USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia: containing brief sketches of the most remarkable events, up to the present day, Vol. I > Part 16
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ent quarters to this healthy maritime port, partic. ularly from Bermuda : about seventy came from that island, but unfortunately for them and the reputation of the town, a mortal epidemic broke out, and carried off about fifty of their number the first year : it is highly probable they brought the seeds of the disease with them. Of the remain- der, as many as were able, returned to their native country. This circumstance however, did
not very much retard the growing state of this eligible spot : a lucrative trade was carried on with various parts of the West Indies, in lumber, rice, indigo, corn, &c. Seven square rigged ves- sels have been known to enter the port of Sun- bury in one day, and about the years 1769 and 1770, it was thought by many, in point of com. mercial consequence, to rival Savannah. In this prosperous state it continued with very little inter- ruption, until the war commenced between Great- Britain and America, when it was taken by the British troops under the command of general Provost. After the revolutionary war, trade took a different channel, and Savannah became the re- ceptacle for the exports and imports of that por- tion of the province, which had formerly passed through Sunbury. Farther notice will be taken of this town in its proper place.
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CHAPTER VI.
WHEN general Abercrombie · succeeded lord Loudon, as commander in chief of the Bri. tish forces in America, it was contemplated to take possession of the French strong holds on the Ohio, westward of Virginia ; and the Cherokees were invited to join their allies in the capture of fort Duquesne : the French finding a superior force coming against them, burned the houses, destroyed the works, abandoned the place, and fell down the river in small boats to establish other works west of the Cherokee mountains. The flight of the French garrison to the south, prognosticated the visitation of greater evils to Georgia and the Carolinas : the scene of action was only changed to positions more accessible, and the baleful influence of those active and enter- prising enemies, soon appeared among the upper tribes of the Cherokees. An unfortunate quarrel between the savages and Virginians, helped to forward the designs of the French, by opening to them an easier access to the towns of those In- dians. In the different expeditions against the French, the Cherokees, agreeably to treaty, had sent considerable parties of warriors to the assist- ance of the British army. As the horses in those parts ran wild in the woods, it was customary x 2
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both among the Indians and white people on the frontiers, to catch them and appropriate them to their own purposes : while the savages were re- turning home through the back parts of Virginia, many of them having lost their horses, caught such as came in their way, never imagining that they belonged to any individual in the province. The Virginians resented the injury by force of arms, and killed twelve or fourteen of the unsus- pecting savages, and took several prisoners : the Cherokees were highly provoked at such ungrate- ful usage from their allies, whose frontiers they had helped to change from a field of blood to peaceful habitations, and when they returned home, told what had happened, to their nation : the flame soon spread through the upper towns, and those who had lost their friends and relations were implacable, breathing indiscriminate fury and vengeance against the white people. In vain did the chiefs interpose their authority ; nothing would restrain the furious spirit of their young men, who were determined to take satisfaction for the loss of their relations : the emissaries of France added fuel to the flame, by telling them that the English intended to kill all their men, and make slaves of their wives and children; they instigated them to bloodshed, and furnished them with arms and ammunition. The scattered families on the frontiers of Georgia, lay much ex- posed to the tomahawk and scalping knife of these savages, who commonly make no distinc-
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tion of age or sex, but pour an indiscriminate vengeance upon the innocent and guilty. Fort Loudon, on the south bank of Tenessee river, op- posite to the place where Tellico block-house was afterwards built, and garrisoned by two hundred men under the command of captains Demere and Steuart, first felt the direful effects of the Chero- kee's vengeance. The soldiers as usual making excursions into the woods, to hunt for fresh pro- visions, were attacked and some of them killed : from this time such dangers threatened the gar- rison, that every one was confined within the small boundaries of the fort ; all communication with the distant settlement, from which they re- ceived supplies being cut off, and the garrison being but poorly provisioned, had no other pros- pects but those of famine or death. Parties of Indians took the field, rushed down among the settlements, and murdered and scalped a number of people on the frontiers. Fort Prince George had been erected in 1755, on the bank of Savan- nah river, near a town of the Cherokee's, called Keowee : the commanding officer of this garrison communicated to the governors of South-Caro- lina and Georgia, the dangers with which they were threatened ; upon which governor Lyttle- ton ordered out a body of militia, and repaired to the fort, where he formed a treaty with six of the chiefs, on the 26th of December 1759 ; one of the articlesrequired that thirty-two Indian warriors were to be given as hostages to fulfil other condi-
