The history of Georgia, Volume II, Part 9

Author: Jones, Charles Colcock, 1831-1893
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Boston : Houghton, Mifflin and Co.
Number of Pages: 1142

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السالمهمة ك

CHAPTER V.

GEORGIA IN 1766. - SILK CULTURE. - GOVERNOR WRIGHT'S REPORT ON THE SUNJECT. - COST OF MAINTAINING THE CIVIL ESTABLISHMENT. - TRADE RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS RELAXED. - TROUBLES WITH THE CREEKS. - STRENGTH OF THE ADJACENT INDIAN NATIONS. - BOUNDARY LINES. - CONFERENCE BETWEEN THE COLONIAL AUTHORITIES AND THE CREEKS, AT SAVANNAH, ON THE 3D OF SEPTEMBER, 1768. - TALKS OF EMISTESEEGOE AND GOVERNOR WRIGHT.

IN a communication addressed to the Earl of Shelburne, and dated at Savannah on the 19th of November, 1766, Governor Wright thus contrasts the condition of the province with its status when he assumed the reins of government: -

" Da Governor Ellis' departure from hence on the 2nd of No- Tember, 1760, I took upon me the government of this Province and, at that time, my Lord, from the returns of the Militia Offi- cer and the best information I could get, the whole number of white people throughout the Province, men, women, and chil- dren, amounted only to 6000, and I had afterwards reason to . think there were not so many : of which number there were about 60 men belonging to his Majesty's Independent Com- panies, and two Troops of Rangers consisting of 5 Officers and 70 Private men, and the Foot Militia amounted to 1025; and . now my Lord, by a very careful inquiry from every part of the Province, the white people amount to 9900 or say 10,000 of which 1800 are effective militia. We have still the 2 Troops of Rangers, but the Independents are broke, and we have only 30 Royal Americans.

" When I came, the return made me of Negroes in the Prov- ince amounted to 3578, but which I soon found greatly exceeded the real number then in the Province, and now my Lord, we have at least 7800.

" In 1760 they exported, as appears by the Custom House Books, only 3400 lbs. of rice, and in 1765, though a short crop, 10,235 lbs. In the year 1761 we loaded only 42 sail of sea ves- sels, and the last year we loaded 153, and on an average of much greater burthen. Our crop of rice this year will be short for the

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二

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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.

quantity planted, owing to the excessive rains and inundations that we had in the spring and fore part of the year.

" The Royal Americans and Rangers here, my Lord, garrison and do duty at 7 different places, vizt, 20 of the Royal Americans at Fort Augusta about 150 miles by land up this River, also 30 of the Rangers in the town of Augusta, - the other 10 Royal Americans are at Frederica, about 80 miles South of this town; 25 Rangers at Fort Barrington, on the Alatamaha River, about 65 miles from hence ; 15 at Fort Argyle, ou Ogechee River, 20 miles from town; 19 at Fort George, near the entrance of this River, and the rest here at Savannah ; so that your Lordship sees how they are scattered about, but I conceive it to be the most useful manner in which such an handful of men can be employed here.

" We have no manufactures of the least consequence, a trifling quantity of coarse home-spun cloth, woollen and cotton mixed, amongst the poorer sort of people for their own use, a few cotton and yarn stockings, shoes for our negroes, and some occasional black-smith's work. But all our supplies of silks, linens, wool- lens, shoes, stockings, nails, locks, hinges, and tools of every sort, &c, &c, &c, are all imported from and through Great Britain.

" We have no kind of illicit trade carried on here, and our whole strength and attention is employed in planting rice, indico, corn and pease, and a small quantity of wheat and rye, and in making pitch, tar, turpentine, shingles and staves, and sawing lumber and scantling, and boards of every kind, and in raising stocks of cattle, mules, horses, and hogs, and next year I hope some essays will be made towards planting and making hemp, and everything here, my Lord, is going on extremely well, and the people in general well disposed except some few Republican spirits who endeavour to inculcate independency and keep up jealousies and ill blood. . . .

