USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 5
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While the Spanish officers were employed in these embarrassing deliberations, three vessels of small force, which the Governor of Carolina had sent out to watch the motions of the enemy, ap- peared at some distance on the coast. This, cor- responding with part of Oglethorpe's letter, in- duced the Spanish commander to give credit to its entire contents. It was, therefore, determined to attack Oglethorpe at his stronghold at Frede-
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HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
rica before the expected reinforcement should arrive ; and accordingly the whole Spanish army was put in motion.
Captain Noble Jones, with a detachment of regulars and Indians, being out on a scouting party, fell in with a small detachment of the enemy's advance, who were surprised and made prisoners, not deeming themselves so far in front of the main army. From these prisoners infor- mation was received that the whole Spanish army was advancing : this was immediately communi- cated by an Indian runner to the general, who detached Captain Dunbar with a company of grenadiers, to join the. regulars and Indians, with orders to harass the enemy on their approach. These detachments, having formed a junction, ob- served at a distance the Spanish army on the march ; and, taking a favourable position near a marsh, formed an ambuscade.
The enemy fortunately halted within a hun- dred paces of this position, stacked their arms, made fires, and were preparing their kettles for cooking, when a horse observed some of the party in ambuscade, and frightened at the uniform of the regulars, began to snort and gave the alarm. The Spaniards ran to their arms, but were shot down in great numbers by Oglethorpe's detach- ment, who continued invisible to the enemy. After repeated attempts to form, in which some of their principal officers fell, they fled with the
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BLOODY MARSH.
utmost precipitation, leaving their camp equipage on the field, and never halted until they had got under cover of the guns of their battery and ships. General Oglethorpe had detached Major Horton with a reinforcement, who arrived only in time to join in the pursuit.
So complete was the surprise of the enemy, that many fled without their arms; others in a rapid retreat, discharged their muskets over their shoulders at their pursuers ; and many were killed by the loaded arms which were left on the ground. Generally the Spaniards fired so much at random that the trees were pruned by the balls from their muskets. Their loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners, was estimated at five hundred. The loss in Oglethorpe's detachment was very incon- siderable. From the signal victory obtained over the enemy and the great slaughter among the Spanish troops, the scene of action just described has ever since been denominated the "Bloody Marsh." On the 14th, the Spaniards burned all the works and houses on the south end of St. Simon's and Jekyl Islands. They then sailed to the southward, with Oglethorpe following close on their rear. At daylight, twenty-eight sail of the Spanish line appeared off Fort William, which was commanded by Ensign Stuart. Fourteen of these vessels came into the harbour, and de- manded a surrender of the garrison : Stuart re- plied, that, it should not be surrendered, nor 7*
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HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
could it be taken. They attacked the works from their galleys and other vessels, and attempted to land, but were repulsed by a small party of rangers who had arrived by a forced march down the island. Stuart, with only sixty men, defended the fort with such bravery, that after an assault of three hours, the enemy discovered the approach of Oglethorpe, and put to sea with considerable loss. Two galleys were disabled and abandoned, and the Governor of St. Augustine proceeded with his troops by the inland passage. Ensign Stuart was rewarded, by promotion, for the bra- very of his defence.
Thus was the province of Georgia delivered, when brought to the very brink of destruction by a formidable enemy. Don Manuel de Mon- teano had been fifteen days on the small island of St. Simon's, without gaining the least advan- tage over a handful of men; and in the several skirmishes, had lost a considerable number of his best troops; while Oglethorpe's loss was very inconsiderable.
When the Spanish troops returned to the Ha- vana, their commander was arrested and tried by a court-martial, found guilty, and dismissed with disgrace, for his improper conduct on an expedition, the result of which proved so shame- ful and inglorious to the Spanish arms.
