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fyxmll  Hwmtg  pibwg 

BOUGHT  WITH  THE  INCOME 
FROM  THE 

SAGE   ENDOWMENT   FUND 

THE  GIFT  OF 

Henrg  W.  Sage 

1891 


Cornell  University  Library 
F  294S2  H67 

History  of  Savannah.  Gaii,,|||';M,||i|1f|iii^^^^^^ 


III 


"3"""l"924  028""792"491 
olin 


The  original  of  this  book  is  in 
the  Cornell  University  Library. 

There  are  no  known  copyright  restrictions  in 
the  United  States  on  the  use  of  the  text. 


http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028792491 


HISTORY 


OF^ 


SAVANNAH,  GA. 


FROM  ITS  SETTLEMENT  TO  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE 
EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  BY 

CHARLES  C.  JONES,  JR.,  LL.D. 


FROM  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  BY 


O.  F.  VEDDER  and  FRANK  WELDON. 


SYRACUSE,   N.  Y. 

D.  MASON  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS. 

1 890. 


PREFACE. 


THE  interesting  field  of  municipal  history  was,  until  a  comparatively 
recent  time,  almost  wholly  untilled  by  intellectual  labor.  How 
rich  and  productive  this  field  is,  is  shown  by  the  hundreds  of  Volumes 
since  published  that  are  devoted  to  the  annals  of  such  corporations  and 
narratives  of  the  deeds  of  men  who  have  aided  in  building  them  up. 
The  publishers  of  the  History  of  Savannah  refer  with  pride  to  the  many 
works  of  this  character  which  they  have  been  instrumental  in  giving  to 
the  world  of  readers,  and  now  offer  this  one  to  the  community  of  which 
it  treats  in  no  apologetic  mood.  It  is  true  that  the  perfect  history  of 
any  particular  locality  has  never  been  written ;  but  it  is  assumed  here 
and  now  that  this  work,  devoted  to  a  historical  account  of  only  one  of 
the  many  municipal  corporations  of  this  great  country,  is  in  the  main 
all  that  could  be  expected,  if  not  in  every  particular  all  that  could  be 
wished  for,  from  the  painstaking  effort  and  the  unremitting  labor  of 
those  who  have  contributed,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  its  pages. 

The  history  of  Savannah  was  never  before  written,  and  the  details  of 
its  annals  and  those  of  the  territory  adjacent  to  it,  were  wide-spread 
among  historical  volumes  of  not  recent  dates,  and  treating  of  the  whole 
or  large  portions  of  the  country ;  in  the  scattered  files  of  newspapers, 
new  and  old ;  in  the  musty  records  of  the  State,  the  county,  the  town 
and  the  city,  and  to  some  extent  in  the  memories  of  the  few  living 
pioneers.     All  of  these  sources  have  been  placed  under  tribute  to  pro- 


Preface. 


diice  this  volume,  and  the  task  as  a  whole  was  given  into  the  hands  and 
placed  under  the  supervision  of  those  who  were  believed  to  be  most 
competent  for  its  various  departments. 

The  history  of  any  city,  to  be  comprehensive  and  satisfactory,  must 
begin  far  back  beyond  the  inception  of  the  city  itself,  and  among  the 
pioneers  of  the  broad  State  of  which  the  municipality  finally  became  a 
part.  For  this  portion  of  the  History  of  Savannah,  the  publishers  could 
not  have  been  more  fortunate  than  in  securing  the  services  of  Colonel 
C.  C.  Jones,  the  results  of  whose  researches  in  the  Colonial  history  of 
the  State  of  Georgia  are  beyond  praise.  The  reader  will  find  in  those 
pages  of  general  history  a  faithful  and  comprehensive  narrative  of  pioneer 
life  in  this  section,  in  all  of  its  interesting  phases,  from  the  arrival  on 
these  shores  of  the  Anne  in  November,  1732,  down  through  the  period 
of  Indian  occupation  and  early  settlement  by  white  population,  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  exciting  times  of  the  Revolutionary 
war;  the  development  of  the  locality  from  that  time  down  to  the  late 
war  between  the  North  and  the  South,  and  the  part  taken  in  that  great 
conflict  by  the  city. 

Leaving  this  fruitful  field,  which  has  been  so  generously  and  meri- 
toriously treated  by  its  author,  the  reader  will  find  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  city  divided  into  various  chapters  requisite  to  tell  the 
story  of  the  birth  and  growth  of  all  the  prominent  professions,  institu- 
tions and  industries  that  combine  to  constitute  the  municipality.  The 
preparation  of  these  various. chapters  was  confided  either  to  local  writers 
or  to  others  of  ample  experience  in  this  field  of  authorship,  the  greater 
share  of  their  work  passing  under  the  critical  inspection  of  those  resi- 
dents of  the  city  whose  occupations  and  ability  would  be  a  guarantee 
that  it  was  properly  done.  Thus,  the  history  of  the  courts  and  the  bar 
of  the  city,  a  topic  of  uncommon  interest,  will  be  found  from  the  earliest 
time  to  the  present,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  medical  profession 
and  its  institutions.     The  commercial  and  manufacturing  industries  have 


Preface.  5 

received  that  careful  and  full  treatment  that  this  important  feature  of 
every  city  deserves ;  while  the  religious  and  educational  institutions,  the 
transportation  facilities,  secret  societies,  and  all  other  departments  of  the 
city's  history  have  received  the  conscientious  attention  which  they  merit. 

The  mechanical  excellence  of  the  work  will  commend  itself  to  all. 
It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  publishers  in  this  regard  to  produce  a  volume 
of  which  every  possessor  of  it  would  be  proud.  The  engravings  in  its 
pages  are  above  criticism,  and  the  biographic  pages  form  a  not  uninter- 
esting portion  of  the  volume. 

With  the  hope  that  every  one  into  whose  hands  the  History  of 
Savannah  may  fall,  will,  in  a  fair  degree,  appreciate  the  magnitude  and 
the  difficulties  of  the  task  now  finished,  the  work  is  here  commended  to 
the  public  by 

The  Publishers. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Earliest  Colonists  Under  the  Conduct  of  Mr.  Oglethorpe — His  Eminent  Fitness  for 
the  Position  of  Founder  of  the  Contemplated  Plantation — Arrival  at  Charles- 
Town,  and  at  Beaufort-Town — Selection  of  Yamacraw  Blufif  as  the  Site  for 
Primal  Settlement^^Description  of  the  Locality — Tomo-chi-chi,  and  Oglethorpe's 
First  Interview  with  him  and  his  Tribe — The  Colonists  Entertained  at  Beau- 
fort-Town— Their  Arrival  and  Location  at  Savannah 17 

CHAPTER  II. 

Early  Labors  of  the  Colonists  at  Savannah  Oglethorpe's  Letters  to  the  Trustees- — 
Generous  Aid  Extended  by  the  Authorities  of  South  Carolina,  and  Private  Bene- 
factions from  her  Inhabitants — Mutual  Dependence  of  the  Two  Plantations — 
Description  of  Savannali  Furnished  by  Gentlemen  from  South  Carolina — Mr. 
Oglethorpe's  Visit  to, Charles-Town 22 

CHAPTER  III. 

Original  Cession  of  Territory  from  the  Crown  to  the  Trustees  for  Establishing  the  Col- 
ony of  Georgia — Importance  of  an  Early  and  Amicable  Extinguishment  of  the 
Indian  Title  to  the  Granted  Lands — Oglethorpe's  Pacific  Policy  Toward  the  Red 
Men — Tomo-chi-chi,  his  Character  and  Influence — Treaty  with  the  Creeks — 
Articles  of  Friendship  and  Commerce   30 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Arriv.il  of  the  Ship  James — Fort  Argyle  Built  and  Garrisoned — The  Villages  of  High- 
Gate  and  Hampstead  Located  and  Peopled — Forts  at  Thunderbolt  and  on  Skid- 
oway  Island — Joseph's  Town — Abercorn — Irene — The  Horse  Quarter — Early 
Plantations — Manohecolas  Fort  at  Skidoway  Narrows — Tybee  Lighthouse — 
Plan  of  Savannah — Names  of  its  Squares,  Streets,  Wards,  and  Tithings — Ar- 
rival of  Hebrew  Immigrants — Deed  Showing  First  Allotment  of  Town  Lots, 
Garden  Lots,  and  Farms  in  Savannah,  and  Containing  the  Names  of  the  Orig- 
inal Grantees. , 44 


Contents. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Mr.  Oglethorpe  Visits  the  Southern  Confines  of  the  Province — Arrival  of  the  Saltz- 
burgers  and  their  Location  at  Ebenezer — Baron  Von  Reek's  Impressions  of  Sa- 
vannah— Oglethorpe  Visits  England,  and  is  Accompanied  by  Tomo-chi-chi  and 
Other  Indians — Influence  of  this  Visit  Upon  the  Native  Population — Acts 
Passed  Prohibiting  the  Introduction  of  Rum  and  Negro  Slaves — Silk  Culture — 
Arrival  of  the  Moravians  and  of  the  Highlanders — Settlements  at  Darien,  at 
Frederica,  and  at  "New  Ebenezer — Progress  of  Colonization — Beacon  on  Tybee 
Island — Francis  Moore's  Description  of  Savannah 61 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Brothers,  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  in  Georgia .   76 

CHAPTER  Vn. 

Causton's  Defalcation — Depressed  Financial  Condition  of  the  Province — Industries 
of  the  Colonists  at  Savannah — Composition  of  Disagreements  with  the  South 
Carolina  Indian  Traders,  and  with  the  Creeks — Petition  from  the  Bailiffs  and 
Inhabitants  of  Savannah  for  an  Enlargement  of  Land  Tenures,  and  for  the  Intro- 
duction of  Negro  Slaves — Opposition  on  the  Part  of  General  Oglethorpe — Mal- 
contents at  Savannah 99 

CHAPTER  Vni. 

General  Oglethorpe  addresses  the  Citizens  of  Savannah — Military  Strength  of  the 
Town  in  1739 — Death  and  Burial  of  Tomo-chi-chi — A  Monument  should  be 
Erected  to  his  Memory — General  Oglethorpe  Returns  to  England — Colonel 
William  Stephens  Designated  as  President  of  the  Colony — Disappointment  Ex- 
perienced in  all  Bflforts  to  Promote  Silk  Culture  and  the  Growth  of  the  Vine .       115 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Mary  and  Thomas  Bosomworth— Hostile  Demonstration  by  the  Creek  Indians,  in 
Savannah,  in  Support  of  Mary  Bosomworths  Pretensions— Settlement  of  her 
Claim 122 

CHAPTER  X. 

Rev.  George  Whitefield— Bethesda  Orphan  House— Hon.  James  Habersham—Scheme 
to  Convert  the  Bethesda  Orphan  House  into  a  "  Seminary  of  Literature  and 
Academical  Learning  "—Death  of  Mr.  Whitefield— His  Will— Lady  Huntington.  130 


Contents. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Georgia  Divided  into  Two  Counties — Colonel  William  Stephens  Appointed  Presi- 
dent— His  Death  at  Bewlie — Mr.  Parker  Succeeds  to  his  Office — Negro  Slavery 
and  the  Importation  of  Spirituous  Liquors  Permitted — Land  Tenures  Enlarged 
—^Commercial  House  of  Harris  &  Habersham — First  Provincial  Assembly — 
Qualification  for  Membership — First  General  Muster — The  Trustees  Surrender 
their  Charter — Patrick  Graham  Succeeds  Mr.  Parker  as  President  of  the  Colony.  140 


CHAPTER  Xn. 


Captain  John  Reynolds,  the  first  Royal  Governor  of  Georgia — His  Report  upon  the 
Condition  of  the  Province,  and  of  Savannah  in  1754: — Recommends  the  Re- 
moval of  the  Seat  of  Government  to  Hardwicke — Courts  Established  in  Savan- 
nah— Population  and  Military  Strength  of  the  Province — Governor  Reynolds's 
Representation  for  the  Defense  of  Savannah — Governor  Henry  Ellis — His  Ad- 
mirable Administration  of  Public  Afi'airs — Georgia  Divided  into  Parishes — Christ 
Church — Act  Favoring  the  Erection  of  Churches  in  Sympathy  with  the  Tenets 
of  the  Established  Church  of  England — Legislation  with  Regard  to  Savannah — 
Conference  with  the  Creek  Indians — Heat  in  Savannah — Retirement  of  Gov- 
ernor Ellis 152 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Governor  James  Wright — His  Admirable  Qualifications  for  Office — Population  and 
MiUtary  Strength  of  the  Province — Occupations  of  the  Colonists — Condition.of 
Savannah — Fortifications  of  the  Town — Construction  of  its  Wharves — Health 
of  Savannah — Four  Additional  Parishes  Created^Improvement  in  the  Condi- 
tion of  Affairs — Representation  in  the  Provincial  Assembly — Improper  Con- 
duct of  Chief  Justice  Grover 169 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Stamp  Act  of  1765 — Profound  Impression  Created  in  Savannah — Convention  of  the 
2nd  of  September — Governor  Wright's  Letters  of  the  31st  of  January  and  the 
7th  of  February,  1776 — Declaration  of  Rights — Stamps  Issued  in  Savannah — 
Joy  upon  the  Repeal  of  the  Act 176 


16  Contents. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Marked  Improvement  in  the  Condition  of  the  Province— Silk-Culture — Convention 
o£  the  3d  of  September,  1768— Benjamin  Franklin  Appointed  the  Agent  of 
Georgia— Meeting  of  Savannah  Merchants  on  the  16th  of  September,  17G9  — 
Patriotic  Resolutions  Adopted  in  Savanns^h — Non-Importation  Agreement- 
Suspension  of  the  Hon.  Jonathan  Bryan  as  a  Member  of  Council — Eevolution- 
ary  Temper  of  the  Lower  House  of  Assembly — Dr.  Noble  Wymberly  Jones- 
Governor  Wright  Visits  England — The  Hon.  James  Habersham  Governor  of 
Georgia  During  his  Absence 186 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Eighth  Provincial  Assembly  Dissolved  by  Governor  Habersham — Governor 
Wright  Complimented  with  a  Baronetcy — Convention  of  the  20th  of  October, 
1773 — Effect  Produced  in  Savannah  by  the  Passage  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill — 
Meeting  of  Leading  Citizens  at  Tondee's  Tavern  on  the  '27th  of  July,  l77-t. — 
Governor  Wright  Alarmed  at  the  Revolutionary  Movements — Admirable  Reso- 
lutions of  the  loth  of  August,  1774 — Division  of  Political  Sentiment  in  Georgia 
— The  Georgia  Gazette — Protests  from  Several  Parishes— Parish  of  St.  John — 
Meeting  of  the  8th  of  December,  1774 — Provincial  Congress  of  January  18,  1775 
— Independent  Action  of  St.  John's  Parish — Dr.  Lyman  Hall — Embarrassing 
Position  of  Governor  Wright 195 

CHAPTER  XVH. 

News  of  the  Affairs  at  Lexington  and  Concord — The  Powder  Magazine  in  Savannah 
Broken  Open  and  much  of  the  Powder  Removed  by  the  Liberty  Boys — The 
King's  Cannon  Dismounted— First  Liberty  Pole  in  Savannah — Meeting  of  the 
22d  of  June — Mob-Law — Capture  of  Captain  Maitland's  Powder  Ship — Mem- 
orable Provincial  Congress  of  July  4th,  1775 — Delegates  Appointed  to  the 
Continental  Congress — Article  of  Association — Council  of  Safety — The  Militia 
Purged  of  its  Loyal  Element — Pitiable  Plight  of  Governor  Wright — Battalion 
Raised  and  Officered  on  the  Continental  Establishment 210 

CHAPTER  XVni. 

Arrest  of  Governor  Wright  by  Major  Habersham — His  Subsequent  Escape  to  the 
Scarborough — His  Communication  to  the  Members  of  Council  still  in  Savan- 
nah— Provincial  Congress  of  January  22,  1776 — Provisional  Constitution  of 
April,  1776 — President  Archibald  Bulloch — First  Passage  at  Arms  in  Georgia 
Between  the  Revolutionists  and  the  King's  Forces— Conduct  and  Resolutions 
of  the  Council  of  Safety — Affair  on  Tybee  Island — Military  Assistance  from 
South  Carolina 219 


Contents.  i  i 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Promulgation,  in  Savannah,  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence — King  G-eorge  III. 
Interred  in  Effigy — General  Charles  Lee  Plans  an  Expedition  Against  Bast 
Florida— Constitution  of  1777 — Military  and  Political  Events — The  Theater  of 
War  Transferred  to  the  Southern  Department — Reduction  of  Savannah  Re- 
solved upon — Invasion  of  Georgia  by  Colonels  Fuser  and  Prevost — Successful 
Defense  of  Sunbury  by  Colonel  John  Mcintosh — Colonel  Campbell's  Advance 
upon  and  Capture  of  Savannah  in  December,  1778 — Details  of  the  Affair — 
Losses  Sustained  by  the  Rebels 233 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Proclamations  of  Colonels  Innis  and  Campbell,  and  Admiral  Parker — Return  of  Gov- 
ernor Wright— Divided  Government  in  Georgia — The  French  Alliance — Count 
d'  Bstaing — Preparations  by  the  Allied  Army  to  Dislodge  the  English  from  Sa- 
vannah— Siege  of  Savannah  in  September  and  October,  1779 248 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Siege  of  Savannah  Contmued — Assault  of  the  9th  of  October,  1779 — Repulse  of 
the  Allied  Army — Count  Pulaski — Estimate  of  Forces  Engaged  and  of  Losses 
Sustained — Names  of  the  Killed  and  Wounded — Lieutenant  Lloyd  —Sergeant 
Jasper — Siege  Raised — Departure  of  the  French  and  Americans — War  Vessels 
Composing  the  French  Fleet — General  Lincoln's  Letter  to  Congress — Count 
d'  Bstaing — Death  of  Colonel  Maitland — Pitiable  Condition  of  the  Sea  Coast  of 
Georgia 274 

CHAPTER  XXn. 

Deplorable  Plight  of  the  Rebel  Inhabitants  of  Savannah — Damaged  Condition  of  the 
Town — Proclamation  of  Governor  Wright — Legislation  by  the  Royalist  Assem- 
bly— Governor  Wright's  Representation  with  Regard  to  Savannah  and  its  For- 
tifications—Fall of  Augusta— Colonels  Twiggs  and  Jackson  Move  Forward  for 
the  Investment  of  Savannah — General  Anthony  Wayne  Detached  by  General 
Green  to  Reinstate  the  Authority  of  the  Union  within  the  Limits  of  Georgia — 
Retaliatory  Measures  of  General  Alured  Clarke — Military  Operations  of  Colonel 
Jackson  and  General  Wayne — Negotiations  for  the  Surrender  of  Savannah — 
The  Town  Evacuated  by  the  King's  Servants— Savaiinah  Again  in  the  Posses- 
sion of  the  Revolutionists — Legislative  Proceedings  in  Savannah  —Colonel  Jack- 
son, and  Generals  Wayne  and  Green  Complimented — Losses  Sustained  by  Geor- 
gia During  the  Revolutionary  War 295 


1 2  Contents. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Early  Legislation  Affecting  Savannah — The  Town  Divided  into  Wards — Incorpor- 
ated into  a  City — Condition  of  the  Place  in  1782 — Longevity  of  the  Inhabitants — 
Formation  of  the  Chatham  Artillery — Ceremonies  Observed  upon  the  Sepulture 
of  Q-eueral  Nathanael  Greene-Death  and  Burial  of  General  Samuel  Elbert — 
Demise  of  the  Hon.  Jonathan  Bryan—  Cultivation  of  Cotton  and  Rice— Health  ' 
of  Savannah 309 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

General  Washington's  Visit  to  Savannah,  and  the  Ceremonies  Observed  on  that  Oc- 
casion—Georgia Society  of  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnnati — Severe  Fire  of  1796 
— Fourth  of  July  Celebrations — Death  of  Major  John  Habersham — Concluding 
Observations 321 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

MUNICIPAL  HISTORY. 

Visit  of  Aaron  Burr— Severe  Storm  in  1804 — First  City  Seal — War  of  1812 — Plans 
for  Defending  the  City— Rejoicing  Over  Naval  Victories— Reception  to  Presi- 
dent Monroe — Yellow  Fever  Epidemic  of  1820— Tour  of  General  Lafayette— 
His  Reception  in  Savannah— Building  of  Fort  Pulaski— Death  of  Ex- President 
Jackson — Mexican  War — Death  of  Colonel  Mcintosh — Visit  of  Ex-President 
Polk — Death  of  President  Taylor — Reception  to  Ex-President  Fillmore — Yellow 
Fever  Epidemic — Destructive  Gale  in  September,  1854 330 

CHAPTER  XXV.I. 

THE  WAR  PERIOD. 

Exciting  Event  in  1860 — Secession  of  South  Carolina— Rejoicing  in  Savannah Call 

for  a  State  Convention — Governor  Brown's  Order — Seizure  of  Fort  Pulaski 

State  Convention  in  Savannah — Unfurling  of  the  Confederate  Flag Departure 

of  the  Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry— Death  of  General  Bartow— Defenses  of  Sa- 
vannah— General  Lee  in  Savannah — Attack  on  Fort  Pulaski — Surrender  of  the 
Garrison— Naval  Assault  on  Port  McAllister — Sherman's  March  from  Atianta 
— Proclamation  by  the  Mayor— The  Federal  Army  before  Savannah— Port  Mc- 
Allister Attacked  by  a  Land  Force— Gi'aphic  Account  of  the  Assault  and  its 
Capture— Plans  for  Evacuating  the  City— General  Sherman's  Demand  for  the 
Surrender  of  Savannah — Evacuation  of  the  City — How  the  City  was  Surren- 
dered— General  Sherman's  Order — Confiscation  of  Cotton — Destructive  Fire  of 
January,  1865 — Return  of  Peace  and  Prosperity •>-,« 


Contents.  13 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  MILITARY  OR&ANIZATIONS  OF  SAVANNAH. 

G-rowth  of  Military  Ideas — Chatham  Artillery — Savannah  Volunteer  Q-uards— First 
Volunteer  Regiment  of  Georgia — Georgia  Hussars — Colored  Military  Com- 
panies     388 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 

History  of  the  Bench  and  Bar 417 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  MEDICAL  PROFESSION  OF  SAVANNAH. 

Sketches  of  some  of  the  Most  Prominent  Physicians  of  Savannah,  Past  and  Present 

— Medical  Colleges — Georgia  Medical  Society 436 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
Commerce  and  Manufactures 457 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

RAILROADS  AND  FINANCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  OF  SAVANNAH. 

Central  Railroad  and  Banking  Company — History  of  its  Organization  and  Growth 
— Ocean  Steamship  Company — Savannah,  Florida  and  Western  Railway — Sa- 
vannah and  Tybee  Railroad — Central  Railroad  Bank— Merchants'  National  Bank 
— Savannah  Bank  and  Trust  Company — Southern  Bank  of  the  State  of  Geor- 
gia— National  Bank  of  Savannah — The  Oglethorpe  Savings  and  Trust  Company 
— Citizens'  Bank — Title  Guarantee  and  Loan  Company — Building  and  Loan  As- 
sociations.     479 


14  Contents. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
Churches  of  savannah. 

First  Religious  Instructors— Careers  of  tlie  Wesleys  in  Savannah — Work  of  George 
Whitefield — Ciirist  Church — St.  John's  Church-  Congregation  Mickva  Israel — 
B'nai  B'reth  Jacob  Synagogue — Lutheran  Church — Independent  Presbyterian 
— First  Presbyterian — Methodist  Churches — Baptist  Churches — Roman  Catholic 
Churches — Colored  Churches 492 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

JOURNALISM. 
History  of  Journalism 51g 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

LITERARY,  ART  AND  SCIENTIFIC  INSTITUTIONS  AND  SPECIAL  FEA- 
TURES OF  ATTRACTION. 

Georgia  Historical  Society— Catholic  Library  Association— Telfair  Academy,  Arts 
and  Sciences — Savannah  Parks  and  Suburban  Attractions — Forsyth  Park 
—Parade  Ground— Beaulieu—Ty bee  Island— Thunderbolt— Isle  of  Hope- 
Jasper  Springs — Daufuskie  Island— Bonaventure — Laurel   Grove  Cemeterv 

Cathedral  Cemetery— Greene,  Confederate,  Gordon  and  Jasper  Monuments". . .   527 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
Benevolent  Organizations  and  Hospitals— Social  and  Secret  Societies 545 


Contents. 


15 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Ballantyne,  Thomas facing 

Dorsett,  Charles  Henry.,  .facing 
du  Bignon,  Fleming  Q-.  .facing 
Duncan,  William,  M.D .  .  .  facing 

Estill,  Col.  John  H facing 

Flannery,  John facing 

Gruckenheimer,  Simon. ..  .facing 
Hartridge,  Alfred  Lamar. facing 
Jone.",  Col.  Charles  0  . .  .  facing 
Lawton,  Q-en.  Alex.  E... facing 
Lester,  Daniel  B facing 


page  4G4 
page  5.36 
page  432 
page  450 
page  518 
page  216 
page  320 
page  564 
page  56 
page  96 
page  610 


Lovell,  Edward facing  page  176 

McDonough,  John  J .  . .  .   facing  page  640 
McMahon,  Captain  John,  .facing  page  348 

Meldrim,  Peter  W .  facing  page  256 

Mercer,  Greorge  A facing  page  136 

Olmstead,  Charles  H facing  page  366 

Purse,  Daniel  G- facing  page  488 

Screven,  .John facing  page  400 

Thoinas,  Daniel  R facing  page  594 

Young,  John  R facing  page  288 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


Ballantyne,  Thomas 608 

Dorsett,  Charles  Henry 615 

du  Bignon,  Fleming  G 603 

Duncan,  William,  M.D 613 

Estill,  Col.  John  H 562 

Flannery,  John 596 

Guckenheimer,  Simon 630 

Hartridge,  Alfred  Lamar 565 

Jones,  Col.  Charles  C   585 

Lawton,  Gen.  Alexander  R 575 

Lester,  Daniel  B 610 


Lovell,  Edward , 618 

McDonough,  John  J 640 

McMahon,  Captain  John 570 

Meldrim,  Peter  W 612 

Mercer,  George  A 567 

Olmstead,  Charles  H 620 

Purse,  Daniel  G 634 

Screven,  John 622 

Thomas,  Daniel  R 594 

Young  John  R 629 


H  ISTORY 


OF 


SAVANNAH,  GA 


CHAPTER  I. 

Earliest  Colonists  under  the  Conduct  of  Mr.  Oglethorpe — His  Eminent  Fitness  for 
the  Position  of  Founder  of  the  Contemplated  Plantation — Arrival  at  Gharles-Town  and 
Beaufort-Town — Selection  of  Yamacraw  Bluff  as  the  Site  for  Primal  Settlement — De- 
scription of  the  Locality — Tomo-chi-chi,  and  Oglethorpe's  First  Interview  with  him  and 
his  Tribe — The  Colonists  Entertained  at  Beaufort-Town — Their  Arrival  and  Location 
at  Savannah. 

ON  the  17th  of  November,  1732,  the  Anne,  a  galley  of  some  two  hun- 
dred tons  burden,  commanded  by  Captain  Thomas,  and  having  on 
board  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  persons,  among  whom  were  Mr. 
Oglethorpe,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Herbert,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England,  who  volunteered  to  accompany  the  colonists  and,  without  pecu- 
niary recompense,  to  perform  all  religious  services  they  might  need,  and 
Mr.  Amatis  from  Piedmont,  engaged  to  instruct  in  breeding  silkworms 
and  in  the  art  of  winding  silk,  departed  from  Gravesend  bearing  the  first 
persons  selected  by  the  trustees  for  the  colonization  of  Georgia.  Thirty- 
five  families  were  represented  among  these  emigrants.  There  were  car- 
penters, bricklayers,  farmers,  and  mechanics — -all  able-bodied  men,  and 
of  good  reputation.  It  has  been  idly  charged  that  in'  the  beginning  the 
■Georgia  colonists  were  impecunious,  depraved,  lawless,  and  abandoned  ; 


.ij  ij  ij  \i  \i 


1 8  History  of  Savannah. 

that  the  settlement  at  Savannah  was  a  sort  of  Botany  Bay  ;  and  that 
Yamacraw  Bluff  was  peopled  by  runagates  from  justice.  The  suggestion 
is  utterly  groundless.  The  truth  is  no  applicant  was  admitted  to  the 
privilege  of  enrollment,  as  an  emigrant,  until  he  had  been  subjected  to  a 
.preliminary  examination  and  had  furnished  satisfactory  evidence  that  he 
was  fairly  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  the  charity.  Other  American  col- 
onies were  founded  and  augmented  by  individuals  coming  at  will,  with- 
out question,  for  personal  gain,  and  bringing  no  certificate  of  present  or 
past  good  conduct.  Georgia,  on  thfe  contrary,  exhibits  the  spectacle  at 
once  unique  and  admirable,  of  permitting  no  one,  at  the  outset,  to  enter 
her  borders  who  was  not,  bj?  competent  authority,  adjudged  worthy  the 
rights  of  citizenship. 

At  his  own  request  Mr.  Oglethorpe  was  selected  to  accompany  the 
colonists  and  establish  them  in  Georgia.  He  volunteered  to  bear  his 
own  expenses  and  to  devote  his  entire  time  and  attention  to  the  consum-- 
mation  of  the  enterprise.  Himself  the  originator  and  the  most  zealous 
advocate  of  the  scheme,  this  offer  on  his  part  placed  the  seal  of  consecra- 
tion upon  his  self-denial,  patriotism,  and  enlarged  philanthropy.  Most 
fortunate  were  the  trustees  in  securing  the  services  of  such  a  representa- 
tive. To  no  one  could  the  power  to  exercise  the  functions  of  a  colonial 
governor  have  been  more  appropriately  confided.  Attentive  to  the  voice 
pf  suffering,  and  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  wherever  the  weak  and 
the  oppressed  required  the  aid  of  the  more  powerful  and  the  noble- 
minded  for  the  redress  of  wrongs  and  the  alleviation  of  present  ills  ;  "  in 
the  prime  of  life,  very  handsome,  tall,  manly,  dignified,  but  not  austere  ; 
the  beau  ideal  of  an  English  gentleman,  and  blessed  with  ample  means 
for  the  gratification  of  every  reasonable  desire;"  possessing  a  liberal 
education,  a  fearless  soul,  a  determined  will,  a  tireless  energy,  a  practical 
knowledge  of  military  affairs  and  of  the  management  of  expeditions,  and 
an  experience  of  men  and  climes  and  matters  which  only  years  of  care- 
ful observation,  intelligent  travel,  and  thoughtful  study  could  supply, 
there  was  that  about  his,  person,  character,  attainments,  and  abilities, 
which  inspired  confidence  and  rendered  Mr.  Oglethorpe,  beyond  dispute, 
the  man  of  his  age  and  people  best  qualified  to  inaugurate  and  to  con- 
duct to  a  successful  issue  an  enterprise  so  entirely  in  unison  with  his  own 
philanthropic  sentiments  and  so  important  to  the  interests  both  of  Eng- 
land and  America. 


The  First  Co];.onists.  19 

Shaping  her  course  for  the  Island  of  Madeira,  the  Anne  touched  there 
and  took  on  board  five  tuns  of  wine.  Saihng  thence,  she  fetched  a  com- 
pass for  Charlestown  harbor,  where  she  dropped  anchor  outside  the  bar 
on  the  13th  of  January,  1733.  Although  somewhat  protracted,  the  voy- 
age had  proved  pleasant  and  prosperous.  The  death  of  two  delicate 
children  in  mid-ocean  constituted  the  only  sorrow  which  clouded  the 
hearts  of  the  colonists  during  the  entire  passage. 

On  the  night  of  their  arrival,  having  assembled  the  emigrants  and 
returned  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  this  favorable  termination  of  the 
voyage,  Mr.  Oglethorpe,  accompanied  by  an  escort,  proceeded  to  Char- 
lestown and  waited  upon  his  excellency,  Robert  Johnson,  governor  of 
the  province  of  South  Carolina.  By  him  and  his  council  was  he  warmly 
welcomed  and  treated  with  marked  hospitahty.  Cheerfully  responding 
to  his  needs.  Governor  Johnson  ordered  Mr.  Middleton,  the  king's  pilot, 
to  attend  upon  Mr.  Oglethorpe  and  to  conduct  the  Anne  into  Port  Royal. 
Instructions  were  also  issued  for  small  craft  to  be  in  readiness  to  convey 
the  colonists  thence  to  the  Savannah  River.  The  next  morning,  Mr. 
Oglethorpe  having  returned  on  board,  the  Anne  sailed  for  Port  Royal 
harbor. 

Having  posted  a  detachment  of  eight  men  upon  an  island  about  mid- 
way between  Beaufort  and  the  Savannah  River,  with  instructions  to  "pre- 
pare huts  for  the  reception  of  the  colony  against  they  should  lie  there  in 
their  passage,"  he  proceeded  to  Beaufort-town,  where  he  arrived  early  on 
the  morning  of  the  19th.  Here  he  was  saluted  by  the  artillery;  and,  at 
his  request  the  new  barracks  were  made  ready  for  the  reception  of  the 
colonists,  who  ascended  the  river  and  occupied  them  on  the  following 
day. 

Leaving  the  colonists  to  refresh  themselves  at  this  pleasant  place,  Mr. 
Oglethorpe,  accompanied  by  Colonel  William  Bull,  of  South  Carolina, 
proceeded  to  the  Savannah  River  and  ascended  that  stream  as  high  as 
Yamacraw  Bluff.  Regarding  this  as  an  eligible  location,  he  landed  and 
marked  out  the  site  of  a  town  which,  after  the  river  flowing  by,  he  named 
Savannah.  This  bluff,  rising  some  forty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  river 
and  possessing  a  bold  frontage  on  the  water  of  nearly  a  mile,  sufficiently 
ample  for  the  riparian  uses  of  a  settlement  of  considerable  magnitude, 
was  the  first  high  ground,  abutting  upon  the  stream,  encountered  by  him 


20  History  of  Savannah. 

in  its  ascent.  To  the  south  a  high  and  dry  plain,  overshadowed  by  pines, 
interspersed  with  live-oaks  and  magnolias,  stretched  away  for  a  consid- 
erable distance.  On  the  east  and  west  were  small  creeks  and  swamps 
affording  convenient  drainage  for  the  intermediate  territory.  The  river 
in  front  was  capable  of  floating  ships  of  ordinary  tonnage,  and  they 
could  lie  so  near  the  shore  that  their  cargoes  might  with  facility  be  dis- 
charged. Northwardly,  in  the  direction  of  Carolina,  lay  the  rich  delta 
of  the  river,  with  its  islands  and  lowlands  crowned  with  a  dense  growth 
of  cypress,  sweet-gum,  tupelo,  and  other  trees,  many  of  them  vine-cov- 
ered and  draped  in  long  gray  moss  swaying  gracefully  in  the  ambient 
air.  The  yellow  jessamine  was  already  mingling  its  delicious  perfume 
with  the  breath  of  the  pine,  and  the  trees  were  vocal  with  the  voices  of 
song-birds.  Everything  in  this  semi-tropical  region  was  quickening  into 
life  and  beauty  under  the  reviving  influences  of  returning  spring.  In  its 
primeval  repose  it  seemed  a  goodly  land.  The  temperate  rays  of  the 
sun  gave  no  token  of  the  heat  of  summer.  There  was  no  promise  of  the 
tornado  and  the  thunder-storm  in  the  gentle  winds.  In  the  balmy  air 
lurked  no  suspicion  of  malarial  fevers.  Its  proximity  to  the  mouth  of 
the  river  rendered  this  spot  suitable  alike  for  commercial  purposes  and 
for  maintaining  facile  communication  with  the  Carolina  settlements. 

Near  by  was  an  Indian  village,  the  headquarters  of  the  Yamacraws,  a 
small  tribe,  the  chief  or  mico  of  which  was  the  venerable  Tomo-chi-chi. 
Here  too  a  post  had  been  establishfed  by  Musgrove,^  a  Carolina  trader, 
married  to  a  half  breed  named  Mary.  Before  leading  his  colonists  to 
this  home  which  he  had  selected  for  their  first  habitation,  Oglethorpe 
was  anxious  to  propitiate  the  natives.  He  accordingly  visited  the  village, 
and  obtained  an  interview  with  Tomo-chi-chi.  Mary  Musgrove,  who 
had' acquired  a  tolerable  knowledge  of  English  and  was  favorably  inclined 
toward  her  husband's  countrymen,  on  this  occasion  not  only  acted  as 
interpreter  but  exerted  a  valuable  influence  in  securing  from  the  Indians 
pledges  of  amity.  When  first  acquainted  with  Oglethorpe's  design  of 
forming  a  settlement  at  Yamacraw  the  natives  manifested  much  uneasi- 
ness and  even  threatened  to  prevent  by  force  the  advent  of  the  whites. 