" The spirit that prevailed here, and our transactions with respect to the Stamp Aet, your Lordship may see by my letters to Mr. Secretary Conway. Amazing to think what a propen- sity to faction, sedition, and almost rebellion then appeared even in this infant Colony, although I must do them the justice to say they did not think of it till spirited on by our Northern Neighbours who never let them rest, or gave them time to cool."

Even with the encouragement extended by the home govern- ment, silk culture in Georgia continued to prove unprofitable.

SILK CULTURE.

The Filature in Savannah, although still open, did not yield any income or justify the expenditures requisite for its maintenance. Joseph Ottolenghe, manager of that establishment, from year to year promised more satisfactory results, but annually those prom- ises, from some cause or other, failed of fulfillment. The speci- mens of reeled silk sent to England were pronounced good, but the quantity was insignificant ; and, at the end of each twelve- month, the cocoons appeared subject to more numerous and dis- heartening mishaps. Loath were the authorities to abandon an industry from which so much profit had been anticipated, but it is due to history to affirm that the experiment with the silk-worm in Georgia had long proved a failure. Governor Wright 1 ex- pLined the difficulties of the situation, demonstrated the fact that only a bounty could incite to further activity, proved that other products were more worthy the attention of the colonists, and, while advancing suggestions in aid of the industry, ques- tinned the expediency of additional expenditures in its behalf. Au experience of more than thirty years inculcated the lesson that expectations of emolument to be derived from silk culture la Georgia were vain. Then and thenceforward all efforts ex- pended in the production of that article were spasmodic and de- void of remuneration.

In the following letter, addressed to the Earl of Hillsborough, and dated . Savannah, July 1st, 1768," Governor Wright ex- plains fully the status of that industry : -

" My Lord, I am now to answer that part of your Lordship's letter, No. 3, which relates to the encouragement given to the culture of raw silk, and I shall briefly state the footing it is upon at present. The plan of encouragement hitherto pursued, my Lord, has been for the Government to be the manufacturer and the merchant. The cocoons were for many years purchased at 3s. per pound. At length the price was reduced to 28. 3d., and for two years past and this year they are purchased at 1s. 6d. per lb., and the whole expense of baking, sorting, picking, reeling, &e. is paid by the Government, and the silk shipped home to be disposed of on account of the Government ; and the accounts and vouchers duly transmitted to the Board of Trade, and your Lord- ship sees that the bounty or encouragement the persons have who raise the cocoons or pursue the object of making silk is the cer- tainty of a market, and good and immediate payment at the rate of 1x. 6d. per lb. for all the cocoons they deliver in the public'

See his long letter to the Board of Trade, under date Savannah, Oct. 21, 1766.

TIIE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.'

Filature : whereas the true and real value of a lb. of cocoons, as a commodity or article of Merchandize is at the most not more than one shilling even in countries where labour is cheap, and I under- stand they are often purchased there at 6d. to 9d., and here it is rather thought they cannot be worth above 9d. or 10d., so that their advantage is an advanced price or bounty of 8d. or 9d. per pound above the true or real value of the cocoons, and down at this price I am persuaded few or none but the very poorer sort of people will continue to go upon that article.

"Several substantial persons, who did mean to make it an object when the price was higher, have to my knowledge given it over. The reason my Lord is evident: for people who have their fortunes to raise or make, will always turn themselves in such way and to the raising or making of such commodities as they think will answer best, and it is very clear to me that those who have negroes may employ themselves and their negroes to better advantage by planting, &c. &c. &c. than by raising cocoons at 1s. 6d. per lb., although that is, as I have said, 7d., 8d., or 9d. more than they are intrinsically worth as a commodity purchased at market, and therefore people of property or that have negroes will not consider silk as an object worth their pursuit, and it is only the poorer sort of people who will continue to go upon it. There are certainly some discouraging objections, viz ; the climate, or variable and uncertain weather in the spring, makes it pre- carious ; and the expence of living is an objection. Labour is very dear, and there is a nett difference between paying 18d. or 2s. per day for labouring people or 2d. or 3d. a day which, I believe, is the price of labour in several of the silk countries. And really my Lord, till these Provinces become more populous, and labour is cheaper, I apprehend silk will not be a commodity or article of any considerable amount. . . .