The Carolinians, surprised at a success so tri- umphant, achieved without their assistance, were
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CALUMNIOUS CHARGES.
still divided in their opinions respecting the mili- tary character of Oglethorpe. The more magna- nimous among them acknowledged his signal services, and poured out the highest encomiums on his courage and military skill. There were others, however, who still continued to censure his conduct and detract from his merit. The authorities of, South Carolina neither praised nor blamed. The Governors of New York, New Jer- sey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, congratulated the general in the warm- est terms, and offered their humble thanks to the Supreme Governor of the universe for placing the fate of the southern colonies under the direc- tion of one so well qualified for the important . task.
But in the midst of his glorious achievements, envy and detraction busied themselves with de- faming his honour and integrity. Lieutenant- colonel Cook exhibited nineteen charges against him, and named several officers and citizens in Georgia, who were to be summoned to prove his guilt. Indignant at the calumnious misrepresen- tations of his accuser, Oglethorpe embarked for England, and reached there in 1743. A general court-martial was ordered for his trial; several days were spent in examining the various articles of complaint lodged against him, and, after the most mature deliberation, the court adjudged the charges to be false, malicious, and groundless ;
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HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
and his honourable acquittal was reported to the king. Lieutenant-colonel Cook was dismissed from the service in consequence, and declared incapable of serving his majesty in any military capacity whatever. Oglethorpe never afterward returned to Georgia ; but upon all occasions, zeal- ously exerted himself in behalf of its prosperity and improvement.
From its first settlement, the colony had been under a military government, executed by the general and such officers as he chose to appoint. But now the trustees thought proper to establish a sort of civil government, and committed the charge of it to a president and four councillors or assistants, who were to act agreeably to the instructions they should receive from the trus- tees; and to be accountable to them for their public conduct. Under these new regulations, William Stephens received the appointment of president.
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SLAVERY INTRODUCED.
CHAPTER VIII.
Slavery introduced-Daring scheme of Thomas Bosomworth- Malatche made Emperor of the Creeks-Signs a deed to Mary Bosomworth for the Indian reserved lands-Mary assumes the title of empress-She threatens destruction to the colony -March of the Creeks-The president prepares for defence -The Indians reach Savannah-Bosomworth and Mary seized and confined.
AFTER the signal defeat of the Spaniards, the affairs of the province passed on without any im- portant occurrences for several years. The cul- tivation of the vine and mulberry, being found unprofitable, was neglected, although the trustees made strenuous efforts to encourage the manu- facture of silk by offers of bounty for its pro- duction.
After bearing with the unceasing complaints of the colonists for a long time, the restrictions placed upon the introduction of slaves were par- tially abandoned ; and, although slavery had not yet been formally introduced into the province, the planters were tacitly permitted to hire negro servants in Carolina. Finding that this plan of evading the law succeeded, negroes were hired for a hundred years, or during life, and a sum equal to the value of the slave paid in advance ;
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HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
the former owner in Carolina binding himself to exhibit his claim whenever the Georgian authori- ties should interfere. Finally, purchases were openly made in Savannah; some seizures took place, but the magistrates and the courts for the most part joined in evading the operation of the law. Matters had now reached a crisis. The trustees, finding that any further resistance to the introduction of slavery would endanger the peace and prosperity of the colony, yielded to the publicly expressed wishes of a majority of the people, and in the year 1747 all previous restraints upon the purchase of negroes were removed. In December of this year, a daring scheme of self-aggrandizement was dévised by a clergyman named Bosomworth, which came very nearly involving the destruction of the whole province.
It will be recollected that at the first settle- ment of the colony, Oglethorpe had employed a half-breed woman, called Mary Musgrove, as an interpreter between himself and the Creeks. By the generosity of Oglethorpe, who had allowed her a liberal salary for her services, she obtained great influence over the minds of the Indians. After the death of her first husband, Bosom- worth, who had been a chaplain in Oglethorpe's regiment, married this woman, and taking advan- tage of the respect in which she was held by the neighbouring tribes, conceived a plan of acquiring,
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BOSOMWORTH'S SCHEME.
through her means, a fortune equal to any in America.