1  Musgrove's  presence  here  contravened  the  stipulations  of  a  treaty  long  existent  be- 
tween the  colony  of  South  Carolina  and  the  natives,  which  forbade  the  establishment  of 
trading-posts  south  of  the  Savannah  River. 


Arrival  at  Savannah.  3i 

Assured,  however,  of  the  friendly  intentions  of  the  English,  and  per- 
suaded of  the  benefits  which  would  flow  from  direct  association  with 
them,  the  Indians  finally  withdrew  their  opposition  and,  with  protesta- 
tions of  gladness,  entered  into  an  informal  agreement  by  which  the  de- 
■sired  lands  were  ceded,  and  promises  given  to  receive  the  strangers  with 
good  will. 

His  preliminary  arrangements  having  been  thus  accomplished,  Ogle- 
thorpe returned  to  Beaufort,  reaching  the  town  on  the  24th.  During 
his  absence  the  emigrants  were  greatly  refreshed  by  their  sojourn  on 
shore.  They  had  been  the  recipients  of  every  attention  and  hospitality. 
The  following  Sunday  was  observed  as  a  day  of  special  thanksgiving ;  the 
Rev.  Lewis  Jones  preaching  before  the  colonists,  and  their  chaplain,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Herbert,  occupying  Mr.  Jones's  pulpit  in  Beaufort.  The  gen- 
tlemen of  the  neighborhood  united  with  the  colonists  on  this  occasion, 
and  the  ceremonies  terminated  with  a  bountiful  dinner  provided  by  Ogle- 
thorpe. Among  the  articles  mentioned  as  constituting  this  first  feast 
were  four  fat  hogs,  eight  turkeys,  many  fowls,  English  beef,  a  hogshead 
■of  punch,  a  hogshead  of  beer,  and  a  generous  quantity  of  wine.  Al- 
though this  repast  was  accompanied  with  a  bountiful  supply  of  malt 
liquor,  wine,  and  spirits,  we  are  informed  that  everything  was  conducted 
in  such  an  agreeable  manner  that  no  one  became  drunk.  Throughout 
the  course  of  the  entertainment  there  was  an  entire  absence  of  every- 
thing savoring  of  disorder. 

On  the  30th  of  January  the  colonists,  conveyed  in  a  sloop  of  seventy 
tons  and  in  five  periaguas,  set  sail  for  Savannah.  Encountering  a  storm 
they  were  forced  to  seek  shelter  from  its  violence  at  a  point  known  as 
Look  Out.  Here  they  lay  all  night,  and  the  next  day  proceeded  as  far 
.as  John's,  where  the  eight  men,  there  stationed  by  Oglethorpe,  had  pre- 
pared huts  for  their  reception.  A  plentiful  supply  of  venison  awaited 
their  coming.  Upon  this  they  supped,  and  there  they  spent  the  night. 
Re-embarking  in  the  morning,  they  arrived  the  same  afternoon  at  Yam- 
.acraw  Bluff.  Before  dark  they  erected  four  large  tents  (one  for  each 
tything)  capable  of  accommodating  all  the  people,  and  transferred  their 
bedding  and  other  necessaries  ashore.  There  they  slept,  passing  their 
iirst  night  upon  the  soil  of  Georgia. 

Faithful  to  his  trust,  Oglethorpe,  having  posted  his  sentinels,  sought 


22  History  of  Savannah. 

no  protection  save  the  shelter  of  the  towering  pines,  and  lay  upon  the 
ground  near  the  central  watch-fire.  The  ocean  had  been  crossed,  and 
the  germ  of  a  new  colony  was  planted  in  America. 


CHAPTER   n. 

Early  Labors  of  the  Colonists  at  Savannah — Oglethorpe's  Letters  to  the  Trustees — 
Generous  Aid  Extended  by  the  Authorities  of  South  Carolina,  and  Private  Benefac- 
tions from  her  Inhabitants — Mutual  Dependence  of  the  Two  Plantations — Description 
of  Savannah  Furnished  by  Gentlemen  from  South  Carolina — Mr.  Oglethorpe's  Visit  tO' 
Charles-Town. 

EARLY  on  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  February,  1733  (O.  S.),  Ogle- 
thorpe convened  the  people  to  thank  God  for  his  safe  conduct  of  the 
colony  to  its  appointed  destination,  and  to  invoke  his  blessings  upon  the 
plantation.  These  religious  services  ended,  he  solemnly  and  earnestly- 
reminded  them  of  their  duties  as  the  founders  of  Georgia,  impressing 
upon  them  an  appreciation  of  the  important  fact  that  the  seed  now  sown 
would  yield  a  harvest  either  for  good  or  bad  in  the  coming  generations. 
Against  the  evils  of  intemperance  and  idleness  he  uttered  an  emphatic 
warning,  and  cautioned  them  to  be  prudent  and  upright  in  their  inter- 
course with  the  Indians.  "  It  is  my  hope,"  said  he,  "  that  through  your 
good  example  the  settlement  of  Georgia  may  prove  a  blessing  and  not  a 
curse  to  the  native  inhabitants."  Then  having  explained  the  necessity 
for  their  laboring  in  common  until  the  site  of  the  town  should  be  cleared, 
and  having  exhorted  and  encouraged  them  to  work  amicably  and  cheer- 
fully, he  dismissed  them  that  they  might  enter  upon  the  orderly  discharge 
of  the  duties  claiming  immediate  attention. 1  Some  were  detailed  for  the 
erection  of  a  crane  with  which  to  facilitate  the  landing  of  bulky  articles. 
Others  plied  axes  and  felled  the  tall  pines,  rendering  more  comfortable 
the  temporary  shelters  prepared  so  hastily  the  evening  before  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  emigrants,  and  busying  themselves  with  the  erection 


'  See  'Wright's  Memoir  of  General  Oglethorpe,  p.  60,     London.     1867. 


Oglethorpe's  Letters  to  the  Trustees.  23 

■of  new  booths.  Others  still  were  detailed  to  unload  the  vessels,  to  split 
and  sharpen  posts  with  which  to  stockade  the  town,  and  to  begin  the  con- 
struction of  a  fort  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  bluff.  Varied  and  ardu- 
ous were  these  duties,  but  all  with  alacrity  and  energy  entered  upon  and 
prosecuted  their  performance.  Sharing  the  privations  and  the  labors  of 
his  people,  Oglethorpe  was  present  everywhere,  planning,  supervising,  and 
encouraging.  The  general  outline  of  Savannah  was  soon  indicated.  In 
marking  out  its  squares,  lots,  and  streets,  the  founder  of  the  colony  was 
assisted  by'Colonel  William  Bull  of  South  Carolina,  a  gentleman  of  intel- 
ligence and  experience,  who  generously  lent  four  of  his  servants,  expert 
sawyers,  to  aid  in  preparing  boards  for  houses.  Oglethorpe  claimed  in 
his  own  behalf  and  for  his  own  comfort  no  labor  from  the  colonists.  He 
caused  four  clustering  pines  to  be  left  standing  near  the  bluff  and  opposite 
the  center  of  the  encampment.  Beneath  their  shadow  he  pitched  his  tent, 
and  this  canvass  was  his  abiding-place  for  nearly  a  year.  Subsequently  he 
contented  himself  with  hired  lodgings  in  one  of  the  houses  of  his  people. 
Upon  his  arrival  at  Charlestown  on  the  13th  of  January,  Oglethorpe 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  trustees  communicating  the  happy  intelligence, 
and  on  the  loth  of  February,  from  his  camp  in  Savannah,  penned  his  first 
•communication  on  Georgia  soil.     It  runs  as  follows : 

"  To  the  Trustees  for  establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia  in  America  : 

"  Gentlemen, — I  gave  you  an  Account  in  my  last  of  our  Arrival  at 
Charles-Town.  The  Governor  and  Assembly  have  given  us  all  possible 
Encouragement.  Our  People  arrived  at  Beaufort  on  the  20th  of  January 
where  I  lodged  them  in  some  new  Barracks  built  for  the  Soldiers,  while  I 
went  myself  to  view  the  Savannah  River.  I  fix'd  upon  a  healthy  situa- 
tion about  ten  miles  from  the  sea.  The  River  here  forms  a  Half-Moon, 
along  the  South-Side  of  which  the  Banks  are  about  forty  Foot  high,  and 
on  the  Top  a  Flat  which  they  call  a  Bluff.  The  plain  high  Ground  ex- 
tends into  the  Country  five  or  six  Miles,  and  along  the  River-side  about 
a  Mile.  Ships  that  draw  twelve  Foot  Water  can  ride  within  'ten  Yards  of 
the  Bank.  Upon  the  River-Side,  in  the  Centre  of  this  Plain,  I  have  laid 
out  the  Town.  Opposite  to  it  is  an  Island  of  very  rich  Pasturage,  which 
I  think  should  be  kept  for  the  Trustees'  Cattle.  The  River  is  pretty  wide, 
the  Water  fresh,  and  from  the  I^ey  of  the  Town  you  see  its  whole  Course 


24  History  of  Savannah. 

to  the  Sea,  with  the  Island  of  Tybe,  which  forms  the  Mouth  of  the  River;, 
and  the  other  way  you  see  the  River  for  about  six  Miles  up  into  the 
Country.  The  Landskip  is  very  agreeable,  the  Stream  being  wide,  and 
border'd  with  high  Woods  on  both  Sides.  The  whole  People  arrived 
here  on  the  first  of  February.  At  Night  their  Tents  were  got  up.  'Till 
the  seventh  we  were  taken  up  in  unloading  and  making  a  Crane  which  j 
then  could  not  get  finish'd,  so  took  off  the  Hands,  and  sent  some  to  the 
Fortification  and  began  to  fell  the  woods.  I  mark'd  out  the  Town  and 
Common.  Half  of  the  former  is  already  cleared,  and  the  first  House  was 
begun  Yesterday  in  the  Afternoon.  Not  being  able  to  get  Negroes,  I  have 
taken  ten  of  the  Independent  Company  to  work  for  us,  for  which  I  make 
them  an  allowance.  I  send  you  a  copy  of  the  Resolutions  of  the  Assem- 
bly and  the  Governor  and  Council's  Letter  to  me.  M'  Whitaker  has 
given  us  one  hundred  Head  of  Cattle.  Col.  Bull,  M'^  Barlow,  M"^  S*  Jul- 
ian, and  M' Woodward  are  to  come  up  to  assist  us  with  some  of  their  own 
Servants.  I  am  so  taken  up  in  looking  after  a  hundred  necessary  Things, 
that  I  write  now  short,  but  shall  give  you  a  more  particular  Account 
hereafter.  A  little  Indian  Nation,  the  only  one  within  fifty  Miles,  is  not 
only  at  Amity,  but  desirous  to  be  Subjects  to  his  Majesty  King  George, 
to  have  Lands  given  them  among  us,  and  to  breed  their  Children  at  our 
Schools.  Their  Chief,  and  his  Beloved  Man,  who  is  the  Second  Man  in 
the  Nation,  desire  to  be  instructed  in  the  Christian  Religion. 
"  I  am,  Gentlemen 

"  Your  Most  Obedient,  Humble  Servant, 

"James  Oglethorpe." 

In  token  of  the  general  interest  in  the  success  of  this  new  plantation, 
the  authorities  of  South  Carolina — not  content  with  simply  adopting  res- 
olutions of  welcome  and  making  protestations  of  friendship — dispatched 
Captain  McPherson  with  fifteen  rangers  to  cover  the  new  settlement  in 
Georgia,  and  protect  it  "from  any  insults  that  might  be  offered  by  the  In- 
dians until  the  colonists  shonld  have  enfort'd  themselves."  A  scout-boat, 
•perriaguas,  breeding  cattle,  hogs  and  rice  were  placed,  at  the  public 
charge,  at  the  disposal  of  Mr.  Oglethorpe.^    This  early  and  acceptable  aid 

'  Reasons  for  Establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia  with  Regard  to  the  Trade  of 
Great  Britain,  etc.,  pp.  42-46.     London.     MDCCXXXlii. 


Aid  s:xtended  by  Carolina.  25 

extended  by  the  Province  of  Carolina  was  supplemented  by  the  private 
benefactions  of  her  inhabitants.  Thus  Colonel  Bull,  with  four  of  his  serv- 
ants, came  to  Savannah  and  spent  a  month  there,  supervising  the  work  of 
the  sawyers,  designating  the  proportions  of  the  buildings,  surveying  the 
lots,  and  rendering  various  services  of  a  most  valuable  character.  From 
Mr.  Whittaker  and  his  friends  were  received  one  hundred  head  of  cattle 
— a  free  gift  to  the  colony.  Mr.  St.  Julian  for  several  weeks  directed  the 
people  in  erecting  their  houses  and  advancing  the  settlement.  A  silver 
boat  and  spoon,  presented  by  Mr.  Hume  to  the  first  child  born  on  Geor- 
gia soil,  were  awarded  to  Mrs.  Close.  For  two  months  Mr.  Joseph  Bryan 
gave  his  personal  attention  and  the  labor  of  four  of  his  servants,  who 
were  sawyers,  to  the  construction  of  the  rising  town.  Sixteen  sheep  were 
donated  by  the  inhabitants  of  Edisto  Island.  Mr.  Hammerton  contrib- 
uted a  drum.  Mrs.  Ann  Drayton  loaned  four  of  her  sawyers,  and  Color 
nel  Bull  and  Mr.  Bryan  furnished  Mr.  Oglethorpe  with  twenty  servants 
to  be  employed  in  such  manner  as  he  deemed  most  advantageous.  Gov- 
ernor Johnson  presented  seven  horses.  This  is  but  a  partial  list  of  the 
individual  aid  and  personal  gifts  contributed  by  South  Carolinians  to  the 
first  settlers  at  Savannah. 

Well  knowing  that  the  planting  of  this  colony  to  the  South  would 
essentially  promote  the  security  of  Carolina,  shielding  that  province  from 
the  direct  assaults  of  the  Spaniards  in  Florida,  preventing  the  facile 
escape  of  fugitive  slaves,  guarding  her  lower  borders  from  the  incursions 
of  Indians,  increasing  commercial  relations,  and  enhancing  the  value  of 
lands,  the  South  Carolinians  were  very  solicitous  for  the  promotion  of  the 
prosperity  of  Georgia.  The  mutual  sympathy  and  dependence  of  the  two 
plantations  were  expressed  by  a  contributor  to  the  London  Magazine  in 
the  following  lines: 

"  To  Carolina  be  a  Georgia  joined, 
Then  shall  both  colonies  sure  progress  make. 
Endeared  to  eitherjfor  the  other's  sake  ; 
Georgia  shall  Carolina's  favour  move, 
And  Carolina  bloom  by  Georgia's  love.'' 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  penned  by  Mr.  Oglethorpe  at  Sa- 
vannah, on  the  20th  of  February,  1733,  and  addressed  to  the  "Trustees 
for  establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia  in  America,"  advises  us  of  his  fur- 
ther impressions  of  Yamacraw  Bluff:  * 


26  History  of  Savannah. 

"  Our  People  are  all  in  perfect  Health.  I  chose  the  situation  for  the- 
Town  upon  an  high  Ground  forty  Foot  perpendicular  above  High-Water 
Mark :  The  Soil  dry  and  Sandy,  the  Water  of  the  River  fresh,  Springs- 
coming  out  from  the  Sides  of  the  Hills.  I  pitch'd  on  this  Place  not  only 
for  the  Pleasantness  of  its  Situation,  but  because  from  the  above-men- 
tion'd  and  other  Signs  I  thought  it  Healthy,  for  it  is  shelter'd  from  the 
Western  and  Southern  Winds  (the  worst  in  this  Country)  by  vast  Woods 
of  Pine-trees  many  of  which  are  an  hundred,  and  few  under  seventy  Foot 
high.  There  is  no  Moss  on  the  Trees,  tho'  in  most  parts  of  Carolina  they 
are  cover'd  with  it,  and  it  hangs  down  two  or  three  Foot  from  them ;  The 
last  and  fullest  Conviction  of  the  Healthfulness  of  the  Placi  was  that  an 
Indian  Nation,  who  know  the  Nature  of  this  Country,  chose  it  for  their 
Habitation."  ^ 

In  his  next  communication,  under  date  of  March  I2th,  he  conveys  the 
following  information  in  regard  to  the  extent  of  the  province,  the  temper 
of  the  aboriginal  population,  and  the  progress  of  colonization  : 

"This  Province  is  much  larger  than  we  thought,  being  I20  miles  from 
this  river  to  the  Alatamaha.  The  Savannah  has  a  very  long  course,  and 
a  great  trade  is  carried  on  by  the  Indians,  there  having  above  twelve  trad- 
ing boats  passed  since  I  have  been  here.  There  are  in  Georgia,  on  this 
side  the  mountains,  three  considerable  nations  of  Indians;  one  called  the 
Lower  Creeks,  consisting  of  nine  towns,  or  rather  cantons,  making  about 
a  thousand  men  able  to  bear  arms.  One  of  these  is  within  a  short  dis- 
tance of  us  and  has  concluded  a  peace  with  us,  giving  us  the  right  of  all 
this  part  of  the  Country ;  and  I  have  marked  out  the  lands  which  they 
have  reserved  to  themselves.  Their  King^  comes  constantly  to  Church,, 
is  desirous  to  be  instructed  in  the  Christian  religion,  and  has  given  me  his 
nephew,^  a  boy  who  is  his  next  heir,  to  educate.  The  two  other  Nations 
are  the  Uchees  and  the  Upper  Creeks :  the  first  consisting  of  two  hun- 
dred, the  latter  of  eleven  hundred  men.  We  agree  so  well  with  the  In- 
dians that  the  Creeks  and  the  Uchees  have  referred  to  me  a  difference  to- 
determine  which  otherwise  would  have  occasioned  a  war. 

'  Reasons  for  Establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia  with  Regard  to  the  Trade  of 
Great  Britain,  etc,,  p.  48.    London.    MDCCXXXlll. 
'^  Tomo-chi-chi. 
"  Toonahowi.  \ 


Oglethorpe's  Letter.  27 

"  Our  people  still  lie  in  tents,  there  being  only  two  clap-board  houses 
built  and  three  sawed  houses  framed.  Our  crane,  our  battery  cannon, 
and  magazine  are  finished.  This  is  all  that  we  have  been  able  to  do  by 
reason  of  the  smallness  of  our  number,  of  which  many  have  been  sick  and 
others  unused  to  labor ;  though  I  thank  God,  they  are  now  pretty  well, 
and  we  have  not  lost  one  since  our  arrival  here." 

In  the  South  Carolina  Gazette  of  March  22,  1733,  may  be  found  the 
following  account  of  a  visit  paid  by  some  Carolina  gentlemen  to  Mr.  Ogle- 
thorpe : 

"On  Tuesday,  the  13th  Instant,  I  went  on  board  a  Canoe,  in  com- 
pany with  M"^  George  Ducat  and  Mr.  John  Ballantine,  with  four  Negroes; 
and  about  10  o'clock  we  set  off  from  M"^  Lloyd's  Bridge  for  Georgia  and, 
pas.sing  by  Port  Royal  on  Wednesday  Night  we  arrived  on  Friday  Morn- 
ing an  Hour  before  Day  at  Yammacraw ,  —  a  Place  so  called  by  the  In- 
-dians,  but  now  Savannah  in-  the  Colony  of  Georgia.  Some  time  before 
we  came  to  the  Landing  the  Centinel  challenged  us,  and  understanding 
who  we  were,  admitted  us  ashore.  This  is  a  very  high  Bluff,  —  Forty 
Feet  perpendicular  from  High-water  Mark.  It  lies,  according  to  Cap- 
tain Gascoigne's  Observations,  in  the  Latitude  31:58.  which  he  took  off 
Tybee,  an  island  that  lies  at  the  Mouth  of  the  Savannah  River.  It  is  dis- 
tant from  Charles-  Town  S.  W.  according  to  the  Course  and  Windings  of 
the  Rivers  and  Creeks,  about  140  Miles;  but,  by  a  direct  Course,  J^,  al- 
lowing Sullivants  Island  to  be  in  the  Latitude  32:47:  from  Augustine  N 
E  and  by  E  about  140  Miles,  and  by  the  Course  of  the  Rivers  is  distant 
from  Fort  Moore  300  Miles ;  but  upon  a  direct  Line  but  1 1 5  Miles  N.  W 
and  by  W.  This  Bluff  is  distant  10  Miles  from  the  Mouth  of  the  Rivers 
on  the  South  Side  ;  and  Parrysburgh  is  24  Miles  above  it  on  the  North, 
and  is  so  situated  that  you  have  a  beautiful  Prospect  both  up  and  down 
the  River.  It  is  very  sandy  and  barren,  and  consequently  a  wholesome 
Place  for  a  Town  or  City.  There  are  on  it  130  odd  souls  ;  and  from  the 
Time  they  embarqued  at  London  to  the  Time  I  left  the  Place  there  died 
'but  two  sucking  Children,  and  they  at  Sea.  When  they  arrived,  there 
was  standing  on  it  a  great  Quantity  of  the  best  Sorts  of  Pine,  most  of 
which  is  already  cut  down  on  the  Spot  where  the  Town  is  laid  out  to  be 
built.  The  Land  is  barren  about  a  Mile  back,  when  you  come  into  very 
.rich'  Ground  ;  and  on  both  Sides  within  a  Quarter  of  a  Mile  of  the  Town 


28  History  of  Savannah. 

is  choice,  good  Planting  Land.     Colonel  Bull  told  me  that  he  had  been- 
Seven  Miles  back,  and  found  it  extraordinary  good. 

"M'^  Oglethorpe  is  indefatigable,  takes  avast  deal  of  Pains  ;  his  fare  is 
but  indifferent,  having  little  else  at  present  but  salt  Provisions  :  He  is  ex- 
tremely well  beloved  by  all  his  People  ;  the  general  Title  they  give  him 
is  Father.  If  any  of  them  is  sick  he  immediately  visits  them  and  takes  a 
great  deal  of  Care  of  them.  If  any  difference  arises,  he  is  the  Person 
that  decides  it.  Two  happened  while  I  was  there,  and  in  my  Presence;, 
and  all  the  Parties  went  away,  to  outward  Appearance,  satisfied  and  con- 
tented with  his  Determination.  He  keeps  a  strict  Discipline  ;  I  neither 
saw  one  of  his  People  drunk  or  heard  one  swear  all  the  Time  I  was  there; 
He  does  not  allow  them  Rum,  but  in  lieu  gives  them  English  Beer.  It 
is  surprising  to  see  how  chearfully  the  Men  go  to  work,  considering  they 
have  not  been  bred  to  it ;  There  are  no  Idlers  there  ;  even  the  Boys  and 
Girls  do  their  Parts.  There  are  Four  Houses  already  up  but  none  fin- 
ish'd ;  and  he  hopes  when  he  has  got  more  Sawyers,  which  I  suppose  he 
will  have  in  a  short  time,  to  finish  two  Houses  a  Week.  He  has  ploughed 
up  some  Land,  part  of  which  he  sowed  with  Wheat,  which  is  come  up 
and  looks  promising.  He  has  two  or  three  Gardens  which  he  has  sowed 
with  divers  Sorts  of  Seeds,  and  planted  Thyme,  with  other  Sorts  of  Pot- 
herbs, Sage,  Leeks,  Skellions,  Celeri,  Liquorice,  &c,  and  several  Sorts  of 
Fruit  trees.  He  was  palisading  the  Town  round,  including  some  Part  of 
the  Common,  which  I  do  suppose  may  be  finish'd  in  a  Fortnight's  time. 
In  short  he  has  done  a  vast  deal  of  Work  for  the  Time,  and  I  think  his- 
Name  Justly  deserves  to  be  immortalized. 

"  M"^  Oglethorpe  has  with  him  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  written  Journal, 
and,  by  the  Latitude  of  the  Place,  the  Marks  and  Tradition  of  the  Indi- 
ans, it  is  the  very  first  Place  where  he  went  ashore  and  talked  with  the- 
Indians,  and  was  the  first  Englishman  that  ever  they  saw  :  And  about 
Half  a  Mile  from  Savannah  is  a  high  Mount  of  Earth  under  which  lies 
their  chief  King;  and  the  Indians  informed  M''  Oglethorpe  that  the  King 
desired,  before  he  died,  that  he  might  be  buried  on  the  Spot  where  he 
talked  with  that  great  good  Man. 

"The  River  Water  is  very  good,  and  M''  Oglethorpe  has  proved  it  sev- 
eral Ways  and  thinks  it  as  good  as  the  River  of  Thames.  On  Monday  the 
19th  we  took  our  Leave  of  M"^  Oglethorpe  at  Nine  o'Clock  in  the  Morn- 


Visit  to  Charlestown.  ig- 

ing  and  embarked  for  Charles  Town ;  and  when  we  set  off  he  was  pleased 
to  honour  us  with  a  Volley  of  small  Arms,  and  the  Discharge  of  Five 
Cannon  :  And  coming  down  the  Rivers,  we  found  the  Water  perfectly 
fresh  Six  Miles  below  the  Town,  and  saw  Six  or  Seven  large  Sturgeon 
leap,  with  which  Fish  that  River  abounds,  as  also  with  Trout,  Perch,  Cat, 
and  Rock  Fish  &c,  and  in  the  Winter  Season  there  is  Variety  of  Wild 
Fowl,  especially  Turkeys,  some  of  them  weighing  Thirty  Pounds,  and 
abundance  of  Deer."^ 

In  the  absence  of  saw-mills  the  labor  of  converting  the  pine  logs  into 
hewn  timber  and  boards  was  tedious  and  severe.  Nevertheless  the 
work  progressed,  and  one  by  one  frame  houses  were  builded.  As  rap- 
idly as  they  were  finished  the  colonists  were  transferred  from  tents  into 
these  more  permanent  and  comfortable  lodgings.  A  public  garden  was- 
laid  out  and  a  servant  detailed  at  the  charge  of  the  trust  to  cultivate  it. 
This  was  to  serve  as  a  nursery  whence  might  be  procured  fruit  trees, 
vines,  plants,  and  vegetables  for  the  private  orchards  and  gardens  of  the 
inhabitants.  It  was  also  largely  devoted  to  the  propagation  of  the  white- 
mulberry,  from  the  general  cultivation  of  which,  as  food  for  the  silk- 
worm, great  benefit  was  anticipated. 

Sensible  of  the  courtesies  and  valuable  assistance  extended  by  the  in- 
habitants of  South  Carolina,  both  in  their  public  and  private  capacity, 
Mr.  Oglethorpe  repaired  to  Charlestown  to  return  thanks  in  behalf  of  his- 
colony,  and  to  interest  his  neighbors  still  further  in  the  welfare  and  the 
development  of  the  infant  plantation.  His  visit  was  most  agreeable. 
Honorable  welcome  was  accorded  to  him.  His  expressions  of  gratitude 
in  behalf  of  Georgia  were  graciously  received,  and  he  returned  to  Savan- 
nah with  a  strong  impression  of  the  friendship  existing  between  the  col- 
onies, and  of  the  readiness  of  Carolina  to  assist  her  feeble  sigter  in  sea- 
sons of  distress  and  of  peril. 

"^  An  account  showing  the  Progress  of  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America  from  itsr 
first  establishment,     pp.  41,  42.     London.     MDCCXLI. 


30  History  of-  Savannah. 


CHAPTER  TH. 

Original  Cession  of  Territory  from  the  Crown  to  the  Trustees  for  EstabUshing  the 
•Colony  of  Georgia — Importance  of  an  Early  and  Amicable  Extinguishment  of  the  In- 
dian Title  to  the  Granted  Lands— Oglethorpe's  Pacific  Policy  Toward  the  Red  Men — 
Tomo-chi-chi,  his  Character  and  Influence — Treaty  with  the  Creeks. — Articles  of 
Friendship  and  Commerce. 

IT  will  be  remembered  that  the  grant  from  his  majesty,  King  George 
n.  to  the  "trustees  for  establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  Ameri- 
ca "  covered  seven-eights  of  all  lands  "  in  that  part  of  South  Carolina  in 
America  "  lying  "  from  the  most  northern  part  of  a  stream  or  river,  there 
-commonly  called  the  Savannah,  all  along  the  seacoast  to  the  southward, 
unto  the  most  southern  stream  of  a  certain  other  great  water  or  river 
called  the  Alatamaha,  and  westerly  from  the  heads  of  the  said  rivers  re- 
spectively, in  direct  lines,  to  the  South  Seas."  That  cession  also  in- 
cluded all  islands  within  twenty  leagues  of  the  coast.  The  remaining 
one-eighth  part  of  this  territory  was  acquired  by  the  trustees  by  pur- 
chase from  Lord  Carteret,  Baron  of  Hawnes.  It  became  important  at 
the  outset  to  establish  friendly  relations  with  the  native  population  and, 
by  treaty,  to  extinguish  the  Indian  title  to  the  region. 

In  nothing  were  the  prudence,  wisdom,  skill,  and  ability  of  the  founder 
of  the  colony  of  Georgia  more  conspicuous  than  in  his  conduct  toward 
and  his  treatment  of  the  red  men.  The  ascendancy  he  acquired  over 
them,  the  respect  they  entertained  for,  and  the  confidence  they  reposed 
in  him,  the  manly,  generous,  and  just  policy  he  ever  maintained  in  his 
intercourse  with  the  Indian  tribes  are  remarkable.  Their  favor  was  es- 
sential to  the  security  of  the  settlement.  Their  friendship  was  necessary 
to  its  existence.  In  the  beginning,  few  in  numbers  and  isolated  in  po- 
sition, a  hostile  breath  would  have  blown  it  into  nothingness.  As  claim- 
ants of  the  soil  by  virtue  of  prior  occupancy  it  was  of  vital  consequence 
that  the  title  which  they .  asserted  to  these  their  homes  and  hunting 
grounds  should,  at  the  earliest  moment,  be  peaceably  and  formally  ex- 
tinguished. 

A  resort  to  the  sword  in  vindication  of  England's  dominion  over  this 


Friendly  Visit  with  the  Indians.  31 

territory  would  have  led  at  once  to  ambush,  alarm,  and  bloodshed.     The^ 
adoption  of  a  violent  and  coercive  policy  towards  the  aborigines  would 
have  aroused  their  hostility  and  imperiled  the  success  of  the  plantation. 
Recognizing  that  the  plan  of  conciliation  was  the  proper  one  to  be  pur- 
sued, Mr.  Oglethorpe  shaped  his  course  accordingly. 

It  will  not  be  forgotten  that  upon  his  preliminary  survey  of  the  region 
when,  in  company  with  Colonel  Bull,  he  selected  a  spot  for  primal  set- 
tlement, he  sought  an  interview  with  Tomo-chi-chi  and,  by  friendly  offers 
and  kind  arguments,  won  the  favor  of  that  chief  and  his  tribe  and  ob- 
tained their  consent  that  the  expected  colonists  should  occupy  Yamacraw 
Bluff.  A  few  days  afterwards,  when  the  emigrants  did  arrive,  true  to  his- 
promise,  this  aged  mico,  at  the  head  of  his  little  band,  welcomed  the 
newcomers  at  the  water's  edge ;  and,  when  their  tents  were  pitched  upon' 
the  shore,  repeated  his  salutations.  Of  the  ceremonies  observed  on  this 
occasion  the  following  account  has  been  preserved:  In  front  advanced 
the  "  Medicine  Man,"  bearing  in  each  hand  a  fan  of  white  feathers — the 
symbols  of  peace  and  friendship.  Then  came  Tomo-chi-chi  and  Scen- 
auki,  his  wife,  attended  by  a  retinue  of  some  twenty  members  of  the  tribe- 
filling  the  air  with  shouts.  Approaching  Oglethorpe,  who  advanced  a 
few  paces  to  meet  them,  the  medicine  man,  or  priest,  proclaiming  the- 
while  the  brave  deeds  of  his  ancestors,  stroked  the  governor  on  every 
side  with  his  fans, — apt  emblems  of  amity.  This  done,  the  king  and 
queen  drew  near  and  bade  him  and  his  followers  welcome.  After  an 
interchange  of  compliments  the  Indians  were  entertained  as  hospitably 
as  the  means  at  command  would  allow. 

This  acquaintance  with  Tomo-chi-chi  ripened  into  a  friendship  close- 
and  valuable. 

That  the  Indians  in  the  neighborhood  might  be  impressed  with  the 
power  and  military  skill  of  the  emigrants,  Oglethorpe  frequently,  when 
the  opportunity  offered,  exercised  the  colonists  in  their  presence  in  the 
manual  of  arms,  in  marching  and  in  firing,  and  sometimes  roused  the 
forests  from  their  slumbers  by  the  thunders  of  his  cannon.  Well  did  he 
know  that  such  exhibitions  of  superior  power  would  exert  a  potent  in- 
fluence upon  the  minds  of  the  red  men  and  engender  a  respect  for  the 
English  all  the  more  wholesome  because  commingled  with  fear. 

The  situation  of  this  feeble  colony  was,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,. 


32  History  of  Savannah. 


extremely  precarious.  Located  in  the  depths  of  a  primeval  forest,  the 
tangled  brakes  and  solemn  shadows  of  which  proclaimed  loneliness  and 
isolation  ;  the  vast  Atlantic  rolling  its  waters  between  it  and  the  mother 
country ;  the  Carolina  settlements  at  best  few  in  numbers  and  contend- 
ing in  a  stern  life  struggle  for  their  own  existence  ;  Spaniards  in  Florida 
jealous  of  this  disputed  domain,  and  ready  at  any  moment  to  frustrate 
by  stealthy  approaches  and  with  force  of  arms  all  efforts  of  the  English 
to  extend  their  plantations  along  the  Southern  coast ;  arid,  above  all, 
Indian  tribes  in  the  occupancy  of  the  country  attached  to  their  grand  old 
woods  and  gently  flowing  streams,  watchful  of  the  graves  of  their  ances- 
tors, imposed  upon  by  Spanish  lies,  disquieted  by  French  emisaries, 
cheated  by  Carolina  traders,  and  naturally  inclined  to  resist  all  encroach- 
ments by  the  whites  upon  their  hunting-grounds,  it  did  indeed  appear 
that  the  preservation  and  development  of  this  colony  were  well-nigh  im- 
possible. But  its  planting  and  perpetuation  had  been  confided  to  the 
guardian  care  of  one  who  was,  perhaps,  beyond  all  others,  most  capable 
of  conducting  the  enterprise. 

In  his  efforts  to  conciliate  the  native  population,  he  derived  incalcula- 
ble benefit  from  the  friendship  and  kindly  intervention  of  Tomo-chi-chi. 
This  chief,  whose  memory  is  so  honorably  associated  with  the  early  his- 
tory of  Georgia,  and  whose  many  acts  of  kindness  and  fidelity  to  the 
whites  demand  and  must  ever  receive  the  most  grateful  acknowledgment, 
although  at  this  time  far  advanced  in  years,  was  a  man  of  commanding, 
presence,  grave  demeanor,  marked  character,  established  influence,  of  a 
philosophical  turn  of  mind,  and  in  the  fijll  possession  of  all  his  faculties. 
For  some  cause,  the  precise  nature  of  which  has  never  been  fully  ex- 
plained, he  had,  with  a  number  of  his  countrymen,  suffered  banishment 
at  the  hands  of  his  people,  the  Lower  Creeks.  Whatever  the  real  reason 
may  have  been  for  this  action  on  the  part  of  the  Creeks  toward  Tomo- 
chi-chi,  it  does  not  seem  that  it  was  the  result  of  any  special  ill-will,  or 
that  the  expatriation  was  a  punishment  either  for  specific  crime  or  gene- 
ral misconduct.  The  probability  is  that  he  went  into  voluntary  exile  for 
a  season,  or  that  he  may  have  been  temporarily  expelled  the  limits  of 
the  nation,  on  account  of  some  political  disagreements.  Oueekachumpa, 
the  great  chief  of  the  O'Conas,  claimed  kinship  with  him,  and  saluted  him 
as  a  good  man  and  a  distinguished  warrior. 


