USA > Georgia > Coffee County > Ward's History of Coffee County > Part 2
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The land districts of Coffee County were surveyed by the state in 1819. A land district in the original survey contains 529 lots of land. The land districts remain- ing just as they were originally surveyed, but the changing of county lines has cut off land districts lying in one county and added to the new county that was cut off from the old county. There are part of two Fifth Land Districts in Coffee County. A portion of the Fifth Land District of Irwin and Appling County was cut off into Coffee County.
NOTE: This information is furnished to the History of Coffee County by D. H. Peterson, County Surveyor, and is therefore correct and authentic.
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Georgia Militia Districts of Coffee County
BROXTON 1127 G. M. is bounded as follows: Begin- ning on the east side of lot of land 103 in Land District Number 1; thence south along east side to lot of land Number 231; thence west along the south side to lot of land 46; thence north to lot of land 95; thence west to lot 20, the boundary line; thence north along boun- dary line to Ocmulgee River; thence running south back to the point of beginning.
AMBROSE 1556 G. M. is bounded as follows: Be- ginning on the west side of lot of land 170; thence run- ning southeasterly to lot of land Number 46; thence east to lot of land 250, thence southeasterly to lot of land 254; thence south to boundary line; thence east to lot of land 33, then north to lot of land 95; thence west to boundary line, then south to point of beginning.
DOUGLAS 748 G. M. is bounded as follows : Begin- ning on the northwest side of lot of land 48, thence run- ning south to lot of land 60, then west to lot 33, then south again to boundary line ; thence east to lot of land 169; thence southeasterly to boundary line; thence west to lot of land 341; thence north to lot of land 326; thence east to land lot 232; thence west again to lot 48, the point of beginning.
NICHOLLS G. M. is bounded as follows: Beginning on the northwest side of lot of land 365; thence south to lot 350, the boundary line, thence east to lot 525; thence north to lot of land 517; thence east to lot 496 ;
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
thence north again to 502; east to 511; thence north to 509, thence east to lot 365, the point of beginning.
WEST GREEN 427 G. M. is bounded as follows : Northwest by lot of land 104; in the Fifth Land Dis- trict of Coffee County ; thence south to lot of land 274; thence east to lot of land 509; thence north to lot 115; thence west to lot 104, the point of beginning.
BRIDGETOWN 1804 G. M. is bounded as follows : Beginning at the southeast corner of lots of land num- bers 15 and 14 in the Sixth District of Coffee County, Georgia ; running along east lines of said lots 15 and 14 to the Satilla River, thence in a westerly direction along said river to Hebron Bridge; thence along the Douglas and Willacoochee road northwest to the bridge across the Satilla River on said road; thence in a westerly direction along the Satilla River to the Irwin County line, said district being bounded as follows: on the south by Atkinson County Line; east by the east original line of lots 15 and 14 in the Sixth District of Coffee County, Georgia, and the Douglas and Willacoochee public roads; north by the Satilla and the Douglas and Lax road and west by Douglas and Lax road and the Irwin County and Berrien County lines.
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Early History of Coffee County First County Officers-The List of Juries-Population in 1860
Since the removal of the Indians and the building of the Columbus and Blackshear roads, immigration came more rapidly to this section of Georgia. The class of people who came in were sturdy men and women from Virginia and the Carolinas. They had large families. Conditions of all kinds were improving; churches and schoolhouses were being built; roads were being opened; farm land being fenced and cultivated, and there was an era of progress and prosperity on every side. And so, in 1854 Coffee County was created, be- ing carved out of Appling, Telfair and Irwin Counties. The county was named for General John Coffee. Hon. James Pearson gave the county fifty acres of land, on which the courthouse was built in 1858. The county site was named Douglas, after Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, who had been the South's candidate for President.
All the citizens of Telfair County on the south side of the Ocmulgee River and all the citizens who formerly lived in Appling County, later included in Coffee County, and also citizens of Irwin County, then in- cluded in Coffee County, all became citizens of the new county of Coffee. The county was duly organized on the 17th day of April, 1854, by the Justices of the Inferior Court of the County of Coffee, whose names were as follows: Alex Mobley, Joel Lott, Mark Lott, Hardy Hall, and Elijah Pickren.