An Indian king, by the name of Malatche, of an age and standing in the Creek nation well suited to Bosomworth's purpose, was present at Frederica with sixteen others, who called them- selves kings and chiefs of the different towns. While at Frederica, Bosomworth suggested to Malatche the idea of having himself crowned by his companions. Accordingly, a paper was drawn up, acknowledging Malatche Opiya Meco to be the rightful natural prince and emperor of the dominions of the Creek nation ; vesting him with power to declare war, make laws, frame treaties, convey lands, and transact all affairs relating to the nation ; the chiefs binding themselves, on the part of their several towns, to abide by and fulfil all his contracts and engagements.
This paper having been duly signed and wit- nessed, Bosomworth obtained a deed in the name of Mary, his wife, from Malatche for all the islands and lands reserved by the Indians in their first treaty with Oglethorpe.
For two years after the making of this deed, Bosomworth remained silently waiting an oppor- tunity to profit by it. In 1749, he determined that his wife should assert her claim to the Indian reservations of the islands of Sapelo, Ossabaw, and St. Catharine's. To render this claim still stronger, he encouraged his wife into the pretence
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HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
of being the eldest sister of Malatche, and of having descended in a maternal line from an Indian king, who held from nature the whole territory of the Creek.
Accordingly, Mary assumed the title of an in- dependent empress, and disavowed all allegiance or subjection to the King of Great Britain, otherwise than by way of treaty and alliance. She summoned a meeting of all the Creeks, to whom she set forth the justice of her claim, and the great injury they had sustained by the loss of their territories, and urged them to a defence of their rights by force of arms.
The Indians, thus artfully addressed, rose up, and pledged themselves, to a man, to stand by her to the last drop of their blood, in defence of her royal person and their lands. Thus sup- ported by the whole force of the tribe, Queen Mary, escorted by a large body of her savage subjects, set out for Savannah, to demand from the president and council a formal acknowledg- ment of her rights in the province.
President Stephens and his council, alarmed at her high pretensions and bold threats, and sensible of her influence with the Indians, from her having been made a woman of consequence as an interpreter, were not a little embarrassed as to what steps to take for the public safety. They thought it best to use soft and healing measures until an opportunity might offer of
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INDIANS ENTER SAVANNAH.
privately laying hold of her and shipping her off to England.
In the mean time, the militia were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to march to Savan- nah, at the shortest notice. The town was put in the best possible state of defence, but its whole force amounted to only one hundred and seventy men able to bear arms. A message was sent to Mary, while she was yet several miles distant from Savannah at the head of her mighty host, to know whether she was serious in such wild pretensions, and try the influence of persuasion to induce her to dismiss her followers and drop her audacious design; but finding her inflexible and resolute, the president resolved to put on a bold countenance, and receive the savages with firmness and resolution.
The militia were ordered under arms to over- awe them as much as possible ; and as the Indians entered the town, Captain Noble Jones, at the head of a troop of horse, stopped them, and de- manded whether their visit was with hostile or friendly intentions ; but receiving no satisfactory answer, he required them to ground their arms, declaring that he had orders not to suffer one armed Indian to set foot in the town, and that he was determined to enforce the orders at the risk of his own life and that of his troops.
The savages with great reluctance submitted ; and, accordingly, Thomas Bosomworth, in his
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HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
canonical robes, with his queen by his side, fol- lowed by the kings and chiefs according to rank, marched into the town on the 20th of July, making a most formidable appearance.
The inhabitants were struck with terror at the sight of this ferocious tribe of savages. When they advanced to the parade, they found the militia drawn up under arms to receive them, by whom they were saluted with fifteen cannon, and conducted to the president's house. Bosomworth being ordered to withdraw, the Indian chiefs in a friendly manner were required to declare their intention in paying this visit in so large a body, without being sent for by any person in authority. The warriors, as they had been instructed, an- swered that Mary was to speak for them, and that they would abide by whatever she said ; that they had heard that she was to be sent like a captive over the great waters, and they were come to know on what account they were to lose their queen; that they intended no harm, and begged that their arms might be restored to them ; and after consulting with Bosomworth and his wife, they would return and amicably settle all public affairs. To please them, their guns were accordingly returned, but strict orders were issued to allow them no ammunition, until the council should see more clearly into their dark designs.