Friendship  of  the  Indians.  33 

Removing  from  his  former  abode,  after  some  wanderings  he  finally, 
and  not  very  long  before  the  arrival  of  the  colony  of  Georgia,  formed  a 
settlement  at  or  very  near  the  present  site  of  the  city  of  Savannah,  where 
he  gathered  about  him  the  tribe  of  Yamacraws,  consisting  mainly  of  dis- 
affected parties  from  the  Lower  Creeks,  and^  to  some  extent,  of  Yemassee 
Indians,  by  whom  he  was  chosen  mico,  or  chief  Prior  to  his  removal  to 
Yamacraw  Bluff  he  tarried  for  a  season  with  the  Palla-Chucolas.  But 
little  can  be  gathered  of  his  life  previous  to  his  acquaintance  with  Ogle- 
thorpe. Ninety-one  years  had  been,  amid  the  forest  shades,  devoted  to 
the  pursuits  of  war  and  the  chase,  and  there  is  scarcely  a  tradition  which 
wrests  from  oblivion  the  deeds  and  thoughts  of  this  aged  chieftain  dur- 
ing that  long  and  voiceless  period. 

During  the  visit  which  he  subsequently  made  to  London,  in  company 
with  Oglethorpe,  his  portrait  was  painted  by  Verelst,  and  hung  for  many 
years  in  the  Georgia  rooms.  This  likeness,  which  represents  him  in  a 
standing  posture  with  his  left  hand  resting  upon  the  shoulder  of  his 
nephew  and  adopted  son,  Toonahowi,  who  holds  an  eagle  in  his  arms, 
was  subsequently  engraved  by  Faber  and  also  by  Kleinsmidt.  That 
Tomo  chi-chi  was  noble  in  his  connections  we  are  fully  advised,  and 
there  is  that  about  the  countenance  of  this  venerable  mico,  as  it  has  thus 
been  handed  down  to  us,  which  savors  of  intellect,  dignity,  manliness, 
and  kingly  bearing. 

It  will  readily  be  perceived  how  important  it  was  to  the  interests  of 
the  colony  that  the  good  will  of  this  chief  should  be  secured  at  the 
earliest  moment,  and  his  consent  obtained  for  the  peaceable  occupation 
of  the  soil  by  the  whites.  On  the  occasion  of  his  first  interview  with 
Tomo-chi-chi,  as  we  have  already  seen,  Mr.  Oglethorpe  was  fortunate  in 
securing  the  services  of  Mary  Musgrove^  as  an  interpreter.  Perceiving 
that  she  possessed  considerable  influence  with  the  Creeks,  he  retained 
her  in  this  capacity,  allowing  her  an  annual  compensation  of  ij^ioo.  The 
meeting  between  the  governor  of  the  colony  and  the  aged  mico  beneath 
the  grand  live-oaks  and  towering  pines,  the  sheltering  arms  of  which 
formed  a  noble  canopy,  was  frank,  cordial,  and  satisfactory.  His  per- 
sonal friendship  and  the  good  will  of  the  Yamacraws  were  firmly  pledged, 

'  Her  Indian  name  was  Coosaponakese'e. 


34  History  of  Savannah. 

and  permission  was  granted  for  the  permanent  occupation  of  the  site 
selected  by  Oglethorpe  for  the  town  of  Savannah. 

Although  amicable  relations  had  thus  been  established  with  the  near- 
est Indians,  it  was  necessary,  in  order  to  promote  the  security  of  the 
colony,  that  consent  to  its  foundation  here  should  be  ratified  by  other 
and  more  powerful  nations. 

Learning  from  Tomo-chi-chi  the  names  and  the  abodes  of  the  most 
influential  chiefs  dwelling  within  the  territory  ceded  by  the  charter,  Mr. 
Oglethorpe  enlisted  the  good  offices  of  the  mico  in  extending  to  them  an 
earnest  invitation  to  meet  him  at  Savannah  at  some  early  convenient 
day.  The  value  of  these  interviews  with  and  the  generous  intervention 
■of  Tomo-chi-chi  cannot  easily  be  overestimated  in  considering  their  in- 
fluence upon  the  well-being  and  prospects  of  this  lonely  colony  strug- 
gling for  its  primal  existence.  Had  this  chief,  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
advances  of  Mr.  Oglethorpe,  refused  his  friendship,  denied  his  request, 
and,  inclining  his  authority  to  hostile  account,  instigated  a  determined 
and  combined  opposition  on  the  part  not  only  of  the  Yamacraws,  but 
also  of  the  Uchees  and  the  Lower  Creeks,  the  perpetuation  of  this  En- 
glish settlement  would  have  been  either  most  seriously  imperiled  or 
abruptly  terminated  amid  smoke  and  carnage.  When,  therefore,  we 
recur  to  the  memories  of  this  period,  and  as  often  as  the  leading  events 
in  the  early  history  of  the  colony  of  Georgia  are  narrated,  so  often  should 
the  favors  experienced  at  the  hands  of  this  Indian  chief  be  gratefully  ac- 
knowledged. If  Oglethorpe's  proudest  claim  to  the  honor  and  the  re- 
spect of  succeeding  generations  rests  upon  the  fact  that  he  was  the 
founder  of  the  colony  of  Georgia,  let  it  not  be  forgotten  by  those  who 
accord  him  every  praise  for  his  valor,  judgment,  skill,  endurance,  and 
benevolence,  that  in  the  hour  of  supreme  doubt  and  danger  the  right  arm 
of  this  son  of  the  forest  and  his  active  friendship  were  among  the  surest 
guarantees  of  the  safety  and  the  very  existence  of  that  colony.  The  en- 
during and  universal  gratitude  of  the  present  may  well  claim  illustrious 
■expression  from  the  lips  of  the  poet,  the  brush  of  the  painter,  and  the 
chisel  of  the  sculptor. 

To  the  day  of  his  death  these  pledges  of  amity  and  the  assurances  of 
good  will  and  assistance  given  during  these  first  interviews  were  faith- 
fully observed.     The  firm  friend  of  the  white  man,  the  guide,  the  adviser, 


Governor  Oglethorpe  and  the  Indians.  35 

the  protector  of  the  colonist,  the  constant  companion  and  faithful  con- 
federate of  Oglethorpe,  as  such  let  us  always  remember  the  aged  mico  of 
the  Yamacraws. 

True  to  his  promise  Tomo-chi-chi  exerted  his  influence  in  behalf  of 
the  contemplated  convention,  and  dispatched  messengers  to  the  various 
principal  towns  and  chief  men  of  the  Georgia  tribes,  apprising  them  of 
the  objects  of  the  convocation  and  leading  their  minds  in  advance  to  a 
favorable  consideration  of  the  propositions  which  had  been  intimated  to 
him  by  Mr.  Oglethorpe.  The  interval  which  necessarily  intervened 
prior  to  the  assembling  of  the  Indians,  was  improved  by  the  founder  of 
the  colony  in  furthering  the  settlement  at  Savannah  and  in  paying  a  visit 
to  the  province  of  Carolina.  The  fullest  narrative  of  the  meeting  between 
Mr.  Oglethorpe  and  the  Indians,  in  pursuance  of  this  invitation,  is  con- 
tained in  the  forty  sixth  volume  of  the  "  Political  State  of  Great  Britain," 
and  we  repeat  the  account  as  it  is  there  given  : 

"  On  the  14th  of  May,  Mr.  Oglethorpe  set  out  from  Charlestown  on 
his  return  to  Savannah,  which  is  the  name  of  the  town  now  begun  to  be 
built  in  Georgia.  That  night  he  lay  at  Colonel  Bull's  house  on  Ashley 
River,  where  he  dined  the  next  day.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Guy,  rector  of  the 
parish  of  St.  John's,  waited  upon  him  there,  and  acquainted  him  that  his 
parishioners  had  raised  a  very  handsome  contribution  for  the  assistance 
of  the  colony  of  Georgia.  Mr.  Oglethorpe  went  from  thence  to  Captain 
Bull's  where  he  lay  on  the  15th.  On  the  i6th,  in  the  morning,  he  em- 
barqued  at  Daho,  and  rested  at  Mr.  Cochran's  island.  On  the  17th  he 
dined  at  Lieutenant  Watts'  at  Beaufort,  and  landed  at  Savannah  on  the 
1 8th,  at  ten  in  the  morning,  where  he  found  that  Mr.  Wiggan,  the  inter- 
preter, with  the  chief  men  of  all  the  Lower  Creek  nation,  had  come  down 
to  treat  of  an  alliance  with  the  new  colony. 

"  The  Lower  Creeks  are  a  nation  of  Indians  who  formerly  consisted  of 
ten,  but  now  are  reduced  to  eight  tribes  or  towns,  who  have  each  their  dif- 
ferent government,  but  are  allied  together  and  speak  the  same  language. 
They  claim  from  the  Savannah  River  as  far  as  S.  Augustin,  and  up  to  the 
Flint  river,  which  falls  into  the  bay  of  Mexico.  All  the  Indians  inhabit- 
ing this  tract  speak  their  language.  Tomo-chi-chi,  mico,  and  the  Indi- 
ans of  Yamacraw  are  of  their  nation  and  language. 

"  Mr.  Oglethorpe  received  the  Indians  in  one  of  the  new  houses  that 
afternoon.     They  were  as  follows : 


36  History  of  Savannah. 

"  From  the  tribe  of  Coweeta — Yahou-Lakee,  their  king  or  mico.  Es- 
soboa,  their  warrior, — the  son  of  old  Breen,  lately  dead,  whom  the  Span- 
iards called  emperor  of  the  Creeks, — with  eight  men  and  two  women  at- 
tendants. 

"  From  the  tribe  of  Cussetas — Cusseta,  the  mico,  Tatchiquatchi,  the 
head  warrior,  and  four  attendants. 

"From  the  tribe  of  Owseecheys — Ogeese,  the  mico,  or  war  king,  Ne- 
athlouthko  and  Ougachi,  two  chief  men,  with  three  attendants. 

"  From,  the  tribe  of  Cheehaws — Outhleteboa,  the  mico,  Thlautho- 
thlukee,  Figeer,  Soota-Milla,  war-captains,  and  three  attendants. 

"  From  the  tribe  of  Echetas — Chutabeeche  and  Robin,  two  war  cap- 
tains, (the  latter  was  bred  among  the  English)  with  four  attendants. 

"  From  the  tribe  of  Pallachucolas — Gillatee,  the  head  warrior,  and  five 
attendants. 

"  From,  the  tribe  of  Oconas — Oueekachumpa,  called  by  the  English 
'  Long  King,'  Coowoo,  a  warrior. 

"  From  the  tribe  of  Eufaide — Tomaumi,  the  head  warrior,  and  three 
attendants. 

"  The  Indians  being  all  seated,  Oueekachumpa,  a  very  tall  old  man, 
stood  up,  and  with  a  graceful  action  and  a  good  voice,  made  a  long 
speech,  which  was  interpreted  by  Mr.  Wiggan  and  John  Musgrove,  and 
was  to  the  following  purpose.  He  first  claimed  all  the  land  to  the  south- 
ward of  the  river  Savannah,  as  belonging  to  the  Creek  Indians.  Next 
he  said  that  although  they  were  poor  and  ignorant.  He  who  had  given 
the  English  breath  had  given  them  breath  also  ;  that  He  who  had  made 
both,  had  given  more  wisdom  to  the  white  men  ;  that  they  were  firmly 
persuaded  that  the  Great  Power  which  dwelt  in  heaven  and  all  around, 
(and  then  he  spread  out  his  hands  and  lengthened  the  sound  of  his 
words),  and  which  had  given  breath  to  all  men,  had  sent  the  English 
thither  for  the  instruction  of  them,  their  wives  and  children  ;  that  there- 
fore they  gave  them  up  freely  their  right  to  all  the  land  which  they  did 
not  use  themselves,  and  that  this  was  not  only  his  opinion,  but  the  opin- 
ion of  the  eight  towns  of  the  Creeks,  each  of  whom  having  consulted  to- 
gether, had  sent  some  of  their  chief  men  with  skins,  which  is  their  wealth. 
He  then  stopped,  and  the  chief  men  of  each  town  brought  up  a  bundle 
of  buck  skins,  and  laid  eight  bundles  from  the  eight  towns  at  Mr.  Ogle- 


Gifts  of  the  Indians.  37 

thorpe's  feet.  He  then  said  those  were  the  best  things  they  had,  and 
therefore  they  gave  them  with  a  good  heart.  He  then  thanked  him  for 
liis  kindness  to  Tomo-chi-chi,  mico,  and  his  Indians,  to  whom  he  said  he 
■was  related ;  and  said,  that  though  Tomo-chi-chi  was  banished  from  his 
nation,  he  was  a  good  man,  and  had  been  a  great  warrior,  and  it  was  for 
his  wisdom  and  courage  that  the  banished  men  chose  him  king.  Lastly, 
he  said,  they  had  heard  in  the  nation  that  the  Cherokees  had  killed  some 
Englishmen,  and  that  if  he  should  command  them,  they  would  enter 
with  their  whole  force  into  the  Cherokee  country,  destroy  their  harvest, 
kill  their  people  and  revenge  the  English.  He  then  sat  down.  Mr. 
Oglethorpe  promised  to  acquaint  the  trustees  with  their  desire  of  be- 
ing instructed,  and  informed  them  that  although  there  had  been  a  report 
•of  Cherokees  having  killed  some  Englishmen,  it  was  groundless.  He 
thanked  them  in  the  most  cordial  manner  for  their  affection,  and  told 
them  that  he  would  acquaint  the  trustees  with  it. 

"Tomo-chichi,  mico,  then  came  in,  with  the  Indians  of  Yamacraw, 
to  Mr.  Oglethorpe,  and  bowing  very  low,  said  :  'I  was  a  banished  man; 
I  came  here  poor  and  helpless  to  look  for  good  land  near  the  tombs 
of  my  ancestors,  and  the  trustees  sent  people  here ;  I  feared  you  would 
•drive  us  away,  for  we  were  weak  and  wanted  corn ;  but  you  confirmed 
-our  land  to  us,  gave  us  food  and  instructed  our  children.  We  have  al- 
ready thanked  you  in  the  strongest  words  we  could  find,  but  words  are 
no  return  for  such  favors;  for  good  words  may  be  spoke  by  the  deceit- 
ful, as  well  as  by  the  upright  heart.  The  chief  men  of  all  our  nation  are 
here  to  thank  you  for  us ;  and  before  them  I  declare  your  goodness,  and 
that  here  I  design  to  die ;  for  we  all  love  your  people  so  well  that  with 
them  we  will  live  and  die.  We  do  not  know  good  from  evil,  but  desire 
to  be  instructed  and  guided  by  you  that  we  may  do  well  with,  and  be 
numbered  amongst  the  children  of  the  trustees.'^     He  sat  down,  and  Ya- 

'  In  A  Curious  Accoujit  of  the  Indians  by  an  Honorable  Person,  Mr.  Oglethorpe 
writes  :  "  Tomo-chi-chi,  in  his  first  set  speech  to  me,  among  other  things,  said,  '  Here 
is  a  little  present ;'  and  then  gave  me  a  buffalo's  skin,  painted  on  the  inside  with  the 
head  and  feathers  of  an  eagle.  He  desired  me  to  accept  it  because  '  the  eagle  signified 
rspeed,  and  the  buffalo  strength  ;  that  the  English  were  as  swift  as  the  bird,  and  as  strong 
-as  the  beast ;  since  like  the  first,  they  flew  trom  the  utmost  parts  of  the  earth,  over  the 
vast  seas,  and  like  the  second,  nothing  could  withstand  them  ;  that  the  feathers  of  the 
-eagle  were  soft,  and  signified  love  ;  the  buffalo  skin  was  warm,  and  signified  protection  ; 
".therefore  he  hoped  that  we  would  love  and  protect  their  little  families.'  " 


38  History  of  Savannah. 

hou-Lakee,  mico  of  Cowceat,  stood  up  and  said  :  '  We  are  come  twenty- 
five  days'  journey  to  see  you.  I  have  been  often  advised  to  go  down  to- 
Charles-Town,  but  would  not  go  down  because  I  thought  I  might  die  in 
the  way;  but  when  I  heard  that  you  were  come, and  that  you  were  good 
men,  I  knew  you  were  sent  by  Him  who  lives  in  Heaven,  to  teach  us 
Indians  wisdom  ;  I  therefore  came  down  that  I  might  hear  good  things, 
for  I  knew  that  if  I  died  in  the  way  I  should  die  in  doing  good,  and  what 
was  said  would  be  carried  back  to  the  nation,  and  our  children  would 
reap  the  benefit  of  it.  I  rejoice  that  I  have  lived  to  see  this  day,  and  ta 
see  our  friends  that  have  long  been  gone  from  amongst  us.  Our  nation 
was  once  strong,  and  had  ten  towns;  but  we  are  now  weak,  and  have  but 
eight  towns.  You  have  comforted  the  banished,  and  have  gathered  them 
that  were  scattered  like  little  birds  before  the  eagle.  We  desire  there- 
fore to  be  reconciled  to  our  brethren  who  are  here  amongst  you,  and  we 
give  leave  to  Tomochi-chi,  Stimoiche,  and  Illispelle,  to  call  the  kindred 
that  love  them  out  of  each  of  the  Creek  towns,  that  they  may  come  to- 
gether and  make  one  town.  We  must  pray  you  to  recall  the  Yam- 
asees  that  they  may  be  buried  in  peace  amongst  their  ancestors,  and  that 
they  may  see  their  graves  before  they  die  ;  and  their  own  nation  shall  be 
restored  again  to  its  ten  towns.'  After  which  he  spoke  concerning  the 
abatement  of  the  prices  of  goods,  and  agreed  upon  articles  of  a  treaty 
which  were  ordered  to  be  engrossed." 

Tomo-chi-chi  invited  them  to  his  town,  where  they  passed  the  night 
in  feasting  and  dancing.  On  the  21  st,  the  treaty  was  signed.  "A  laced 
coat,  a  laced  hat,  and  a  shirt  were  given  to  each  of  the  Indian  chiefs ;  to 
each  of  the  warriors  a  gun,  and  a  mantle  of  Duffils ;  and  to  all  their  at- 
tendants coarse  cloth  for  clothing.  A  barrel  of  gunpowder,  four  cags  of 
bullets,  a  piece  of  broad-cloth,  a  piece  of  Irish  linen,  a  cask  of  tobacco- 
pipes,  eight  belts,  and  cutlashes  with  gilt  handles,  tape  and  inkle  of  all  col- 
ors, and  eight  cags  of  rum,  to  be  carried  home  to  their  towns;  one  pound 
of  powder,  one  pound  of  bullets,  and  as  much  provision  for  each  man  as 
they  pleased  to  take  for  their  journey  home,"  were  also  distributed.! 

During  this  interview  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Oglethorpe  toward  the  In- 
dians was  characterized  by  marked  kindness,  courtesy,  and  conciliation. 


1  See  The  Political  State  af  Great  Britain,  xlvi.  237  ;  Gentleman's  Magazine  for 
July  1733.  '>'■  384.  et  seg.;  American  Gazetteer,  ii.,  article  "Georgia."     London.   1762^ 


Indian  Treaty.  39 


He  urged  upon  them  an  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  in  making  this  set- 
tlement the  English  desired  neither  to  dispossess  nor  to  annoy  the  na- 
tives, but  that  the  earnest  wish  of  his  government  and  people  was  to  live 
in  peace  and  friendship  with  the  surrounding  tribes.  He  further  ex- 
plained the  power  of  the  British  nation  and  the  general  object  in  view  in 
founding  the  colony,  and  asked  from  the  assembled  chiefs  and  those 
whom  they  represented  a  cession  of  the  lands  lying  between  the  Savan- 
nah and  Alatamaha  Rivers.  In  addition,  he  invoked  the  ratification  of  a 
treaty  of  commerce  and  of  perpetual  amity. 

The  interview  was  in  every  respect  satisfactory,  and  resulted  in  the 
consummation  of  a  treaty  by  which  the  Lower  Creeks  agreed  to  place 
themselves  under  the  general  government  of  Great  Britain  and  to  live  in 
peace  with  the  colonists.  To  the  trustees  were  granted  all  lands  lying 
between  the  Savannah  and  the  Alatamaha  Rivers,  from  the  ocean  to  the 
head  of  tide-water.  This  cession  also  embraced  the  islands  on  the  coast, 
from  Tybee  to  St.  Simon's  Island  inclusive,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Islands  of  Ossabau,  Sapelo,  and  St.  Catharine,  which  were  reserved 
by  the  Indians  for  the  purposes  of  hunting,  bathing,  and  fishing.  The 
tract  of  land  lying  above  Yamacraw  Bluff,  between  Pipemaker's  Bluff  and 
Pally-Chuckola  Creek,  was  also  reserved  as  a  place  of  encampment  when- 
ever it  should  please  them  to  visit  their  beloved  friends  at  Savannah. 
Stipulations  were  entered  into  regulating  the  price  of  goods,  the  value  of 
peltry,  and  the  privileges  of  traders.  It  was  further  agreed  that  all  crim- 
inal offenses  should  be  tried  and  punished  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of 
England.  1 

Although  this  treaty  was  engrossed,  and  formally  executed  by  Ogle- 
thorpe on  the  one  part,  and  the  chiefs  and  principal  warriors  who  were 
then  present  on  the  other,  in  order  that  its  terms  might  be  duly  consid- 
ered and  approved,  it  was  forwarded  to  the  trustees  for  their  formal  con- 
firmation. 

In  due  course  it  was  returned  with  the  following  ratification  -.^ 

'  See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  i.  37,  38. 

'  This  ratification  of  these  articles  of  friendship  and  commerce  between  the  trustees 
for  establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America  and^the  chief  mico  of  the  nation  of 
the  Lower  Creeks  was  made  on  the  i8th  of  October,  1733.  See  Minutes  of  the  Com- 
mon Council  for  the  Years  1731  to  1736,  p.  75. 


40  History  of  Savannah. 

"  The  Trustees  for  establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America  to- 
the  chief  men  of  the  nation  of  the  Lower  Creeks, 

"Send  Greeting: 

"  Whereas,  The  great  king,  George  the  Second,  king  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, did  by  his  letters  patent  under  the  great  seal  of  Great  Britain,  bear- 
ing date  the  9th  day  of  June,  in  the  5th  year  of  his  reign,  constitute  and 
appoint  a  body  politic  and  corporate  by  the  name  of  the  Trustees  for 
establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America : 

"  And  Whereas,  The  said  Trustees  have  received  from  their  be- 
loved Mr.  James  Oglethorpe,  of  West  Brook  Place,  in  the  county  of 
Surry,  Esquire,  one  of  the  common  council  of  the  said  Trustees,  a  copy 
of  certain  articles  of  friendship  and  commerce  between  the  said  Trustees 
and  the  said  chief  men,  which  is  in  the  words  following  (that  is  to  say), 
Articles  of  friendship  and  commerce  between  the  Trustees  for  establish- 
ing the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America,  and  the  chief  men  of  the  nation  of 
the  Lower  Creeks. 

"  First'.  The  Trustees  bearing  in  their  hearts  great  love  and  friendship 
to  you  the  said  head-men  of  the  Lower  Creek  nation,  do  engage  to  let 
their  people  carry  up  into  your  towns  all  kinds  of  goods  fitting  to  trade  in 
the  said  towns,  at  the  rates  and  prices  settled  and  agreed  upon  before  you 
the  said  head-men,  and  annexed  to  this  treaty  of  trade  and  friendship. 

"  Secondly.  The  Trustees  do  by  these  articles  promise  to  see  restitu- 
tion done  to  any  of  the  people  of  your  towns  by  the  people  they  shall  send 
among  you;  proof  being  made  to  the  beloved  man  they  shall  at  any  time 
send  among  you,  that  they  who  have  either  committed  murder,  robbery, 
or  have  beat  or  wounded  any  of  your  people,  or  any  wise  injured  them 
in  their  crops,  by  their  horses,  or  in  any  other  ways  whatever;  and  upon 
such  proof  the  said  people  shall  be  tried  and  punished  according  to  the 
English  law. 

"  Thirdly.  The  Trustees  when  they  find  the  hearts  of  you  the  said 
head-men  and  your  people  are  not  good  to  the  people  they  shall  send 
among -you,  or  that  you  or  your  people  do  not  mind  this  paper,  they  will 
withdraw  the  English  trade  from  the  town  so  offending.  And  that  you 
and  your  people  may  have  this  chain  of  friendship  in  your  minds  and 
fixed  to  your  hearts,  they  have  made  fast  their  seal  to  this  treaty., 


The  Trustees'  Ratification  of  the  Treaty.  41 

"Fourthly.  We,  the  head-men  of  the  Coweta  and  Cuseta  towns,  in  be- 
half of  all  the  Lower  Creek  nation,  being  firmly  persuaded  that  He  who 
lives  in  Heaven  and  is  the  occasion  of  all  good  things,  has  moved  the 
hearts  of  the  Trustees  to  send  their  beloved  men  among  us,  for  the  good 
of  our  wives  and  children,  and  to  instruct  us  and  them  in  what  is  straight, 
do  therefore  declare  that  we  are  glad  that  their  people  are  come  here ; 
and  though  this  land  belongs  to  us  (the  Lower  Creeks),  yet  we,  that  we 
may  be  instructed  by  them,  do  consent  and  agree  that  they  shall  make 
use  of  and  possess  all  those  lands  which  our  nation  hath  not  occasion  to 
use;  and  we  make  over  unto  them,  their  successors  and  assigns,  all  such 
lands  and  territories  as  we  shall  have  no  occasion  to  use ;  provided  al- 
ways, that  they,  upon  settling  every  new  town,  shall  set  out  for  the  use 
of  ourselves  and  the  people  of  our  nation  such  lands  as  shall  be  agreed 
upon  between  their  beloved  men  and  the  head-men  of  our  nation,  and 
that  those  lands  shall  remain  to  us  forever. 

"  Fifthly.  We,  the  head-men,  do  promise  for  ourselves  and  the  peo- 
ple of  our  towns  that  the  traders  for  the  English  which  shall  settle  among 
us,  shall  not  be  robbed  or  molested  in  their  trade  in  our  nation;  and  that 
if  it  shall  so  happen  any  of  our  people  should  be  mad,  and  either  kill, 
wound,  beat  or  rob  any  of  the  English  traders  or  their  people,  then  we 
the  said  head-  men  of  the  towns  aforesaid  do  engage  to  have  justice  done 
to  the  English,  and  for  that  purpose  to  deliver  up  any  of  our  people  who 
shall  be  guilty  of  the  crimes  aforesaid,  to  be  tried  by  the  English  laws,  or 
by  the  laws  of  our  nation,  as  the  beloved  man  of  the  Trustees  shall  think 
fit.  And  we  further  promise  not  to  suffer  any  of  the  people  of  our  said 
towns  to  come  into  the  Hmits  of  the  English  settlements  without  leave 
from  the  English  beloved  man,  and  that  we  will  not  molest  any  of  the 
English  traders  passing  to  or]  from  any  nation  in  friendship  with  the 
English. 

"  Sixthly.  We,  the  head-men,  for  ourselves  and  people  do  promise  to 
apprehend  and  secure  any  negro  or  other  slave  which  shall  run  away  from 
any  of  the  English  settlements  to  our  nation,  and  to  carry  them  either  to 
this  town,  or  Savannah,  or  Palachuckola  garrison,  and  there  to  deliver 
him  up  to  the  commander  of  such  garrison,  and  to  be  paid  by  him  four 
blankets  or  two  guns,  or  the  value  thereof  in  other  goods;  provided  such 
runaway  negro,  or  other  slave,  shall  be  taken  by  us  or  any  of  our  peo- 

6 


42 


History  of  Savannah. 


pie  on  the  farther  side  of  Oconee  River ;  and  in  case  such  negro  or  run- 
away slave  shall  be  taken  on  the  hither  side  of  the  said  river,  and  deliv- 
ered to  the  commanders  aforesaid,  then  we  understand  the  pay  to  be  one 
gun,  or  the  value  thereof;  and  in  case  we  or  our  people  should  kill  any 
such  slave  for  resistance  or  running  away  from  us  in  apprehending  him,, 
then  we  are  to  be  paid  one  blanket  for  his  head,  by  any  trader,  for  car- 
rying such  slave's  head  unto  him. 

"  Lastly.  We  promise  with  stout  hearts,  and  love  to  our  brothers  the 
English,  to  give  no  encouragement  to  any  other  white  people,  but  them- 
selves, to  settle  amongst  us,  and  that  we  will  not  have  any  correspondence 
with  the  Spaniards  or  French ;  and  to  show  that  we  both  for  the  good  of 
ourselves  our  wives  and  children  do  firmly  promise  to  keep  the  talk  in  our 
hearts  as  long  as  the  sun  shall  shine  or  the  waters  run  in  the  rivers,  we 
have  each  of  us  set  the  marks  of  our  families. 


SCHEDULE   OF  THE 

PRICES   OF  GOODS   AGREED   ON,  ANNEXED. 

Two  yards  of  stroud 

Five  buck-skins 

One  yard  of  plains    . 

One     ditto. 

White  blanket 

One     ditto. 

Blue     ditto 

Five     ditto. 

A  gun 

Ten     ditto. 

A  pistol    . 

.     Five     ditto. 

A  gun-lock 

Four     ditto. 

Two  measures  of  powd 

er One     ditto. 

Sixty  bullets 

Ditto     ditto. 

One  white  shirt 

Two     ditto. 

One  knife 

One  doe-skin. 

Eighteen  flints 

.      One  buck-skin. 

Three  yards  of  cadiz 

One  doe- skin. 

Ditto  ditto  of  gartering 

.     Ditto     ditto. 

One  hoe 

Two  buck-skins 

One  ax     . 

.     Ditto     ditto. 

One  large  hatchet 

Three  doe-skins 

One  small  ditto 

One  buck-skin. 

Brass  kettles  per  lb. 

Ditto     ditto. 

Doe-skins  were  estii 

-nated  at  half  the  value  of  the  bucks. 

Treaty  Ratified.  43 


"  And,  Whereas,  The  said  Trustees  are  greatly  desirous  to  main- 
tain and  preserve  an  inviolable  peace,  friendship  and  commerce  between 
the  said  head-men  of  the  Lower  nation  of  Creeks,  and  the  people  the  said 
Trustees  have  sent  and  shall  send  to  inhabit  and  settle  in  the  province  of 
Georgia  aforesaid,  to  endure  to  the  world's  end  ; 

"  Now  know  ye  that  we  the  said  Trustees  for  establishing  the  colony 
■of  Georgia  in  America  do  by  these  presents  ratify  and  confirm  the  said 
articles  of  friendship  and  commerce  between  the  Trustees  for  establishing 
the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America,  and  the  chief  men  of  the  Lower 
Creeks,  and  all  and  every  of  the  articles  and  agreements  therein  con- 
tained, and  also  the  rates  and  prices  of  goods  above  mentioned,  settled 
and  agreed  upon  before  the  said  head-men,  and  annexed  to  the  said 
treaty  of  trade  and  friendship. 

"  In  witness  whereof  the  Common  Council  of  the  said  Trustees  for 
establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia  in  America  have  to  these  presents 
made  fast  the  common  seal  of  the  corporation  of  the  said  Trustees,  the 
•eighteenth  day  of  October,  in  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  our  sover- 
eign lord  George  the  Second,  by  the  Grace  of  God  of  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Ireland  king,  defender  of  the  faith,  etc.,  and  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty- three. 

"By  order  of  the  said  Common  Council, 

"  Benjamin  Martyn,  Secretary."  1 

This  treaty  of  the  21st  of  May,  1733,  resulted  in  the  pacification  of 
all  the  Lower  Creek  Indians,  the  Uchees,  the  Yamacraws,  and  of  other 
tribes  acknowledging  their  supremacy.  Nor  did  the  influences  of  this 
convocation  rest  with  them  only.  They  were  recognized  by  the  Upper 
Creeks,  and,  at  a  later  date,  similar  stipulations  were  ratified  by  the 
■Cherokees.  For  years  were  they  preserved  inviolate ;  and  the  colony  of 
Georgia,  thus  protected,  extended  its  settlements  up  the  Savannah  River 
and  along  the  coast,  experiencing  neither  molestation  nor  opposition,  but 
on  the  contrary  receiving  on  every  hand  positive  and  valuable  assurances 
of  the  good-will  and  sympathy  of  the  children  of  the  forest.  Probably 
the  early  history  of  no  plantation  in  America  affords  so  few  instances  of 
hostility  on  the  part  of  the  natives,  or  discloses  so  many  acts  of  kindness 

'  See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia  i.  357,  et  seq. 


44  History  of  Savannah. 


extended  by  the  red  men.  To  the  prudence,  conciliatory  conduct,  sound 
judgment,  and  wisdom  of  Mr.  Oglethorpe,  seconded  by  the  hospitality 
and  generosity,  as  well  as  the  direct  personal  influence  of  Tomo-chi-chi, 
was  the  colony  of  Georgia  indebted  for  this  first  and  liberal  treaty  of 
amity  and  commerce  with  the  aborigines.^  To  the  inhabitants  of  Sa- 
vannah this  concession  and  these  friendly  stipulations  proved  of  vital 
consequence. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Arrival  of  the  Ship  James — Fort  Argyle  Built  and  Garrisoned — The  Villages  ot 
High-Gate  and  Hampstead  Located  and  Peopled — Forts  at  Thunderbolt  and  on  Skido- 
way  Island — Joseph's  Town — Abercorn — Irene — The  Horse  Quarter— Early  Planta- 
tions— Manchecolas  Fort  at  Skidoway  Narrows — Tybee  Lighthouse — Plan  of  Savan- 
nah— Names  of  its  Squares,  Streets,  Wards,  and  Tithings — Arrival  of  Hebrew  Immi- 
grants— Deed  Showing  first  Allotment  of  Town  Lots,  Garden  Lots,  and  Farms  in. 
Savannah,  and  Containing  the  Names  of  the  Original  Grantees. 

DURING  the  month  of  March,  1733,  the  ranks  of  the  colonists  were 
increased  by  small  accessions  from  London.  Some  of  them  came 
at  their  own  charge,  and  all  found  their  way  to  Savannah  through  the 
intermediate  port  of  Charlestown.  In  May  seventeen  persons  arrived  at 
Yamacraw  Bluff,  who  had  been  approved  of  by  the  trustees  and  con- 
veyed at  their  expense.  Among  them  were  some  Italians  from  Piedmont 
accustomed  to  the  propagation  of  silkworms  and  the  manufacture  of  raw 
silk.  They  were  engaged  to  develop  an  industry  from  the  pursuit  of 
which  no  inconsiderable  gain  was  anticipated,  and  obligated  themselves- 
to  instruct  the  colonists  in  the  cultivation  of  the  white  mulberry  tree,  in 
the  breeding  of  silkworms,  and  in  reeling  the  threads  from  cocoons.  The 
ship  which  conveyed  them  was  the  James,  Captain  Yoakley.  As  this 
was  the  first  vessel  from  England  which  ascended  the  Savannah  River, 

1  See  Historical  Sketch  of  Tomo-chi-chi,  pp.  25-37.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,  Albany,  N.  Y.. 
1868.     History  of  Georgia,  \io\.\.,-^'^.  l■^^-\/^l.     C.  C.  Jones,  jr.     Boston.     1883. 


Arrival  of  the  Ship  James.  45, 

landed  her  passengers,  and  discharged  her  cargo  at  Yamacraw  Blufif,  to 
her  captain  was  awarded  the  prize  offered  by  the  trustees.  ^ 

The  colonists  at  Savannah  being  busily  employed  in  such  labors  as- 
were  most  conducive  to  the  promotion  of  their  comfort  and  safety,  Mr. 
Oglethorpe  deemed  it  prudent,  at  this  early  period  in  the  life  of  the  plan- 
tation, to  advance  his  outposts  and  to  occupy  strategic  points  in  the 
neighborhood  which  would  tend  to  confirm  the  security  of  the  town. 
Captain  McPherson,  of  South  Carolina,  with  his  rangers,  had  been  sta- 
tioned just  above  Yamacraw  Bluff  at  a  point  on  the  Savannah  River 
known  as  the  Horse  Quarter.  His  duty  was,  while  the  settlers  were  "en- 
forting  themselves"  and  constructing  their  temporary  shelters,  to  main- 
tain strict  watch  against  any  hostile  demonstration.  Now,  however,  as- 
a  battery  of  cannon  had  been  planted,  and  as  the  stockaide  which  sur- 
rounded the  space  allotted  for  the  town  was  partially  completed,  it  was. 
thought  best  to  detach  the  captain  and  a  portion  of  his  command  that 
possession  might  be  taken  of  a  locality  on  the  Great  Ogeechee  River 
where  the  Indians,  in  their  predatory  expeditions  against  Carolina,  were 
accustomed  to  cross  that  stream.  Here  a  fort  was  builded  which  Ogle- 
thorpe, in  honor  of  his  friend  John,  Duke  of  Argyle,  called  Fort  Argyle. 
It  commanded  the  passage  of  the  river.  That  this  outpost  might  be 
strenghtened,  ten  families  were  soon  sent  from  Savannah  to  erect  dwell- 
ings and  cultivate  lands  in  its  vicinity. 

