USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia: containing brief sketches of the most remarkable events, up to the present day, Vol. II > Part 4
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A general election was held for delegates, to meet at Savannah, on the 4th day of July. The members accordingly assembled ; and the 15th of that month, they appointed the honourable Archi- bald Bulloch, John Houstoun, John Joachim Zub- ly, Noble Wimberly Jones, and Lyman Hall, E's-
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quires, to represent this province in congress, at Philadelphia. The resolution for this measure was signed by fifty-three members, who pledged themselves for its support ; and their proceedings were communicated to congress, then in session, accompanied by a declaration, that this province was determined to unite in, and adhere to the common cause of the provinces.
During the session of the delegates in Savan- nah, captain Maitland from London arrived at Tybee, with thirteen thousand pounds of pow- der, and other articles for the use of the British troops, and for the Indian trade. It was deter- mined to obtain possession of that valuable prize, without loss of time : accordingly about thirty volunteers, under the command of commodore Brown and colonel Joseph Habersham, embarked on board of two boats, proceeded down the river Savannah to the ship, took possession of her, and discharged the crew. A guard was left on board of the ship, and the powder brought to town and secured in the magazine. . Five thousand pounds of the powder was sent to the patriots near Boston.
Among the number who were concerned in taking the ship, was Ebenezer Smith Plat. This gentleman was afterward taken by the enemy, and identified by two of the ship's crew. Hc was sent to England under a charge of treason, and remained several years in gaol; but was eventually considered a prisoner of war, and ex- changed.
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CHAPTER III.
In August several letters were received by the president of the council of safety, advising him that the southern frontier was menaced with hostility from St. Augustine, aided by the In- dians ; if Georgia refused to co-operate with the British, in quelling the revolt in South-Carolina. The council was immediately convened, and the following proclamation issued by president Ewin:
" GEORGIA
" Whereas, among other things it was re- solved by the last provincial legislature, that a . new election be held at such times between the day of adjournment and the 1st day of Septem- ber next, as the inhabitants of the several parishes and districts should think fit respectively, and that the members so elected, should meet in Savannah on the 4th day of December next, or sooner if the council of safety should think it expedient: this board therefore, earnestly recommend to the seve- ral parishes and districts within the province, to proceed without delay to the choice of delegates, to represent them in the next provincial legislature, agreeably to the number limited, and in manner and form as prescribed at the last assembly."
In conformity with this proclamation, elec- tions were held in the parishes and districts, for representatives, and in every instance, such men
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were selected as were known to be friendly to the cause of the colonies, and opposed to the political plans of Great-Britain. On the 15th of Septem- ber. Lord William Campbell, the British governor of South-Carolina, had dismounted the cannon of the battery at fort Johnson, and taken refuge on board the Tamer man of war, then lying in Rebel- lion road. The same night, the provincial troops took possession of the battery, remounted the cannon, and made the necessary preparations for defending the town. When these circumstances were communicated to president Ewin, ne issued his proclamation, requiring the provincial legisla- ture to convene at Savannah on the 16th of No- vember, when and where, all the members elected to represent the several parishes and districts in this province, were summoned to attend, and take under consideration, such important matters as should then be laid before them.
In September or October, Lord Campbell or- dered general Patrick Cunningham, to hold in readiness the friends of the royal government, be- tween Broad and Saluda rivers, to quell any op- position which might be made to the measures of Great Britain.
To secure the friendship of the Cherokee na- tion of Indians, had occupied the early attention of the council of safety in the southern provinces. 'The Indians being deprived of their ordinary sup- plies, by the interruption of their trade through South-Carolina and Georgia, were in ill humour
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and manifested a hostile temper. It was there- fore judged expedient to furnish them with am. munition for their hunting season, to enable them to supply their families with necessary support, The council of safety in Charleston sent them one thousand weight of powder, and a proportionable quantity of lead, under an escort of twenty Ran- gers, commanded by lieutenant-colonel Charlton,
who was charged with the distribution of it among the Indians. General Cunningham and major Bowman with about one hundred and fifty loyalists, way-laid the party as they passed through Ninety-six district, took possession of the ammunition, and disarmed the guard.