The first officers of Coffee County, which are as fol- lows: B. H. Tanner, Sheriff; Whitington S. Moore,
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Clerk Superior Court; Whitington S. Moore, Clerk In- ferior Court; Thomas Mobley, Ordinary; John W. Matchet, Tax Receiver ; John R. Smith, Tax Collector ; Carver, Surveyor; Sim Parker, Coroner.
Grand Jurors
In order to give you an idea of the leading citizens of Coffee County, at that time, I give you a list of the grand and petit jurors drawn for the June term of court of Coffee County, 1854. The list of the grand jury was as follows: Daniel Newbern, Nathan Byrd, Joseph Asbell, William C. Smith, Nathaniel Ashley, Abram Hargraves, Ivey Kirkland, William W. Creech, Seth Durham, Sherrod Roberts, Maddock H. McRae, Robert Roberts, Thomas Mobley, Archibald Miller, David Hutchinson, John J. Pickren, Arthur Turner, Elias Moore, Lewis Harper, Calvin Quinn, Roan Paf- ford, Daniel Lott, David Dyal, Daniel Morrison, Bar- tilery Burkett, William Hinson, Thomas Paulk, James Sermons, Bryant Wooten, Archibald McLean, Joel Ricks, Jackson Ward, Elijah Graham, Daniel Lott, Sr., Hiram Sears, Stafford Davis, Jacob J. Hill, William Dent, Allen Summerlin, Hiram Ellis, Joel Lott, Aaron G. Fryer, George Wilcox, William R. Manning, Calvin A. Ward.
Petit Jurors
The following is a list of the names of the petit jurors : Jackson Mills, Seaborn Bowen, James R. Smith, Alexander Chancey, Solomon Carver, Benjamin Thomas, Needham Purvis, John Middleton, John Pass- more, John Douglas, James H. Wilcox, Elijah Tanner, James Gaskin, Johns Brooks, Alfred Merritt, Harris
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Johnson, Mark Mobley, William Carver, P. Merritt, N. B. Sislar, Hiram Ellis, Jr., Mathew Benfield, Simon L. Wooten, E. S. Meeks, Angus Gillis, John Adams, Washington Nelson, Parrish Lankford, Jesse Bennett, John Ricketson, M. J. Kirkland, John Cothern, John P.
7
2
3
5
6
SENATORS.
1. JOE C. BREWER, 1929- -.
2. W. T. DICKERSON. 1911-12.
3. LEM JOHNSON, 1900-1901.
4. LEON A. WILSON, 1894-1895.
5. MACK KIRKLAND, 1871-72.
6. GEORGE W. NEWBERN, 1875-1876-1877.
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Ricketson, Lovett Harrell, William Herrin, Thomas Minix, James Carver, Jr., William Everitt, Harris Kirk- land, Benjamin Ricketson, Daniel Johnson, John Dur- ham, John M. Lott, Willoby Adams, Demps Everett, Joseph Roberts, Henry Hutto and William Hutto.
Population
The population of Coffee County in 1860 was : whites, 2206; colored, 673. In 1870, ten years later, which covered the Civil War period, the population was white, 2514; colored, 678.
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
The Creek Indians
For several hun- dred years before Oglethorpe settled Georgia this terri- tory was inhabited by thousands of In- dians. The Wire- grass Country was occupied by the Muscogee, or Creek Indians. The Indian name for creek is Muscogee. The Creek Indian nation occu- JIM BOY pied the territory A Typical Creek Indian Whose Indian Name Was Tustennuggee Emathla. He was born in 1793. embraced in the area beginning at the Sa- vannah River in Georgia, running to the St. Augustine in Florida, thence running west to the Flint River in Georgia and back to the beginning. The Indians known as the Cherokees lived in the middle part and northern part of the state; the Seminole Indians, which means wild men, lived in the cast or southern part of Georgia and in Florida.
In my study of the Indians, in the Wiregrass Coun- try, I have been surprised at the meager information to be found about their history, their manner and habits of life.
When the whites settled in the Wiregrass Country about the year 1800, it is estimated that there were
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
twenty thousand Creek Indians in Georgia and eastern Alabama. They had thirty-seven towns; several of the towns were located on the Oconee River. Some twenty or thirty towns were located on the Chatta- hoochee and Flint Rivers; and so far as I have been able to ascertain, there were no towns in this part of Georgia.