On the day following, the Indians, having had some private conferences with Mary, were ob-
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BOSOMWORTH AND MARY CONFINED.
served to march in a tumultuous manner through the streets, evidencing a hostile temper, and ap- parently determined on mischief. All the men being obliged to mount guard, the women and children were terrified and afraid to remain in the houses by themselves, expecting every moment to be murdered and scalped. During this con- fusion, a false rumour was circulated, that they had cut off President Stephens's head with a tomahawk, which so exasperated the inhabitants that it was with difficulty the officers could re- strain the troops from firing upon the savages : perhaps the exercise of the greatest prudence was never more requisite to save the town from being deluged with blood. Orders were given to lay hold of Bosomworth, to whom it was in- sinuated that he was marked as the first victim of vengeance in case of extremities ; and he was carried out of the way and closely confined, upon which Mary, his beloved queen, became outrageous and frantic, and threatened the thunder of her vengeance against the magis- trates and the whole colony. She ordered all white persons to depart immediately from her territories, and at their peril to refuse ; she cursed Oglethorpe and his fraudulent treaties, and furi- ously stamping her foot upon the earth, swore that the whole globe should know that the ground she stood upon was her own. To prevent any ascendency by bribes over the chiefs and war-
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HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
1
riors, she kept the leading men constantly un- der her eye, and would not suffer them to utter a sentence on public affairs, but in her pre- sence.
The president, finding that no peaceable agree- ment could be made with the Indians while under the baleful influence of their pretended queen, privately laid hold of her, and put her with her husband in confinement. This step was found necessary, before any reasonable terms of nego- ciation would be heard.
Having secured the royal family, who were un- questionably the promoters of the conspiracy, the president employed men acquainted with the In- dian tongue to entertain the warriors in the most friendly and hospitable manner, and directed that explanations should be made to them of the wicked designs of Bosomworth and his wife. Ac- cordingly a feast was prepared for all the chiefs and leading warriors, at which they were in- formed that Bosomworth had involved himself in debts which he was unable to pay, and that he wanted not only their lands, but a large share of the king's presents, which had been sent over for the chiefs and warriors; that his object was to satisfy his creditors in Carolina at their expense ; that the king's presents were only intended for the Indians, as a compensation for their useful services and firm attachment to him during the war against their common enemy; and that the
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A TALK WITH THE INDIANS.
lands adjoining the town were reserved for them to encamp upon when they should come to visit their beloved friends in Savannah, and the three mari- time islands to fish and hunt upon when they should come to bathe in the salt waters : that neither Mary nor her husband had any right to those lands, but that they were the common pro- perty of the whole nation : that the great King George had ordered the president to defend their right to them, and expected that all his subjects, both white and red, would live together like breth- ren, and that the great king would suffer no one to molest or injure them ; and had ordered these words to be left on record, that they might not be forgotten by their descendants, when they were dead and gone.
This policy produced a temporary effect, and many of the chiefs, being convinced that Bosom- worth had deceived them, declared they would no longer be governed by his advice : even Malatche, the leader of the lower Creeks, and the pretended relation of Mary, seemed satisfied, and was not a little pleased to hear that the king had sent them some valuable presents. Being asked why he acknowledged Mary as the empress of the great nation of the Creeks, and resigned his power and possessions to a despicable old woman, while he was universally recognised as the great chief of the nation, and that too at the very time when the president and council were to give him many
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HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
rich clothes and medals for his services,-he re- plied, that the whole nation acknowledged her as their queen, and none could distribute the royal presents but herself, er one of her family, as had been done heretofore.
The president, by this answer, saw more clearly the design of Bosomworth's family. To lessen their influence and consequence, and show the Indians that he had power to divide the royal bounty among the chiefs, he determined to take the task upon himself, and immediately dismiss them, on account of the growing expenses of the colony, and the hardships the people underwent in keeping guard night and day for the defence of the town.
CHAPTER IX.