Between  four  and  five  miles  south  of  Savannah,  as  its  limits  were  at 
first  defined,  and  on  rising  ground,  the  village  of  High  Gate  was  laid  out, 
and  twelve  families,  mostly  French,  were  assigned  to  its  occupancy. 
About  a  mile  to  the  eastward,  the  village  of  Hampstead  was  located  and 
oeopled  with  twelve  families,  chiefly  German.  Gardening  was  to  be  the 
occupation  of  these  settlers,  and  their  principal  business  was  to  supply 
the  inhabitants  of  Savannah  with  vegetables  and  provisions.  In  the 
spring  of  1736  Francis  Moore,  who  then  visited  these  little  towns,  de- 
scribes them  as  being  "  pretty,"  and  says  that  the  planters  there  domi- 

'  The  following  notice  of  this  arrival  may  be  found  in  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine 
for  1733,  P-  284:  "Savannah,  May  20,  1733. — The  James,  Captain  Yoakley,  1 10  tons 
and  6  guns,  arrived  here  on  the  14th  with  passengers  and  stores.  This  Ship  rode  in  1 
Fathom  and  a  half  water  close  to  the  Town  at  low  water  Mark.  The  Captain  received 
the  Price  appointed  by  the  Trustees  for  the  first  Ship  that  should  unload  at  this  Town„ 
where  is  safe  Riding  for  much  larger  Vessels." 


46  History  of  Savannah. 

■eiled  were  "  very  forward,  having  built  neat  liuts  and  cleared  and  planted 
a  great  deal  of  land."  The  prosperity  of  these  villages  was  of  short  du- 
ration. In  1740  but  two  families  remained  at  High  Gate,  while  Hamp- 
stead  had  then  been  entirely  abandoned. 

As  a  protection  against  hostile  approach  by  the  way  of  St.  Augustine 
Creek,  a  small  fort  was  constructed  at  Thunderbolt.  To  several  families 
were  homes  here  granted.  So  frail  was  this  defensive  structure  that  it 
fell  into  decay  as  early  as  1737.  On  the  northeast  end  of  Skidoway 
Island  ten  families  were  located  in  1734,  and  a  fort  was  built  for  their 
protection.  This  attempt  at  early  colonization  at  this  exposed  point 
proved  so  unsuccessful  that  within  four  years  the  village  disappeared  and 
the  fortification  fell  into  a  deserted  and  dilapidated  condition. 

Joseph's-Town,  situated  on  the  Savannah  River  opposite  Onslow  and 
Argyle  islands,  was  another  of  the  early  outlying  towns.  It  was  occu- 
pied by  colonists  from  Scotland,  but  malarial  fevers  and  a  failure  of  crops 
brought  about  its  speedy  abandonment. 

On  a  creek  or  branch  of  the  Savannah,  distant  some  three  miles  from 
its  confluence  with  that  river,  and  about  fifteen  miles  above  the  town  of 
Savannah,  the  village  of  Abercorn  was  laid  out  in  1733.  The  plan  of 
the  town  embraced  twelve  lots,  with  a  trust  lot  in  addition  at  either  ex- 
tremity. Four  miles  below  the  mouth  of  Abercorn  Creek  was  Joseph's- 
Town  where  Scotch  gentlemep  had  selected  plantations.  Journeying 
from  this  place  towards  Savannah  in  the  early  days  of  the  colony  the  vis- 
itor would  pass,  in  succession,  Sir  Francis  Bathurst's  plantation,  Walter 
Augustin's  settlement.  Captain  Williams'  plantation,  Mrs.  Matthews' 
place,  the  Indian  school-house  Irene,  the  Horse  Quarter,  and  the  lands 
reserved  by  the  Indians  just  west  of  Yamacraw.  A  strange  fatality  at- 
tended all  these  early  attempts  at  colonization  in  the  swamp  region  of 
the  lower  Savannah.  Born  of  the  subjugation  of  the  forests  and  the  ex- 
halations from  the  rich,  dank  soil  were  miasmatic  fevers  and  fluxes  which 
■engendered  lassitude  and  death.  Short-lived  were  these  little  settlements, 
-and  it  was  only  after  the  introduction  of  slave  labor  that  these  planta- 
tions bordering  upon  the  Savannah  River  became  permanent  and  pro- 
-ductive.  The  Europeans  who  strove  to  bring  them  into  a  state  of  culti- 
vation failed  in  the  effort  and  quickly  passed  away.  Others  who  endeav- 
ored to  complete  their  labors  experienced  similar  misfortune  and  disap- 
pointment. 


Savannah  Laid  Out.  47- 

Of  the  ten  families  assigned  to  Abercorn  in  1733,  all  were  gone  within 
a  period  of  four  years.  Mr.  John  Brodie,  with  twelve  servants,  then  oc- 
cupied the  settlement,  but,  after  an  experiment  of  three  years,  he  aban- 
doned the  place,  leaving  its  improvements  to  fall  down  piecemeal.  Many 
of  the  servants  who  cultivated  the  lands  of  the  Scotch  gentlemen  at 
Joseph's-Town  died,  and  that  plantation  for  a  while  reverted  to  the  do- 
minion of  nature. 

For  the  defense  of  Skidoway  Narrows,  a  Mancheolas  Fort  was  erected, 
and  it  was  garrisoned  by  detachments  from  Captain  Noble  Jones'  com- 
pany of  marines  quartered  near'  his  residence,  called  Wormsloe,  on  the 
Isle  of  Hope. 

A  lighthouse,  to  rise  ninety  feet  above  the  ground,  was  commenced 
near  the  northern  end  of  Great  Tybee  Island,  and  here  a  guard  was- 
posted. 

As  the  number  of  immigrants  multiplied,  plantations  were  formed  on 
Augustine  Creek,  on  Wilmington  Island,  on  the  Lsle  of  Hope,  on  the 
Little  Ogeechee,  at  Bewlie,  and  even  as  far  south  as  the  Great  Ogcechee 
River. 

Several  accessions  to  its  population  having  occurred,  and  sufficient 
progress  having  been  made  in  clearing  the  bay,  the  square,  and  the 
streets,  in  erecting  a  crane,  in  planting  a  battery  of  cannon,  in  palisading" 
the  town,  in  the  preparation  of  a  commodious  garden,  and  in  uncovering 
the  general  outhnes  of  Savannah,  Oglethorpe,  on  the  7th  of  July,  1733,- 
convened  the  colonists  that  they  might  be  definitely  advised  of  the  pre- 
cise plan  of  the  village,  learn  the  names  which  he  proposed  to  bestow 
upon  the  square,  streets,  wards,  and  tithings,  and  participate  in  the  as- 
signment of  town  lots,  gardens,  and  farms.  The  convocation  occurred, 
early  in  the  morning,  and  the  business  of  the  day  was  preceded  by  an 
invocation  of  the  Divine  blessing. 

Four  wards,  each  containing  four  tithings,  were  marked  and  named,, 
viz.  :  Percival  Ward,  so  named  in  honor  of  John,  Lord  Percival,  the 
first  Earl  of  Egmont,  and  president  of  the  trustees  for  establishing  the 
colony  of  Georgia  in  America  ;  Heathcote  Ward,  so  named  in  honor  of 
George  Heathcote,  M.P.,  an  alderman  of  London,  and  one  of  the  most 
active  and  influential  members  of  the  board  of  trustees  ;  Derby  Ward,  so- 
called  in  compliment  to  the  Earl  of  Derby,  who  was  one  of  the  most 


48  History  of  Savannah. 

generous  patrons  of  the  colonization  ;  and  Decker  Ward,  so  named  in 
honor  of  Sir  Matthew  Decker,  whose  benefactions  to  the  charitable  de- 
-sign  had  been  conspicuous.  The  tithings  embraced  in  Percival  Ward 
were  called,  respectively,  Moore,  Hucks,  Holland,  and  Sloper,  in  honor  of 
Robert  Moore,  Robert  Hucks,  Roger  Holland,  and  William  Sloper,  mem- 
bers of  parliament  all,  and  influential  trustees.  Heathcote  Ward  was 
-composed  of  Eyles,  Laroche,  Vernon,  and  Belitha  tithings,  so  named  to 
perpetuate  the  pleasant  memories  of  Sir  Francis  Eyles,  Bart,  one  of  the 
<:ommissioners  of  the  navy  and  a  member  of  Parliament,  John  Laroche, 
also  a  member  of  parliament,  James  Vernon,  Esqr.,  and  William  Belitha, 
all  members  of  the  trust.  The  four  tithings  constituting  Derby  Ward 
were  Wilmington,  Jekyll,  Tyrconnel,  and  Frederick.  These  were  named 
in  compliment  to  the  Earl  of  Wilmington,  Sir  Joseph  Jekyll,  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  who,  with  his  lady,  had  contributed  six  hundred  pounds  in  fur- 
therance of  the  laudable  design  of  the  trustees,  Lord  John  Tyrconnel, 
-and  Thomas  Frederick,  M.P.,  both  members  of  the  board  of  trustees. 
The  tithings  into  which  Decker  Ward  was  divided  were  named  Digby, 
Carpenter,  Tower,  and  Heathcote,  in  honor  of  Edward  Digby,  George, 
Lord  Carpenter,  Thomas  Tower,  M.P.,  and  George  Heathcote,  M.P.,  trus- 
tees all. 

The  first  and  only  public  square  then  designated,  and  which  was  to 
serve  as  a  model  for  all  others  which  should  be  called  into  existence  by 
the  expansion  of  the  town,  was  Johnson  Square.  It  was  so  named  in 
compliment  to  his  excellency  Robert  Johnson,  governor  of  South  Caro- 
lina, who  cordially  welcomed  Oglethorpe  and  his  companions  upon  their 
advent,  and  contributed  generously  to  the  comfort  and  advancement  of 
the  colony. 

The  streets  then  laid  out  were  Abercorn,  Drayton,  Bull,  and  Whitaker, 
running  north  and  south,  and  the  Bay,  Bryan,  and  St.  Julian  streets, 
intersecting  them  at  right  angles.  In  naming  these  also  Oglethorpe 
sought,  in  an  enduring  manner,  to  express  the  gratitude  of  the  colony 
and  its  founder.  Thus,  the  principal  street  bore  the  name  of  Colonel 
William  Bull,  who  accompanied  Oglethorpe  when  he  selected  Yamacraw 
Bluff  as  a  suitable  site  for  Savannah,  and  on  various  occasions  rendered 
the  plantation  services  disinterested  and  valuable.  The  liberality  of  Mr. 
Joseph  Bryan,  of  Mr.  St.  Julian,  of  Mrs.  Ann  Drayton,  of  Mr.  Whitaker, 


The  First  All(jtments.  49 

of  South  Carolina,  and  of  the  Earl  of  Abercorn  was  in  this  manner  pub- 
licly acknowledged. 

In  the  middle  of  Johnson  Square  a  large  sun-dial  was  erected  for  the 
convenience  of  the  inhabitants  It  perished  long  ago,  and  the  spot  where 
it  stood  is  now  dignified  by  a  shaft  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  General 
Na'hanael  Greene,  which  testifies  to  the  ages  the  enduring  gratitude 
cherished  for  him  who,  in  the  primal  struggle  for  independence,  next  to 
Washington  engaged  the  affections  and  excited  the  admiration  of  the 
Georgia  patriots. 

Christ  Church  occupies  to-day  the  trust  lot  then  designated  as  a  site 
for  a  house  of  worship,  and  the  general  plan  of  the  lots,  streets,  and  square, 
established  at  this  time,  served  for  a  guide  in  the  subsequent  years.  The 
wisdom  of  Oglethorpe  in  conserving  open  spaces,  at  regular  and  near 
intervals,  that  free  ventilation  might  be  enjoyed  in  this  warm  latitude, 
was  manifest;  and  the  town  lots,  which  the  luxurious  demands  of  the 
present  may  pronounce  too  small,  then  amply  sufficed  for  the  needs  of 
the  colonists.  It  will  not  be  forgotten  that  these  lots  were  intended  sim- 
ply as  sites  for  private  dwellings.  Appurtenant  to  them  were  gardens 
and  farms,  situited  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  so  that  each  male  inhab- 
itant of  full  age  participating  in  the  allotment  became  possessed  of  a  town 
lot  containing  sixty  feet  in  front  and  ninety  feet  in  depth,  a  garden  lot 
embracing  five  acres,  and  a  farm  containing  forty- four  acres  and  one 
hundred  and  forty-one  poles.  The  grant,  therefore,  aggregated  fifty 
acres,  thus  conforming  to  the  instructions  of  the  trustees  and  supplying 
land  sufficient  for  the  support  of  the  colonist  who  came  at  the  charge  of 
the  trust  and  brought  no  servants  with  him.  The  entire  plan  of  Savan- 
nah having  been  fully  shown,  there  followed  an  allotment,  to  each  inhab- 
itant, of  his  town  lot,  garden  lot,  and  farm.  This  done,  at  noon  ail  the 
colonists  partook  of  a  bounteous  dinner  provided  by  Oglethorpe.  Fresh 
beef,  turkey.';,  venison,  and  vegetables  from  the  public  garden  were  sup- 
plemented by  a  liberal  supply  of  English  beer. 

"  Hitherto,"  says  Mr.  Wright,^  "Mr.  Oglethorpe  had  retained  to  him- 
self undivided  authority  over  his  people,  but  finding,  from  their  incrcasr 
ing  numbers,  that  the  task  of  disposing  the  new  settlers  to  the  recipror 
cal  offices  of  a  social  state  and  of  keeping  the  troublesome  in  subordina- 

'  Memoir  ofCcfteral  James  Oglethorpe,  p.  73.     London.     1867, 


50  History  of  Savannah. 

tion  was  more  than  he  could  longer  individually  accomphsh,  he  now 
determined  to  delegate  to  others  a  portion  of  the  powers  with  which  he 
was  invested."  Accordingly,  in  the  afternoon  a  town  court  for  the  de- 
termination of  causes  both  civil  and  criminal  was  established.  Magis- 
trates, a  recorder,  constables,  and  tithing-menJ^  were  appointed  and  in- 
ducted into  office.  A  jury  was  drawn  and  empaneled,  and  a  case  tried. 
"Conservators  to  keep  the  peace"-  were  named,  and  Thomas  Causton 
was  selected  as  the  keeper  of  the  public  stores. 

Shortly  after  the  conclusion  of  this  important  business  a  vessel  ar- 
rived from  England  having  on  board  forty  Hebrew  colonists.  They  came 
to  Savannah  without  the  sanction  of  the  trustees,  although  the  expenses 
incident  to  their  transportation  had  been  defrayed  with  moneys  collected 
under  commissions  granted  by  the  common  council.  It  appears  from 
the  journal  of  the  trustees  that  among  the  commissions  empowering  the 
holders  to  solicit  and  receipt  for  contributions  in  aid  of  the  colonization 
were  three  in  favor  of  Alvaro  Lopez  Suasso,  Francis  Salvador,  jr.,  and 
Anthony  Da  Costa. 

It  was  understood  that  all  moneys  which  they  might  collect  were 
to.be  transmitted  to  the  trustees,  to  be  by  them  applied  in  furtherance 
of  the  objects  specified  in  the  charter.  Acting  under  their  commissions 
Messrs.  Suasso,  Salvador,  and  Da  Costa  did  secure  benefactions  to  a  con- 
siderable amount.     Instead,  however,  of  paying  these  funds  over  to  the 

'  On  the  8th  of  November,  1732,  the  trustees  had  commissioned  George  Symes, 
Richard  Hodges,  and  Francis  Scott  as  bailiffs,  Noble  Jones  as  recorder,  Richard  Can- 
non and  Joseph  Coles  as  constables,  and  Francis  Magridge  and  Thomas  Young  as  tith- 
ing-men,  for  the  then  unlocated  town  of  Savannah.  The  following  persons  composed 
the  first  jury  empaneled  in  Georgia  :  Samuel  Parker,  Thomas  Young,  Joseph  Cole,  John 
Wright,  John  West,  Timothy  Bowling,  John  MiUidge,  Henry  Close,  Walter  Fox,  John 
Grady,  James  Carwell,  and  Richard  Cannon. 

'  The  persons  named  as  such  by  the  trustees  on  the  8th  of  November,  1732,  were 
Peter  Gordon,  William  Waterland,  Thomas  Causton,  Thomas  Christie,  George  Symes, 
Richard  Hodges,  Francis  Scott,  and  Noble  Jones.  For  the  village  of- Thorpe,  which 
was  included  within  the  precincts  of  Savannah,  the  trustees  commissioned,  on  the  i8th 
of  October,  1733,  Robert  Parker,  sr.,  as  chief  constable,  George  Buckmar  and  William 
Johnson  as  constables,  and  Arthur  Ogle  Edgecombe  and  William  Riley  as  tithing-men. 
Two  days  before  they  had  sealed  a  commission  for  Thomas  Causton  as  second  bailiff 
of  the  town  of  Savannah,  in  the  room  of  Richard  Hodges,  deceased,  and  had  selected 
Henry  Parker  as  third  bailiff. 


Hebrew  Colonists.  $i 


trustees,  or  lodging  them  in  the  Bank  of  England  to  the  credit  of  the 
trust,  as  Ihey  should  have  done,  they  busied  themselves  with  collecting 
Hebrew  colonists  to  the  number  of  forty  and,  without  the  permission  of 
the  common  council,  appropriated  the  moneys  which  they  had  collected 
to  chartering  a  vessel  and  defraying  the  expenses  requisite  for  the  con- 
veyance of  these  Israelites  to  Savannah.  Receiving  an  intimation  that 
Messrs.  Suasso,  Salvador,  and  Da  Costa  were  exceeding  their  authority 
and  acting  in  violation  of  the  instructions  which  accompanied  the  deliv- 
ery of  the  commissions,  and  apprehending  that' the  purposes  of  these  in- 
dividuals, if  consummated,  would  prove  prejudicial  to  the  best  interests 
both  of  the  trust  and  of  the  colony,  the  trustees,  as  early  as  the  31st  of 
January,  1733,  instructed  their  secretary,  Mr.  Martyn,  to  wait  upon  them 
and  demand  a  surrender  of  the  commissions  which  they  held.  With  this 
demand  Messrs.  Suasso,  Salvador,  and  Da  Costa  refused  to  comply  and, 
as  we  have  stated,  persisted  in  appropriating  the  funds  they  had  collec- 
ted in  the  manner  indicated. 

Mr.  Oglethorpe  had  not  been  advised  of  the  coming  of  these  colon- 
ists, and  was  somewhat  at  a  loss  to  determine  what  disposition  should  be 
made  of  them.  As  the  charter  guaranteed  freedom  of  religious  opinion 
and  observance  to  all,  save  Papists,  he  wisely  concluded  to  receive  them, 
and  in  due  course  notified  the  trustees  of  their  arrival  and  of  his  action 
in  the  premises.  Those  gentlemen  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  their  disap- 
proval of  the  whole  affair.  They  declared  that  such  irregular  and  unau- 
thorized conduct  on  the  part  of  Messrs.  Suasso,  Salvador,  and  Da  Costa 
was  prejudicial  to  the  good  order  and  scheme  of  the  colonization,  and  that 
the  sending  over  of  these  people  had  turned  aside  many  intended  bene- 
factions. A  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  for  publication  a  state- 
ment of  the  matter,  and  to  assure  the  public  that  they  did  not  propose 
"  to  make  a  Jew's  colony  of  Georgia."  To  Mr.  Oglethorpe  they  wrote 
that  they  had  heard  with  grave  apprehension  of  the  arrival  of  these  Is- 
raelites in  Georgia,  and  that  they  hoped  "  they  would  meet  with  no  sort 
of  encouragement."  They  counseled  him  to  "use  his  best  endeavors  that 
they  be  allowed  no  kind  of  settlement  with  any  of  the  grantee.s,"  and  ex- 
pressed the  fear  that  their  presence  in  Savannah  would  prove  injurious 
to  the  trade  and  welfare  of  the  colony. 

The  following  extracts  from  the  journal  of  the  trustees  evidence  their 


$2  History  of  Savannah. 

feeling  and  action  in  a  matter  which  for  some  time  attracted  no  little  at- 
tention both  in  England  and  in  Georgia : 

"Palace  Court,  Saturday,  December  22,   1733. 

"At  a  meeting  of  Trustees,  assembled  by  summons,  Ordered  That 
the  Secretary  do  wait  on  Mess"  Alvaro  Lopez  Suasso,  Francis  Salvador 
Jun'  and  Anthony  Da  Costa  with  the  following  message  in  writing: 

"Whereas  a  message,  dated  Jan^'  31,  1732—3,  was  sent  for  the  re-de- 
livery of  their  Commissions  with  which  they  did  not  think  proper  to  com- 
ply, and  which  on  the  said  Refusal  were  vacated  by  the  Trustees  :  And 
Whereas  the  Trustees  are  inform'd  that  by  monies  rais'd  by  virtue  of  their 
commission  (which  monies  ought  to  have  been  transmitted  to  the  Trust- 
ees) certain  Jews  have  been  sent  to  Georgia  contrary  to  the  intentions  of 
the  Trustees,  and  which  may  be  of  ill  consequence  to  the  Colony  ;  the 
Trustees  do  hereby  require  the  said  Mess''"  Alvaro  Lopez  Suasso,  Francis 
Salvador  Jun'',  and  Anthony  Da  Costa  immediately  to  redeliver  to  M" 
Martyn,  their  Secretary,  the  said  Commissions  and  to  render  an  account 
in  writing  to  the  Trustees  of  what  monies  have  been  raised  by  virtue 
thereof;  and  if  they  refuse  to  comply  with  this  demand  that  then  the 
Trustees  will  think  themselves  obliged  not  only  to  advertise  the  world 
of  the  demand  and  refusal  of  the  said  Commissions  and  Account,  and  of 
the  misapplication  before  mentioned,  in  order  to  prevent  any  further  im- 
positions on  his  Majesty's  Subjects  under  pretence  of  an  authority  granted 
by  those  vacated  Commissions ;  but  likewise  to  recover  those  commis- 
sions and  demand  an  account  of  the  monies  collected  in  such  manner  as 
their  Counsel  shall  advise." 

"Palace  Court.     Saturday  Janry  ^\i}c\,  1733-4. 

"Ordered.  That  the  Secretary  do  wait  on  Mess™  Alvaro  Lopez  Su- 
asso, Francis  Salvador  Jun"^  and  Anthony  Da  Costa  with  the  following 
Message  in  writing : 

"The  Trustees  for  establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia  in  America  hav- 
ing receiv'd  a  letter  from  Mess''"  Alvaro  Lopez  Suasso,  Francis  Salvador 
Jun'',  and  Anthony  Da  Costa,  in  answer  to  a  message  sent  for  their  Com- 
missions, which  letter  does  not  appear  satisfactory  to  the  said  Trustees, 
they  think  themselves  oblig'd  not  only  to  insist  on  the  redelivery  of  their 
Commissions,  but  as  they  conceive  the  settling  of  Jews  in  Georgia  will 


Official  Correspondence.  5^ 

be  prejudicial  to  the  Colony,  and  as  some  have  been  sent  without  the 
knowledge  of  the  Trustees,  the  Trustees  do  likewise  require  that  the  said 
Mess"  Alvaro  Lopez  Suasso,  Francis  Salvador  Jr.  and  Anthony  Da  Costa, 
or  whoever  else  may  have  been  concerned  in  sending  them  over,  do  use 
their  endeavors  that  the  said  Jews  be  removed  from  the  Colony  of  Georgia, 
as  the  best  and  only  satisfaction  they  can  give  to  the  Trustees  for  such 
an  indignity  ofifer'd  to  Gentlemen  acting  under  his  Majesty's  Charter." 

"Palace  Court.     Saturday,  Janry  19th,  1733-4. 

"The  Secretary  acquainted  the  Board  that  pursuant  to  their  order  of 
Jan'y  5th  instant  he  had  waited  on  Mess'"  Alvaro  Lopez  Suasso,  Francis 
Salvador  Jun'',  and  Anthony  Da  Costa,  and  left  with  them  the  message 
of  the  Trustees  in  writing,  and  that  he  had  receivd  the  Commissions 
formerly  given  to  them ;  and  then  he  delivered  the  said  Commissions  to 
the  Board. 

"  Resolved  that  the  said  Commissions  be  laid  by,  and  the  further  con- 
sideration of  this  affair  be  postponed  till  M'  Oglethorpe  comes  home." 

There  the  record  ends ;  and,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  no  further  action 
was  taken.  Ignoring  the  suggestions  of  the  trustees,  Oglethorpe  fur- 
nished ample  accommodation  and  encouragement  for  these  Hebrew  col- 
onists, who  by  their  peaceable  behavior,  orderly  conduct,  and  industry 
commended  themselves  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  the  governor. 
In  communicating  with  the  trustees  he  took  occasion  to  express  the  opin- 
ion that  this  accession  had  not  proved  a  detriment  to  the  colony.  He 
specially  invites  the  attention  of  his  associates  to  the  good  offices  of  Dr. 
Nunis.  In  acknowledging  his  kindness,  the  trustees  request  Mr.  Ogle- 
thorpe to  offer  him  a  gratuity  for  his  medical  services,  but  insist  that  all 
grants  of  land  within  the  limits  of  the  province  should  be  withheld  from 
these  Israelites.  With  these  instructions,  however,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  the  founder  of  the  colony  of  Georgia  did  not  comply.  In  the  gene- 
ral conveyance  of  town  lots,  gardens,  and  farms,  executed  on  the  21st  of 
December,  1733,  some  of  these  Hebrews  are  mentioned  as  grantees. 

That  the  trustees  were  justified  in  condemning  and  rebuking  the  irreg- 
ularity, disobedience  and  contumacy  of  Messrs.  Suasso,  Salvador,  and  Da 
Costa,  cannot  be  questioned.  That  it  was  entirely  prudent  and  proper  in 
them  to  claim  and  exercise  the  right  of  selecting  colonists  for  the  planta- 


54  History  of  Savannah. 


tion  is  equally  certain.  That  they  alone  possessed  the  power  of  determin- 
ing who  should  seek  homes  in  Georgia,  and  of  binding  applicants  in  ad- 
vance to  a  due  observance  of  prescribed  rules,  was  a  privilege  conferred 
by  the  terms  of  the  charter.  That  they  should,  under  the  circumstances, 
have  entertained  some  apprehension  of  the  effect  which  would  be  pro- 
duced upon  the  public  mind  by  this  unauthorized  introduction,  within 
the  limits  of  the  colony,  of  this  considerable  body  of  Hebrews,  excites 
no  surprise.  That  they  were  fully  justified  in  recalling  the  commissions 
sealed  in  favor  of  Messrs.  Suasso,  Salvador,  and  Da  Costa,  all  will  admit. 
And  yet  Oglethorpe  was  right  in  receiving  these  people  and  according 
them  homes  in  Savannah.  The  excitement,  in  the  end,  entirely  subsided. 
These  Hebrews  proved,  orderly  and  useful  citizens.  Many  of  them  re- 
moved to  South  Carolina,  but  others  remained  in  Savannah,  and  their 
descendants  may  this  day  be  found  in  the  city  of  Oglethorpe. 

Although  the  formal  allotment  of  lands  within  the  confines  of  Savan- 
nah was  made  in  July,  the  requisite  deed  assuring  the  cessions  then  spec- 
ified was  not  executed  until  several  months  afterwards.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  prior  to  the  embarkation  of  the  first  colonists  the  trustees  con- 
veyed to  three  of  their  number,  viz.:  Thomas  Christie,  William  Calvert, 
and  Joseph  Hughes,  five  thousand  acres  of  land  to  be  utilized  in  parcel- 
ing out  homes  for  the  early  settlers  in  Georgia.  Out  of  this  tract  were 
the  Savannah  lands  carved,  and  the  original  deed  carrying  into  effect  and 
confirming  the  allotments  made  on  the  7th  of  July,  1733,^  may  now  be 
seen  in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  State  of  Georgia.  It  is  an  instru- 
ment of  the  highest  interest  and  value,  and  has  withstood  in  a  remarka- 
ble degree  the  obliterating  influences  of  time  and  dust  which,  in  the  case 
of  many  contemporaneous  documents,  have  "eaten  out  the  letters,"  and 
"made  a  parenthesis  betwixt  every  syllable."  Unfortunately,  the  "Plan 
of  Savannah"  which  accompanied  it,  and  to  which  reference  is  therein 
made,  has  been  lost.  All  efforts  for  its  recovery  have  thus  far  proved 
futile. 

Preserving  as  it  does  the  names  of  many  of  the  earliest  colonists,  indi- 

1  Other  allotments,  made  subsequently  to  this  date,  are  also  included  in  this  deed. 
Additional  colonists  had  arrived,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two  persons  conveyed  in  the  Savannah,  which  sailed  from  England  on  the  12th 
of  September,  1733.     See  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1733,  p.  493. 


Abstract  of  First  Deed.  55 

eating  the  estates  granted,  and  designating  the  parcels  then  conveyed, 
we  make  no  apology  for  introducing  the  following  abstract  of  that  im, 
portant  document : 

"To  all  to  whom  these  Presents  shall  come;  We,  Thomas  Christie  and 
William  Calvert,  send  greeting.  Whereas  by  Indentures  of  Lease  and  Re- 
lease made  between  the  Trustees  for  establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia 
in  America  on  the  one  part;  and  us  the  said  Thomas  Christie  and  William 
Calvert  and  Joseph  Hughes,  deceased,  on  the  other  part,  bearing  date  the 
twenty-fifth  day  of  October  Anno  Domini  One  thousand  seven  hundred 
thirty  and  two,  under  the  common  seal  of  the  said  Trustees,  they  the  said 
Trustees  did  for  the  considerations  therein  mentioned  Grant  and  convey 
unto  us  the  said  Thomas  Christie  and  William  Calvert  and  the  said  Joseph 
Hughes,  deceased,  and  to  the  Survivors  of  us  and  our  Assigns,  Five  Thou- 
sand Acres  of  Land  lying  and  being  in  the  Province  of  Georgia  in  Amer- 
ica, being  part  and  parcel  of  the  Land  which  his  Majesty  graciously 
granted  to  the  said  Trustees  by  his  Letters  Patent  bearing  date  the  Ninth 
day  of  June  Anno  Domini  One  Thousand  Seven  Hundred  thirty  and  two, 
to  be  set  out  in  such  parts  of  the  said  Province  as  should  be  thought  con- 
venient and  proper  by  such  Person  as  should  be  appointed  by  the  Com- 
mon Council  for  that  purpose,  under  such  limitations  and  in  trust  for  such 
uses  and  purposes  as  are  therein  mentioned,  as  in  and  by  the  said  Inden- 
tures, relation  being  to  them  had,  may  more  fully  appear:  And  Whereas 
the  said  Common  Council  did  by  deed,  under  the  Common  Seal  of  the 
said  Trustees,  bearing  Date  the  Twenty  Sixth  day  of  October  Anno  Dom- 
ini One  thousand  seven  hundred  thirty  and  two  authorize  and  appoint 
James  Oglethorpe  Esquire,  of  Westbrook  Place  in  the  County  of  Surry, 
to  set  out  and  limit  the  said  Five  Thousand  Acres  in  such  part  of  the  said 
Province  as  he  should  think  most  convenient;  and  Whereas  the  said 
James  Oglethorpe  hath  set  out  and  limited  the  said  Five  thousand  Acres 
in  such  a  regular  manner  as  is  most  convenient  for  the  support  of  a  Town 
and  the  Inhabitants  thereof,  and  hath  set  out  part  of  the  said  Five  Thou- 
sand Acres  for  a  Town  called  Savannah,  with  Lotts  for  Houses,  and  left 
a  Common  round  the  Town  for  convenience  of  Air;  And,  adjoining  to 
the  Commons,  hath  set  out  Garden  Lotts  of  Five  Acres  each,  and  be- 
yond such  Garden  Lotts  hath  set  out  Farms  of  Forty  Four  Acres,  and 
One  hundred  forty  and  one  Pole  each,  and  hath  drawn  a  Plan  of  the 


$6  History  of  Savannah. 


Town  and  Plot  of  the  Garden  Lots  and  Farms  respectively,  with  proper 
Numbers,  References,  and  Explanations  for  the  more  easy  understanding 
thereof,  which  Plan  and  Plot  are  hereunto  annexed  and  set  forth  in  Foho 
One  and  Folio  Nine  of  this  Book: 

"  Now  Know  Ye,  that  we,  the  Said  Thomas  Christie  and  William  Cal- 
vert, pursuant  to  the  said  Deed,  and  in  performance  of  the  said  Trust,  do 
Grant  and  Enfeoff  unto  John  Goddard  one  House  Lot  in  Wilmington 
Tything  in  Derby  Ward,  expressed  in  the  said  Plan  by  Number  One, 
containing  Sixty  feet  in  front  and  Ninety  feet  in  depth,  and  one  Garden 
Lot  containing  Five  Acres,  expressed  on  the  said  Plot  by  Number 
Eleven,  lying  South  East  from  the  Center  of  the  said  Town,  and  one 
F'arm  expressed  in  the  said  Plot  by  Number  Five  and  Letter  A  in  the  said 
Ward  and  Tything,  containing  Forty  Four  Acres  and  One  Hundred 
Forty  and  One  Pole,  making  together  Fifty  Acres  of  Land:  To  Have  and 
To  Hold  the  said  Fifty  Acres  of  Land  unto  him  the  said  John  Goddard 
during  the  term  of  his  natural  life,  and  after  his  decease  to  the  Heirs 
Male  of  his  Body  forever,  Upon  the  Conditions  and  under  the  express 
Limitations  hereinafter  mentioned." 