" The worms degenerate greatly my Lord, for it generally takes from 15 to 17, 18, or sometimes 19 lb. of cocoons to make a lb. of silk according to the strength and goodness of the cocoons, whereas when the seed is fresh, and the worms in full vigour, for a few years 11 or 12 lb. of picked cocoons may make a lb. of silk, and this your Lordship sees is a prodigious difference, and I really believe they might succeed better at a greater distance from the seacoast as the weather is generally more steady and the spring back ward.

" That your Lordship may, at one view, the better judge of the progress, I now inclose an account for 13 years together, and

CONDITION OF THE SILK CULTURE.

having wrote frequently to the Lords of Trade on this subject, I would beg leave for further particulars and a more circumstan- tial account to refer to my letters to the Lords of Trade of the 23rd of April 1765, and 24th of June, and 21st of October 1760 ; and upon the whole shall only beg leave to observe that I cannot point out or recommend any new or other mode of encouragement than I have already mentioned : that it is the en- couragement of bounty alone that keeps it alive at present : that as the country settles and becomes more populous and labour cheap, it may increase, but I conceive that without this bounty or price is continued, few or none will raise any, for it won't an- swer for private persons to give more than from 10d. to 12d. per lb. for cocoons as a commodity.

" Some few indeed may raise the cocoons and reel off the silk themselves; and give me leave my Lord, further to observe, that it employs some hands at home ; that the money never comes out of England, it all remains and is paid to the merchant there for gaale sent out here : that it employs a great many poor people bete. The cocoons last year were sent to the Filature by 160 different people, and this year by 137. It also employs near 40 bamle, all poor people, for between 3 & 4 months to sort, pick, and reel it. That it is their chief support and they will really suffer greatly when they lose it; that articles of remittance are difficult in a young country, and it's of great use to the mercan- tile part of the Province that way. That last year the silk was valued at £ 600 sterling and might have sold for much more, and certificates were given for £1101 168. 8d. : so that if the silk was worth no more than £600, yet the difference or loss to the Government was but £501 16s. 8d. : which I conceive to be such a mere trifle that it can be no object with your Lordship as a saving to Government, especially when it is considered that there is the greatest probability that by a discontinuance of the en- couragement the pursuit of that commodity will be totally given over, lost, and gone. I cannot deceive your Lordship in any particular, and therefore have not to add more on the sub- ject, but to request that if it is your Lordship's opinion the grant should be discontinued, I may have the earliest notice of it that I may acquaint the people with it: for, my Lord, if it is not notified to them in time, say by January, they will go on in the usual manner, and if they deliver in their cocoons at the Fil- ature they will certainly expect I should see them paid the usual price.

الحل

THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.

"In 1755, 5,458 lbs. of cocoons made 438 lbs. of silk.

1756, 3,667 "

268 “ 66

1757, 4,994 "

358

1758, burnt

358

1759, 10,136

734 «

1760, 7,983 "

839 «

1761, 5,307

332 «

1762, 15,186 "

1,017 " 66

1763, 15,486 "

66 66 953 "

1704, 15,212

66 66

898 « 66

1765, 12,514

712 " 8 ozs. «

1766, 20,350

66 1,084 " 4 "

1767, 10,768

671 " 9 "

A killing frost on the 19th and 20th of April, 1769, and a reduction of the bounty previously offered by Parliament, ma- terially diminished the production of silk in the province. The inhabitants of Ebenezer were the last to abandon this industry. In 1772 the operations at Savannah were wholly suspended, and two years after the Filature, which was in a ruinous condition, was repaired and used as an assembly room. Societies there held their meetings, and occasionally divine service was con- ducted within its walls. In consideration of his long and faithful labors, Ottolenghe, still styling himself "Superintendent of Silk Culture in Georgia," was complimented with a pension of £100.