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tions ; these were confined in a small hut not more than sufficient for the comfortable accom- modation of six soldiers. The small-pox broke out in the governor's camp, his men became dis- satisfied and mutinous, and the governor was obliged to return to Charleston. The rejoicings on his return were scarcely ended, when hostilities were recommenced by the Indians, who were dis- satisfied with the conditions of the treaty, and denied the powers of the few chiefs who had framed it : fourteen men had been killed within a mile of fort Prince-George : the Indians had contracted an invincible antipathy to captain Coytmore who commanded in the fort : the im- prisonment of their chiefs had converted their desire for peace into the bitterest rage for war. Occonostota, a chieftain of great influence, had become a most implacable and vindictive ene- my : he collected a strong party of Cherokees, surrounded the fort, and compelled the garrison to keep within their works, but finding he could make no impression on them, nor oblige the com- mander to surrender, he contrived the following stratagem for the relief of his countrymen, con- fined in it as hostages: as the underwood was well calculated for his purposes, he placed a party of savages in a dark cane-brake by the ·river side, and then sent an Indian woman whom he knew to be always welcome at the fort, to in- form the commander that he had something of consequence to communicate to him, and would
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be glad to speak to him at the river side : cap. tain Coytmore imprudently consented, and with- out any suspicion of danger walked to the river, accompanied by lieutenants Bell and Foster : Occonostota appeared on the opposite side, and told him he was going to Charleston to procure the release of the hostages, and would be glad of a white man to accompany him as a safe-guard ; the better to cover his design, he had a bridle in his hand, and added that he would go and hunt for a horse : the captain replied that he should have a guard and wished he might find a horse, as the journey was very long, and per- forming it on foot would be fatiguing and tedi- ous : upon which the Indian turned quickly round, swung the bridle rouud his head as a sig- nal to the savages placed in ambush, who instant- ly fired upon the officers, shot the captain dead upon the spot, and wounded the other two; in consequence of which, orders were given to put the hostages in irons, to prevent any farther dan- ger from them : but while the soldiers were at- tempting to execute these orders, the Indians stabbed with a knife, the first man who laid hold of them, and wounded two more, upon which the garrison, exasperated to the highest degree, fell upon the unfortunate hostages and butchered them in a manner too shocking to relate.
There were few men in the Cherokee nation that did not lose a friend or relation by this massacre ; and therefore with one voice all declared for war.
العحاصر
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The leaders in every town seized the hatchet, telling their followers that the spirits of their murdered brothers were hovering around them, calling out for vengeance on their enemies. From the different towns large parties of warriors took the field, painted according to their custom, and arrayed with all their instruments of death, shouting the war-whoop and burning with impa- tience to imbrue their hands in the blood of their enemies : they rushed down among innocent and defenceless families on the frontiers, where men, women and children, without distinction, fell a sacrifice to their merciless fury : such as fled to the woods and escaped the scalping knife, perish- ed with hunger, and those whom they made pri- soners, were carried into the wilderness, where they suffered inexpressible hardships : every day brought fresh accounts of these desolating rava- ges. In this extremity, an express was sent to general 'Amherst, the commander in chief in America, acquainting him with the deplorable situation of the southern provinces, and imploring his assistance in the most pressing terms. Ac- cordingly a battalion of Highlanders, and four companies of the royal Scots, under the com- mand of colonel Montgomery, were ordered im- mediately to embark at New York, and sail for the relief of Georgia and Carolina. Application was made to the neighboring provinces of North- Carolina and Virginia for relief, and seven com- panies of rangers were raised to patrol the fron-
HISTORY OF GEORGIA, 1760. 265
tiers, and prevent the savages from penetrat- ing farther down among the settlements. A considerable sum was voted for presents to such of the Creeks, Chickesaws and Catabaws, as should join and go to, war against the Che- rokees ; provisions were sent to the families that had escaped to Augusta, and fort Moore, and the best possible preparations made for chastising the enemy, as soon as the regulars expected frem New York should arrive.