Upon  similar  conditions,  town  lots  in  the  various  tithings  and  wards  in 
Savannah,  garden  lots,  and  farmi  were  conveyed  in  and  by  this  deed  to 
Walter  Fox,  John  Grady,  James  Carwall,  Richard  Cannon,  P"rancis  Cox, 
relict  of  William  Cox,  William  Cox,  jr.,  George  Sims,  Joseph  Fitzwalter, 
Mary  Samms,  relict  of  John  Sanims,  Elizabeth  Warren,  relict  of  John 
Warren,  William  Warren,  son  of  the  said  John  Warren,  Mary  Overend, 
relict  of  Joshua  Overend,  Francis  Mugridge,  Robert  Johnson,  William 
Horn,  John  Penrose,  Elizabeth  Hughes,  relict  of  Joseph  Hughes,  Mary 
Hodges,  relict  of  Richard  Hodges,  Mary  Hodges,  Elizabeth  Hodges,  and 
Sarah  Hodges— daughters  of  the  said  Richard  Hodges, — James  Muir, 
Thomas  Christie,  Joseph  Cooper,  John  West,  James  Willson,  Thomas 
Pratt,  William  Waterland,  Elizabeth  Bowling,  relict  of  Timothy  Bowling, 
Mary  Bowling,  daughter  of  the  said  Timothy  Bowling,  Elizabeth  Mill- 
idge,  relict  of  Thomas  Millidge,  Heirs  Male  of  the  said  Thomas  Millidge, 
William  Little,  Jane  Parker,  relict  of  Samuel  Parker,  Thomas  Parker,  son 
of  the  said  Samuel  Parker,  Mary  Magdalene  Tibbeau,  relict  of  Daniel 
Tibbeau,  Heirs  Male  of  the  said  Daniel  Tibbeau,  Hannah  Close,  relict  of 
Henry  Close,  Ann  Close',  daughter  of  the  said  Henry  Close,  Joseph  Stan- 


'■'OKer^a.niC'i^'^ 


/^m/^.   e^  Sm^.c^Z 


Abstract  of  First  Deed.  57 

ley,  Robert  Clark,  Peter  Gordon,  Thomas  Causton,  John  Vanderplank, 
Thomas  Young,  Joseph  Coles,  Thomas  Tebbitt,  John  Dearn,  John  Wright, 
Noble  Jones,  Ann  Hows,  relict  of  Robert  Hows,  John  Clark,  William 
Gough,  William  MacKay,  Thomas  Ellis,  Edward  Johnson,  Isaac  Nunez 
Henriquez,  William  Mears,  Moses  le  Desma,  Paul  Cheeswright,  Samuel 
Nunez  Ribiero,  John  Musgrove,  Noble  Wimberly  Jones,  Daniel  Ribiero, 
Charles  Philip  Rogers,  Moses  Nunez  Ribiero,  Robert  Gilbert,  Edward 
Jenkins,  Senior,  Jacob  Lopez  d'Olivera,  William  Savory,  Edward  Jen- 
kins, Junior,  Isaac  de  Val,  David  Cohen  del  Monte,  Benjamin  Shaftell, 
Bearsley  Gough,  Robert  Hows,  Abraham  Nunez,  Monte  Santo,  John  Mill- 
idge,  Jacob  Yowel,  Samuel  Parker,  junior,  Abraham  Minis,  Jacob  Lopez 
de  Crasto,  and  David  de  Pas;  the  said  grantees  "yielding  and  paying  for 
such  Town  Lott,  Garden  Lott,  and  Farm,  containing  together  Fifty  Acres 
as  aforesaid,  to  the  said  Trustees  for  establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia 
in  America,  and  to  their  Successors,  yearly  and  every  year,  the  Rent  or 
Sum  of  two  Shillings  of  lawful  Money  of  Great  Britain,  the  same  to  be 
paid  to  such  person  or  persons  and  at  such  place  in  the  said  Town  of  Sa- 
vannah in  the  said  Province  of  Georgia  as  by  the  Common  Council  (for 
the  time  being)  of  the  said  Trustees  shall  be  appointed.  The  first  Pay- 
ment to  be  made  on  the  first  Day  of  the  Eleventh  year  to  be  computed 
from  the  Day  of  the  date  of  these  Presents ;  provided  always,  and  these 
Presents  are  upon  these  conditions,  that  if  it  shall  happen  that  the  said 
yearly  Rent,  of  Two  Shillings  or  any  part  thereof  be  unpaid  by  the  space 
of  Twelve  Kalendar  Months  next  after  the  day  of  Payment,  on  which  the 
same  ought  to  be  paid  as  aforesaid.  And  if  the  said  several  persons  or 
their  respective  Heirs  above  mentioned  shall  not  within  the  space  of 
Eighteen  Kalendar  Months  from  the  date  hereof  erect  one  House  of 
Brick,  or  framed,  square  timber  work,  on  their  respective  Town  Lotts,  con- 
taining at  the  least  Twenty  four  feet  in  length,  upon  Sixteen  in  breadth, 
and  eight  feet  in  height,  and  abide,  settle,  and  continue  in  the  said  Prov- 
ince for  and  during  the  full  term  of  three  years  to  be  computed  from  the 
date  hereof,  and  if  the  said  several  Persons  and  each  of  them  respectively 
shall  not,  within  the  space  of  ten  years,  to  be  likewise  computed  from  the 
date  hereof,  clear  and  cultivate  Ten  Acres  of  the  said  Land  herein  before 
to  them  respectively  granted ;  And  if  the  said  several  persons  aforesaid 
shall  not  plant  or  cause  to  be  planted,  One  Hundred  plants  of  the  Whjte 


58  History  of  Savannah. 

Mulberry  Tree  which  are  to  be  delivered  unto  them  respectively  by  the 
said  Trustees,  so  soon  as  the  same  or  sufficient  part  thereof  be  cleared, 
and  sufficiently  fence  and  preserve  the  same  from  the  bite  of  Cattle,  and 
in  stead  of  such  Trees  as  shall  happen  to  die  or  be  destroyed  shall  not 
set  other  Trees  of  the  same  sort,  And  if  any  or  either  of  the  said  several 
persons  above  mentioned  who  shall  by  virtue  of  these  Presents,  or  of  the 
Grant  and  Enfeoffinent  hereby  made  or  intended  to  be  made,  now  or  at 
any  time  or  times  hereafter  become  possessed  of  the  said  Fifty  Acres  of 
Land,  or  any  part  or  parcel  thereof  respectively,  at  any  time  or  times 
alien,  transfer,  or  convey  the  same  or  any  part  thereof  for  any  term  of 
years,  or  any  estate  or  interest  in  the  same,  to  any  Person  or  Persons 
whatsoever  without  special  leave  and  license  of  the  said  Common  Coun- 
cil (for  the  time  being)  or  of  such  Officer  as  the  said  Common  Council 
shall  from  time  to  time  authorize  to  Grant  such  licence;  And  if  the  said 
Person  or  Persons  or  any  other  Person  who  shall  by  virtue  of  these  Pres- 
ents and  of  the  Grant  in  Tail  Male  hereby  made  from  time  to  time  be- 
come possessed  of  the  said  Fifty  Acres  of  Land  shall  do  or  commit  any 
Treason,  Misprison  of  Treason,  Insurrection,  Rebellion,  Counterfeiting 
the  Money  of  Great  Britain,  or  shall  commit  Murder,  Felony,  Homicide, 
Killing,  Burglary,  Rape  of  women,  unlawful  Conspiracy  or  Confederacy, 
and  shall  be  thereof  lawfully  convicted  ;  and  if  any  of  the  said  Person  or 
Persons  hereinbefore  mentioned  or  any  other  Person  or  Persons  who  shall 
by  virtue  of  these  Presents  and  of  the  Grant  hereby  made,  from  time  to 
time  become  possessed  of  any  of  the  said  Fifty  Acres  of  Land  shall  at 
any  time  hire,  keep,  lodge,  board,  or  employ  within  the  limits  of  the  said 
Province  of  Georgia  any  person  or  persons  being  Black  or  Blacks,  Ne- 
gro or  Negroes,  or  any  other  Person  or  Persons  being  a  Slave  or  Slaves, 
on  any  account  whatsoever  without  the  special  leave  and  license  of  the 
said  Common  Council  (for  the  time  being)  of  the  said  Trustees,  that  then 
and  from  thenceforth  in  any  or  either  of  the  aforesaid  cases  it  shall  be 
lawful  to  and  for  the  said  Trustees  for  establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia 
in  America  and  their  Successors  into  and  upon  the  said  Fifty  Acres  of 
Land  hereby  granted  of  such  person  so  offending,  and  upon  any  and  ev- 
ery part  thereof  in  the  name  of  the  whole  to  reenter  and  the  same  to  have 
again,  retain,  repossess  and  enjoy  as  if  this  present  grant  had  never  been 
made  I  And  all  and  every  such  Person  or  Persons  so  neglecting,  or  mis- 


Schedule  of  Grantee^. 


59 


behaving  him  or  themselves  in  any  or  either  of  the  cases  aforesaid,  and 
all  other  the  occupyers  and  possessors  of  the  said  Fifty  Acres  of  Land 
(to  such  person  so  misbehaving  as  aforesaid  belonging)  or  any  part  or 
parcel  thereof,  thereout  and  from  thence  utterly  to  expel,  put  out  and 
amove ;  And  also  upon  the  Entry  in  any  of  the  cases  before  mentioned 
of  such  Officer  or  Officers  who  shall  by  the  said  Common  Council  (for 
the  time  being)  be  for  that  purpose  authorized  and  appointed,  the  Grant 
hereby  made  of  the  said  Fifty  Acres  of  Land  unto  such  Person  so  mis- 
behaving as  aforesaid  shall  cease,  determine,  and  become  void. 

"In  Witness  Whereof  the  said  Thomas  Christie,  and  William  Calvert 
have  hereunto  set  their  Hands  and  Seals  this  twenty-first  day  of  Decem- 
ber in  the  year  of  Our  Lord  One  Thousand  Seven  Hundred  Thirty  and 
Three. 

"Thos.  Christie  [L  S]. 

"Wm.  Calvert    [L  S]." 


Attached  to  the  foregoing  conveyance  is  the  following  schedule  ex- 
hibiting the  names  of  the  Grantees  and  the  numbers  and  locations  of  their 
respective  gardens  and  farms : 


Gardens. 

Farm.s. 

Gardens. 

Farms. 

PERCIVAL  WARD. 

John  Graham, 
Samuel  Marcer, 

3 

4 

MORK   TYTHING. 

No. 

L 

William  Brownjohn. 

8 

Jarnes  Willoughby, 

Holland  Tything. 

L. 

Robert  More, 

Sloper  Tything. 

M. 

Robert  Potter, 
Robert  Hanks, 
Thomas  Egerton, 
John  Desborough, 
Lewis  Bowen, 

Henry  Parker, 
Thomas  Gapen, 
Francis  Delgrass, 
Jeremiah  Papot. 
Peter  Baillou, 

7 

John   Kelly, 
John  Lawrence, 

James  Papot. 

Thomas  Chenter, 

HEATHCOTE  WARD. 

HUCKS  TYTHING. 

K. 

Eyles  Tything. 

No. 

N. 

John  Millidge, 
Jacob  Yowel, 
Samuel  Parker,  Junr., 

45  E. 
65  W. 

10 
I 

LaRoche  Tything. 

0. 

32  W. 

7 

Jacob   Lopez  de  Crasto. 

42  W. 

Abraham  Minis, 

51  W. 

6 

David  de  Pas. 

27  W. 

James  Turner, 

9 

Vernon  Tything. 

P. 

Thomas   Atwell, 

2 

Belitha  Tything. 

Q- 

Hugh   Frazier, 

5 

6o 


History  of  ^AVANNAif. 


Gardens. 

Farms. 

Gardens. 

Farms. 

DERBY  WARD. 

Thomas  Causton, 

BE. 

10 

John  Vanderplank, 

5E. 

9 

Wilmington  Tything. 

No. 

A. 

Thomas  Young, 

38  E. 

4 

John  Goddard. 

33  E. 

5 

Joseph  Coles, 

65  E. 

Walter  Fox, 

12  E. 

4 

Thomas  Tibbit, 

51  E. 

8 

John  Grady, 

S3E. 

8 

John  Dearn, 

24  E. 

2 

James  Carwall, 

6i  E. 

6 

John  Wright. 

I  E. 

5 

Richard  Cannon, 

62  E. 

5 

Francis,    Relict    of    Dr. 

DECKER'S  WARD 

William  Cox, 
George  Sims, 

52  E. 
41  E. 

7 
10 

DiGBY  Tything. 

No. 

E. 

Joseph  Fitzwalter, 

37  E. 

9 

John  Clark, 

34  E. 

5 

Relict  of  John  Samms, 

7  E. 

3 

William  Gough, 

36  W. 

2 

Elizabeth,  Relict  of  John 

William  Mackay, 

97  W. 

Warren. 

64  E. 

2 

Thomas  Ellis, 

35  E. 

9 

Edward  Johnson, 

36  E. 

I 

Jekyll  Tything. 

B. 

Isaac    Nunez  Henriquez 

33  W. 

7 

Mary,   Relict   of  Joshua 

William  Mears, 

23  E. 

6 

Overend, 

51  E. 

9 

Moses  le  Desma. 

41  w. 

10 

Francis  Mugridge, 

37  E. 

2 

Carpenter  Tything. 

F. 

Robert  Johnson, 
William  Horn, 
John  Penrose, 
Joseph  Hughes, 
Mary,  Relict  of  Richard 

42  E. 
59  E. 
30  E. 
26  E. 

6 

5 
I 

4 

Noble  Jones, 
Paul  Cheeswright, 
Samuel  Nunez  Ribiero, 
John  Musgrove, 

29  E. 
40  E. 
63  W. 
45  E. 

6 
5 
3 
9 

Hodges, 
James  Muir, 
Thomas  Christie, 

36  E. 

48  E. 

3E. 

27  E. 

10 

7 
8 

Noble    Wimberly  Jones, 
Daniel  Ribiero, 
Charles  Philip  Rogers, 

25  E. 
43  W. 
47  E. 

8 

2 

10 

Joseph  Cooper. 

3 

Moses  Nunez  Ribiero, 
Robert  Gilbert. 

64  W. 
2  E. 

4 

I 

Tyrconnel  Tything. 

C. 

Tower  Tything. 

G. 

John  West, 

13  E. 

3 

Edward  Jenkins,  Senr., 

40  W. 

2 

James  Wilson, 
Thomas  Pratt, 
William  Waterland, 
Timothy  Bowling, 

63  E. 

57  E. 

22  E. 

4E. 

8 

5 
4 

2 

Jacob  Lopez  d'Olivero, 
William  Savory, 
Edward  Jenkins,  Junr, 
Isaac  de  Val. 

30  w. 
33  W. 
68  W. 
70  W. 

7 
3 
9 

Elizabeth,       Relict      of 

Thomas  Millidge, 

66  E. 

6 

Heathcote  Tything. 

H. 

Elizabeth,  Relict  of  Will- 

David Cohen  del  Monte, 

61  W. 

30 

iam  Little, 

60  E. 

7 

Benjamin  Shaftell, 

72  W. 

6 

Samuel  Parker,  Senr., 

49  E. 

9 

Bearsley  Gough, 

Daniel  Tibbeau, 

39  E. 

I 

Robert  Hows, 

2%  E. 

5 

Henry  Close. 

6E. 

10 

Hows, 

J    -■-'■ 

44  E. 

Frederick  Tything. 

D. 

Abraham   Nunez   Monte 
Santo, 

34  W. 

Joseph  Stanley, 

34  E. 

6 

Peter  Ton  dee. 

Robert  Clark, 

9E. 

1 

Peter  Gordon, 

10  E. 

•J 

7 

Oglethorpe  Visits  the  Southern  Boundary.  6i 


After  the  surrender  of  their  charter  by  the  trustees,  and  upon  the 
estabHshment  of  a  royal  government  for  Georgia,  the  early  cession  of  lots 
within  the  corporate  limits  of  Savannah,  although  signed  by  the  colonial 
governor,  were  made  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  England,  of  his  "special 
grace,  certain  knowledge,  and  mere  motion."  The  grantee  took  in  free 
and  common  socage,  with  a  rent  reservation  of  one  pepper- corn  payable 
yearly,  if  demanded.  He  also  covenanted  to  erect  a  house  upon  the  lot 
within  two  years  from  the  date  of  the  grant.  Should  he  fail  to  build 
within  the  two  years,  he  further  stipulated,  upon  the  expiration  of  that 
period,  to  pay  annually  to  the  Crown  the  sum  of  ^i.  If  no  building  was 
placed  upon  the  lot  within  ten  years  from  the  date  of  the  grant,  it  was 
then  to  revert  to  the  crown. ^ 


CHAPTER    V. 

Mr.  Oglethorpe  Visits  the  Southern  Confines  of  the  Province — Arrival  of  the  Saltz- 
burgers  and  their  location  at  Ebenezer — Baron  Von  Reek's  Impressions  of  Savannah 
— Oglethorpe  Visits  England  and  is  Accompanied  by  Tomo-chi-chi  and  other  Indians 
— Influence  of  this  Visit  upon  the  Native  Population — Acts  Passed  Prohibiting  the  In- 
troduction of  Rum  and  Negro  Slaves — Silk  Culture — Arrival  of  the  Moravians  and  of 
the  Highlanders— Settlements  at  Darien,  at  Frederica,  and  at  New  Ebenezer — Progress 
of  Colonization — Beacon  on  Tybee  Island — Francis  Moore's  description  of  Savannah. 

DESIRING  to  obtain  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the  southern 
boundary  of  Georgia,  and  to  ascertain  its  capabilities  for  defense 
against  the  Spaniards,  Mr.  Oglethorpe,  on  the  morning  of  the  23d  of  Jan- 
uary, 1734,  accompanied  by  Captain  Ferguson  and  sixteen  attendants — 
among  whom  were  two  Indian  guides — set  out  in  a  large  row-boat  on  a 
tour  of  observation.  He  was  followed  by  a  yawl  laden  with  provisions 
and  ammunition.  It  was  during  this  reconnoissance  that  he  selected 
those  sites  which  were  subsequently  peopled  and  known  as  Frederica  and 
New  Inverness. 

The  funds  hitherto  collected  by  the  trustees  had  been  well  nigh  ex- 

'^See  History  of  Georgia.     C.  C.  Jones,  Jr.,  vol.  i.,  chap.  x.     Boston.     1883. 


^2  History  of  Savannah. 


hausted  by  expenditures  in  behalf  of  the  colonization  when  their  treas- 
ury was  handsonely  replenished  through  the  munificence  of  the  general 
government.  Of  the  moneys  realized  from  the  sale  of  lands  in  the  island 
of  St.  Christopher,  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  pounds  was,  in  pursuance  of 
a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Commons  adopted  on  motion  of  Sir  Charles 
Turner,  paid  over  to  the  trustees  for  establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in 
America,  to  be  by  them  applied  "  towards  defraying  the  charges  of  car- 
rying over  and  settling  foreign  and  other  Protestants  in  said  colony." 
This  timely  relief  enabled  the  trustees  to  accomplish  a  purpose  from  the 
execution  of  which  they  had  been  prevented  by  a  want  of  money. 
Rightly  had  they,  in  the  administration  of  the  trust,  given  a  preference 
to  English  Protestants  desirous  of  seeking  homes  in  the  New  World. 
Now,  however,  they  were  justified  in  enlarging  the  scope  of  their 
charity  because  the  resolution,  in  obedience  to  which  this  liberal 
benefaction  was  made,  contemplated  in  terms  the  colonization  of  foreign 
Protestants. 

The  trustees  were  thus  enabled  to  equip  and  send  out  the  colony  of 
Saltzburgers  which,  in  March,  1734,  reached  Savannah.  These  pious, 
industrious,  and  honest  emigrants,  under  the  conduct  of  Baron  Philip 
George  Frederick  Von  Reck,  and  accompanied  by  their  religious  teach- 
ers— the  Rev.  John  Martin  Bolzius,  and  Israel  Christian  Gronau — were 
full  of  joy  as  their  ships  cast  anchor  "  in  fine,  calm  weather,  under  the 
shore  of  our  beloved  Georgia,  where  we  heard  the  birds  sing  melodi- 
ously." The  inhabitants  of  Savannah  united  in  extending  a  hearty  wel- 
come. "They  fired  off  some  cannons,  and  cried  Huzzah!  which  was  an- 
swered by  our  Sailors  and  other  English  People  in  our  ship  in  the  same 
manner.  Some  of  us  were  immediately  fetch'd  on  Shore  in  a  Boat,  and 
carried  about  the  City,  into  the  woods,  and  the  new  Garden  belonging  to 
the  Trustees.  In  the  meantime  a  very  good  Dinner  wzh  prepared  for  us 
and  the  Saltzburgers,  .  .  when  they  came  on  shore,  got  very  good  and 
wholesome  English  strong  Beer."  After  this  fashion  does  Mr.  Commis- 
sary Von  Recki  chronicle  the  arrival  of  these  colonists.  He  adds  that 
the  inhabitants  "shewed  them  a  great  deal  of  Kindness;  and  the  Country 
pleasing  them,  they  were  full  of  Joy  and  praised  God  for  it." 

'Extract  of  the   Journals  of  Mr.  Commissary  Von  Reck,  etc.,  p.  132.     London. 
1734- 


Arrival  of  the  Saltzburgers.  65 

Of  the  town  of  Savannah  the  Baron  favors  us  with  the  following  im- 
pressions: 

"  I  went  to  view  this  rising  Town,  Savannah,  seated  upon  the  Banks 
of  a  River  of  the  same  Name.  The  Town  is  regularly  laid  out,  divided 
into  four  Wards,  in  each  of  which  is  left  a  spacious  Square  for  holding  of 
Markets  and  other  publick  Uses.  The  Streets  are  all  straight,  and  the 
Houses  are  all  of  the  same  Model  and  Dimensions,  and  well  contrived  for 
Conveniency.  For  the  Time  it  has  been  built  it  is  very  populous,  and  its 
Inhabitants  are  all  White  People.  And  indeed  the  Blessing  of  God  seems 
to  have  gone  along  with  this  Undertaking;  for  here  we  see  Industry 
honored  and  Justice  strictly  executed,  and  Luxury  and  Idleness  banished 
from  this  happy  Place  where  Plenty  and  Brotherly  Love  seem  to  make 
their  Abode,  and  where  the  good  Order  of  a  Nightly  Watch  restrains  the 
Disorderly  and  makes  the  Inhabitants  sleep  secure  in  the  midst  of  a  Wil- 
derness. There  is  laid  out  near  the  Town,  by  Order  of  the  Trustees,  a 
Garden  for  making  Experiments  for  the  Improving  Botany  and  Agricul- 
ture; it  contains  10  Acres  and  lies  upon  the  River;  and  it  is  cleared  and 
brought  into  such  Order  that  there  is  already  a  fine  Nursery  of  Oranges, 
Olives,  white  Mulberries,  Figs,  Peaches,  and  many  curious  Herbs :  be- 
sides which  there  are  Cabbages,  Peas,  and  other  European  Pulse  and 
Plants  which  all  thrive.  Within  the  Garden  there  is  an  artificial  Hill,  said 
hy  the  Indians  to  be  raised  over  the  Body  of  one  of  their  ancient  Empe- 
rors. I  had  like  to  have  forgot  one  of  the  best  Regulations  made  by  the 
Trustees  for  the  Government  of  the  Town  of  Savannah.  I  mean  the  ut- 
ter Prohibition  of  the  Use  of  Rum,  that  flattering  but  deceitful  Liquor 
which  has  been  found  equally  pernicious  to  the  Natives  and  new  Comers, 
which  seldom  fails  by  Sickness  or  Death  to  draw  after  it  its  own  Punish- 
ment." 

Having  assigned  a  location  to  the  Saltzburgers']about  four  miles  be- 
low the  present  town  of  Springfield  in  Effingham  county  and  assisted 
them  in  establishing  a  settlement  there,  Mr.  Oglethorpe,  after  an  absence 
of  some  fifteen  months,  resolved  to  visit  England  that  he  might  in  per- 
son submit  a  full  report  of  the  progress  of  the  colonization,  and  enlist 
public  sympathy  even  more  strongly  in  behalf  of  the  benevolent  scheme. 
The  pine-covered  bluff  at  Yamacraw  had  been  already  transmuted  into 
a  town,  regularly  laid  out,  and  containing  forty  completed  houses  and 


64  History  of  Savannah. 

many  others  in  process  of  construction.  A  battery  of  cannon  and  a  pal- 
isade proclaimed  its  capabilities  for  self- protection.  An  organized  town 
court  was  open  for  the  enforcement  of  rights  and  the  redress  of  wrongs. 
From  a  tall  fliagstafif  floated  the  royal  colors,  and  a  substantial  crane  on 
the  bluff  facilitated  the  unburthening  of  vessels  in  the  river  below.  A 
public  garden  and  private  farms  evidenced  the  thrift  of  the  community, 
and  gave  promise  of  a  liberal  harvest.  An  ample  storehouse  sheltered 
supplies  against  a  season  of  want.  This  little  mother  town — miniature 
metropolis  of  the  province — had  already  sent  out  her  sons;  some  of  them 
to  dwell  along  the  line  of  the  Savannah,  others  to  watch  by  the  Ogee- 
chee,  others  to  build  homes  upon  the  islands  and  guard  the  approaches 
from  the  sea,  others  to  warn  the  mariner  as  he  entered  the  mouth  of  the 
Savannah,  and  others  still  to  convert  the  neighboring  forests  into  pleas- 
ant fields.  Planters,  too,  at  their  own  charge,  and  bringing  articled  serv- 
ants with  them,  were  already  seeking  out  and  subduing  fertile  tracts. 
Thus  the  colony  enlarged  its  domains  and  multiplied  its  settlements. 

During  his  contemplated  absence  the  general  conduct  of  the  affairs  of 
the  town  and  plantation  was  entrusted  to  Thomas  Causton,  the  trustees', 
store-keeper,  and  a  bailiff.  In  cases  of  doubt  and  difficulty  he  was  to  take 
counsel  of  Mr.  James  St.  Julian,  of  South  Carolina,  and  of  Mr.  Francis 
Scott,  gentleman,  of  Georgia. 

Rightly  judging  that  the  advantage  and  security  of  the  province 
would  be  materially  promoted  by  taking  with  him  some  of  the  most  in- 
telligent of  his  Indian  neighbors,  in  order  that  they  might,  by-personal 
observation,  acquire  a  definite  conception  of  the  greatness  and  the  re- 
sources of  the  British  Empire,  and,  moved  by  the  kindnesses  and  atten- 
tions which  he  was  quite  sure  would  be  extended  to  them  on  every  hand 
while  in  England,  bring  back  with  them  memories  which  would  surely 
tend  to  cement  the  alliances  and  perpetuate  the  amicable  relations  which 
had  been  so  auspiciously  inaugurated,  Mr.  Oglethorpe  invited  Tomo-chi- 
chi  and  some  of  the  leading  members  of  his  tribe  to  accompany  him  on 
his  intended  visit.  The  old  mico  gladly  accepted  the  invitation,  and  re- 
solved to  take  with  him  his  wife  Scenawki  and  Toonahowi,  his  adopted 
son  and  nephew.  HiUispilli,  the  war  chief  of  the  Lower  Creeks,  four 
other  chiefs  of  that  nation,  to  wit,  Apakowtski,  Stimalchi,  Sintouchi,  and 
Hinguithi,  and  Umphichi,  a  IJchee  chief  from  Palachocolas,  with  their 


Return  of  Tomo-chi-chi.  65 

attendants  and  an  interpreter,  constituted  the  retinue.  Leaving  Savan- 
nah they  reached  Charleston  on  the  27th  of  March,  and  sailed  from  that 
port  for  England  on  board  his  majesty's  ship  Aldborough  on  the  7th  of 
April,  1734.  After  a  voyage  of  seventy  days  that  vessel  arrived  safely 
at  St.  Helens  in  the  Isle  of  Wight. 

Upon  his  return  to  Savannah  on  the  27th  of  December,  1734,  Tomo- 
chi-chi  1  freely  imparted  to  his  tribe,  and  to  the  Creek  nation,  the  impres- 
sions he  had  formed,  during  his  recent  visit,  of  the  power  of  the  British 
Empire,  of  the  magnificence  of  London,  and  of  the  marked  courtesies, 
kindness,  and  hospitality  with  which  he  and  his  companions  had  every- 
where bjen  entertained  during  their  sojourn  in  England.  He  exhorted 
them  to  continue  in  friendship  with  their  neighbors — the  colonists — and 
to  observe  the  obligations  of  existing  treaties.  The  beautiful  and  novel 
presents  which  he  and  his  companions  brought  home  with  them  were 
accepted  as  proofs,  most  potent,  of  the  liberality  of  the  English,  and 
evoked  the  admiration  of  the  natives.  This  visit  of  Tomo-chi-chi  and  his 
companions,  and  the  interest  awakened  by  their  personal  presence  in 
London,  materially  assisted  Mr.  Oglethorpe  and  the  trustees  in  enlisting 
the  renewed  and  earnest  sympathy  of  the  public,  and  in  securing  sub- 
stantial aid  not  only  for  the  colonists,  but  also  for  the  education  of  the 
natives  and  their  instruction  in  religious  knowledge.  Widely  dissemi- 
nated among  the  Indian  nations  was  the  report  of  this  sojourn  of  the 
mico  of  the  Yamacraws  in  the  home  of  the  white  men.  Grateful  were 
the  Creeks  for  the  kindness  and  consideration  extended  to  one  of  their 
race.  The  beneficial  results  flowing  from,  and  the  sentiments  of  good 
will  engendered  by  this  visit  tended  most  decidedly  to  perpetuate  the 
amicable  relations  existing  between  the  races,  and  to  confirm  the  secu- 
rity of  Savannah. 

While  in  England  Mr.  Oglethorpe  resumed  his  seat  in  Parliament 
and  was  instrumental  in  procuring  the  passage  of  two  bills  for  the  con- 
jectured benefit  of  Georgia.  One  of  these  was  an  act  to  prohibit  the 
importation  and  sale  of  rum,  brandy,  and  other  distilled  liquor^  within 
the  limits  of  that  province. 

In  August,  1733,  several  persons  had  died  at  Savannah,  as  was  sug- 

1  For  an  account  of  his  visit  to  Londorj  see  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  i,  pp.  175-186, 
f:.  C.  Jones,  jr.     Boston.     188^. 


66  History  of  Savannah. 

gested,  from  the  too  free  use  of  rum.  Mr.  Oglethorpe  so  notified  the 
common  council,  and  the  members  of  that  body,  on  the  2 1st  of  the  fol- 
lowing November,  "  Resolved  that  the  drinking  of  rum  in  Georgia  be 
absolutely  prohibited,  and  that  all  which  shall  be  brought  there  be 
staved."  Although  the  founder  of  the  colony  endeavored  to  enforce  the 
observance  of  this  regulation,  traders  from  Carolina  supplied  both  the 
settlers  and  the  Indians  with  smuggled  spirits,  which,  as  was  alleged, 
"  produced  disease  among  the  former,  and  disorderly  conduct  on  the 
part  of  some  of  the  latter."  In  South  Carolina  no  prohibition  existed, 
and  the  importation  of  rum,  both  from  New  England  and  the  West 
Indies,  was  constant  and  heavy.  Upon  the  moderate  use  of  English 
beer  and  the  wines  of  Maderia  the  Georgia  authorities  placed  no  restric- 
tion. With  these  the  trustees'  store  at  Savannah  was  regularly  supplied, 
and  the  magistrates  there  were  empowered  to  grant  licenses  for  retailing 
beer  both  of  foreign  manufacture  and  of  home  brewing. 

The  other  act  forbade  the  introduction  of  slavery,  and  was  entitled 
"  An  act  for  rendering  the  Province  of  Georgia  more  defensible  by  pro- 
hibiting the  importation  of  black  slaves  or  negroes  into  the  same." 

If  suffered  to  rely  upon  the  aid  of  negroes,  the  trustees  feared  that 
the  colonists  would  fail  to  acquire  "habits  of  labour,  industry,  economy, 
and  thrift  by  personal  application."  Both  these  statutes  received  royal 
sanction.  In  commenting  upon  this  legislation  Burke  sagely  remarked 
that  while  these  regulations  and  restrictions  were  designed  to  bring  about 
wholesome  results,  they  were  promulgated  without  a  sufficient  apprecia 
tion  of  the  nature  of  the  country  and  the  disposition  of  the  people  to  be 
affected  by  them.  Long  and  earnestly  did  many  of  the  colonists  peti 
tion  for  the  removal  of  these  prohibitions,  which  placed  the  province  at 
a  disadvantage  when  its  privileges  were  contrasted  with  those  of  sister 
settlements,  and,  beyond  doubt,  so  far  at  least  as  the  employment  of 
slave  labor-  was  concerned,  retarded  its  development. 

During  Mr.  Oglethorpe's  absence  the  charge  of  the  colony  devolved 
upon  Thomas  Causton,  storekeeper  and  chief  bailiff,  assisted  by  the  other 
bailiffs  and  by  the  recorder  of  Savannah.  He  was  cautioned  by  the 
trustees  to  keep  them  fully  advised  of  everything  of  moment  which  trans- 
pired within  the  province  ;  to  have  a  care  that  no  one  traded  with  the 
Indians  without  special  license;  to  draw  all  billg  for  account  of  the  colony 


Arrival  of  tHE  Moravians.  ^7 

upon  the  trustees  at  thirty  days'  sight;  to  see  to  it  that  the  sick  and  in- 
digent, incapable  of  supporting  themselves,  and  orphans  of  an  age  so 
tender  that  they  could  not  be  articled  as  apprentices,  should,  as  occasion 
required,  be  assisted  at  the  expense  of  the  trust;  to  have  the  glebe  land 
in  Savannah  inclosed  by  a  substantial  fence  ;  to  be  zealous  in  the  rigid 
enforcement  of  the  laws  against  tippling ;  to  lose  no  opportunity  in  en- 
couraging the  people  to  fence  and  cultivate  their  lands,  as,  upon  the 
products  thence  derived,  depended  their  subsistence  ;  to  forward  an  esti- 
mate of  the  cost  of  constructing  a  church  in  Savannah,  of  brick  or  tim- 
ber, sixty  feet  long,  forty  feet  wide,  and  twenty  feet  high  within ;  to  pro- 
mote settlements  on  Vernon  River ;  to  favor  "  the  setting  up  of  Brew- 
Houses,"  thus  leading  the  people  away  from  the  use  of  distilled  liquors; 
to  allow  the  Saltzburgers  another  year's  full  allowance  from  the  public 
store  ;  to  urge  on  to  completion  the  lighthouse  which  was  being  built  on 
Tybee  Island ;  and  to  compel  the  town  court  in  Savannah  to  hold  a  ses- 
sion once  in  every  six  weeks  for  the  trial  of  civil  causes,  and  to  convene 
for  the  disposal  of  criminal  cases  as  often  as  occasion  demanded.  No 
fees  were  to  be  exacted  by  officers  issuing  warrants. 

The  encouragement  extended  by  the  trustees  and  the  board  of 
trade  to  the  production  of  raw  silk  in  Georgia  was  not  without  some  pal- 
pable results.  From  time  to  time  samples  were  received.  In  May, 
1735,  the  trustees,  accompanied  by  Sir  Thomas  Lombe,  exhibited  a  spec- 
imen to  the  queen,  who  desired  that  it  should  be  wrought  into  a  fabric. 
This  was  done,  and  her  majesty  was  so  much  pleased  with  the  manufac- 
tured silk  that  she  ordered  it  to  be  made  up  into  a  costume  in  which  she 
appeared  at  court  on  her  birthday.  ^ 

In  1735  the  Moravians,  accompanied  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gottheb  Span- 
genberg,  and  under  the  patronage  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  arrived  in  Geor- 
gia and  settled  along  the  line  of  the  Savannah  River  between  the  Saltz- 
burgers and  the  town  of  Savannah.  Soon  after  came  the  Highlanders 
from  Inverness,  with  their  pastor,  the  Rev.  John  McLeod.  Transported 
on  periaguas  to  the  southward,  and  ascending  the  Alatamaha  River  to  a 
point  on  its  left  bank  some  sixteen  miles  above  the  island  of  St.  Simon, 
they  there  landed,  erected  a  fort,  mounted  four  pieces  of  cannon,  builded 
a  guard- house,  a  store,  a  chapel,  and  cabins  for  temporary  occupancy, 

'  Political  State  of  Great  Britain^  vol.  i.,  pp.  242,  469. 


History  of  Savannah. 


and  formed  a  permanent  settlement  which  they  named  New  Inverness. 
These  Scotts  were  a  brave,  hardy  race,  just  the  men  to  occupy  this  ad- 
vanced post.  In  their  plaids,  and  with  their  broadswords  and  firearms 
they  presented  "a  most  manly  appearance."  The  districts  which  they 
were  to  hold  and  cultivate  the)^  called  Darien. 

Previous  to  their  departure  from  Savannah  some  Carolinans  endeav- 
ored to  dissuade  them  from  going  to  the  South  by  telling  them  that  the 
Spaniards,  from  their  houses  in  their  forts,  would  shoot  them  upon  the 
spot  selected  by  the  trustees  for  their  future  home.  Nothing  daunted, 
these  doughty  countrymen  of  Bruce  and  Wallace  responded :  "  Why 
then  we  will  beat  them  out  of  their  fort,  and  shall  have  houses  built  ready 
to  live  in."  ^ 

This  valiant  spirit  found  subsequent  expression  in  the  efficient  mili- 
tary service  rendered  by  these  Highlanders  during  the  wars  between  the 
colonists  and  the  Spaniards,  and  by  their  descendants  in  the  American 
Revolution.  To  John  Moore  Mcintosh,  Captain  Htigh  Mackay,  Ensign 
Charles  Mackay,  Colonel  John  Mcintosh,  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh, 
and  their  gallant  comrades  and  followers,  Georgia,  both  as  a  colony  and 
a  State,  owes  a  large  debt  of  gratitude.  This  settlement  was  subse- 
quently augmented  from  time  to  time  by  fresh  arrivals  from  Scotland. 
Although  located  in  a  malarial  region,  it  maintained  its  integrity,  and  in- 
creased in  wealth  and  influence.  Its  men  were  prompt  and  efficient  in 
arms,  and  when  the  war  cloud  descended  upon  the  Southern  confines  of 
the  province  no  defenders  were  more  alert  or  capable  than  those  found 
in  the  ranks  of  these  Highlanders. 

At  an  early  date  a  passable  road,  located  by  Captain  Hugh  Mackay, 
was  constructed  to  connect  New  Inverness  with  Savannah.  For  the  pre- 
liminary survey  Indian  guides  were  furnished  by  Tomo-chi-chi.  This 
route  constitutes  to  this  day  the  highway  leading  from  Savannah  to 
Darien. 

Then  followed  in  quick  succession  the  return  of  Mr.  Oglethorpe  to 
Georgia,  accompanied  by  the  brothers  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Ingham,  and  two  hundred  and  two  colonists  conveyed  on  the 
Trust's  account  in  the  Symond  and  the  London  Merchant,  having  on 
board  large  quantities  of  provisions,   small  arms,  cannon,  ammunition, 

^  See  letter  of  Mr.  Oglethorpe  to  the  trustees,  under  date  February  27,  1735. 