Upon the receipt of intelligence of this event, major Andrew Williamson ordered into service the militia of his battalion, and called for assist- ance from Georgia, with the intention of dispers- ing Cunningham's party. He was joined by cap- tain Jacob Colson, with his company, consisting of about sixty minute men ; and on mustering his force, found it to consist of between three hundred and fifty, and four hundred men ; with which he advanced to Ninety-six.
When Williamson's movements were com- municated to Cunningham, he assembled the loy- alists, who numbered fifteen hundred or more, and advanced to meet Williamson ; who calculat- ing on a superiority of numbers in the ranks of his opponent, had constructed a stockade fort with fence rails, sufficient in extent for his troops, on
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the hill which is separated from Ninety-six by the spring, which supplied the inhabitants of that village with water. There was no water in the fort ; but Williamson expected to be able to sup- ply his troops with that necessary fluid, from the spring. Major Williamson had supplied himself with some swivels, which he placed to the best advantage. On the 19th of November, in the forenoon, the advanced parties of the enemy were skirmished by parties from the fort ; in this ren- contre, the Americans had several men wounded, and they retreated into the fort. General Cun- ningham took possession of the village and gaol, about three hundred yards from the fort, which enabled him to command the water. Williamson was attacked on all sides, from behind houses, trees, logs, stumps and fences ; but no trenches were opened. On the second day of the attack, the enemy constructed mantelets, with an inten- tion to approach the fort and set it on fire ; but they could not manage them so as to answer their intentions, and they were burned : the besieged were summoned to surrender, but the proposition was rejected. On the third day a sortie was ar- ranged, to be commanded by captains Pickens, M'Call, Middleton, Anderson, Sinqufield and Colson, with twenty men each, to attack the ene- my at different points, at the same time : this was not executed, by reason of a suspension of hostili- ties being proposed by general Cunningham for twenty days, and agreed to by major William.
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son. In this agreement each party was at liberty to send to their respective authorities, unsealed despatches, informing them of the event, and their situation. The American party had sustained themselves without water, and but short allow. ance of provisions for three days without a mur- mur; and their stock of ammunition became nearly expended. General Cunningham was in- duced to propose the suspension of hostilities, on receiving intelligence, that colonels Richardson and Thompson, with a formidable re inforcement, were approaching to the relief of major William- son.
The terms of the suspension of hostilities were signed on the 22d of November. Captain Colson and his company were discharged, after receiv- ing the compliments of major Williamson, for their courage and activity during the siege. In this affair, the besieged lost one man, James Bir- mingham,'killed ; and thirteen wounded. The loss of the enemy was not accurately known ; but afterward acknowledged to be fifty two men kill- ed and wounded.
The militia were discharged, and returned to their respective homes; but, were directed to re- assemble at Ninety-six, at the termination of the truce.
Captain Colson and his company marched to the place of rendezvous on the day appointed, and joined major Williamson : the condition of things had materially changed. Colonel Richardson's
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command, was near two thousand men; and the enemy, in the fork of Broad and Saluda riv- ers, was reduced to six hundred. The Ameri- cans marched in quest of them, and attacked them by surprise, on the morning of the 24th of December. The loyalists were totally routed ; . several of their leaders were captured ; and such as escaped, made their way toward Florida, and the neighbouring Indian nations, for safety.
On the night of the 25th was a great fall of snow, supposed to be deeper on the ground, than what had ever before been witnessed in the south- ern provinces. In Georgia it was generally, eighteen inches deep; and from this circum- stance, this was called the snow campaign. The troops having no tents, and generally, not well provided with thick cloathing, suffered severely. When the Georgia troops were discharged, they had to march one hundred miles knee deep in the snow.