In April, 1760, colonel Montgomery landed in Carolina : great was the joy in the province of Georgia upon the arrival of this gallant officer ; but as the conquest of Canada was the grand ob- ject of this year's campaign in America, he had orders to strike a sudden blow for the relief of the . southern provinces, and return to head quarters at Albany without loss of time; nothing was therefore omitted that was judged necessary to forward the expedition. Soon after his arrival he marched to the Congarees in South-Carolina, where he was joined by the military strength of that province, and immediately put his little ar- my in motion for the Cherokee country. Having but little time allowed him, his march was un- commonly spirited and expeditious : after reach- ing Twelve Mile river, he encamped on an advan- tageous ground, and marched with a party of his men in the night, to surprise Estatoe, an Indian town about twenty miles from his camp : the first noise he heard by the way, was the barking of a
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dog before his men, where he was informed there was an Indian town called little Keowee, which he ordered his light infantry to surround, and, except women and children, to put every Indian in it to the sword. Having done this piece of service, he proceeded to Estatoe, which he found abandoned by all the savages, excepting a few who had not time to make their escape. The town which consisted of two hundred houses, and was well provided with corn, hogs and poul- try, was reduced to ashes. Sugar-town, and every other settlement eastward of the Blue Ridge, afterwards shared the same fate. In these lower towns about sixty Indians were killed, forty made prisoners, and the rest driven to seek for shelter among the mountains. Having finish- ed this business with the loss of only three or four men, he marched to the relief of fort Prince- George, which had been for some time invested by savages, insomuch that no soldier durst ven- ture beyond the bounds of the fort, and where the garrison was in distress, not so much for the want of provisions, as fuel to prepare them.
While the army rested at fort Prince-George, Edmund Atkins, agent of Indian affairs, des- patched two Indian chiefs to the middle settle- ments, to inform the Cherokees, that by suing for peace they might obtain it, as the former friends and allies of Britain : at the same time they sent a message to fort Loudon, requesting captains Demere and Steuart, the commanding officers at
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that place, to use their best endeavors for ob- taining peace with the Cherokees in the upper towns. Colonel Montgomery finding that the savages were not yet disposed to listen to terms of accommodation, determined to carry the chas- tisement a little farther. Dismal was the wilder- ness into which he entered, and many were the hardships and dangers he had to encounter, from dark thickets, rugged paths and narrow passes ; in which a small body of men, properly posted, might harass and tire out the bravest army that ever took the field. Having on every side suspi- cious grounds, he found occasion for the exer- cise of constant vigilance and circumspection. On the 27th of June, when he had advanced within five miles of Etchoe, the nearest town in the middle settlements, he found there a low val- ley, covered so thick with brush, that a soldier could scarcely see the length of his body, and in the middle of which, there was a muddy river, with steep clay banks ; through this dark place, where it was impossible for any number of men to act together, the army must necessarily march ; and therefore captain Morison, who commanded a company of rangers, had orders to advance and scour the thicket : they had scarcely entered it, when a number of savages sprang from their am- buscade, fired on them, killed the captain and wounded several of his party : upon which the light infantry and grenadiers were ordered to ad- vance and charge the enemy, which they did
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with great courage and alacrity. A heavy fire then began on both sides, and during some time the soldiers could only discover the places where the savages were hid by the report of their guns. Colonel Montgomery finding that the number (f Indians that guarded this place was considerable, and that they were determined obstinately to dis- pute it, ordered the royal Scots, who were in the rear, to advance between the savages and a rising ground on the right, while the Highlanders marched towards the left to support the light infantry and grenadiers : the woods resounded with the war-whoop and horrible yells of the savages ; but these, instead of intimidating the troops, seemed rather to inspire them with more firmness and resolution. At length the Indians gave way, and in their retreat falling in with the royal Scots, suffered considerably before they got out of their reach. By this time, the royals being in the front, and the Highlanders in the rear, the enemy keeping up a retreating fire took possession of a hill, apparently disposed to remain at a distance, but continued to retreat as the army advanced : colonel 'Montgomery perceiving that they kept aloof, gave orders to the line to face about, and march directly for the town of Etchoe. The enemy no sooner observed this movement, than they got behind the hill, and ran to. alarm their wives and children. In this action, which lasted about an hour, colonel Montgomery who made several narrow escapes, had twenty men