£arly  Events.  69 


agricultural  tools  and  articles  for  domestic  use,  convoyed  by  H.  M.  sloop 
of  vfzr  Hawk,  commanded  by  Captain  Gascoigne — the  transfer  of  these 
emigrants  to  the  South,  and  their  location  at  Frederica,  on  St.  Simon's 
Island,  destined  sooa  to  become  the  Thermopylae  of  the  Lower  Anglo- 
American  colonies — the  reinforcement  of  the  Moravian  settlement — the 
change  of  residence  by  the  Salzburgers  from  their  pine  barren  home  to 
"  Red  Bluff,"  near  the  Savannah  River,  surrounded  by  a  territory  gently 
undulating  and  covered  with  a  fine  growth  of  forest  trees — the  jesamine, 
the  woodbine,  and  the  beautiful  azilea  adding  to  the  attractions  of  the 
picturesque  scene — the  establishment  of  a  town  at  Augusta — the  com- 
position of  certain  disagreements  which  had  arisen  between  some  of  the 
colonists  and  their  Indian  neighbors — and  the  erection  of  a  lighthouse 
on  the  upper  end  of  Tybee  Island  designed  for  the  guidance  of  vessels 
entering  the  Savannah  River.  This  beacon  was  to  be  twenty-five  feet 
square  at  the  base,  ninety  feet  high,  and  ten  feet  each  way  at  the  top. 
It  was  to  be  constructed  of  "the  best  pine,  strongly  timber'd.  raised 
upon  Cedar  Piles,  and  Brick-work  round  the  Bottom."  When  finished  it 
would  prove  of  "  great  service  to  all  shipping,  not  only  to  those  bound 
to  this  port,^  but  also  to  Carolina,  for  the  land  of  all  the  Coast  for  some 
hundred  miles  is  so  alike,  being  all  low  and  woody,  that  a  distinguishing 
Mark  is  of  great  consequence." ^  To  Mr.  Oglethorpe's  surprise  and  an- 
HDyance  unpardonable  delay  had  ocurred,  during  his  absence,  in  the 
erecti  jn  of  this  important  structure.  Blythman,  the  carpenter  in  charge, 
had  neglected  his  work,  and  his  assistants  had  been  idle,  addicted  to 
drink,  and  disobedient.  Rum  was  so  cheap  in  Carolina  that  at  this  iso- 
lated point  they  found  no  difficulty  in  supplying  themselves  with  it.  A 
day's  pay  would  purchase  liquor  sufficient  to  keep  a  workman  drunk  for 
a  week.  Mr.  Oglethorpe  reformed  matters,  and  appointed  "  Mr.  Van- 
derplank  to  see  that  the  work  advanced  according  to  the  agreement;  and 
not  to  pay  but  proportionably  to  what  should  be  done." 

To  Mr.  Francis  Moore — appointed  by  the  trustees  keeper  of  the  stores 
— are  we  indebted  for  the  following  account  of  the  little  metropolis  of 
Georgia. 

"Savannah  is  about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  in  Circumference;  it  stands 

'  Savannah. 

'Moore's  Voyage  to  Georgia,  p.  i8.     London.     1744. 


^6  History  of  Savanna^. 


upon  the  flat  of  a  Hill ;  the  Bank  of  the  River  (which  they  in  babarous 
English  call  a  Blufif)  is  steep,  and  about  45  Foot  perpendicular,  so  that 
all  heavy  Goods  are  brought  up  by  a  Crane,  an  Inconvenience  designed 
to  be  remedied  by  a  bridged  Wharf,  and  an  easy  Ascent,  which  in  laying 
out  the  Town,  care  was  taken  to  allow  room  for,  there  being  a  very  wide 
Strand  between  the  first  Row  of  Houses  and  the  River.  From  this  Strand 
there  is  a  very  pleasant  prospect ;  you  see  the  River  wash  the  Foot  of 
the  Hill  which  is  a  hard,  clear,  sandy  Beach  a  mile  in  Length;  the  Water 
is  fresh,  and  River  1000  Foot  wide.  Eastward  you  see  the  River  in- 
creased by  the  Northern  Branch  which  runs  round  Hutchinson's  Island, 
and  the  Carolina  Shore  beyond  it,  and  the  Woody  Islands  at  the  Sea, 
which  close  the  Prospect  at  10  or  12  Miles  Distance.  Over  against  it  is 
HutcJdnson  s  Island,  great  part  of  which  is  open  Ground,  where  they 
mow  Hay  for  the  Trust's  Horses  and  Cattle.  The  rest  is  Woods,  in  wTiich 
there  are  many  Bay-trees  80  Foot  high.  Westward  you  see  the  River 
winding  between  the  Woods,  with  little  Islands  in  it  for  many  Miles,  and 
Toma-chi-cki's  Indian  Town  standing  upon  the  Southern  Banks,  between 
3  and  4  Miles  distance. 

"  The  town  of  Savannah  is  built  of  Wood;  all  the  Houses  of  the  first 
40  Freeholders  are  of  the  same  size  with  that  Mr.  Oglethorpe  lives  in,  but 
there  are  great  Numbers  built  since,  I  believe  100  or  150,  many  of  these 
are  much  larger,  some  of  2  or  3  Stories  high,  the  Boards  plained  and 
p;unted.  The  Houses  stand  on  large  Lotts,  60  Foot  in  Front,  by  90  Foot 
in  Depth;  each  Lott  has  a  fore  and  back  Street  to  it;  the  Lotts  are 
fenced  in  with  split  Pales;  some  few  People  have  Pallisades  of  turned 
Wood  before  their  Doors,  but  the  Generality  have  been  wise  enough  not 
to  throw  away  their  Money  which,  in  this  Country,  laid  out  in  Husbandry, 
is  capable  of  great  improvements,  though  there  are  several  People  of 
good  Substance  in  the  Town  who  came  at  their  own  Expence,  and  also, 
several  of  those  who  came  over  on  the  Charity,  are  in  a  very  thriving 
way  ;  but  this  is  observed  that  the  most  substantial  People  are  the  most 
frugal,  and  make  the  least  Shew,  and  live  at  the  least  Expence.  There 
are  some  also  who  have  made  but  little  or  bad  Use  of  the  Benefits  they 
received,  idling  away  their  Times,  whilst  they  had  their  Provisions  from 
the  publick  Store,  or  else  working  for  Hire,  earning  from  2  Shillings,  the 
Price  of  a  Labourer,  to  4  or  5  Shillings,  the  Price  of  a  Qzx^&'a.'i.tx, per  diem, 


Description  of  Savannah.  71 

and  spending  that  Money  in  Rum  and  good  Living,  thereby  neglecting 
to  improve  their  Lands,  so  that  when  their  Time  of  receiving  their  Pro- 
visions from  the  Publick  ceased,  they  were  in  no  Forwardness  to  main- 
tain themselves  out  of  their  own  Lands.  As  they  chose  to  be  Hirelings 
when  they  might  have  improved  for  themselves,  the  Consequence  of  that 
Folly  forces  them  now  to  work  for  their  daily  Bread.  These  are  gener- 
ally discontented  with  the  Country;  and  if  they  have  run  themselves  in 
Debt,  their  Creditors  will  not  let  them  go  away  till  they  have  paid. 
Considering  the  Number  of  People  there  are  but  very  few  of  these.  The 
Industrious  ones  have  throve  beyond  Expectation;  most  of  them  that 
have  been  there  three  Years,  and  m.any  others,  have  Houses  in  the  Town, 
which  those  that  Let  have,  for  the  worst,  ^10  per  annum,  and  the  best 
let  for  £-i,o. 

"Those  who  have  cleared  their  5  Acre  Lotts  have  made  a  very  great 
Profit  out  of  them  by  Greens,  Roots,  and  Corn.  Several  have  improv'd 
the  Cattle  they  had  at  first,  and  have  now  5  or  6  tamj  Cows;  others, 
who  to  save  the  Trouble  of  Feeding  them,  let  them  go  into  the  Woods, 
can  rarely  find  them,  and  when  they  are  brought  up,  one  of  them  will 
not  give  half  the  quantity  of  Milk  which  another  Cow  fed  near  Home  will 
give. 

"Their  Houses  are  built  at  a  pretty  large  Distance  from  one  another 
for  fear  of  Fire  ;  the  Streets  are  very  wide,  and  there  are  great  Squares 
left  at  proper  Distances  for  Markets  and  other  Conveniences  Near  the 
Riverside  there  is  a  Guard-house  inclosed  with  Palisades  a  Foot  thick, 
where  there  are  19  or  20  Cannons  mounted,  and  a  continual  Guard  kept 
by  the  Free-holders.  This  Town  is  governed  by  3  Bailiffs,  and  has  a 
Recorder,  Register,  and  a  Town  Court  which  is  holden  every  si-x  weeks, 
where  all  Matters  Civil  and  Criminal  are  decided  by  grand  and  petty  Ju- 
ries as  in  England;  but  there  are  no  Lawyers  allowed  to  plead  for  Hire, 
nor  no  Attornies  to  take  Money,  but  (as  in  old  times  in  England)  every 
man  pleads  his  own  Cause.  In  case  it  should  be  an  Orphan,  or  one  that 
cannot  speak  for  themselves,  there  are  Persons  of  the  best  Substance  in 
the  Town  appointed  by  the  Trustees  to  take  care  of  the  Orphans,  and  to 
defend  the  Helpless,  and  that  without  P'ce  or  Reward,  it  being  a  Service 
that  each  that  is  capable  must  perform  in  his  turn. 

"  They  have  some  Laws  and  Customs  peculiar  to  Georgia ;  one  i§ 


72  History  of  Savannah. 

that  all  Brandiesand  distilled  Liquors  are  prohibited  under  severe  Pen- 
alties ;  another  is  that  no  Slaverj'  is  allowed,  nor  Negroes;  a  Third,  that 
all  Persons  who  go  among  the  Indians  must  give  Stcurity  for  their  good 
Behaviour;  because  the  Indians,  if  any  Injury  is  done  to  them  and  they 
cannot  kill  the  man  who  does  it,  expect  Satisfaction  from  the  Govern- 
ment, which,  if  not  procured,  ihey  break  out  into  War  by  killing  the  first 
white  Man  they  conveniently  can. 

"  No  Victualler  or  Ale-house  Keeper  can  give  any  Credit,  so  conse- 
quently cannot  recover  any  Debt. 

"The  Free-holds  are  all  entailed  which  has  been  very  fortunate  for 
the  Place.  If  People  could  have  soKi,  the  greatest  part,  before  the)'  knew 
the  Value  of  their  Lotts,  would  have  parted  with  them  for  a  trifling  Con- 
dition, and  there  were  not  wanting  rich  Men  who  employed  Agents  to 
Monopolize  the  whole  Town:  And  if  they  had  got  Numbers  of  Lotts 
into  their  own  Hands,  the  other  Free  holders  would  have  had  no  Benefit 
by  letting  their  Houses,  and  hardly  of  Trade,  since  the  Rich,  by  means 
of  a  large  Capital,  would  underlet  and  undersell,  and  the  Town  must 
have  been  almost  without  Inhabitants  as  Port  Royal  in  Carolina  is,  by 
the  best  Lotts  being  got  into  a  few  Hands. 

"  The  mentioning  the  Laws  and  Customs  leads  me  to  take  notice  that 
Georgia  is  founded  upon  Maxims  different  from  those  on  which  other 
Colonies  have  been  begun.  The  Intention  of  that  Colony  was  an  Asylum 
to  receive  the  distressed.  This  was  the  charitable  Design,  and  the  gov- 
ernmental View  besides  that  was  with  Numbers  of  free  white  People,  well 
settled,  to  strengthen  the  southern  Part  of  the  English  Settlements  on 
the  Continent  of  America,  of  which  this  is  the  Frontier.  It -is  necessary 
therefore  not  to  permit  Slaves  in  such  a  Country,  for  Slaves  starve  the 
poor  Labourer.  For,  if  the  Gentleman  can  have  his  Work  done  by  a 
Slave  who  is  a  Carpenter  or  a  Bricklayer,  the  Carpenters  or  Bricklayers 
of  that  country  must  starve  for  want  of  Employment,  and  so  of  other 
Trades. 

"  In  order  to  maintain  many  People  it  was  proper  that  the  Land  should 
be  divided  into  small  Portions,  and  to  prevent  the  uniting  them  by  Mar- 
riage or  Purchase.  For  every  Time  that  two  Lotts  are  united,  the  Town 
loses  a  Family,  and  the  Inconvenience  of  this  shews  itself  at  Savannah, 
nptwithstanding  the  Care  of  the  Trtistees  to  prevent  it.     They  suffered 


Early  IDescriptIon.  73 


the  Moiety  of  the  Letts  to  descend  to  the  Widows  during  their  Lives : 
Those  who  remarried  to  Men  who  had  Lotts  of  their  own,  by  uniting  two 
Lotts  made  one  to  be  neglected  ;  for  the  strength  of  Hands  who  could 
take  care  of  one,  was  not  sufficient  to  look  and  improve  two.  These  un- 
cleared Lotts  are  a  Nusance  to  their  neighbors.  The  Trees  which  grow 
upon  them  shade  the  Lotts,  the  Beasts  take  shelter  in  them,  and  for  want 
of  clearing  the  Brooks  which  pass  thro'  them,  the  Lands  above  are  often 
prejudiced  by  Floods.  To  prevent  all  these  Inconveniences  the  first 
Regulation  of  the  Trustees  was  a  strict  Agrarian  Law,  by  which  all  the 
Lands  near  Towns  should  be  divided,  50  Acres  to  each  Free-holder. 
The  Quantity  of  Land  by  Experience  seems  rather  too  much,  since  it  ir 
impossible  that  one'poor  Family  can  tend  so  much  Land.  If  this  Alott- 
ment  is  too  much,  how  much  more  inconvenient  would  the  uniting  of 
two  be  ?  To  prevent  it,  the  Trustees  grant  the  Lands  in  Tail  Male,  that 
on  the  expiring  of  a  Male- Line  they  may  regrant  it  to  such  Man,  having 
no  other  Lott,  as  shall  be  married  to  the  next  Female  Heir  of  the  De- 
ceased, as  is  of  good  Character.  This  manner  of  Dividing  prevents  also 
the  Sale  of  Lands,  and  the  Rich  thereby  monopolizing  the  Country. 

"Each  Freeholder  has  a  Lott  in  Town  60  Foot  by  90  Foot,  besides 
which  he  has  a  Lott,  beyond  the  Common,  of  5  Acres  for  a  Garden. 
Every  ten  Houses  make  a  Tything,  and  to  every  Tything  there  is  a  Mile 
Square,  which  is  divided  into  12  Lotts,  besides  Roads ;  Each  Freeholdes 
of  the  Tything  has  a  Lott  or  Farm  of  45  Acres  there,  and  two  Lotts  are 
reserved  by  the  Trustees  in  order  to  defray  the  Charge  of  the  Publick. 
The  Town  is  laid  out  for  two  hundred  and  forty  Freeholds ;  the  Quan- 
tity of  Lands  necessary  for  that  Number  is  24  Square  Miles ;  every  40 
Houses  in  Town  make  a  Ward  to  which  4  Square  Miles  in  the  Country 
belong;  each  Ward  has  a  Constable,  and  under  him  4  Tything  Men. 
Where  the  Town-Lands  end,  the  Villages  begin ;  four  Villages  make  a 
Ward  without,  which  depends  upon  one  of  the  Wards  within  the  Town. 
The  use  of  this  is,  in  case  a  War  should  happen  that  the  Villages  without 
may  have  Places  in  the  Town,  to  bring  their  Cattle  and  Families  into  for 
Refuge,  and  to  that  Purpose  there  is  a  Square  left  in  every  Ward  big 
enough  for  the  Out- Wards  to  encamp  in.  There  is  Ground  also  kept 
round  about  the  Town  ungranted,  in  order  for  the  Fortifications  when- 
ever Occasion  shalL  require.  Beyond  the  Villages  commence  Lotts  of 
10 


^4  History  of  SavannaS. 

500  Acres;  these  are  granted  upon  Terms  of  keeping  10  Servants,  etc. 
Several  Gentlemen  who  have  settled  on  such  Grants  have  succeeded  very 
well,  and  have  been  of  great  Service  to  the  Colony.  Above  the  Town  is 
a  Parcel  of  Land  called  Indian  Lands ;  these  are  those  reserved  by  King 
Toma-chi-chi  for  his  People.  There  is  near  the  Town  to  the  East,  a 
Garden  belonging  to  the  Trustees,  consisting  of  10  Acres  ;  the  situation 
is  delightful,  one  half  of  it  is  upon  the  Top  of  a  Hill,  the  Foot  of  which 
the  River  Savannah  washes,  and  from  it  you  see  the  Woody  Islands  in 
the  Sea.  The  Remainder  of  the  Garden  is  the  Side  and  some  plain  low 
Ground  at  the  Foot  of  the  Hill  where  several  fine  Springs  break  out.  In 
the  Garden  is  variety  of  Soils  ;  the  top  is  sandy  and  dry,  the  Sides  of  the 
Hill  are  Clay,  and  the  Bottom  is  a  black  rich  Garden  Mould,  well  wa- 
tered. On  the  North-part  of  the  Garden  is  left  standing  a  Grove  of  Part 
of  the  old  Wood  as  it  was  before  the  arrival  of  the  Colony  there.  The 
Trees  in  the  Grove  are  mostly  Bay,  Sassafras,  Evergreen  Oak,  Pellitory, 
Hickary,  American  Ash,  and  the  Laurel  Tulip. ^  This  last  is  looked  upon 
as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  Trees  in  the  World ;  it  grows  straight-bod- 
ied to  40  or  50  Foot  high;  the  Bark  smooth  and  whitish,  the  Top  spreads 
regular  like  an  Orange- tree  in  English  Gardens,  only  larger;  the  Leaf  is 
like  that  of  common  Laurel,  but  bigger,  and  the  under- side  of  a  greenish 
Brown  :  It  blooms  about  the  Month  of  June ;  the  Flowers  are  white,  fra- 
grant like  the  Orange,  and  perfume  all  the  Air  around  it ;  the  Flower  is 
round,  8  or  10  Inches  diameter,  thick  like  the  Orange- Flower,  and  a  lit- 
tle yellow  near  the  Heart;  As  the  Flowers  drop,  the  Fruit,  which  is  a 
Cone  with  red  berries,  succeeds  them.  There  are  also  some  Bay-trees 
that  have  Flowers  like  the  Laurel,  only  less. 

"The  Garden  is  laid  out  with  Cross-walks  planted  with  Orange- 
trees,  but  the  last  Winter  a  good  deal  of  Snow  having  fallen,  had  killed 
those  upon  the  Top  of  the  Hill  down  to  their  Roots,  but  they  being  cut 
down,  sprouted  again,  as  I  saw  when  I  returned  to  Savannah.  In  the 
Squares  between  the  Walks  were  vast  Quantities  of  Mulberry  trees,  this 
being  a  Nursery  for  all  the  Province,  and  every  Planter  that  desires  it, 
has  young  Trees  given  him  gratis  from  this  Nursery.  These  white  Mul- 
berry trees  were  planted  in  order  to  raise  Silk,  for  which  Purpose  several 
Italians  were  brought,  at  the  Trustees'  Expence,  from  Piedmont  by  M'' 


Magnolia  grandijlora,  the  queen  of  the  Southern  forests. 


Early  Description.  75 

Amatis  ;  they  have  fed  Worms  and  wound  Silk  to  as  great  Perfection 
as  any  that  ever  came  out  of  Italy  ;  but  the  Italians  falling  out,  one 
of  them  stole  away  the  Machines  for  winding,  broke  the  Coppers,  and 
s[)oiled  all  the  Eggs  which  he  could  not  steal,  and  fled  to  South  Carolina. 
The  others,  who  continued  faithful,  had  saved  but  a  few  Eggs,  when  M'' 
Oglethorpe  arrived  ;  therefore  he  forbade  any  Silk  should  be  wound,  but 
that  all  the  Worms  should  be  suffered  to  eat  through  their  Balls  in  order 
to  have  more  Eggs  against  next  Year.  The  Italian  Women  are  obliged 
to  take  English  Girls  Apprentices,  whom  they  teach  to  wind  and  feed ; 
and  the  Men  have  taught  our  English  Gardeners  to  tend  the  Mulberry- 
trees,  and  our  Joyners  have  learned  how  to  make  the  Machines  for  wind- 
ing. As  the  Mulberry-trees  increase,  there  will  be  a  great  Quantity  of 
Silk  made  here. 

"  Beside  the  Mulberry- trees  there  are  in  some  of  the  Quarters  in  the 
coldest  part  of  the  Garden,  all  kinds  of  Fruit-trees  usual  in  England,  such 
as  Apples,  Pears,  &c.  In  another  Quarter  are  Olives,  Figs,  Vines,  Pome- 
granates and  such  Fruits  as  are  natural  to  the  warmest  Parts  ol  Europe. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  Hill,  well-sheltered  from  the  North-wind,  and  in 
the  warmest  part  of  the  Garden,  there  was  a  Collection  of  West-India 
Plants  and  Trees,  some  Coffee,  some  Cocoa-Nuts,  Cotton,  Palma-Christi, 
and  several  West  India  physical  Plants,  some  sent  up  by  M"'  Eveliegh 
a  publick-spirited  Merchant  at  Charles-Town,  and  some  by  D''  Houstoun 
from  the  Spanish  West  Ind.ies,  where  he  was  sent  at  the  Expence  of  a 
Collection  raised  by  that  curious  Physician,  Sir  Hans  Sloan,  for  to  col- 
lect and  send  them  to  Georgia  where  the  Climate  was  capable  of  making 
a  Garden  which  might  contain  all  kinds  of  Plants;  to  which  Design  his 
Grace  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  the  Earl  of  Derby,  the  Lord  Peters,  and  the 
Apothecary's  Company  contributed  very  generously,  as  did  Sir  Hans 
himself '  The  Quarrels  among  the  Italians  proved  fatal  to  most  of  these 
Plants,  and  they  were  labouring  to  repair  that  loss  when  I  was  there,  Mr. 
Miller  being  employ'd  in  the  room  of  D''  Houstoun  who  died  in  Jamaica. 
We  heard  he  had  wrote  an  Account  of  his  having  obtain'd  the  Plant  from 
whence  the  true  Balsamuni  Capivi  is  drawn ;  and  that  he  was  in  hopes 


'  On  the  20th  of  February,  1734,  the  death  of  William  Houstoun  was  reported  to  the 
trustees,  whereupon,  on  the  recommendation  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  Robert  Millar  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him  as  botanist  to  the  Colony  of  Georgia,  at  a  salary  of  ^  150  per 
ftnnum, 


j6  History  of  Savannah. 

of  getting  that  from  whence  the  Jesuit's  Bark  is  taken,  he  designing  for 
that  Purpose  to  send  to  the  Spanish  West  Indies. 

"There  is  a  plant  of  Bamboo  Cane  brought  from  the  East  Indies, 
and  sent  over  by  Mr.  Towers,  which  thrives  well.  There  was  also  some 
Tea  seeds  which  came  frorrt  the  same  Place  ;  but  the  latter,  though  great 
Care  was  taken,  did  not  grow. 

"  There  were  no  publick  Buildings  in  the  Town,  besides  a  Storehouse  ; 
for  the  Courts  were  held  in  a  Hut  36  Foot  long  and  12  Foot  wide,  made 
of  split  Boards,  and  erected  on  M''  Oglethorpe' s  first  Arrival  in  the  Col- 
ony. In  this  Hut  also  Divine  Service  was  perform'd ;  but  upon  his  Ar- 
rival this  time,  M''  Oglethorpe  ordered  a  House  to  be  erected  in  the 
Upper  Square,  which  might  serve  for  a  Court  House  and  for  Divine  Ser- 
vice till  a  Church  could  be  built,  and  a  Work-house  over  against  it;  for 
as  yet  there  was  no  Prison  here."  ^ 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  BROTHERS  JOHN  AND  CHARLES  WESLEY  IN  GEORGIA. 

AFTER  a  short  sojourn  in  Savannah,  the  Reverend  Charles  Wesley 
repaired  to  Frederica  where  he  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his 
duties  as  private  secretary  to  General  Oglethorpe.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  he  also  held  from  the  trustees  the  commission  of  Secretary  of 
Indian  Affairs  for  the  colony  of  Georgia. 

Unfortunately,  at  an  early  date  an  estrangement  ensued  between  the 
general  and  his  secretary.  In  addition  to  his  official  duties,  Mr.  Wesley 
assumed  the  spiritual  guidance  of  the  inhabitants  at  Frederica.  He  was 
thus  brought  into  personal  contact  and  confidential  relations  with  the 
entire  population.  Among  the  dwellers  there  were  some  whose  reputa- 
tions were  not  without  reproach,  and  whose  manner  of  life  did  not  com- 
mand the  approbation  of  the  young  ecclesiastic  who  carried  ever  with  him 
a  standard  of  morality  and  religious  excellence  inculcated  in  the  school 

1  Moore's  Voyage  to  Georgia,  ^'^.  it,--!,-})-     London.     1744. 


Rev.  Charles  Wesley.  -j"] 

of  the  divines,  yet  seldom  realized  in  the  walk  and  conversation  of  ordi- 
nary mortals.  Youthful  and  inexperienced,  confiding  in  his  disposition, 
unsuspecting,  and  liable  to  be  imposed  upon  by  the  designing  and  the 
unscrupulous,  his  sympathies  were  not  infrequently  warmly  enlisted 
where  the  mature  judgment  of  one  better  informed  and  not  unacquainted 
with  the  wiles  of  his  fellow-men,  and  women  too,  would  have  suggested 
caution  and  reflection.  Fresh  from  the  shades  of  scholastic  life  he  was, 
without  preparation,  transplanted  into  the  midst  of  a  community  hetero- 
geneous in  its  character  and,  from  the  very  nature  of  its  composition 
and  situation,  largely  insensible  to  the  restraining  influences  of  civiliza- 
tion. Deeply  imbued  with  religious  sentiments,  and  intent  upon  the 
execution  of  his  evangelical  mission,  he  regarded  all  the  business  of  life 
as  wholly  subordinate  to  an  observance  of  the  rules  of  the  church  and 
the  exhibition  of  Christian  virtues.  Wherever  he  detected  a  deviation 
from  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  true  path  of  rectitude  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  rebuke  the  wanderer.  Fastidious  in  his  notions  of  right  and 
wrong,  with  ample  time  and  inclination  to  listen  to  the  disagreements 
existent  among  the  settlers,  often  misinformed  as  to  the  genuine  merits 
of  the  quarrel,  ignorant  of  the  true  mode  of  adjusting  it,  busying  him- 
self with  matters  which  properly  did  not  concern  him,  sometimes  inter- 
fering where  he  should  have  stood  aloof,  and  again  espousing  causes 
which,  upon  a  narrower  inspection,  should  not  have  enlisted  his  sympa- 
thies, in  his  efforts  to  promote  peace  and  advance  the  Christianity  of  the 
community  he  signally  failed,  and  drew  down  upon  himself  the  ill-will  of 
not  a  few. 

Oglethorpe,  on  the  other  hand,  burdened  with  the  cares  and  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  his  station,  commissioned  to  develop  and  guard  the  life 
of  the  colony,  confronting  engagements,  exposures,  and  dangers  enough 
to  oppress  the  stoutest  heart,  and  familiar  with  the  management  of  men 
and  weighty  affairs,  had  no  leisure  for  the  exhibition  of  idle  sentiment  or 
the  discussion  of  questions  of  casuistry.  With  trifling  evils  and  imagi- 
nary wrongs  he  could  not  pause  to  deal. 

These  two  men  viewed  the  situation  from  standpoints  widely  differ- 
ent. Oglethorpe  strove  to  fortify  the  hearts  and  the  homes  of  his  people 
so  that  they  might  constitute  an  insurmountable  barrier  to  the  threat- 
ened incursion  of  the  Spaniards.     While  not  indifferent  to  the  sogial  and 


78  History  of  Savannah. 


moral  tone  of  Frederica,  and  while  solicitous  that  religion  should  be 
upheld  and  the  ordinances  of  the  church  supported,  he  was  deeply  en- 
grossed in  the  building  of  houses,  the  construction  of  batteries,  the  accu- 
mulation of  supplies,  and  the  enforcement  of  police  and  military  regula- 
tions. At  this  remote  and  exposed  point  he  exacted  and  commanded 
prompt  obedience  from  all.  Clothed  with  the  amplest  powers  to  direct, 
his  measures  may  at  times  have  seemed  to  the  clergyman,  accustomed  to 
question,  arbitrary  and  perhaps  dictatorial.  The  situation  was  novel, 
and  the  ecclesiastic  brought  no  experience  to  assist  him  in  learning  the 
lesson  of  the  hour. 

As  has  been  suggested,  Mr.  Wesley  attempted  the  difficult  task  of 
reforming  what  he  regarded  as  improprieties  in  the  conduct  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Frederica,  and  of  reconciling  the  petty  jealousies  and  occasional 
disputes  in  which  they  indulged.  The  consequence  was  just  what  might 
reasonably  have  been  anticipated.  He  failed  in  his  object  and  incurred 
the  enmity  of  both  parties  at  variance.  Many  went  so  far  as  to  form 
plans  to  rid  the  town  of  his  presence.  Complaints  were  lodged  against 
him  with  General  Oglethorpe,  who,  instead  of  discountenancing  them 
and  demanding  for  his  secretary  and  clergyman  the  deference  and  re- 
spect due  to  his  station,  listened  too  readily  to  the  charges  preferred  and 
suffered  them  to  prejudice  his  mind  against  "  the  truly  amiable,  ingenu- 
ous, and  kind-hearted  minister."  Failing  to  interpret  leniently  his  well- 
meant  but  injudiciously  conducted  purposes,  and  omitting  to  caution  him 
in  a  friendly  way  against  the  commission  of  acts  prompted  by  inexpe- 
rience and  the  lack  of  worldly  wisdom,  he  treated  him  with  disdain  and 
neglect. 

The  apology  suggested  by  Mr.  Southey  for  this  conduct  on  the  part 
of  Oglethorpe  is,  perhaps,  the  most  plausible  which  can  be  offered.  The 
general,  who  had  causes  enough  to  disquiet  him,  arising  from  the  pre- 
carious state  of  the  colony,  was  teased  and  soured  by  the  complaints  urged 
against  Mr.  Wesley,  and  regretted  that  he  had  not  brought  with  him 
one  possessing  a  calmer  temper  and  a  more  practical  turn  of  mind.  "  I 
know  not  how  to  account  for  his  increasing  coldness,"  writes  Welsey  in 
speaking  of  his  intercourse  with  Oglethorpe.  His  accusers  noted  the 
change  which  had  been  produced  by  their  insinuations,  and  taking  ad- 
vantage of  it  manifested  more  openly  than  before  their  animosity  toward 


Rev.  Charles  Wesley.  79 


the  clergyman.  His  situation  was  now  most  unpleasant.  His  useful- 
ness was  gone.  Little  respect  was  extended  by  the  inhabitants  of  Fred 
erica.  Even  his  personal  safety  was  threatent  d.  All  friends,  except  Mr. 
Ingham,  had  seemingly  deserted  him.  He  was  even  charged  by  the  gen- 
eral with  mutiny  and  sedition,  and  with  stirring  up  the  peoph  to  desert 
the  colony.  This  Wesley  stoutly  denied  and  demanded  that  he  should 
be  confronted  face  to  face  with  his  accusers.  Upon  further  examination 
the  grave  suggestions  proved  to  be  unfounded.  This  Oglethrope  prac- 
tically admitted,  and  yet  outwardly  declined  to  come  to  a  reconciliation 
with  his  secretary,  who  still  continued  to  wait  upon  him  and  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  his  position. 

Mr.  Wesley  was  totally  unprepared  for  the  rough  mode  of  life  he 
experienced  on  the  southern  frontier.  He  had  brought  with  him  noth- 
ing save  his  clothes  and  books,  and  was  mortified  and  incensed  at  the 
failure  and  neglect  to  supply  him  with  necessary  comforts.  In  the  midst 
of  his  distresses  he  was  seized  with  a  fever  which  so  unnerved  him  that  he 
envied  the  quiet  grave  of  a  scout-boatman  who  had  just  died. 

In  an  hour  of  calm  reflection,  becoming  convinced  of  the  injustice 
shown  to  Mr.  Weslej',  General  Oglethorpe,  then  on  the  eve  of  setting  out 
upon  a  dangerous  expedition,  sent  for  his  secretary  and  thus  addressed 
him:  "You  will  soon  see  the  reasons  for  my  actions.  I  am  now  going  to 
death.      You  will  see  me  no  more.      Take  this  ring  and  carry  it  from  me 

to  Mr.  V .      If  there  is  a  friend  to  be  depended  upon,  he  is  one.      His 

interest  is  next  to  Sir  Robert's.  Whatever  you  ask  within  his  power  he 
will  do  for  you,  your  brother,  and  your  family.  I  have  expected  death 
for  some  days.  These  letters  show  that  the  Spainards  have  long  been 
seducing  our  allies,  and  intend  to  cut  us  off  at  a  blow.  I  fall  by  my 
friends: — Gascoigne  whom  I  have  made,  the  Carolina  people  upon  whom 
I  depended  to  send  their  promised  succors.  But  death  is  to  me  noth- 
ing.     T will  pursue  all  my  designs,  and  to  him  I  recommend  them 

and  you."  "He  then  gave  me,"  says  Mr.  Wesley,  "a  diamond  ring.  I 
took  it  and  said    '  If  as  I  believe, 

Postremum  fato  quod  te  alloquor,  hoc  est, 
hear  what  you  will  quickly  know  to  be  true  as  soon  as  you  are  entered 
upon  a  seperate  state.     This  ring  I  shall  never  make  any  use  of  for  my- 
self.     I    have  no  worldly  hopes.     I  have  renounced  the  world.     Life  is 


So  History  of  Savannah. 

bitterness  to  me.  I  came  hither  to  lay  it  down.  You  have  been  de- 
ceived as  well  as  I.  I  protest  my  innocence  of  the  crimes  I  am  charg- 
ed with,  and  take  myself  to  be  now  at  liberty  to  tell  you  what  I  thought 
I  should  never  have  uttered.'  [Then  follow  in  the  MS.  Journal  some 
lines  in  cipher.]  When  I  finished  this  relation  he  seemed  entirely  chang- 
ed, and  full  of  his  old  love  and  confidence  in  me.  After  some  expres- 
sions of  kindness,  I  asked  him  'Are  you  satisfied?'  He  replied  'Yes, 
entirely.'  '  Why  then  Sir,  I  desire  nothing  more  upon  earth,  and  care 
not  how  soon  I  follow  you.'  ....  He  then  embraced  and  kissed  me 
with  the  most  cordial  affection. 

I  attended  him  to  the  scout-  boat  where  he  waited  some  minutes  for  his 
sword.  They  brought  him  first,  and  a  second  time,  a  mourning  sword. 
At  last  they  gave  him  his  own  which  had  been  his  father's.  'With 
this  sword,'  said  he,  'I  was  never  yet  unsuccessful.'  '  I  hope,  sir,'  said  I, 
'you  carry  with  you  a  better,  even  the  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon.' 
'I  hope  so  too,' he  added.  When  the  boat  put  off,  I  ran  before  into 
the  woods  to  see  my  last  of  him.  Seeing  me  and  two  others  running  after 
him,  he  stopped  the  boat  and  asked  whether  we  wanted  anything.  Cap- 
tain Mcintosh,  left  commander,  desired  his  last  orders.  I  then  said  'God 
be  with  you.  Go  forth,  Christo  duce  et  auspice  Christo.'  You  have ' 
says  he,  '  I  think,  some  verses  of  mine.  You  there  see  my  thoughts  of 
of  success.'  His  last  words  to  his  people  were  '  God  bless  you  all.'  The 
boat  then  carried  him  out  of  sight."  ^ 

Thus  came  a  rilt  in  the  angry  skies  through  which  the  sunlight  of 
mutual  confidence  and  restored  friendship  descended  to  dispel  the  doubts 
and  gladden  the  hearts  of  the  general  and  his  secretary. 

Upon  Oglethorpe's  return  Wesley  met  him  at  the  bluff;  and,  in  the 
evening,  they  walked  together.  The  general  then  informed  him  of  the 
dangers  which  had  recently  threatened  the  colony.  Upon  giving  him 
back  his  ring  Wesley  remarked,  "  I  need  not,  Sir,  and  indeed  I  can  not  tell 
you  how  joyfully  and  thankfully  I  return  this."  "  When  I  gave  it  to  you," 
responded  Oglethorpe,  "I  never  expected  to  receive  it  again,  but  thought 
it  would  be  of  service  to  your  brother  and  you.  I  had  many  omens  ot 
my  death,  particularly  their  bringing  me  my  mourning  sword;  but  God 
has  been  pleased  to  preserve  a  life  which  was  never  valuable  to  me,  and  yet 

^Journal  of  the  Rev.  Charles  IVelsey,  vol.  i.  p.  p.  19,  20. 