John Stewart, the superintendant of Indian affairs, had fixed the head quarters of his agency at St. Augustine, and appointed his brother, Hen- ry Stewart, his deputy, for the purpose of keep- ing open a communication with Alexander Came- ron, agent among the Cherokees. Notwithstand- ing the great obligations which Stewart was under to the people of South Carolina, whose govern- ment had made him a donation of fifteen hundred pounds sterling, and from whose recommendation he was appointed superintendant of Indian affairs ;
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yet in fifteen years after, we find him a violent opponent to those friends, when they were strug- gling for freedom. Early in the contest, he had settled a plan in concert with the king's govern- ors, and other officers engaged in the royal cause, to land an army in Florida, and to proceed with a part of it to the western frontiers of Geor- gia and Carolina, and there, in conjunction with the loyalists and Indians, to assail the friends of the revolution .. For this purpose he had employ- ed colonel Moses Kirkland, of the Carolina refu- gees, to proceed to Boston, and concert the plan of operations with general Gage, commander-in- chief of the British forces in America. After the arrangement was digested, Gage was to commu- nicate the result to the lieutenant-governor at St. Augustine, from whence a party was to attack Georgia upon the south. When Kirkland was on his way to Boston, he was taken prisoner, and these letters were found in his possession. The Indian talk to Cameron, which is mentioned in the letters, contained assurances from the Che- rokees, that they were ready to attend Cameron, and massacre the back settlers of Georgia and Ca- rolina. A letter was also found with Kirkland, from the lieutenant-governor to general Grant, containing a description of Carolina and Georgia, and pointing out the most accessible points of attack by the British and Indians, through the aid of Stewart and Cameron, who adopted every possible means of exasperating them against the
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inhabitants of these provinces, who were friendly to the measures of congress. In this letter, he says, " I hope the general will not take any more of the troops from us; I think he has already weakened us too much : consider the fort and its contents ; consider what our neighbours are will- . ing to do ; consider also, that this is the best and only immediate communication between Great- Britain and our red brothers. The best friends of Great-Britain are in the back parts of Carolina and Georgia : if the Indians were put in motion, they would suffer, and not the rebels : but this will be delivered to you by colonel Moses Kirk- land, who comes express to general Gage; to him I refer you-what he tells you, you may depend on. I think he may be made a powerful instru- ment in the hands of government, should any thing be done this way, which I think ought im- mediately to be undertaken: he knows every inch of Carolina, every road and bye-road, every creek and swamp, every person, and has a most exten- sive influence ; is resolute, active and enterpris- ing, and I think ought to receive the earliest en- couragement : he has not had a liberal education, but possesses clear, strong and manly sense, and I think he is entirely to be depended on."
These and many other letters to the same pur. port, were found in Kirkland's possession ; . all tending to encourage a junction with the Creek and Cherokee Indians, against that part of the in- habitants of Georgia and Carolina, who were
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friendly to the measures of congress ; but how to discriminate between the latter and those who were attached to the royal cause, puzzled them. Henry Stewart had projected a plan, which was found in Kirkland's possession ; but it was wild and deceptive. These arrangements were partial- ly frustrated by the capture of the vessel which was conveying Kirkland to Boston. The letters found in his possession, were forwarded to con- gress and published. The alarm which this spe- cies of warfare excited upon the frontiers, where the Indian customs were well known, can scarcely be imagined. Though this discovery of the Bri- tish designs and the capture of Kirkland, who was to have had an active share in the execution of them, in a great measure frustrated the plans of the royal servants, yet they were so far carried into effect, that the Cherokees commenced their massacres on the frontiers, at the same time that the British fleet appeared off Charleston, in the month of June. In the execution of this plan, the friends and enemies of the British cause, par- ticipated equally in personal sufferings and pecu- niary losses. The season for gathering the har- vest of their labours, had just commenced ; part of it was not yet cut, and the balance remained in the fields. Their houses were burned, and their fences laid open, inviting destruction by such horses, cattle and hogs, as had not been taken off by the Indians. The royal party complained that they had not been sheltered by their political
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opinions and feelings, from the universal distress- es and calamities, which fell upon every part of the frontier.