The following was, at this time, the annual cost of main- taining the civil establishment of his majesty's province of Georgia : -

The Salary of the Governor 66 Chief Justice .

· £1,000

Secretary of the Province

100

66 Surveyor General .

150

66 ¥ Receiver General of Quit Rents

100

Attorney General 15

100

Allowance for 2 Ministers of the Church of England and 2 Schoolmasters

116

Salary of the Agent for the Affairs of the Colony Pilot, with Expenses of the Boat, etc.

200

500

Allowance for the Encouragement of Silk Culture

100

£3,036

The rules promulgated by Governor Wright soon after the Congress of Augusta, regulating the conduct, duties, and respon- sibilities of Indian traders, proved salutary both to the colonists and to the red nations. As long as these traders were known to,

500

Clerk of the Assembly .

Provost Marshal

DEPREDATIONS BY THE CREEKS.

and were specially licensed by, the governors of colonies to traffic within prescribed territories ; as long as they were held to strict personal accountability and were required to submit annual re- turns of their transactions ; as long as they were prevented from extending credit to the Indians and were forbidden to deal in articles likely to cause dissensions, so long was quiet maintained and good order observed. When the king saw fit, however, to open wide the doors and to remove the wholesome restrictions placed upon general traffic with the natives, multitudes of irre- sponsible parties flocked in ; the Indian territory was traversed by traders not well approved ; the region was overstocked with goods ; credits were enlarged ; the Indians fell deeper and deeper in debt to unscrupulous merchants ; and thus it came to pass that the peaceful status of affairs was interrupted and the seeds of dissension were sown. In an earnest and most sensible way did the governor of Georgia enter his protest against the royal procla- mation of the 5th of October, 1763, which was the prime cause of the troubles then brewing .! Fortunately no wide-spread dis- tartances occurred, although quarrels ensued from time to time ; somo involving trespass upon the lands reserved by the Indians ; others, the theft of horses and cattle; and others still, blows, am- buscades, and murder. In 1767 depredations were committed by a party of Creek Indians, who had lately formed a settlement on the Oconee River, upon the plantations on Little River. Some horses were captured. Pursued by five of the inhabitants, the Indians fled until they regained their homes where, reinforced by their companions, they turned upon their assailants and compelled them to beat a hasty retreat. This was not the first time the Creeks had invaded this region and plundered its plantations. Responding to the emergency, Governor Wright, on the 24th of August, prepared a talk to the Creek nation in which he de- manded the return of the stolen animals, insisted upon a recall of the marauding bands, and cautioned an observance of the boundary line stipulations as agreed upon by the Augusta Con- gress. The town of Augusta now contained some eighty houses, a church, and two wooden forts.2 Plantations were multiplying to the north as far as Little River.

The same year, at Jerre Wilder's settlement, about twenty miles above the ferry on St. Mary's River, a party of thirteen

1 Seo . communication of Governor 2 Sco Gentleman's Magazine for 1767, Wright to the Earl of Shelburne, dated p. 167.

the 24th of December, 1766.

حداالقارة

TIIE IIISTORY OF GEORGIA.

Indians killed Baker and Cummins, and wounded Wilder. They then set fire to the premises of the latter and retreated into East Florida. This deed of violence was committed by the Indians in retaliation for an injury inflicted upon them in the spring. A horse or two had been lost, and the whites, believing they had been stolen, assembled in force and proceeded into the Indian country. Coming upon a party of Indians having a horse in their possession, and being superior to them in numbers, the whites tied them up and flogged them most unmercifully. It was in revenge for this indignity that the Indians on the 18th of September, 1767, committed the murder on the St. Mary's River.