Rev.  CSarLes  Wesley. 


in  the  continuance  of  it,  I  thank  God,  I  can  rejoice."  I  am  now  glad," 
replied  Wesley,  "  of  all  that  has  happened  here,  since  without  it  I  could 
never  have  had  such  a  proof  of  your  affection  as  that  you  gave  me  when 
you  looked  upon  me  as  the  most  ungrateful  of  Villains."  While  Wesley 
was  speaking,  the  general  appeared  full  of  tenderness  toward  him.  He 
condemned  himself  for  his  late  anger,  which  he  imputed  to  want  of  time 
for  consideration. 

"  The  next  day,"  continues  Wesley,  "  I  had  some  farther  talk  with  him. 
He  ordered  me  everything  he  could  think  I  wanted,  and  promised  to  have 
a  house  built  for  me  immediately.  He  was  just  the  same  to  me  he 
formerly  had  been."  Finding  that  the  secretary  was  restored  to  the  gen- 
eral's favor,  the  people  of  Frederica  became  on  the  instant  civil  and 
courteous. 

In  May,  1736,  Mr.  Wesley  took  leave  of  the  general,  having  been 
deputed  by  him  to  repair  to  Savannah  and  there  grant  licenses  to  the 
Indian  traders.  In  alluding  to  this  departure  from  Frederica  he  writes : 
"  I  was  overjo3ed  at  my  deliverance  out  of  this  furnace,  and  a  not  a  little 
ashamed  at  myself  for  being  so."  Persuaded  that  his  days  of  usefulness 
in  the  colony  were  ended,  and  purposing  a  return  to  England,  Mr. 
Wesley,  in  June,  resigned  his  commission.  In  discussing  this  matter  with 
him  General  Oglethorpe  said  :  "  I  would  you  not  let  the  trustees  know  your 
resolution  of  resigning.  There  are  many  hungry  fellows  ready  to  catch 
at  the  office ;  and,  in  my  absence,  I  cannot  put  in  one  of  my  own  choos- 
ing. The  best  I  can  hope  for  is  an  honest  Presbyterian,  as  many  of  the 
Trustees  are  such.  Perhaps  they  may  send  me  a  bad  man,  and  how  far 
such  a  one  may  influence  the  traders  and  obstruct  the  reception  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  heathen,  you  know.  I  shall  be  in  England  before 
you  leave  it.     Then  you  may  either  put  in  a  deputy  or  resign." 

Charged  with  dispatches  from  the  general  to  the  government,  the 
trustees,  and  the  board  of  trade,  Wesley  bade  adieu  to  Savannah,  and, 
after  a  tedious  and  dangerous  voyage  interrupted  by  a  deviation  to 
Boston,  at  which  port  the  vessel,  the  London  Galley,  was  compelled  to 
put  in  for  repairs  and  provisions,  went  ashore  at  Deal  on  the  3d  of 
December.  He  had  been  accompanied  to  Charlestown,  South  Carolina, 
whence  he  sailed,  by  his  brother  John.  At  the  time  of  his  departure  he 
was  greatly  enfeebled   by  a  bloody  flux  and  a  fever. 


82  History  of  Savannah. 

It  was  his  intention  to  return  to  Georgia ;  and  with  this  object  in 
view  he  retained  his  office  until  April,  1738.  While  then  recovering 
from  an  attack  of  pleurisy  he  was  notified  to  embark  for  the  province. 
His  physicians  forbade  him  to  undertake  the  journey.  He  accordingly 
renewed  his  resignation,  but  General  Oglethorpe,  "  unwilling  to  loose  so 
honest  and  faithful  an  officer,"  still  urged  him  to  retain  his  place,  promis- 
ing to  supply  it  with  a  deputy  until  he  was  "  sufficiently  recovered  to 
follow."  This  flattering  invitation  he  felt  constrained  to  decline.  In  the 
ensuing  month  his  resignation  was  accepted,  and  his  connection  with  the 
affairs  of  the  colony  terminated. 

It  is  worthy  of  remembrance  that  the  idea  of  founding  and  maintain- 
ing an  orphan  house  in  Georgia  was  first  suggested  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Whitefield  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Wesley. 

Upon  his  arrival  in  Georgia  the  Rev.  John  Wesley,  then  unknown  to 
fame,  but  at  a  later  period  regarded  as  the  "  greatest  figure  that  has  ap- 
peared in  the  religious  world  since  the  Reformation,"  accompanied  by 
his  friend  Delamotte,  became  a  resident  of  Savannah.  Although  com- 
missioned as  a  spiritual  adviser  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  town,  he  pre- 
ferred to  announce  and  to  regard  himself  rather  as  a  missionary  to  the 
Indians  than  as  a  minister  to  the  colonists.  Chafing  under  the  confine- 
ment incident  to-  the  discharge  of  his  clerical  duties  in  Savannah,  he 
declared,  "  I  never  promised  to  stay  here  one  month.  I  openly  stated, 
both  before  and  ever  since  my  coming  hither,  that  I  neither  would  nor 
could  take  charge  of  the  English  any  longer  than  till  I  could  go  among 
the  Indians."  His  ambition  was  to  convert  the  heathen.  .With  Tomo- 
chi-chi  he  had  an  interview  on  the  14th  of  February,  1736.  The  mico 
assured  him  that  although  the  Indians  were  perplexed  by  the  French  on 
the  one  hand,  by  the  Spaniards  on  the  other,  and  by  traders  in  their 
midst,  and  that  while  their  ears  were  now  shut  and  their  tongues  divided, 
he  would  call  his  chiefs  together  and  persuade  the  wise  men  of  his  nation 
to  hear  the  Great  Word.  He  cautioned  the  missionary  against  making 
Christians  after  the  fashion  in  which  they  were  manufactured  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  counseled  instruction  before  baptism.  Well  did  he  un- 
derstand that,  for  the  time  being,  the  presentation  of  a  string  of  beads  or 
of  a  silver  cross  would  suffice  to  seduce  the  native  from  the  primitive 
faith  in  which  he  had  been  reared,  but  in  such  conversion  he  reposed  no 


Rev.  John  Wesley.  83 


confidence.  The  conduct  of  white  Christians  impressed  him  unfavora- 
bly. Nevertheless  he  was  willing  to  afford  the  missionary  every  facility 
for  the  prosecution  of  his  contemplated  labors,  and  by  influence  and  ex- 
ample to  induce  others  to  hearken  to  his  teachings.  There  lurked,  how- 
ever, in  the  breast  of  the  mico  a  grave  doubt  as  to  the  success  of  the 
mission.  Mr.  Wesley's  reply,  ^  while  perhaps  just  in  the  abstract,  was 
little  calculated  to  win  the  confidence  or  encourage  the  sympathy  of  the 
chief;  "There  is  but  one  : — He  that  sitteth  in  Heaven, —  who  is  able  to 
teach  man  wisdom.  Tho'  we  are  come  so  far,  we  know  not  whether  He 
will  please  to  teach  you  by  us  or  no.  If  He  teaches  you,  you  will  learn 
Wisdom,  but  we  can  do  nothing." 

On  another  occasion,  when  urged  by  Mr.  Wesley  to  hearken  to  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  and  become  a  convert,  the  old  man  scornfully 
responded  :  "  Why  these  are  Christians  at  Savannah  !  Those  are  Chris- 
tians at  Frederica  !  Christians  drunk  !  Christians  beat  men  !  Chris- 
tians tell  lies!     Me  no  Christian." 

Upon  the  termination  of  a  pubHc  audience  with  the  Indians,  Mr. 
Wesley  and  Tomo-chi-chi  dined  with  Mr.  Oglethorpe.  The  meal  con- 
cluded, the  clergyman  asked  the  aged  mico  "  what  he  thought  he  was 
made  for."  "  He  that  is  above,"  replied  the  Indian,  "knows  what  He 
made  us  for.  We  know  nothing.  We  are  in  the  dark.  But  white  men 
know  much,  and  yet  white  men  build  great  houses  as  if  they  were  to  live 
forever.  But  white  men  cannot  live  forever.  In  a  little  time  white  men 
will  be  dust  as  well  as  I."  Wesley  responded,  "  If  red  men  will  learn  the 
Good  Book  they  may  know  as  much  as  white  men.  But  neither  we  nor 
you  can  understand  that  Book  unless  we  are  taught  by  Him  that  is 
above;  and  He  will  not  teach  unless  you  avoid  what  you  already  know 
is  not  good."  "  I  believe  that,"  said  the  chief  "  He  will  not  teach  us 
while  our  hearts  are  not  white,  and  our  men  do  what  they  know  is  not 
good.  Therefore,  He  that  is  above  does  not  send  us  the  Good  Book." 
In  these  sentiments  of  the  native  we  recognize  a  strange  commingling  of 
satire,  irony,  and  candor,  which  indicated  strength  in  an  apparent  confes- 
sion of  weakness,  evinced  knowledge  by  an  admission  of  ignorance,  and 
pointed  the  self-satisfied  clergyman  to  the  contemplation  of  that  stern 
decree  which  levels  both  small  and  great,  wise  and  foolish,  civilized  and 


lAn  Extract  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Wesley's  Journal,  etc.,  p.  ii.     Bristol,  n.  d, 


84  History  of  Savannah. 

savage,  remanding  the  mightiest  as  well  as  the  lowliest  to  one  common 
grave. 

In  Spence's  "  Anecdotes  "^  we  are  informed  that  in  a  conversation 
between  General  Oglethorpe  and  Tomo-chi-chi  in  regard  to  prayer,  the 
latter  said  the  Indians  never  prayed  to  God  but  left  it  with  Him  to  do 
what  He  thought  best  for  them  :  "  that  the  asking  for  any  particular 
blessing  looked  to  him  like  directing  God ;  and,  if  so,  that  it  must  be  a 
very  wicked  thing.  That  for  his  part  he  thought  everything  that  hap- 
pened in  the  world  was  as  it  should  be  ;  that  God  of  Himself  would  do 
for  every  one  what  was  consistent  with  the  good  of  the  whole ;  and  that 
our  duty  to  him  was  to  be  content  with  whatever  happened  in  general, 
and  thankful  for  all  the  good  that  happened  in  particular." 

In  this  conviction  the  Indian  was  not  singular.  Apollonius  frequently 
asserted  that  the  only  supplication  which  ought  to  be  offered  by  wor- 
shipers in  the  temples  of  the  gods  was  :  "  O  gods  !  grant  us  those  things 
which  you  deem  most  conducive  to  our  well-being."  Socrates,  that 
oracle  of  human  wisdom,  because  the  gods  who  were  accustomed  to 
bestow  favors  were  best  able  to  select  such  gifts  as  were  most  fit,  warned 
his  disciples  against  the  danger  and  impropriety  of  offering  petitions  for 
specific  things.  The  prayer,  "  O  Jupiter,  ea  qus  bona  sunt  nobis  oranti- 
bus,  aut  non  orantibus  tribue;  quae  vero  mala,  etiam  orantibus  ne  con- 
cede," has  been  more  than  once  in  the  school  of  the  philosophers  com- 
mended as  most  appropriate.  In  that  wonderful  satire  in  which  Juvenal, 
by  apt  examples,  portrays  the  ruinous  consequences  which  have  ensued 
where  the  gods  complied  with  the  expressed  desires  of  men,  it  will  be 
remembered  that  in  answer  to  the  inquiry, 
"  Nil  ergo  optabunt  homines  ?  " 

he  responds, — '■ 

.     .     "  Si  consilium  vis, 
Permittes  ipsis  expendere  numinibus  quid 
Conveniat  nobis,  rebusque  sit  utile  nobis."  ^ 

Epicurus  believed  that  invocations,  prayers,  and  sacrifices  were  super- 
fluous ;  that  in  all  the  accidents  and  difficulties  of  life  there  was  no  pro- 
priety in  having  recourse  to  the  gods,  or  in  prostrating  ourselves  before 

'  London  edition  of  1820,  p.  318. 
"  Tenth  Satire,  line  346  ei  seg. 


Rev.  John  Wesley.  8s 


their  altars ;  but  that  we  ought,  in  perfect  tranquility,  to  contemplate  all 
the  vicissitudes  of  life,  and,  without  emotion,  confront  the  changing  for- 
tunes which  might  befall  us. 

"  On  Tuesday,  the  20th  day  of  July,"  says  Mr.  Wesley  in  his  Journal, 
"  five  of  the  Chicasaw  Indians  (twenty  of  whom  had  been  in  Savannah 
several  days)  came  to  see  us,  with  Mr.  Andrews,  their  interpreter.  They 
were  all  warriors  ; — four  of  them  Head-men.  The  two  chiefs  were  Paus- 
toobee  and  Mingo  Mattaw.     Our  conference  was  as  follows : 

"  Q.   Do  you  believe  there  is  One  above  who  is  over  all  things  ? 

Paustoobee  answered  :  "  We  believe  there  are  four  Beloved  Things 
above ;  the  Clouds,  the  Sun,  the  Clear  Sky,  and  He  that  lives  in  the 
Clear  Sky. 

"  Q.   Do  you  believe  there  is  but  One  that  lives  in  the  Clear  Sky  ? 

"A.  We  believe  there  are  two  with  him, — three  in  all. 

"  Q:  Do  you  think  He  made  the  Sun  and  the  other  Beloved  Things  ? 

"  A.  We  cannot  tell.     Who  hath  seen  ? 

"  Q.  Do  you  think  he  made  you  ? 

"  A.  We  think  He  made  all  men  at  first. 

"  Q.   How  did  he  make  them  at  first  ? 

"  A.   Out  of  the  ground. 

"  Q.  Do  you  believe  He  loves  you  ? 

"  A.   I  don't  know.     I  cannot  see  him. 

"  Q.   But  has  He  not  often  saved  your  life  ? 

"A.  He  has.  Many  bullets  have  gone  on  this  side  and  many  on 
that  side,  but  he  would  not  let  them  hurt  me.  And  many  bullets  have 
gone  into  these  young  Men,  and  yet  they  are  alive. 

"  Q.  Then,  can't  He  save  you  from  your  enemies  now  ? 

"  A.  Yes  ;  but  we  know  not  if  He  will.  We  have  now  so  many 
enemies  round  about  us  that  I  think  of  nothing  but  death.  And  if  I  am 
to  die,  I  shall  die,  and  I  will  die  like  a  man.  But  if  He  will  have  me  to 
live,  I  shall  live.     Tho'  I  had  ever  so  many  enemies,  he  can  destroy  them 

all. 

"  Q.   How  do  you  know  that  ? 

"  A.  From  what  I  have  seen.  When  our  enemies  came  against  us 
before,  then  the  Beloved  Clouds  came  for  us.  And  often  much  rain  and 
sometimes  hail  has  come  upon  them,  and  that  in  a  very  hot  day.     And 


86  History  of  Savannah. 

I  saw  when  many  French  and  Choctaws  and  other  nations  came  against 
one  of  our  towns.  And  the  ground  made  a  noise  under  them,  and  the 
Beloved  Ones  in  the  air  behind  them.  And  they  were  afraid  and  went 
away,  and  left  their  meat  and  drink  and  their  guns.  I  tell  no  lie.  All 
these  saw  it,  too. 

"  Q.   Have  you  heard  such  noises  at  other  times  ? 

"A.   Yes,  often  ;  before  and  after  almost  every  battle. 

"  Q.  What  sort  of  Noises  were  they  ? 

"A.  Like  the  noise  of  drums  and  guns  and  shouting. 

"  Q.   Have  you  heard  any  such  lately  ? 

"  A.  Yes,  four  days  after  our  last  battle  with  the  French. 

"  Q.  Then  you  heard  nothing  before  it  ? 

"A.  The  night  before  I  dream'd  I  heard  many  drums  up  there,  and 
many  trumpets  there,  and  much  stamping  of  feet  and  shouting.  Till 
then  I  thought  we  should  all  die.  But  then  I  thought  the  Beloved  Ones 
were  come  to  help  us.  And  the  next  day  I  heard  above  a  hundred  guns 
go  off  before  the  fight  begun.  And  I  said  when  the  Sun  is  there  the  Be- 
loved Ones  will  help  us,  and  we  shall  conquer  our  Enemies.  And  we 
did  so. 

"  Q.  Do  you  often  think  and  talk  of  the  Beloved  Ones? 

"A.  We  think  of  them  always,  wherever  we  are.  We  talk  of  them 
and  to  them,  at  home  and  abroad,  in  peace,  in  war,  before  and  after  we 
fight,  and  indeed  whenever  and  wherever  we  meet  together. 

"  Q-  Where  do  you  think  your  souls  go  after  death  ? 

"  A.  We  believe  the  Souls  of  Red  Men  walk  up  and  down  near  the 
place  where  they  died,  or  where  their  bodies  lie.  For  we  have  often 
heard  cries  and  noises  near  the  place  where  any  prisoners  had  been 
burnt. 

"  Q.  Where  do  the  Souls  of  White  Men  go  after  death  ? 

"A.  We  can't  tell.     We  have  not  seen. 

"  Q.  Our  belief  is  that  the  souls  of  bad  men  only  walk  up  and  down : 
but  the  souls  of  good  men  go  up. 

"A.  I  beheve  so  too.     But  I  told  you  the  talk  of  the  nation. 

"{Mr.  Andrews.    They  said  at  the  burying^  they  knew  what  you  were 

I  Some  days  previously  a  young  woman  had  been  buried  in  Savannah,  and  these  In- 
dians were  present  at  the  funeral. 


Rev.  John  WesleV.       -  87 


doing.  You  were  speaking  to  the  Beloved  Ones  above  to  take  up  the 
soul  of  the  young  woman.) 

"  Q-  We  have  a  Book  that  tells  us  many  things  of  the  Beloved  One 
above.     Would  you  be  glad  to  know  them? 

"A.  We  have  no  time  now  but  to  fight.  If  we  should  ever  be  at  peace 
we  should  be  glad  to  know. 

Q.   Do  you  expect  ever  to  know  what  the  White  Men  know  ? 

"{Mr.  Andrews.  They  told  Mr.  O.  they  believe  the  time  will  come 
when  the  Red  and  the  White  Men  will  be  one.) 

"  Q.  What  do  the  French  teach  you  ? 

"  A.  The  French  Black-Kings^  never  go  out.  We  see  you  go  about. 
We  like  that. ,  That  is  good. 

" Q.   How  came  your  nation  by  the  knowledge  they  have? 

"A.  As  soon  as  ever  the  Ground  was  found  and  fit  to  stand  upon,  it 
came  to  us,  and  has  been  with  us  ever  since.  But  we  are  young  men. 
Our  old  men  know  more.  But  all  of  them  do  not  know.  There  are  but 
a  few  whom  the  Beloved  One  chuses  from  a  child,  and  is  in  them,  and 
takes  care  of  them,  and  teaches  them.  They  know  these  things:  and  our 
old  men  practice:  therefore  they  know:  But  I  don't  practice.  Therefore 
I  know  little. "2 

So  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  further  conferences  between  Mr.  Wesley 
and  the  Indians  were  infrequent  and  unaccompanied  by  any  valuable  re- 
sults. Ignorant  of  their  language,  and  unable  to  command  an  interpre- 
ter through  whom  the  mysteries  of  bis  faith  might  be  intelligently  com- 
municated, Mr.  Wesley  found  his  cherished  scheme  for  the  conversion  of 
the  Indians  impracticable.  He  was  forced  to  abandon  it  and  to  devote 
himself  to  clerical  labors  among  the  Europeans. 

His  first  impressions  of  Savannah  were  happy.  Writing  to  his  mother 
he  says,  "The  place  is  pleasant  beyond  imagination,  and  by  all  I  can 
learn,  exceeding  healthful  even  in  Summer  for  those  who  are  not  intem- 
perate." He  desires  that  some  of  the  poor  and  religious  persons  of  Ep- 
worth  and  Wroote  would  come  over  to  him.     Although  his  parishioners 


'  Priests. 

-'  An  Extract  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Wesley's  Journal,  pp.  26-28.     Bristol,  n.  d. 


HIstorV  of  Savannah. 


numbered  some  seven  hundred,^  there  being  no  church  edifice,  religious 
services  were  held  in  the  court-house.  His  scholarly  attainments,  earnest 
manner,  and  well-considered  discourses  at  first  attracted  the  favorable 
notice  of  the  community.  So  popular  was  he  then  as  a  preacher  that,  a 
public  ball  and  religious  exercises  being  announced  for  the  same  hour, 
"tne  church  was  full,  while  the  ball-room  was  so  empty  that  the  enter- 
tainment could  not  go  forward." 

Contrasting  his  agreeable  surroundings  with  the  trials  which  his 
brother  Charles  was  experiencing  at  Frederica,  he  exclaims,  "  How  dif- 
ferent are  the  ways  wherein  we  are  led  ;  yet  I  hope  toward  the  same  end. 
I  have  hitherto  had  no  opposition  at  all;  all  is  smooth  and  fair  and  prom- 
ising. Many  seem  to  be  awakened  ;  all  are  full  of  respect  and  commen- 
dation. We  cannot  see  any  cloud  gathering;  but  this  calm  cannot  last; 
storms  must  come  hither  too  ;  and  let  them  come  when  we  are  ready  to 
meet  them." 

His  friend  Delamotte  had  organized  a  school  of  between  thirty  and 
forty  children  whom  he  taught  to  "read,  write,  and  cast  accounts."  Every 
Saturday  afternoon,  and  on  the  Lord's  day  before  the  evening  service,  Mr. 
Wesley  catechised  these  pupils.  Thus  was  inaugurated  the  first  Sunday- 
school  in  the  province  of  Georgia. 

As  many  of  his  parishioners  as  desired  to  do  so  met  at  his  house  after 
the  evening  service,  and  also  on  every  Wednesday  afternoon  to  "spend 
about  an  hour  in  prayer,  singing,  and  mutual  exhortation."  This  was 
the  earliest  series  of  prayer- meetings  held  in  the  colony  ;  and  here,  in  the 
modest  and  scantily  furnished  reception  room  of  the  parsonage  in  Savan- 
nah, was  cradled  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  destined  to  become 
one  of  the  most  potent  societies  among  the  Protestant  denominations  of 
the  world. 2 


'  In  July,  1737,  Mr.  Wesley  took  a  census  of  Savannah  by  going  from  house  to 
house,  and  computed  the  number  of  inhabitants  at  518,  of  whom  149  were  under  six- 
teen years  of  age.     The  rest  of  his  parishioners  dwelt  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  town. 

=  Mr.  Wesley  thus  interprets  the  rise  of  Methodism  :  "Theiirst  rise  of  Methodism 
was  in  1729,  when  four  of  us  met  together  at  Oxford.  The  second  was  at  Savannah  in 
1736,  when  twenty  or  thirty  persons  met  at  my  house.  The  last  was  at  London  on  this 
day,  May  ist,  1738,  when  forty  or  fifty  of  us  agreed  to  meet  together  every  Wednesday 
Evening." 


Rev.  John  Wesley.  89 


With  the  Moravian  bishop,  Nitschman,  he  associated  on  terms  of  the 
closest  and  tenderest  intimacy.  Truly  did  he  admire  his  simple  faith,  un- 
ostentatious piety,  his  quiet  demeanor,  his  stern  integrity,  his  irreproach- 
able character.  It  was  most  agreeable  to  him  to  commune  with  the 
members  of  that  sect  and  to  minister  to  them  in  seasons  of  siclcne.ss  and 
distress.  His  clerical  engagements  at  Savannah  were  occasionally  inter- 
rupted by  visits  to  Frederica.  There  he  found  "  so  little  either  of  the 
form  or  power  of  religion"  that  he  expresses  his  joy  in  being  "  removed 
from  it." 

Despite  his  earnestness  and  regularity  in  the  discharge  of  his  priestly 
ministrations,  his  labors  ceased  to  be  crowned  with  the  success  which  at 
the  outset  of  his  career  waited  upon  them,  and  he  clearly  perceived  that 
his  popularity  both  as  a  preacher  and  as  a  spiritual  adviser  was  manifestly 
on  the  wane.  Persuaded  that  his  whole  heart  was  in  his  work,  he  was  at 
a  loss  to  account  for  these  distressing  indications,  which  daily  grew  more 
decided. 

Observing  much  coolness  in  the  behavior  of  one  who  had  professed 
friendship  for  him,  Mr.  Wesley  demanded  the  reason,  and  was  answered 
on  this  wise :  "  I  like  nothing  you  do;  all  your  sermons  are  satires  upon 
particular  persons.  Therefore  I  will  never  hear  you  more  :  and  all  the 
people  are  of  my  mind,  for  we  won't  hear  ourselves  abused.  Besides, 
they  say  they  are  Protestants,  but  as  for  you  they  can't  tell  what  relig- 
ion you  are  of.  They  never  heard  of  such  a  religion  before.  They  do 
not  know  what  to  make  of  it.  And  then  your  private  behavior  :  all  the 
quarrels  that  have  been  here  since  you  came  have  been  long  of  you.  In- 
deed there  is  neither  man  nor  woman  in  the  town  who  minds  a  word  you 
say;  and  so  you  may  preach  long  enough,  but  nobody  will  come  to  hear 

you." 

Many  took  offense  at  his  rigid  adherence  to  the  custom  of  baptism  by 
immersion.  In  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  he  would  admit  no 
Dissenter  to  the  Communion  unless  he  consented  to  be  re  baptized.  He 
insisted  upon  dividing  the  public  prayers  "  according  to  the  original  ap- 
pointment of  the  Church  ; "  beginning  the  morning  prayers  at  five,  the 
litany.  Communion  office,  and  sermon  at  eleven,  and  the  evening  service 
at  three.  He  was  also  charged  with  a  design  to  establish  auricular  con- 
fession as  a  prerequisite  to  admission  to  the  privileges  of  the  Holy  Com- 
12 


90  History  of  Savannah. 

munion.  Forgetting  the  injunctions  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Burton,  so  exces- 
sive was  his  zeal  in  the  advocacy  of  favorite  doctrinal  views  and  in  the  de- 
nunciation of  evil,  that  he  moulded  his  discourses  so  that  they  became 
caustic  satires  not  only  upon  the  condition  of  affairs  but  upon  the  con- 
duct of  individuals.  His  rebukes  and  corrections  were  pungently  admin- 
istered alike  in  private  and  in  public.  He  was  on  all  occasions  a  censor 
morum,  and  his  criticisms  were  passed  equally  upon  magistrate,  citizen, 
and  church  member.  Instead  of  drawing  men  by  the  cords  of  love,  he 
ahenated  them  by  his  denunciations  and  applied  strictures.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  another,  he  "  drenched  them  with  the  physic  of  an  intolerant 
discipline."  Overstepping  the  limits  which  should  be  observed  at  all 
times  by  a  clergyman,  he  busied  himself  with  the  quarrels  and  complaints 
of  the  town,  and  in  open  court  counseled  the  inhabitants  to  oppose  the 
magistrates  in  the  execution  of  justice. ^ 

Such  unusual  conduct  angered  the  people,  and  gradually  they  dis- 
continued their  attendance  upon  divine  worship.  Wesley  lost  the  power 
which  he  at  first  exerted  over  the  consciences  of  the  populace.  He  alien- 
ated the  affections  of  his  hearers,  and  in  the  end  became  convinced  that 
he  was  accomplishing  little  in  the  service  of  his  Master,  Not  long  after- 
wards, in  reviewing  this  period  of  his  life,  so  unsatisfactory  in  its  efforts 
and  so  replete  with  trials  and  disappointments,  he  freely  confessed  that 
he  who  went  to  America  to  convert  others  was  then  himself  unconverted 
to  God  ;2  that  all  the  time  he  was  in  Savannah  he  was  "beating  the  air," 
"  fighting  continually  but  not  conquering,"  and  failing  to  appreciate  the 
loving  kindness  of  the  Lord. 

He  who  at  subsequent  period 

"  Filled  the  earth  with  golden  fruit, 
With  ripe  millennial  love," 

was  the  prolific  cause  of  unrest,  and  almost  an  object  of  hatred  in  the 
community. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Wesley  enjoyed  wonderful  health.  His  constitution 
seemed  to  improve  under  hardships  and  labors  which  would  have  im- 
paired the  stoutest  physical  powers.      Of  the  three  hundred   acres  set 

1  Stephen's  Journal  of  Proceedings,  \6\.\.,  ■p.  15.     London,     mdccxlii. 
'  Extract  of  the  Jour>ial  of  the  Rev,  Mr.  John  Wesley,  p.  73.     Bristol,  n.  d. 


Rev.  John  Wesley.  91 


apart  in  Savannah  for  glebe  land,  he  cut  off  what  he  deemed  sufficient  for 
a  good  garden,  and  there  he  frequently  worked  with  his  own  hands.  He 
ate  moderately,  slept  little,  and  left  not  a  moment  of  his  time  unem- 
ployed. To  the  changing  seasons,  and  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  he  ex- 
posed himself  with  the  utmost  indifference.  His  journeys  into  South 
Carolina  were  sometimes  performed  on  foot,  and  with  no  shelter  at  night 
save  the  friendly  boughs  of  a  tree.  His  energy,  resolution,  self-denial, 
and  endurance  were  at  all  times  conspicuous. 

The  circumstances  which  brought  the  usefulness  and  services  of  Mr. 
Wesley  as  a  clergyman  in  Savannah  to  an  abrupt  and  a  notorious  con- 
clusion may  be  thus  briefly  narrated.  With  Mr.  Causton,  the  chief  bai- 
liff and  keeper  of  the  public  stores,  and  with  the  members  of  his  family, 
the  missionary  associated  on  friendly  terms.  Miss  Sophia  Hopkins,  a 
niece  of  Mrs.  Causton,  and  a  young  woman  of  uncommon  personal  and 
intellectual  charms,  had  been  his  pupil.  He  gave  her  French  lessons. 
Under  his  religious  ministrations  she  became  a  professed  convert  and 
united  herself  with  the  church.  It  would  appear  that  this  constant  asso- 
ciation with  a  pretty,  fascinating  maiden  eventually  excited  tender  emo- 
tions in  the  breast  of  the  youthful  and  susceptible  ecclesiastic.  He  was 
evidently  on  the  eve  of  declaring  his  affection  when  his  friend,  Mr.  Del- 
amotte,  excited  his  apprehensions  by  expressing  doubts  in  regard  to  the 
sincerity  of  Miss  Hopkin's  religious  convictions.  He  also  cautioned  him 
against  cherishing  or  avowing  too  fond  an  attachment  for  her.  Taking 
counsel  of  the  Moravian  elders,  they  advised  him  not  to  contemplate  a 
matrimonial  alliance  with  her.  Thus  admonished,  Mr.  Wesley  became 
more  guarded  in  his  conduct  and  more  reserved  in  his  intercourse.  Per- 
ceiving the  change  in  his  deportment.  Miss  Hopkins  was  piqued,  morti- 
fied, and  angered.  Something  closely  resembling  a  rupture  ensued;  and, 
not  long  afterwards,  this  charming  and  coquettish  young  lady  gave  her 
hand  to  a  Mr.  Williamson. 

A  few  months  subsequent  to  her  marriage  Mr.  Wesley  "observed 
some  things  which  he  thought  reprovable  in  her  behavior."  He  men- 
tioned them  to  her.  "At  this,"  writes  that  clergymen  in  his  Journal, 
"  She  appeared  extremely  angry  and  said  she  did  not  expect  such  usage 
from  me."  The  next  day  Mrs  Causton  made  excuses  for  her  niece,  and 
expressed  much  regret  at  what  had  transpired. 


gi  History  of  Savannas. 


Having  afier  the  lapse  of  a  few  weeks,  "  repelled  Mrs.   Williamson 
from  the  Holy  Communion,"  Mr.  Wesley  was  arrested  under  the  follow- 
ing warrant  issued  by  the  recorder: 
"  Georgia.    Savannah,     s.  s. 

"  To  all  Constables,  Tythingmen,  and  others  whom  these  may  concern  : 

"You  and  each  of  you  are  hereby  required  to  take  the  body  of  John 
Wesley,  Clerk  :  and  bring  him  before  one  of  the  Bailiffs  of  the  said  Town 
to  answer  the  complaint  of  William  Williamson  and  Sophia  his  wife,  for 
defaming  the  said  Sophia,  and  refusing  to  administer  to  her  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  a  publick  Congregation  without  cause,  by 
which  the  said  William  Williamson  is  damaged  One  Thousand  Pounds 
Sterling.  And  for  so  doing  this  is  your  Warrant,  certifying  what  you  are 
to  do  in  the  premises. 

"Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  the  8th  day  of  Aug:  Anno.  Dom : 
1737.  Th"  Christie." 

By  Jones,  the  constable,  he  was  carried  before  the  recorder  and  bail- 
iff Parker.  Williamson  was  there.  To  the  charge  that  he  had  defamed 
his  wife,  Mr.  Wesley  entered  a  prompt  and  emphatic  denial.  As  to  the 
other  allegation,  he  answered  that  "the  giving  or  refusing  the  Lord's 
Supper  being  a  matter  purely  ecclesiastical,"  he  would  not  acknowledge 
any  power  in  the  magistrate  to  interrogate  him  in  regard  to  it.  Mr.  Par- 
ker informed  him  that  he  must  appear  before  the  next  court  to  be  holden 
for  Savannah.  Mr.  Williamson  then  said,  "Gentlemen,  I  desire  Mr.  Wes- 
ley may  give  bail  for  his  appearance."  But  Mr.  Parker  immediately  re- 
fused the  application,  with  the  remark,  "  Sir,  Mr.  Wesley's  word  is  suffi- 
cient." 

Causton  required  that  the  reasons  which  induced  Mr.  Wesley  to  repel 
Mrs.  Williamson  from  the  Holy  Communion  should  be  assigned  in  open 
court.  To  this  demand  the  clergyman  declined  to  accede.  On  the  sec- 
ond day  after  the  arrest  Mr.  Causton  visited  Mr.  Wesley  at  his  house,  and 
after  some  sharp  words  said,  "  Make  an  end  of  this  matter.  Thou  hadst 
best.  My  Niece  to  be  used  thus  !  I  have  drawn  the  sword  and  I  will 
never  sheath  it  till  I  have  satisfaction."  "  Soon  after,"  so  runs  Mr.  Wes- 
ley's diary,  "  he  added,  'Give  the  reasons  of  your  repelling  her  before  the 
whole  congregation.'  I  answered,  'Sir,  if  you  insist  upon  it  I  will,  and 
so  you  may  be  pleased  to  tell  her.'  He  said  'write  to  her  and  tell  her  so 
yourself     I  said,  '  I  will,'  and  after  he  went  I  wrote  as  follows  : 


Rev.  John  Wesley.  93 


"To  Mrs.  Sophia  Williamson. 

"At  Mr.  Causton's  request  I  write  once  more.  The  Rules  whereby  I 
proceed  are  these : 

"So  many  as  intend  to  be  Partakers  of  the  Holy  Communion  shall  sig- 
nify their  names  to  the  Curate  at  least  some  time  the  day  before.  This 
you  did  not  do. 

"And  if  any  of  these have  done  any  wrong  to  his  Neighbors,  by 

word  or  deed,  so  that  the  Congregation  be  thereby  ofifended,  the  Curate 
shall  advertise  him  that  in  any  wise  he  presume  not  to  come  to  the  Lord's 
Table  until  he  hath  openly  declared  himself  to  have  truly  repented.  If 
you  offer  yourself  at  the  Lord's  Table  on  Sunday,  I  will  advertise  you  (as 
I  have  done  more  than  once)  wherein  you  have  done  wrong.  And  when 
you  have  openly  declared  yourself  to  have  truly  repented,  I  will  admin- 
ister to  you  the  Mysteries  of  God.  John  WesLEY. 

"Aug.  II,  1737. 

"  Mr.  Delamotte  carrying  this  Mr.  Causton  remarked,  among  other 
warm  sayings,  '  I  am  the  person  that  am  injured.  The  affront  is  offered 
to  me,  and  I  will  espouse  the  cause  of  my  Niece.  I  am  ill-used,  and  I  will 
have  satisfaction  if  it  is  to  be  had  in  the  world.' 

"Which  way  this  satisfaction  was  to  be  had,  I  did  not  yet  conceive. 
But  on  Friday  and  Saturday  it  began  to  appear ;  Mr.  Causton  declaring 
to  many  persons  that  Mr.  Wesley  had  repelled  Sophy  from  the  Holy 
Communion  purely  out  of  revenge,  because  he  had  made  proposals  of 
marriage  to  her  which  she  rejected  and  married  Mr.  Williamson." 