The three tribes of Indians, which I have just named, were somewhat similar in their personal appearance, their habits of life, and also their language. One of the Indian commissioners of the United States govern- ment describes the Creek Indians as follows :
"The men are tall, erect and robust; their limbs are well shaped so as to form a perfect human figure; their features are such as to give them a dignified appear- ance; the eye is rather small and very black; their complexion is a reddish brown, or copper color; their hair long, coarse and brown. The Creek women are of short stature, well-formed round faces, the eye large and black."
The Cherokee men are very much like the Muscogee men, but the Cherokee women appear to be of a very different type from that of the Creek woman. The Cherokee women are tall, slender, erect, and of a delicate frame; their features formed with perfect symmetry, their countenance cheerful, friendly; they move with grace and dignity.
The Seminole Indians are of a copper color, over six feet tall. One of the best specimens of the Seminole race is that of Osceola, who died in prison in 1838. He was born and reared in Wiregrass Georgia. When he reached the age of twelve years, he moved to Florida.
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
In the study of the Indians of Georgia, and from such information as I could get from books, and from tradition, and from old citizens, I have been surprised at the intelligence and their high regards for justice and truth. If you have heard that the Indians who then lived in Georgia were something like the wild animals, you are very much mistaken. They had plenty of sense, had their own ideals of life, and as a rule they were no better and no worse than other nations of people. I wish to say to the credit of the Creek Indians that so far as I have been able to ascertain they gave the pioneer settlers of South Geor- gia little trouble. The white settlers lived among them for twenty years, and more, without having trouble of any sort. They often came to our home, ground their corn on our mill and swapped their guns with our boys. One of the first words the Indians learn is "swap." The reason for that is because of trade with the white people. We are accustomed to think that the Indians lived in the woods, had no houses and no clothes, and no means of warfare except with their tomahawks, and their bows and arrows, but in this we are very much mistaken.
The Creek Indians were religious in a way. They believed in the Great Spirit. They could not under- stand how you could get religion out of a book. They believed in a future state of rewards and punishments. They had some sort of religious ceremonies, but had no organization which in any way corresponds with our churches.
When Mr. Oglethorpe came to Savannah, he got in touch with that noble chief, Tommiechichi, made friends with him and entered into trade relations with
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
him and all the Creek Indians. The follow- ing is a schedule of prices agreed upon by Mr. Oglethorpe and the Creek In- dians; five skins for one white blanket ; ten buckskins for a gun; five buckskins for a pistol; four 1810 buckskins for a gun ; one buckskin for a couple of measures of powder; one buck- skin for sixty bul- lets; two buckskins Old "Daddy" Ward's mill where the Creek Indians ground their corn -- 1810-1820. for one white shirt; one doe hide for a knife; two buckskins for a hoe; two buckskins for an axe ; three doe skins for a large hatchet; one buckskin for a pound of brass; this being the 18th day of May, 1734. It will be seen by the above that the Indians buy all the guns and all the powder and all the bullets from the white people that they were able to pay for ; it will also be seen that they bought blankets, shirts and cloth, consequently they wore clothes of some sort; generally, however, the clothes of the Creek In- dians consisted of hunting shirt of some sort with buckskin breeches.
I have said that so far as I could ascertain, the Creek Indians had no towns in this section of Wiregrass Georgia, but they often came to this section on hunting
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trips; they would select some camping ground and stay there for several weeks.
As it has been seen, the buckskins were very valu- able for trading purposes and the flesh could be used for eating.
When the weather was good the Indians opened up the deer, cut out the bones and left the meat on the skin. When they traveled, the skin was rolled up with the meat inside, and when they stopped for camp the meat could be hung up in the sun to cure, and when thus cured could be kept for weeks.
The Indians, in passing from the Oconee River to Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers, and also from the Ocmulgee River down to the Okefenokee Swamp and into Florida, would pass through this section of Geor- gia. They had Indian trails, with regular crossing places at the rivers and creeks, and Indian Ford and Indian Spring on the Seventeen-Mile Creek, about five miles east of Douglas, was one of their crossing places; they had a regular camping place near the J. M. Lott old place, about fifteen miles northeast of Douglas. Many of the early settlers of this section used to go to the camp and trade with them. One of the Indian trails led from the Ocmulgee River down to Florida, and is known as the "trail ridge." Indian mounds are to be seen along the east banks of the Seventeen-Mile Creek. There is one near the Indian ford; one near Gaskin Springs and others in the hammocks along the creek. There is much speculation as to what use the Indians made of these mounds ; they seem to be graveyards, places where they buried their dead. By digging in these mounds, you will find
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
such implements as the Indians used, such as flints, pottery and sometimes human bones.
