injurious to the people, to choose its own speaker, appoint its own officers, settle its own rules of procedure, issue writs of election for supplying vacancies, and to authorize such adjournments within the year as it might deem proper.
Except in cases of great necessity and danger, every law or ordinance was to be read three times and on three separate days. After the second reading it was to be sent to the executive coun- cil for perusal and advice.
The following is the clause prescribing the qualification of voters : " All malo white inhabitants of the age of twenty-one
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years, and possessed in his own right of ten pounds value, and liable to pay tax in this State, or being of any mechanic trade, and who shall have been resident six months in this State, shall have a right to vote at all elections for representatives or any other officers herein agreed to be chosen by the people at large : and every person having a right to vote at any election shall vote by ballot personally."
Freedom from arrest while going to, attending at, and depart- ing from the election precincts was guaranteed. No officer or soldier was permitted to appear at the polls in a military capacity. All elections were declared free and open.
Voting more than once on any occasion was forbidden, and the voter was enjoined to cast his vote in the county of his residence. No one holding any title of nobility was permitted either to vote for representatives or to hold any post of honor, profit, or trust in Georgia until he had renounced such distinction in a manner to be pointed out by the legislature.
Every person absenting himself from an election and neglect- ing to deposit his ballot, except for just cause, was declared liable to pay a fine not exceeding five pounds.
The ballots cast for representatives were to be taken by two or more justices of the peace in each county, whose duty it was to provide a convenient box for receiving them. Upon closing the polls the ballots were to be publicly compared with the list of voters which had been kept, and the result of the election was to be immediately thereafter declared. Certificates were then to be given to the persons elected, and like certificates were to be re- turned to the House of Representatives.
Continental delegates were to be appointed annually by ballot. They had a right to sit, debate, and vote in the House of Assem- bly, and to be deemed members thereof.
No person holding any post of profit under Georgia, or any military commission other than in the State's militia, was com- petent for election as a representative. If any representative ac- cepted any such place of profit or military commission, his seat in the Ilouso of Assembly became, eo instanti, vacant. The office of a justice of the peace was not reckoned a post of profit.
No one was permitted to hold at the same time more than one office of profit within the gift of the State.
The executive powers of the government were confided to the governor, who was to exercise them under the advice of the execu- tive council. Authorized to reprieve a criminal or to suspend the
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PROVISIONS OF TIIE CONSTITUTION OF 1777.
collection of a fine, he was required to refer the question of par- don or remission to the House of Assembly, whose determination was conclusive. With the advice of the executive council he pos- sessed the power to convoke the House of Assembly upon an emergency, and to fill all vacancies occurring prior to general elections. All commissions, civil and military, were issued by him under his hand and the great seal of state. Except when they were considering laws and ordinances submitted by the House of Assembly, it was made the duty of the governor to preside at all meetings of the executive council. He was to be elected annually by ballot, and was not eligible to office more than one year out of three. During his term of office he was debarred from holding any military position whatever, and was compelled to reside at such place as the House of Assembly for the time being should direct. No person was eligible for the office of governor who had not been for three years a resi- dent of the State.
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