The danger, particularly with which Georgia was threatened from every quarter, and the ruin- ous consequences anticipated from an open and decided part in the contest, prevented the pro- vincial assembly from forming a house until the 20th of January, when Archibald Bulloch, Es- quire was chosen president of the executive coun- cil, and Edward Langworthy, secretary. Presi- dent Ewin of the committee of safety, laid before the house a variety of documents, representing the oppression of the other colonies to the north, and the united zeal with which the British troops had been opposed. Among other papers, was the address of the house of commons to the king, at the opening of parliament, on the 28th of Octo- ber, 1775. After having represented the seduc- tion of the American colonies from their allegi- ance under misrepresentations and insidious pre- tences, by which they had been made the instru- ments of the ambition and treacherous designs of those dangerous men, who had led them step by step to the standard of rebellion ; that they now assumed the powers by sovereign authority, which Was exercised in a despotic arbitrary manner over the persons and property of the deluded people. That they took a sincere part in the king's benev- olent desire, rather to reclaim than to subdue the American colonies, and regretted that it was not
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possible, without the effusion of the blood of their fellow-subjects ; but still hoped that the Ameri- can people would have discernment enough to see the treacherous views of their leaders, and con- sider the ruinous consequences which would at- tend, even the success of their plans. They then offered their entire concurrence with the king, that it then became the part of wisdom and clemency, to put a speedy end to these disasters by the most decisive exertions; that they learned with the greatest satisfaction, that the king had increased .his naval establishment and greatly augmented his land forces ; and that he had adopted the economi- cal plan of drawing as many regiments from out- posts as could be spared. to subdue the Ameri- can colonies, and bring them to a proper sense of their dependance upon the British government : they hoped that this force would soon bring the misled colonies to a correct idea of their error; and closed by thanking him for the authority he had given to his colonial governors, to offer pardon to such as would return to their allegiance ; and pro- mising their cordial co-operation in the augmen- tation of the navy and army, if the objects contem- plated should require it. Every exertion of the American advocates in parliament, in opposition to these measures, proved vain and ineffectual.
After the documents which had been laid be- fore the assembly were read ; the house entered into a resolution to embark with the other provin- ces in the common cause, with the utmost zeal,
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to resist and be free. Orders were given to sieze governor Wright, and disperse his council. At that time the Syren, Raven, Tamer and Chero- kee, British armed ships, were lying at Tybee, in the mouth of Savannah river. A schooner was sunk on Bryan's bank to prevent their getting up · to town, and many of the inhabitants removed with their effects into the country. A resolution was passed forbidding any person under any pre- text whatsoever, to conduct any vessel of war into the ports or inlets of this province, without permis- sion derived from the assembly, and required the citizens to use their utmost endeavours to bring offenders to exemplary punishment.
On the 18th of January, Joseph Habersham, Esq. who was then a member of the house, raised a party of volunteers, took governor Wright pris- · oner, paroled him to his house, and placed a sen- tinel at his door ; prohibiting all intercourse with the members of his council, the king's officers, or other persons who were supposed to be inimical to the American cause. The governor became tired of confinement, and with the assistance of John Mulryne, effected his escape from the back part of his house, on the night of the 11th of Feb- ruary. He went down the river about five miles by land to Bonaventure, where Mulryne lived, and where a boat and crew were waiting for him; from thence he passed through Tybee creek and got on board the armed ship Scarborough, from whence he wrote the following letter to James
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Mackay, and the other members of his council, at Savannah.
" February 13th, 1776.