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killed and seventy-six wounded : what number the enemy lost was not ascertained. Upon view- ing the ground, all were astonished to see with what judgment and skill it was chosen ; the most experienced officer could not have fixed upon a spot more advantageous for way-laying and at- tacking an enemy, according to the method of fighting practised among the Indians. This ac- tion, though it terminated in favor of the British army, had reduced it to such a situation as made it very imprudent, if not impracticable, to pene- trate farther into those woods ; as the repulse of the enemy was far from being decisive, for they had only retired from one advantageous situation to another, in order to renew the attack when the army should again advance. The humanity of the commander would not suffer him to leave so many wounded men exposed to the vengeance of savages, without a strong-hold in which he might lodge them, or some detachment to pro- tect them, and which he now could not spare ; should he proceed further, he saw plainly that he must expect frequent skirmishes, which would increase the number ; and the burning of so many Indian towns would be a poor compensation for the great risk, and perhaps sacrifice of so many valuable troops. To furnish horses for the men already wounded, he was obliged to throw away many bags of flour into the river, and what re- mained was no more than sufficient for his army on their return to fort Prince-George. Under
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these circumstances therefore, orders were gives for a retreat, which was made with great regu- larity, although the enemy continued hovering around and annoying them to the utmost of their power. A large train of wounded men was brought above sixty miles through a hazard- ous country in safety, for which no small share of honor and credit was due to the officer who con- ducted the retreat.
The dangers which threatened the frontiers, induced colonel Montgomery to leave four com- panics of the royal regiment under the command of major Frederick Hamilton for their pro- tection, while he embarked with the battalion of Highlanders, and sailed for New York. In the mean time, the distant garrison of fort Lou- don, consisting of two hundred men, was reduced to the dreadful alternative of perishing by hun- ger, or submitting to the mercy of the enraged Cherokees. Having received information that the Virginians had undertaken to relieve them, for a while they seemed satisfied, anxiously waiting for the realization of their hopes. The Virginians however, were equally disqualified with their neighbors of Carolina, from rendering them any assistance. So remote was the fort from every settlement, and so difficult was it to march an army through a barren wilderness, where the passes and thickets were ambuscaded by the ene- my, and to carry at the same time sufficient sup- plies, that the Virginians had given over all
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thoughts of the attempt. The provisions in the mean time being entirely exhausted at the fort, the garrison was reduced to the most deplorable situation : for a whole month they had no other subsistence but the flesh of lean horses and dogs, and a small supply of Indian beans. Long had the
officers animated and encouraged the men with
the hopes of relief; but now being blockaded night and day by the enemy, and having no re- source left, they threatened to leave the fort, and
die at once by the hands of the savages, rather than perish slowly by famine. In this extremity, the commander was obliged to call a council of war, to consider what was proper to be done ; the
officers were all of opinion that it was impossible
to hold out any longer, and therefore agreed to
surrender the fort to the Cherokees on the best terms that could be obtained from them. For this purpose captain Steuart, an officer of great saga- city-and address, and much beloved by all the Indians who remained in the British interest, pro- . cured leave to go to Chote, one of the principal towns in that neighborhood, where he obtained the following terms of capitulation, which were signed by the commanding officer and two chiefs : " That the garrison of fort Loudon march out with their arms and drums, cach soldier hav- ing as much powder and ball as their officer shall think necessary for their march, and all the bag- gage they may choose to carry : that the garrison be permitted to march to Virginia, or fort.