It is scarcely necessary to enumerate all occurrences of like character, as they were insignificant, did not provoke other than partial strife, and hardly appertain to the domain of general his- tory. That Governor Wright earnestly strove to maintain the rights both of the colonists and of the Indians, that he omitted no opportunity to redress any wrongs perpetrated, and that he endeavored to hold European and savage to a becoming obser- vance of existing treaties is amply attested by the records of the period. We still have copies of his talks to the Wolf-King, to the head men of Coweta, to Captain Alleck, to Emistesecgoe, to the head men of the Lower Creeks, to Attakullakulla, to the chiefs of the Cherokees, and to other noted Indians, and they are model documents of their sort. The replies of the Indians have also been preserved.

Governor Wright's conduct in regulating the intercourse be- tween the colonists and the Indians cannot be too highly com- mended. He did not idly boast when he assured the Earl of Shelburne that he had "always taken the utmost care to observe every treaty and engagement with the Indians," and that he had " on all occasions done them full and ample justice." 1

A disagreement having arisen with regard to the boundary line between the English settlements in Georgia and the lands and hunting-grounds of the Creeks, his excellency and Captain Alleck (the latter representing the Creek confederacy) on the 10th of January, 1766, consented that the dividing line should " commence at the Ogeechee river where the lower trading path leading from Mount Pleasant on Savannah river to the Lower Creek Nation crosses the said river Ogeechee, and thence in a

1 See letter to the Earl of Shelburne, dated Savannah in Georgia, 5th of Janu- ary, 1767.

اسمناى

WARLIKE STRENGTH OF THE INDIANS.

straight line cross the country to that part of the river Alata- maha opposite to the entrance or mouth of a certain Creek on the south side of the said river Alatamaha commonly called Fen- hollow or Turkey Creek, and that the line should be thence con- tinue from the mouth of the said Creek across the Country and in a southwest course to the St. Mary's river, so as to reach it as far up as the tide flows or swells."

Of the warlike strength of the Indian nations lying adjacent to and holding commerce with Georgia, the following estimate was submitted by Governor Wright to the Earl of Hillsborough on the 5th of October, 1708: -

Upper and Lower Creeks

3,100 gun men.

Chactawy

2.200 "

Chi krsas

100 “ 66

2,000

40 "

Total 8,010

In this namber are not included those whose trade was more ccareaiently carried on with South Carolina and with East and Went Florida.

When we remember the defenseless condition of the province and its unguarded frontier, and recall the fact that the Indian territory was frequented by traders, many of whom were super- cillous, dishonest, and tyrannical, we are astonished that these primitive peoples exhibited such tolerance towards a race which was surely supplanting them in the occupancy of their native wilds.

As illustrating the general character of the interviews which Governor Wright was frequently called upon to have with the Indians, and as designating the boundary lines which separated the English possessions from the territory reserved by the Creeks, we incorporate the minutes of a convention held in the coun- cil chamber in Savannah on Saturday the 3d day of September, 1768. On the part of the English, his excellency James Wright, and members of council James Habersham, Noble Jones, James Mackay, Grey Elliott, and James Read, were present. Lachlan McGillivray acted as interpreter. The Indians were led by Emisteseegoe, the most noted and influential head man of the Creek confederacy.