The Indian villages on the Chattahoochee, Flint and Oconee Rivers were built of logs and boards. In the center of the village some sapling poles were put up in a rough manner and covered. In cold weather a fire was built in the center of it, to this everybody was welcome, and there was plenty of room, as the structure covered about twenty by thirty foot space. The Indians had their little huts for their families, circled around this centrally located building in the same manner as many houses are today found around a mill quarter, but the buildings looked more like dog houses and goat houses.
Dr. Jefferson Wilcox, who has a wonderful memory, says that he heard a tradition of an Indian chief, by the name of Ocilla, who lived in Wiregrass Georgia, died in what is now Irwin County and was buried there. It may be that the name of Ocilla, now the county site of Irwin County, was named for him.
The Indians deserve our thanks for leaving this section of Georgia unharmed. The timber, the game and the fish were left here in good condition. They did not burn the woods, nor poison the fish, nor destroy the timber.
One of the strangest things about the Indians who lived in Wiregrass Georgia is that, although it has been only about one hundred years since they left this part of the country, no trace of them is left behind, except a few Indian mounds. No one has written their history in detail, and scarcely a name of the most prominent chiefs among the Creek nation can be found in any history. No one has undertaken to
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
tell about the economic life of the Indians as they lived in the Wiregrass Country one hundred years ago. We hear Tommiechichi, who made friends with Oglethorpe, and Osceola, who grew up in South Geor- gia and became famous as an Indian chief among the Seminoles. We also hear something about Billy Bow-Legs, a great warrior among the Seminoles of Florida.
When General Oglethorpe made his treaty with the Creek Indians, in 1734, it also included the Seminoles, who at that time lived in South Georgia and Florida, but in 1750, the Creek and Seminole Indians had trouble among themselves, and, by mutual agreement, the Seminoles went to Florida and the Creeks re- mained in South Georgia.
By the study of the Indian language, we find that many of the principal streams in South Georgia were named by the Indians. The Indians named the Chat- tahoochee, Ocmulgee, Oconee, and Ohoope Rivers ; they also named the Coochee Creek, and the Willa- coochee Creek. The Indian names usually ended with "ee," however, it sometimes happened, owing to the meaning of the word, that the name of the creek or river ended with "a," such as Altamaha, Allapaha, and so forth. St. Illa and the St. Marys Rivers appear to be Spanish names.
When the whites would go into Florida after their slaves, the Indians would retaliate, coming into Geor- gia, stealing cows, hogs, and other property, and in some instances they killed and robbed the citizens of Wiregrass Georgia. To protect themselves against the attacks of the Indians, the white people built forts in South Georgia. There was one fort near what is
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
now Homerville, Georgia, in Clinch County, Georgia; there was another fort about five miles northeast of Douglas, near the home of Mr. John Peterson, at Huffer, Ga. These forts were built with pine poles stood upon the ends around two- or three-acre tracts of land; they were braced inside with poles and made as strong as possible.
Inside the fort grounds, small houses or rooms were constructed for living purposes for women and chil- dren who went there for protection from time to time. About the year 1837, a band of robber Indians passed through this country. All the families in reach of the fort near the Peterson home were commanded to come to the fort, which they did. About three miles north of Douglas, on a high hill overlooking the Seventeen- Mile Creek, lived a man by the name of Metts. As it happened, his family had taken refuge in the fort. Mrs. Metts told a negro woman to slip back home and get some clothes for herself and the children; when she failed to return on time, investigation showed that the Indians had robbed the place and killed the negro woman.
About the same time, a whole family by the name of Granthams were robbed and killed by the Indians. Granthams lived near what is now Pridgen, Georgia. As soon as information of the murder reached the people, they hastily got up a small company of citizens to pursue the Indians. Among those in the company whose names I have secured were: Redding Metts, John Passmore, Dot Hill, David Collins, John G. Taylor, Fred Merritt, Mr. Maddox, and others. The Indians were pursued and overtaken at the Flint River, near Albany, Georgia. Many of the Indians
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were killed, some swam the river and made their escape. John G. Taylor, who since that time was a well known Baptist minister in South Georgia, dived down to the bottom of the river and brought many of the Indians to land.