Fickleness of Malatche-His speech-The president's reply -Bosomworth and Mary threaten vengeance against the colony-The Indians prevailed on to return home-Bosom- worth and Mary released-Bosomworth reasserts his claims by a suit at law-Decision of the English Courts-Another suit instituted.
IN the mean time, Malatche, whom the Indians compared to the wind, because of his fickle and variable temper, having at his own request ob- tained admission to Bosomworth and his wife, was again drawn over to support their chimerical claims. While the Indians were gathered to-
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MALATCHE'S SPEECH.
gether to receive their respective shares of the royal bounty, he stood up in the midst of them with a frowning countenance, and in violent agi- tation delivered a speech fraught with the most dangerous insinuations and threats. He declared that Mary possessed the country before General Oglethorpe; that all the lands belonged to her as queen and head of the Creeks ; that'it was by her consent that Englishmen were at first permit- ted to settle on them; that they still held the land as her tenants at will ; that her words were the voice of the whole nation, consisting of three thousand warriors, every man of whom would raise the hatchet in defence of her rightful claim. Then pulling a paper out of his pocket, he de- livered it to the president in confirmation of what he had said. This was evidently the production of Bosomworth, and served to discover in the plainest manner his ambitious views and wicked intrigues. The preamble was filled with the names of Indians, called kings of all the towns in the upper and lower Creeks, none of whom, how- · ever, were present except two. The substance of the paper corresponded with Malatche's speech, styling Mary the rightful princess of the whole nation, invested with full power and authority to settle and finally determine all public affairs and causes relative to land and other things, with King George and his men on both sides of the sea ; and asserting that whatever should be done by her;
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HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
they would abide by as if done by themselves. Bosomworth probably did not intend that this paper should have been shown, nor was Malatche aware of the consequences of putting it in the hands of the president.
After reading this paper in council, the mem- bers were struck with astonishment ; and Malat- che, perceiving their uneasiness, begged to have it again, declaring that he did not know it was a bad talk, and promising that he would imme- diately return it to the person from whom he had received it. To remove all impressions made on the minds of the Indians by Malatche's speech, and convince them of the deceitful and danger- ous tendency of this confederacy, into which Bosomworth and his wife had betrayed them, had now become a matter of the highest conse- quence : happy was it for the province, that this, though difficult, was practicable. As ignorant savages were easily misled on the one side, it was practicable to convince them of their error on the other. Accordingly, having gathered the Indians together, the president determined to adopt a bold and decided tone, and addressed them with the following speech :-
"Friends and brothers :- When Mr. Ogle- thorpe and his people first arrived in Georgia, they found Mary, then the wife of John Mus- grove, living in a small hut at Yamacraw; he had a license from the Governor of South Caro-
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A TALK WITH THE INDIANS.
lina to trade with the Indians ; she then ap- peared to be in a poor ragged condition, and was neglected and despised by the Creeks ; but Gene- ral Oglethorpe, finding that she could speak both the English and Creek languages, employed her as an interpreter, richly clothed her, and made her a woman of the consequence she now ap- pears; the people of Georgia always respected her until she married Bosomworth, but from that time. she has proved a liar and a deceiver. In fact, she was no relation of Malatche, but the daughter of an Indian woman of no note, and a white man. General Oglethorpe did not treat with her for the lands of Georgia, for she had none; but with the old and wise leaders of the Creek nation, who voluntarily surrendered their territories to the king; the Indians at that time having much waste land, which was useless to themselves, parted with a share of it to their friends, and were glad that white people had set- tled among them to supply their wants. He told them that the present discontents of the Creeks had been artfully infused into them by Mary, at the instigation of her husband ; that he demanded a third part of the royal bounty, in order to rob . the naked Indians of their right; that he had quarrelled with the president and council of Georgia, for refusing to answer his exorbitant demands, and therefore had filled the heads of the Indians with wild fancies and groundless
4
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HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
jealousies, in order to ferment mischief, and in- duce them to break their alliance with their best friends, who alone were able to supply their wants and defend them against their enemies."
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