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Prince-George, as the commanding officer shall think proper, unmolested; and that a number of Indians be appointed to escort them, and hunt for provisions during the march : that such sol- diers as are lame, or by sickness disabled from marching, be received into the Indian towns, and kindly used until they recover, and then be al- lowed to proceed to fort Prince-George : that the Indians do provide for the garrison as many horses as they conveniently can for their march, agreeing with the officers and soldiers for the payment : that the fort's great guns, powder. ball, and spare arms, be delivered to the Indians without fraud or further delay, on the day ap- pointed for the march of the troops."
Agreeably to the terms stipulated, the garri- son delivered up the fort, on the 7th of August, and marched out with their arms, accompanied by Occonostota the prince of Chote, and several other Indians, and that day marched fifteen miles on their way to fort Prince-George. At night they encamped on a plain about two miles from Tali- quo an Indian town, when all their Indian atten- dants, upon some pretence or other, left them; which the officers considered as an unfavorable omen, and therefore placed a strict guard round their camp. During the night they remained . unmolested, but next morning at the dawn of day, a soldier from an out-post came running in, and informed them, that he saw a vast number of Indians, armed and painted in a warlike manner,
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creeping among the bushes, and advancing in order to surround the camp: scarcely had the commanding officer time to order his men under arms, when the savages poured in upon them a heavy fire from different directions, accompa- nied by the most hideous yells, which struck a panic into the soldiers, who were so much enfeebled and dispirited that they were incapable of making any effectual resistance. Captain Paul Demere the commander, and three other officers, with twenty-six men, fell at the first onset ; some fled into the woods and were afterwards taken prisoners; captain Steuart, and those who re- mained, were seized, pinioned, and carried back to fort Loudon. No sooner had Attakullakulla heard that his friend captain Steuart, had escaped death, than he hastened to the fort and purchased him from the Indian who took him, giving him his rifle, clothes, and all that he could command, by way of ransom : he then took possession of captain Demere's house, where he kept his pri- soner as one of his family, and humanely shared with him the little provisions his table afforded, until an opportunity should offer of rescuing him from their hands; but the poor soldiers were kept in a miserable state of captivity for some time, and then ransomed at considerable expense.
During the time these prisoners were confined at fort Loudon, Occonostota formed a design of attacking fort Prince-George, and for this purpose despatched a messenger to the Indian settlements
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in the valley, requesting all the warriors to join him at Stickoe-old-town. By accident a discov. ery was made of ten kegs of powder, and ball in proportion, which the officers had secretly buried in the fort, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy : this discovery had nearly proved fatal to captain Steuart, and would cer- 1 tainly have cost him his life, had not the interpre- ter had so much presence of mind, as to assure the enemy that this ammunition had been con- cealed without his knowledge or consent. The Indians having now abundance of ammunition for the siege, a council was' called at Chote, to which captain Steuart was brought, and put in mind of the obligations he lay under to them for sparing his life ; and as they had resolved to carry six cannon and two cohorns with them against fort Prince-George, to be managed by men under his command, they told him he must go and write such letters to the commandant as they should dictate : they informed him at the same time, that if that officer should refuse to surrender, they were determined to burn the prisoners, one after another before his face, and try if he could be so obstinate as to hold out while he saw his friends expiring in the flames : captain Steuart was much alarmed at his situation, and from that .moment . resolved to make his escape or perish in the at- tempt : his design he privately communicated to his faithful friend Attakullakulla, and told him how uneasy he was at the thoughts of being con-
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