I will tell you one more incident, because it puts the ingenuity of white men to test against the cunning- ness of the Indians. It is only through tradition that I have been able to get this story, which runs thus : Way back in the early days people living in South Georgia had no markets near and so the people would gather their little plunder together, go in carts to Centerville, Georgia. The Indians robbed and killed a good many of these people going to market at a point near the Okefenokee swamp. A company of brave pioneers decided to put a stop to this nefarious business, and, if possible, make it safe for people to go to market. And so with guns and such other necessaries as they would need, they went to the point near the Okefenokee swamp and pitched their camp. They cut small logs into pieces five or six feet long, about the length of a man. They laid the logs around the campfire and covered them over with quilts and blankets. On the ends of the logs they placed hats and fixed it up in such a manner as to make it look very much like a bunch of travelers lying around the campfire. The men, with their guns, went a short distance from the campfire and concealed themselves in the woods. Away in the midnight hour, as the fire burned low, the pioneers saw the heads of Indians beginning to peep out from behind trees and stumps and from over logs. In a minute there was a volley of shots fired and the Indians sprang to their feet and
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
with the war whoop charged upon the campfire. As they pulled off the hats at the ends of the logs, instead of finding the heads of white men they saw the joke. For a moment they stood still in bewilderment; at that moment every Indian was shot dead, not one of them made his escape. Every hat had a bullet hole in it. That was the last of the robberies committed at Centerville by the Indians.
The Seminole Indians left Georgia and went to Florida in 1750. In 1837 the Cherokee Indians left the State of Georgia. In 1827 the last treaty was made with the Indians. By the year 1841 there was not an Indian in Georgia, who had a right to be here. The people in Georgia, and especially South Georgia, were happy indeed to be rid of the Indians and to have the Wiregrass land without fear of molestation. Some one wrote a song, about this time, which reads as follows :
"No more shall the sound of the war whoop be heard, The ambush and slaughter no longer be feared,
The tommy hawk buried shall rest in the ground, And peace and good will to the nation round."
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Billy Bow-Legs
-
BILLY BOW-LEGS
The picture shown
here is that of Billy Bow-Legs, the cele- brated Seminole chief of Florida. His In- dian name is Olac- to-mico. Billy Bow-
Legs is supposed to
have been born in
Wiregrass Georgia
about 1804. When he
was about twelve
years of age he
moved to Florida
and joined the Sem- inole nation of that state. Little or nothing is heard of him until about 1830 or '35 when he and his soldiers or braves would come to South Georgia and murder and kill the people and steal their horses and cattle. Billy Bow-Legs it seems was drawn into this sort of life as a matter of retaliation against the whites of South Georgia. During slavery times the negro slaves would sometimes run away and go to Florida and make their homes with the Indians. The Indians were glad to give them a warm welcome for they used them as slaves and as soldiers in the army. At this time Florida belonged to the Spanish Government and it required too much time and too much expense to take the matter up with the Spanish Government and get requisition papers for their slaves and so the South
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WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Georgia slave owner would generally get up a bunch of his friends and go to Florida and take their slaves away from the Indians by force and sometimes, per- haps, they might bring back a few good horses for their trouble. Things went on like this for many years and so about 1841 the United States Government had ordered all the Indians to go west of the Mississippi and locate there. But Billy Bow-Legs and his band of Seminoles did not choose to go, and continued to remain in the neighborhood of the "Big Cyprus" in the State of Florida. At last the Government called for a show-down for Billy Bow-Legs, the Seminole chief, but instead of going west of the Mississippi river Billy Bow-Legs got on the steamboat and went to Washington City via New York. Billy was success- ful in his trip to the Government at Washington City. They advised Billy if he would be good and let the white people alone he might remain at the "Big Cyprus" for an indefinite period of time. This was about 1852 and so Billy went back to the "Big Cyprus" in Florida and opened up a big farm. He was also a big stock raiser. He had plenty of slaves to carry on a big business. He lived like a king and was lord of everything in sight but it so happened that the United States Government decided to make a survey of South Florida, including the "Big Cyprus" country. A crew of surveyors sent out by the Government ran into old Billy and his possessions one day and they said to them- selves this is Billy Bow-Legs' plantation. We will go inside and destroy some of his orange trees and banana trees and other things and so they did. Next day old Billy Bow-Legs was walking over his plantation and discovered that somebody had been in his field and
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