Informed that his excellency and his beloved men were pre- pared to hear all that he desired to say, Emisteseegoo responded VOL. 11. 6

THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.

that whatever men might propose it rested with Providence to perfect it; that originally all the lands belonged to the Indians, but that in process of time they became acquainted with the white people whom he was this day glad to see and to accost as brothers ; that these lands having originally been the inheritance of the red men they were bound to regard them as such, although they were prepared, come what might, to pay due regard to the treaties they had entered into with the whites concerning them ; that they looked upon the road between the Europeans and them- selves as a white road, free from bushes, stains, and all other impediments ; that he hoped it would always thus remain, and that in this confidence he had just passed over it ; that should any impediment hereafter arise, he trusted it would prove noth- ing more serious than the breath of the wind could remove, and that the whiteness of the road itself would remained unspotted ; that such was the hope of his fathers ; that this was what the former treaties were intended to secure ; that the white people, being skilled in maritime affairs, discovered many countries, - this among others, - of which the Indians had no knowledge; that they came here and builded a fire and the red men received them as brethren and sat with them at the fire they had kindled; that the Indians' mode of traveling differed from that adopted by the English ; that the length of the journey was never regarded. by them when they wished to see their friends, hence they had .come a long distance to meet the governor and his beloved men ; that he wished to behold the white people on the coast, being persuaded that intercourse like the present would perpetuate the remembrance of existing treaties ; that he had visited the gov- ernor at Pensacola and now waited upon the governor of Georgia; that as he looked upon the white people at Pensacola and in Savannah as one, he would always use his best endeavors to keep the road between them white, and to treat them all as brothers ; that the superintendent had told him the great king over the water looked upon the red people as his children, therefore he had taken him by the hand and held him fast; that although they had no iron in their country, yet, as a vine twines itself around a young tree and attaches itself by many fibres so that it cannot be separated from it but grows up with it, so he intended to cling to his white friends ; that the governor of Pensacola told him the English had borrowed of the Indians a piece of ground near the water which he wished to have enlarged ; that although the gratification of this request was attended with difficulty, he

SPEECHI OF EMISTESEEGOE.

succeeded in securing the sanction of the Creeks to the cession ; that he hoped the boundary line there established would be ob- served by the present and the coming generations; that the gov- ernor of Pensacola assured him if any of his people should in- advertently settle beyond the line he would immediately cause their removal ; that in coming to Savannah he had not observed

boundary line separating the Indian nation from this province ; . . . that the superintendent informed him he was instructed by the great king to preserve peace not only between the English and the Indians, but also, as far as possible, between the Indians themselves, and that he was sorry to see the Creeks and the Chactowa at war with each other; that the superintendent re- quested him to exert his influence to dispose his own people toward the reestablishment of peace, and that he would persuade the Chactang to discontinue their acts of hostility ; that acting upon the allvice of the superintendent who, the Creeks were con- vineed, had their good at heart, he had inaugurated measures wakh ho leheved would eventuate in a settlement of all dis- pates ; that the superintendent had gone to Mobile to pacify the Chactawa ; that he was informed by the superintendent he in- tended to spend some time in Mobile, and that he desired per- mission of the Creeks to drive some cattle through their territory to Mobile for the use both of the white people there and of the Indians in that vicinity ; that the superintendent further told him some persons about Augusta might wish to drive some cattle through the Creek lands to the same place, but his desire was that they should not be permitted to do so until his cattle had gone before ; that this request appeared to him very peculiar, and he begged to be informed why the superintendent preferred it; that he understood a gang of cattle belonging to Mr. Galphin had been recently driven through the Indian lands to West Florida, and he wished to learn whether this had been done with the sanction of the governor of that province, or whether Mr. Gal- phin had acted in the matter on his own motion; that he remem- bers at the grand Congress at Augusta, where the governors of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, many of the head men of the Creek and other Indian nations, and some be- loved white men met, a boundary line was established to prevent struggling white people from settling in the Indian country; that with the settlement of that boundary line his people were well pleased ; that he has since heard a piece of ground had been occu-

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The history of Georgia, Volume II, Part 9

Author: Jones, Charles Colcock, 1831-1893 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Boston : Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Number of Pages: 1142

Author: Jones, Charles Colcock, 1831-1893
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Boston : Houghton, Mifflin and Co.
Number of Pages: 1142