"HONORABLE GENTLEMEN,
" After using my best endeavours for upward of three weeks, to prevail on those in whose hands the present ruling powers are, that the command- ers of his majesty's ships here might obtain as- surances that they might come to town and have free intercourse with me, without receiving any insults from the people assembled in and about town; also that the king's ships might be supplied with provisions, on paying the full price or value of them : and finding that the last message relative to these matters, which I desired the representa- tives of the town of Savannah, to deliver to the persons exercising those powers, was so lightly treated and little regarded, as that, although de- livered on Tuesday morning the 6th instant, vet I received no kind of answer to it for five days ; nor did I understand, whether it was meant to give me any answer or not : and well knowing that it was essential to his majesty's service, and the welfare of this province, that I should have an interview with the king's officers here : for these reasons, and many others, which you were made acquainted with and approved of, I deter- mined in all events to attempt coming down here, where I arrived at three o'clock yesterday morn- ing. And after having examined and duly weigh- ed and considered my several letters from Eng-
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Mind, and general Howe at Boston; and after having had a full conversation with his majes- ty's officers here, I have the great satisfaction to be able to affirm, from the best authority, that the forces now here, will not commit any hostilities against this province, although fully sufficient to reduce and overcome every opposition that could be attempted to be made ; and that nothing is meant, or wanted, but a friendly intercourse and a supply of fresh provisions. This his majes- ty's officers have an undoubted right to expect, and what they insist upon; and this I not only solemnly require in his majesty's name, but also, as (probably) the best friend the people of Georgic have, advise them without the least hesitation to comply with, or it may not be in my power to . insure them the continuance of the peace and qui- etude they now have, if it may be called so.
" His majesty has been graciously pleased to grant me leave to return to England, and (what- ever may be thought) my regard for the province and people is such that I cannot avoid, (and pos- sibly for the last time) exhorting the people to save themselves and their posterity from that total ruin and destruction, which although they may not, yet I most clearly see at the threshold of their doors ; and I cannot leave them without again warning them, in the most earnest and friendly manner, to desist from their present plans and re- solutions : it is still in their power, and if they will enable me to do it, I will (as far as I can) en-
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gage to give, and endeavour to obtain for them, full pardon and forgiveness for all passed crimes and offences ; and this I conjure you to consider well, and most seriously of, before it's too late : but, let things happen as they may, be it remem- bered, that I this day, in the king's name, offer the people of Georgia the olive branch, that most desirable object, and inestimable blessing, the re- turn of peace and happiness, to them and their posterity.
" Captain Barclay has desired me to notify, that he is willing and ready to give every assist- ance in his power to the captains of all such mer- chant ships as may be legally cleared out, to enable them to proceed on their respective voyages. I am also to acquaint you, that the detention of the schooner on Friday or Saturday last, proceeded entirely from a mistake by the officer. who com- manded the armed sloop, and that, if the owner will send down, the schooner will not only be de- livered up, but any reasonable price will be paid for the damaged rice that was on board, part of which has been used to feed hogs and poultry, or they may take it away again. I am also to men- tion, that the same armed sloop will be sent up to- morrow, to Four-mile point, in order to get fresh water, and for no other purpose. This. letter, which I consider as of the utmost consequence and importance to the whole people of Georgia, I must desire you will be pleased to communicate to the assembly, if sitting, and if not, to those who
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are called the council of safety, and especially to the inhabitants of the town and province in gene- ral, and acquaint them, that I shall expect their full and clear answer to every part of it, in a reas- onable time.
I am, with perfect esteem, gentlemen,
Your most obedient and faithful servant,. JAMES WRIGHT.
The assembly had passed a resolution to raise a battalion of continental troops, and on the 4th of February, the following field officers were ap- pointed to command it : Lachlan M'Intosh, co- lonel ; Samuel Elbert, lieutenant-colonel ; and Joseph Habersham, major.
On the 2nd of February, Archibald Bulloch," John Houstoun, Lyman Hall, Button Gwinnett, and George Walton, Esquires, were elected to represent this province, in congress, at Philadel- phia. Bills of credit were issued, in the form of certificates, and resolutions entered into, for the punishment of those who refused to receive them in payment of debts, or at par, for any article which was offered for sale.
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