Having  thoroughly  espoused  the  cause  of  his  niece,  Mr.  Causton  set 
about  stirring  up  the  public  mind  and  endeavored  to  create  a  general 
sentiment  adverse  to  Mr.  Wesley.  He  even  busied  himself  with  the  selec- 
tion of  jurors  whose  sympathies  were  in  unison  with  his  own.  Persuaded 
by  him,  Mrs.  Williamson  made  an  affidavit,  full  of  insinuations,  in  which 
she  asserted  "that  Mr.  Wesley  had  many  times  proposed  marriage  to  her, 
all  which  proposals  she  had  rejected." 

When  the  grand  jury  was  impaneled,  it  was  manifest  that  Causton 
had  much  to  do  with  its  composition.  Forty- four  members  were  pres- 
ent, and  among  them  Wesley  noted  one  Frenchman,  who  did  not  under- 
stand the  English  language,  a  Papist,  a  professed  infidel,  three  Baptists, 
sixteen  or  seventeen  Dissenters,  and  several  persons  who  had  quarreled 
with  him  and  openly  vowed  revenge. 


94  History  of  Savannas. 

The  court  being  organized  on  Monday  the  22d,  Mr.  Causton  deliv- 
ered a  long  and  earnest  charge,  in  which  he  cautioned  the  jurymen  "to 
beware  of  spiritual  tyranny,  and  to  oppose  the  new  and  illegal  authority 
which  was  usurped  over  their  consciences."  The  chief  bailiff,  uncle  by 
marriage  to  the  complainant,  was  playing  the  double  role  of  judge  and 
prosecuting  attorney.  Mrs.  Williamson's  affidavit  having  been  read, 
Causton  delivered  to  the  grand  jury  a  paper  entitled  "  A  List  of  Griev- 
ances presented  by  the  Grand  Jury  for  Savannah,  this day  of  Aug., 

1 737-"     It  had  evidently  been  prepared  under  his  direction,  and  was  de 
signed  to  mould  in  advance  the  finding  of  that  body.     After  holding  this 
document  under  advisement  for  more  than  a  week,  and  after  the  exami- 
nation of  sundry  witnesses,  the  jury  on  the  1st  of  September  returned  that 
paper  into  court.     As  modified  by  a  majority,  it  read  as  follows : 

"  That  John  Wesley,  Clerk,  hath  broken  the  Laws  of  the  Realm,  con- 
trary to  the  Peace  of  our  Sovereign  Lord  the  King,  his  Crown  and 
Dignity : 

"  I.  By  speaking  and  writing  to  Mrs.  Williamson  against  her  hus- 
band's consent; 

"  2.   By  repelling  her  from  the  Holy  Communion ; 

"  3.   By  not  declaring  his  Adherence  to  the  Church  of  England  ; 

"4.   By  dividing  the  Morning  Service  on  Sundays; 

"  5.  By  refusing  to  baptize  Mr.  Parker's  child  otherwise  than  by  dip- 
ping, except  the  parents  would  certify  it  was  weak  and  not  able  to  bear  it; 

"  6.   By  RepelHng  Wm.  Gough  from  the  Holy  Communion ; 

"7.  By  refusing  to  read  the  Burial-service  over  the  body  of  Nathaniel 
PolhiU ; 

"  8.   By  calling  himself  Ordinary  of  Savannah  ; 

"  9.  By  refusing  to  receive  Wm.  Aglionby  as  a  God-father  only  be- 
cause he  was  not  a  communicant ; 

"  10.  By  refusing  Jacob  Matthews  for  the  same  reason,  and  baptizing 
an  Indian  Trader's  Child  with  only  two  sponsors." 

Nine  of  these  charges  being  purely  ecclesiastical  in  their  character, 
Mr.  Wesley  insisted  that  the  present  court  could  take  no  cognizance  of 
them.  As  to  the  rest  of  the  indictment  he  pleaded  not  guilty  and  de- 
manded an  immediate  trial.  Again  and  again  did  he  press  for  a  hearing, 
which  was  denied  upon  some  frivolous  pretext  or  other,  such,  for  exam- 


Rev.  John  Wesley.  95 


pie,  as  that  "Mr.  Williamson  was  gone  out  of  town."  So  malevolent  was 
the  spirit  moving  the  parties  preferring  these  charges  against  Mr.  Wes- 
ley that  with  a  view  to  damaging  his  clerical  reputation  far  and  near  they 
caused  the  indictment  found  by  a  majority  of  the  grand  jury  to  be  pub- 
lished in  various  newspapers  in  America. 

Mr.  Wesley  had  openly  avowed  a  desire  to  answer  directly  to  the 
trustees.  Twelve  of  the  jurors,  three  of  them  being  constables  and  six 
tithing- men,  who  would  constitute  a  majority  had  that  body  been  prop- 
erly constituted  of  four  constables  and  eleven  tithing-men,  signed  the 
following  document  which  was  transmitted  in  due  course : 
"  To  the  Honorable  the  Trustees  for  Georgia. 

"Whereas  two  Presentments  have  been  made,  the  one  of  August  23rd, 
the  other  of  August  31st,  by  the  Grand  Jury  for  the  Town  and  County 
of  Savannah  in  Georgia,  against  John  Wesley,  Clerk : 

"We,  whose  names  are  underwritten,  being  Members  of  the  said  Grand 
Jury,  do  humbly  beg  leave  to  signify  our  dislike  of  the  sajd  Presentments, 
being  by  many  and  divers  circumstances  thro'ly  persuaded  in  ourselves 
that  the  whole  charge  against  Mr,  Wesley  is  an  artifice  of  Mr.  Causton's, 
design'd  rather  to  blacken  the  character  of  Mr.  Wesley  than  to  free  the 
Colony  from  Religious  Tyranny  as  he  was  pleased  in  his  charge  to  us  to 
term  it.  But  as  these  circumstances  will  be  too  tedious  to  trouble  your 
Honors  with,  we  shall  only  beg  leave  to  give  the  Reasons  of  our  Dissent 
from  the  particular  Bills. 

"  With  regard  to  the  First  Bill  we  do  not  apprehend  that  Mr.  Wesley 
acted  against  any  laws  by  writing  or  speaking  to  Mrs.  Williamson,  since 
it  does  not  appear  to  us  that  the  said  Mr.  Wesley  has  either  spoke  in 
private  or  wrote  to  the  said  Mrs.  Williamson  since  March  12  [the  day 
of  her  marriage]  except  one  letter  of  July  the  Sth,  which  he  wrote  at  the 
request  of  her  aunt,  as  a  Pa.stor,  to  exhort  and  reprove  her. 

"  The  Second  we  do  not  apprehend  to  be  a  true  Bill  because  we  hum- 
bly conceive  Mr.  Wesley  did  not  assume  to  himself  any  authority  con- 
trary to  Law:  for  we  understand  every  person  intending  to  communicate 
should  '  signify  his  name  to  the  Curate  at  least  some  time  the  day 
before,'  which  Mrs.  Williamson  did  not  do:  aJtho'  Mr.  Welsey  had  often, 
in  full  congregation,  declared  he  did  insist  on  a  compliance  with  that 
Rubrick,  and  had  before  repell'd  divers  person  for  non-compliance  there- 
with. 


96  History  of  Savannah. 

"The  Third  we  do  not  think  a  True  Bill  because  several  of  us  have 
been  his  hearers  when  he  has  declared  his  adherence  to  the  Church  ol 
England  in  a  stronger  manner  than  by  a  formal  Declaration;  by  explain- 
ing and  defending  the  Apostles',  the  Nicene,  and  the  Athanasian  Creeds, 
the  Thirty  Nine  Articles,  the  whole  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  the 
Homilies  of  the  said  Church:  and  because  we  think  a  formal  Declaration 
is  not  required  but  from  those  who  have  receiv'd  Institution  and  Induction. 

"The  Fact  alleged  in  the  Fourth  Bill  we  cannot  apprehend  to  be  con- 
trary to  any  law  in  being. 

"The  Fifth  we  do  not  think  a  true  Bill,  because  we  conceive  Mr. Wes- 
ley is  justified  by  the  Rubrick,  viz  :  '  If  they  (the  Parents)  certify  that  the 
child  is  weak,  it  shall  suffice  to  pour  water  upon  it':  intimating  (as  we 
humbly  suppose)  it  shall  not  suffice  if  they  do  not  certify. 

"  The  Sixth  cannot  be  a  true  Bill  because  the  said  William  Gough, 
being  one  of  our  members,  was  surprized  to  hear  himself  named  without 
his  knowledge  or  privity,  and  did  publickly  declare  '  It  was  no  griev- 
ance to  him,  because  the  said  John  Wesley  had  given  him  reasons  with 
which  he  was  satisfied.' 

"  The  Seventh  we  do  not  apprehend  to  be  a  true  Bill,  for  Nathaniel 
Polhill  was  an  Anabaptist,  and  desir'd  in  his  life-time  that  he  might  not 
be  interr'd  with  the  Office  of  the  Church  of  England.  And  further,  we 
have  good  reason  to  believe  that  Mr.  Wesley  was  at  Frederica,  or  on  his 
return  thence,  when  Polhill  was  buried. 

"As  to  the  Eighth  Bill  we  are  in  doubt,  as  not  well  knowing  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  Ordinary.  But,  for  the  Ninth  and  Tenth  we  think  Mr. 
Wesley  is  sufficiently  justified  by  the  Canons  of  the  Church  which  forbid 
any  person  to  be  admitted  Godfather  or  Godmother  to  any  child  before 
the  said  person  has  received  the  Holy  Communion  ;  whereas  William 
Aglionby  and  Jacob  Matthews  had  never  certified  Mr.  Wesley  that  they 
had  received  it." 

Perceiving  that  he  could  obtain  neither  justice  nor  even  a  hearing 
from  the  town  court  in  Savannah,  persuaded  that  there  was  no  possibil- 
ity of  instructing  the  Indians,  being  under  no  engagement  to  remain  a  day 
longer  in  Savannah  than  he  found  it  convenient,  and  believing  that  his 
ministry  would  prove  more  acceptable  in  England  than  in  Georgia,  he 
consulted  his  friends  as  to  the  propriety  of  his  returning  home.  They 
agreed  that  it  was  best  for  him  to  do  so,  but  not  at  that  time, 


Wesley  Leaves  Georgia.  97 


On  the  3d  of  November  he  again  appeared  in  court,  and  also  on  the 
22d  of  that  month.  On  the  last  occasion  Mr.  Causton  exhibited  to  him 
sundry  affidavits  filed  in  his  case,  all  of  which  Wesley  pronounced  false 
and  malicious.  No  trial  was,  on  either  date,  accorded  to  him.  Upon 
conferring  a  second  time  with  his  friends  they  were  of  the  opinion  that  he 
might  now  set  out  immediately  for  England.  The  next  evening  he  call- 
ed upon  Mr.  Causton  and  acquainted  him  with  his  purpose  to  leave  the 
colony  at  an  early  day.  He  also  put  up  in  the  public  square  the  follow- 
ing notice  :  "  Whereas  John  Wesley  designs  shortly  to  set  out  for  Eng- 
land, this  is  to  desire  those  who  have  borrowed  any  books  of  him  to  re- 
turn them,  as  soon  as  they  conveniently  can,  to  John  Wesley." 

There  was  nothing  concealed  about  this  determination ;  and  he 
quietly,  and  with  the  full  knowledge  of  the  community,  prepared  for  his 
journey.  On  the  2d  of  December,  the  tide  serving  about  noon,  he  pro- 
posed to  bid  farewell  to  Savannah  and  start  for  Charlestown,  whence  he 
was  to  sail  for  England.  "But  about  ten,"  says  Mr.  Wesley,  "the 
Magistrates  sent  for  me  and  told  me  I  must  not  go  out  of  the  Prov- 
ince, for  I  had  not  answer'd  the  Allegations  laid  against  me.  I  replied 
I  have  appfeared  at  six  or  seven  Courts  successively  in  order  to  answer 
them,  but  I  was  not  sufifer'd  to  do  so  when  I  desired  it  time  after  time. 
They  then  said,  however,  I  must  not  go  unless  I  would  give  security  to 
answer  those  allegations  at  their  Court.  I  asked,  what  security  ?  After 
consulting  together  about  two  hours  the  Recorder  shew'd  me  a  kind  of 
bond,  engaging  me,  under  a  penalty  of  fifty  pounds,  to  appear  at  their 
Court  when  I  should  be  required.  He  added.  But  Mr.  Williamson  too 
has  desired  of  us  that  you  should  give  bail  to  answer  his  action.  I  then 
told  him  plainly,  Sir,  you  use  me  very  ill,  and  so  you  do  the  Trustees.  I 
will  give  neither  any  bond  nor  any  bail  at  all.  You  know  your  business 
and  I  know  mine. 

"  In  the  afternoon  the  Magistrates  publish'd  an  Order  requiring  all 
the  Officers  and  Centinels  to  prevent  my  going  out  of  the  Province, 
and  forbidding  any  person  to  assist  me  in  doing  so.  Being  now  only  a 
prisoner  at  large  in  a  place  where  I  knew  by  experience  every  day  would 
give  fresh  opportunities  to  procure  evidence  of  words  I  never  said  and 
actions  I  never  did,  I  saw  clearly  the  hour  was  come  for  leaving  this 
place:  and,  as  soon  as  Evening  Prayers  were  over,  about  eight  o'clock, 

13 


98  History  of  Savannah. 

the  tide  then  serving,  I  shook  off  the  dust  of  my  feet  and  left  Georgia 
after  having  preached  the  Gospel  there  (not  as  I  ought,  but  as  I  was  able) 
one  year  and  nearly  nine  months."  ^ 

Stephens  ^  informs  us  that  Mr.  Wesley  was  accompanied  on  this  oc- 
casion by  three  obnoxious  characters :  Coates  a  busybody,  a  mischief- 
maker,  and  heavily  indebted  both  to  the  trust  and  to  the  citizens  of  Sa- 
vannah ;  Gough,  an  idle  fellow,  impudent  in  his  behavior,  leaving  behind 
him  many  unpaid  obligations,  and  a  wife  and  child  whom  he  more  fre- 
quently beat  than  fed ;  and  Campbell,  a  barber,  an  insignificant,  loose 
fellow,  fit  for  any  leader  who  would  make  a  tool  of  him. 

Landing  at  Purrysburgh  the  next  morning,  Mr.  Wesley  and  his  com- 
panions pursued  their  journey  on  foot  to  Beaufort,  whence  he  proceeded 
by  boat  to  Charlestown.  Taking  passage  on  board  the  Samuel,  Captain 
Percy,  he  departed  from  America  on  the  24th  of  December,  1737,  never 
more  to  revisit  the  scene  of  his  early  labors,  conflicts,  trials  and  disap- 
pointments. 

We  rpake  no  apology  for  having  dwelt  at  this  length  upon  the  inci- 
dents connected  with  the  life  and  ministrations  in  Georgia  "of  a  man 
whose  eloquence  and  logical  acuteness  [to  borrow  the  language  of  Lord 
Macaulay]  might  have  made  him  eminent  in  literature,  whose  genius  for 
government  was  not  inferior  to  that  of  Richelieu,  and  who,  whatever  his 
errors  may  have  been,  devoted  all  his  powers,  in  defiance  of  obloquy  and 
derision,  to  what  he  sincerely  considered  as  the  highest  good  of  his 
species." 

Whatever  shadows  and  doubts  gathered  about  him  in  the  morning 
of  his  ministerial  career  were  all  quickly  dispelled  by  the  glorious  beams 
of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  Then,  in  the  plenitude  of  intellectual  and 
moral  power,  he  proclaimed  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  the  nations, 
gathering  about  him  tens  of  thousands,  founding  a  sect  of  strong  virtue 
and  stern  religious  sentiment,  and  closing  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
lives  in  English  history  with  the  triumphant  cry,  "  The  best  of  all  is, 
God  is  with  us.  He  giveth  his  servants  rest.  We  thank  Thee,  O  Lord  ! 
for  these  and  all  Thy  mercies.  Bless  the  Church  and  King,  and  grant  us 
truth  and  peace  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  forever  and  ever.     The 

1  Extract  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Wesley's  Journal,  etc.,  55,  56.     Bristol,  n.  d. 
"^  Journal  of  Proceedings,  etc.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  45-47.     London,     mdccxlii. 


Causton's  Defalcation.  99 

clouds  drop  fatness.     The  Lord  is  with  us,  the  God  of  Jacob  is  our  ref- 
uge.    Farewell." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Causton's  Defalcation — Depressed  Financial  Condition  of  the  Province — Industries 
of  the  Colonists  at  Savannah — Composition  of  Disagreements  with  the  South  Carolina 
Indian  Traders,  and  with  the  Creeks — Petition  from  the  Bailiffs  and  Inhabitants  of  Sa- 
vannah for  an  Enlargement  of  Land  Tenures,  and  for  the  Introduction  of  Negro  Slaves 
— Opposition  on  the  Part  of  General  Oglethorpe — Malcontents  at  Savannah. 

HAVING  fortified  the  southern  boundary  of  the  province,  and  pro- 
vided for  its  defense  against  the  anticipated  assaults  of  the  Spainards 
as  far  as  the  means  at  command  would  allow,  Mr.  Oglethorpe  resolved  to 
make  a  second  visit  to  England  in  the  interest  of  the  plantation.  The 
finances  of  the  trust  were  again  in  a  depressed  condition,  and  he  had  found 
it  necessary  to  draw  largely  upon  his  private  fortune  and  to  pledge  his  in- 
dividual credit  in  provisioning  the  settlers  and  conducting  such  operations 
as  were  necessary  for  the  security  of  the  province.  The  defalcation  of 
Thomas  Causton,  the  first  magistrate  of  Savannah  and  the  keeper  of  the 
public  stores,  added  much  to  his  embarrassment.  Alarmed  at  the  unex- 
pected increase  in  the  number  of  certified  accounts,  and  perplexed  at  the 
manifest  irregularities  in  the  execution  of  the  important  trust  committed 
to  his  keeping,  the  common  council,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1738,  "  sealed  the 
removal "  of  Mr.  Thomas  Causton  from  his  office  of  first  bailiff  in  Savan- 
nah, and  appointed  Mr.  Henry  Parker  in  his  room.  In  forwarding  these 
documents  to  Oglethorpe  they  desired  him  to  use,  or  to  refrain  from  using 
them  in  compliance  with  the  suggestions  contained  in  their  letter  of  the  2d 
inst.  They  further  insisted  that  Causton  should  be  arrested  in  any  event, 
and  that  his  books  and  papers  should  be  secured.  To  those  books  and 
papers  access  was  to  be  accorded  him  so  that  he  might  enjoy  ample  op- 
portunity for  making  up  his  accounts  from  Lady  Day,  1734,  to  date.  All 
the  trustees'  effects  were  to  be  promptly  withdrawn  from  his  possession ; 
and  during  the  period  consumed  in  making  out  his  accounts  and  neces- 


loo  History  of  Savannah. 

sary  for  their  careful  examination  when  submitted,  he  was  to  be  retained 
in  safe  custody  or  placed  "  upon  sufficient  security."  Mr.  Thomas  Jones 
was  designated  as  the  proper  party  to  make  an  examination  and  submit 
a  full  report.  Copies  of  all  accounts  and  of  Mr.  Jones's  report  upon. them, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Oglethorpe's  opinion,  were  to  be  forwarded  to  the 
trustees  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment.  Until  further  instructions 
Causton  was  not  to  be  sent  to  England,  but  was  to  be  detained  in  safe 
custody  or  under  bond. 

Fortified  with  these  documents,  and  acting  under  these  orders,  Ogle- 
thorpe proceeded  at  once  to  their  proper  execution.  Ignorant  of  what 
was  in  store  for  him,  Causton,  with  a  bold  front,  appeared  at  the  head  of 
the  magistrates  to  welcome  the  general  on  his  arrival  from  Frederica.  He 
was  accompanied  by  others,  participants  in  his  peculations,  who,  having 
reason  to  dread  an  investigation  into  their  conduct  during  the  general's 
absence,  joined  in  public  salutations,  hoping  thereby  to  conciliate  his  fa- 
vor. He  was  soon  informed  that  the  grand  jury  in  Savannah  had  pre- 
pared a  presentation  of  the  "  grievances,  hardships,  and  necessities  "  of 
the  inhabitants,  in  which  they  complained  bitterly  of  the  misconduct  of 
Mr.  Causton,  alleging  that  he  had  expended  much  larger  sums  than  were 
authorized  by  the  trustees,  that  he  had  brought  the  colony  into  debt,  that 
he  had  exceeded  his  powers,  that  he  was  arbitrary  and  oppressive  in  the 
discharge  of  his  official  duties,  and  that  he  was  partial  in  the  distribution 
of  the  public  stores.  It  was  suggested  by  not  a  few  that  as  the  commer- 
cial agent  of  the  trustees  and  the  keeper  of  the  public  stores  he  had  util- 
ized his  position  for  his  own  advancement  and  the  benefit  of  special 
friends.  It  was  believed  that  the  funds  of  the  trustees  had  been  by  him 
appropriated  to  the  improvement  of  his  plantation  at  Ockstead,  where  he 
and  his  family  resided  in  comfort  and  plenty  beyond  the  reach  of  his 
neighbors.  That  he  was  arrogant  in  his  behavior,  that  he  had  rendered 
the  other  magistrates  subservient  to  his  will,  that  he  had  played  the  part 
of  a  petty  tyrant  in  the  community,  and  that  he  ruled  the  people  through 
their  necessities,  taking  advantage  of  their  daily  wants  and  making  these 
the  means  of  keeping  them  in  subjection  to  his  pleasure,  could  not  be 
doubted.  It  was  evident  also  that  he  had  perverted  the  due  administra- 
tion of  the  law,  and  had  sedulously  suppressed  from  the  knowledge  of  the 
trustees  many  just  complaints  preferred  by  the  colonists  at  Savannah. 


Causton  Dismissed  from  Office. 


lOI 


After  a  patient  examination  into  the  condition  of  affairs,  .which  estab- 
lished on  the  part  of  Causton  a  woeful  mismanagement  of  the  trust  funds 
sent  for  the  support  of  the  province,  General  Oglethorpe  on  the  17th  of 
October  "  called  all  the  Inhabitants  together  at  the  Town- House,  and 
there  made  a  pathetic  Speech  to  them,  setting  forth  how  deeply  the  Trust 
was  become  indebted  by  Mr.  Causton's  having  run  into  so  great  Ex- 
ceedings  beyond  what  they  had  ordered,  which  Debts  the  Trust  had  noth- 
ing left  at  present  to  discharge  besides  what  Goods  and  Effects  they  had 
in  the  Store,  which  must  in  a  great  Measure  be  applied  to  those  Purposes, 
especially  first  to  all  such^as  the  Stores  were  owing  anything  to,  by  which 
Means  there  would  be  a  Necessity  of  retrenching  the  ordinary  Issues  that 
something  might  remain  for  the  necessary  Support  of  Life  among  the  in- 
dustrious People  who  were  not  to  be  blamed.  This  had  such  an  Effect 
that  many  People  appeared  thunder-struck,  knowing  not  where  it  would 
end;  neither  could  the  most  knowing  determine  it."i 

The  next  day  Causton  was  dismissed  from  office  and  required  to  de- 
liver into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Thomas  Jones  all  books,  papers,  and  accounts 
connected  with  the  public  stores.  General  Oglethorpe  also  demanded 
of  him  bond,  with  ample  security,  to  appear  and  answer  any  charges 
which  might  be  preferred  against  him.  It  being  impossible  to  procure  in 
Savannah  bondsmen  of  means  sufficient  to  respond  to  the  sums  in  which 
Causton  would  probably  be  found  indebted  to  the  trust,  General  Ogle- 
thorpe was  content  with  Causton's  individual  bond,  coupled  with  an 
"assignment  of  all  his  improvements  at  Ockstead  or  elsewhere." 

After  weeks  and  months  consumed  in  the  examination,  Mr.  Jones  in- 
formed Mr.  Stephens  "  that  after  so  much  Time  spent  about  making  up 
Mr.  Causton's  Accounts,  there  was  so  little  Progress  made  in  it  that  he 
could  hardly  say  it  was  begun ;  so  many  Intricacies  appeared  more  and 
more  every  Day,  such  Inconsistencies,  many  Things  wrongly  charged, 
abundance  omittted  which  ought  to  have  been  brought  to  Account,  and 
several  Day-books  said  to  be  lost  (which  he  could  not  believe  but  were 
concealed),  that  the  Rate  the)'  went  on  he  defied  any  Man  living  to  ad- 
just it ;  and  for  his  Part  he  was  quite  tired  looking  into  such  Confusion 
which  he  was  confident  was  by  Art  and  Cunning  made  inextricable;  in- 
somuch that  he  was  positive  the  Balances,  formerly  made,  were  framed  at 

'Stephens's  Journal  of  Proceedings^  etc.,  vol.  i,  p.  305.     London.     MDCCXtll. 


I02  History  of  Savannah. 

Will  and  sent  to  the  Trustees  so  ;  for  unless  he  (Mr.  Causton)  kept  copies 
of  them  distinctly,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  make  out  the  same  from 
the  Books  now  before  him." 

On  the  other  hand  Mr.  Causton  complained  of  the  treatment  he  re- 
ceived at  Mr.  Jones's  hands,  and  protested  against  being  called  a  villain 
and  a  knave.  He  declared  he  had  served  the  trust  well,  and  was  pre- 
pared to  defend  his  character  from  all  aspersions.^ 

It  being  impracticable  to  adjust  these  accounts  in  Savannah,  Causton 
was  ordered  to  London,  where  he  appeared  before  the  common  council. 
Failing  there  to  produce  proper  vouchers,  he  was  permitted  to  depart 
for  Georgia,  where  he  stated  he  would  be  able  to  arrange  everything  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  trustees.  Sailing  for  Savannah  he  died  at  sea,^  and, 
in  the  bosom  of  the  ocean,  found  rest  from  all  his  troubles. 

The  vacancy  caused  by  the  deposition  of  Causton  was  filled  by  the 
appointment  of  Colonel  William  Stephens,  who  was  then  in  Savannah 
occupying  the  position  of  secretary  of  the  trustees  in  the  province  of 
Georgia. 

The  mismanagement  in  the  disbursement  of  the  funds  and  supplies 
which  had  been  sent  over  for  the  support  of  the  colony  and  the  depleted 
condition  of  the  trustees'  treasury  rendered  a  retrenchment  of  the  ordin- 
ary issues  most  imperative. 

In  a  letter  written  by  General  Oglethorpe  on  the  19th  of  October, 
1738,  and  addressed  to  the  trustees,  after  alluding  to  the  careless  manner 
in  which  Causton  had  "  trifled  away  the  public  rnoney  "  and  squandered 
the  resources  of  the  colony,  he  discloses  the  alarming  fact  that  the  scout- 
boatmen,  rangers,  and  others  upon  whose  active  service  and  watchfulness 
the  province  relied  for  protection,  were  unpaid  and  actually  starving. 
"When  I  told  them,"  says  the  general,  "the  Trustees'  circumstances, 
their  affection  was  so  great  that  they  offered  to  serve  on  until  the  Trus- 
tees' affairs  mended  ;  I  thanked  them  but  reduced  the  Rangers  since  I 
could  not  feed  them  with  hopes  of  what  I  could  not  make  good.  The 
Scout  Boats  I  have  for  this  month  paid  out  of  my  own  money,  since  they 
are  absolutely  necessary,  and  I  will  not  charge  the  Trustees  with  new 
debts. 

"  There  is  a  worse  circumstance  than  any  above,  viz.:  the  Industrious 

1  Stephens's  Journal  of  Proceedings,  vol.  i.,  pp.  362,  406.      London.     MDCCXLll. 
'  Stevens's  History  of  Giorgia,  vol.  i.  p.  222.     New  York,    mdcccxlii. 


Financial  Depression.  103 

Poor  People,  who  have  saved  something  by  frugality,  have  lodged  their 
little  all  in  the  Store,  hoping  to  have  provisions  from  thence  in  their 
Necessity  ;  and  now  if  the  Store  cannot  pay  they  must  perish  for  want; 
the  Hke  misery  must  befall  all  the  Trustees'  servants  as  well  as  many  of 
the  inhabitants  whom  sickness  and  misfortunes  have  prevented  from  hav- 
ing a  crop  this  year. 

"  I  can  see  nothing  but  destruction  to  the  Colony  unless  some  assist- 
ance be  immediately  sent  us.  I  support  things  for  a  while  by  some 
money  I  have  in  my  hands,  and  the  rest  I  supply  with  my  own  money, 
for  I  will  not  incur  Debts  nor  draw  Bills  upon  you. 

"If  this  (I  know  not  what  name  to  give  it)  had  not  happened,  the 
Colony  had  overcome  all  its  difficulties  and  had  been  in  a  flourishing 
condition." 

He  advises  the  trustees  that  the  Italians  are  pleased  with  their  new 
home,  and  that  Camuse  and  the  members  of  his  family  had  wound  some 
silk  as  fine  as  that  made  in  Georgia  during  the  past  year.  The  mulberry 
trees  in  the  public  garden  were  again  growing  luxuriantly,  and  promised 
a  foliage  which  would  soon  subsist  "  a  great  quantity  of  worms."  Clay 
had  been  found  from  which  a  potter  was  manufacturing  excellent  ware. 
Several  yokes  of  oxen  and  several  carts  with  horses  were  employed  by 
the  inhabitants  of  Savannah.  The  trustees'  saw-mill  was  turning  out 
seven  hundred  feet  of  boards /^r  diem;  and,  if  managed  properly,  would 
"  bring  an  income."  The  idle  people  had  run  away  and  "  a  spirit  of  in- 
dustry seemed  to  be  stirring."  He  hopes  with  his  own  money  to  "make 
shift  to  support  the  most  valuable  part  of  the  people." 

"  I  have  already  expended  a  great  deal,"  writes  this  noble  and  gen- 
erous man,  "  and,  as  far  as  the  income  of  my  estate  and  employments  for 
this  year  will  go,  I  shall  sooner  lay  it  out  in  supporting  the  Colony  (till 
I  can  hear  from  you)  than  in  any  other  diversion." 

After  payment  of  outstanding  debts,  he  estimates  ;^5,000  as  the  low- 
est sum  practicable  for  carrying  on  the  civil  concerns  of  the  colony,  "  if 
any  success  is  to  be  expected  in  the  production  of  wine  and  silk,  and  a 
form  of  government  is  to  be  maintained." 

Existing  orders  for  the  erection  of  churches  and  the  cultivation  of 
lands  for  religious  uses,  both  in  Savannah  and  Frederica,  could  not  be 
obeyed  unless  the  requisite  funds  were  supplied. 


104  ,  History  of  Savannah. 

Recurring  to  the  Causton  defalcation,  he  concludes  as  follows  :  "  I 
examined  him  to  know  what  could  be  the  meaning  that  he  dare  to  ex- 
ceed so  excessively  your  Orders,  thereby  plunging  the  Colony  into  its 
present  difficulties.  He  answered  that  he  made  no  expenses  but  what 
necessity  forced  him  to,  and  that  he  could  prove  that  necessity.  He  en- 
tered into  several  particulars  ;  That  the  Multitude  forced  him  to  build  a 
Fort  for  fear  of  the  Spainards  ;  That  the  charge  of  Saltzburghers  and 
other  charges  were  not  provided  for  in  the  Establishment  sent  over  by 
the  Trustees;  That  he  received  the  Establishment  too  late  to  comply  with 
it.  He  did  uot  pretend  to  justify  himself  in  not  sending  over  the  Bal- 
lance  of  his  accompts.  His  negligence  to  bring  his  Acco*^  to  a  Ballance 
half  yearly,  or  every  year  at  least,  has  been  the  occasion  of  the  melan- 
choly situation  he  has  put  us  in.  Some  things  he  alleged  that  had 
weight.  That  the  prices  of  Provisions  were  treble  to  what  they  were  at 
my  first  arrival  here,  from  whence  we  calculated  the  Estimate.  That  the 
Spanish  Alarms  obliged  him  to  comply  with  the  humour  of  the  people 
here,  for  which  reason  he  was  forced  to  give  any  prices  to  Sloops  to  bring 
down  provisions  to  the  Colony.  He  said  farther  that  he  had  not  been 
guilty  of  any  fraud,  nor  converted  any  of  the  Trustees'  money  to  his  own 
use.  He  at  first  seemed  pretty  stubborn,  but  upon  a  second  examina- 
tion he  was  more  submissive.  When  I  was  about  to  comit  him  he  plead- 
ed that  it  was  not  usual  here  to  comit  Freeholders  for  any  but  Capital 
Crimes.  That  Watson,  who  was  accused  of  killing  a  man  and  had  been 
found  guilty  by  a  jury,  was  bail'd  upon  his  own  Recognizance.  That  he 
submitted  to  the  Trustees,  and  that  all  he  had  acquired  in  his  six  years' 
service,  and  that  all  he  had  in  the  world,  was  laid  out  in  improvements 
on  his  Lot  in  the  Colony,  and  that  he  would  give  all  as  security  to  abide 
and  justify  his  acco*'.  He  has  accordingly  given  security.  He  has  de- 
livered the  Stores,  Books,  &c.,  unto"  Mr.  Jones  according  to  your  ap- 
pointment. I  have  not  been  able  to  enter  into  the  rest  of  the  affairs  of 
the  Colony.  The  Saltzburghers  thrive  and  so  do  the  people  at  Hamp- 
stead  and  Highgate.  There  are  abundance  of  Good  Houses  built  in  this 
Town.  I  desire  to  know  in  what  manner  you  would  have  me  proceed  in 
Causton's  affair. "^ 

1  Collections  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  57-62.     Savannah     1 873. 
Compare  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1739,  pp.  22,  23. 


Smuggling  Rum  into  Georgia.  tps 


This  defalcation  of  Causton,  and  his  prodigal  waste  of  the  moneys  and 
stores  of  the  trust  committed  to  his  keeping,  brought  the  plantation  to 
the  verge  of  ruin.  Appalled  at  the  situation,  not  a  few  of  the  colonists 
seriously  contemplated  abandoning  the  province  and  seeking  subsistance 
in  Carolina.  Sensible  of  the  hardships  they  would  be  called  upon  to  en- 
dure before  ample  relief  could  be  afforded,  the  general  did  not  undertake 
to'  dissuade  any,  who  were  so  minded,  from  attemptmg  to  better  their 
fortunes  elsewhere.  Upon  reflection,  however,  they  concluded  to  re- 
main ;  trusting  to  favoring  seasons,  and  the  good  disposition  of  the  trus- 
tees to  repair  at  the  earliest  moment  the  losses  which  had  been  so  unex- 
pectedly and  causelessly  entailed. 

But  for  the  immediate  and  generous  aid  extended  by  Oglethorpe,  but 
for  the  magnetism  of  his  presence  and  example,  but  for  his  just  adminis- 
tration of  affairs,  his  encouraging  words,  and  his  charitable  deeds,  the  ef- 
fect produced  upon  the  colonists  in  Savannah  by  this  crisis  in  their  affairs 
would  have  proved  most  disastrous.  This  is  not  the  only  occasion  upon 
which,  as  the  sequel  will  show,  the  founder  of  Georgia  proved  himself  also 
her  savior. 

With  a  eeftain  matter  threatening  an  interruption  of  the  friendly  re- 
lations existing  between  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  Mr.  Oglethorpe  was 
much  annoyed.  Augusta  being  conveniently  located  for  commerce  with 
the  Indian  natjons,  some  Carolina  traders  were  induced  to  open  stores  at 
that  place.  Land,  carriage  proving  tedious  and  expensive  they  resolved 
to  transport  their  goods  by  water  from  Charlestown.  As  the  boats  were 
passing  Savannah,  the  magistrates,  mindful  of  the  law  prohibiting  the 
introduction  of  distilled  liquors  into  the  province,  and  regarding  the  Sa- 
vannah flowing  between  Hutchinson's  Island  and  Yamacraw  Bluff  as  a 
part  of  Georgia,  ordered  them  to  be  stopped  and  searched.  A  consider- 
able quantity  of  rum  was  found  on  board.  The  casks  containing  it  were 
staved,  and  the  persons  in  charge  of  the  boats  were  arrested  and  confined. 
At  this  proceeding  the  Carolinans  were  greatly  incensed,  and  demanded 
of  the  Georgia  magistrates  "  by  what  authority  they  presumed  to  seize 
and  destroy  the  effects  of  their  traders,  or  to  compel  them  to  submit  to 
their  code  of  laws."  Apprehending  that  they  had  acted  precipitately, 
and  that  they  had  perhaps  transcended  their  powers,  the  authorities  at 
Savannah  made  immediate  concessions  to  the  deputies  from  Carolina. 

14 


io6  History  of  Savannah. 


The  confined  were  set  at  liberty,  and  the  goods  destroyed  were  returned 
as  far  as  practicable  in  kind  ;  the  Carolinians  engaging  on  their  part  lo 
smuggle  no  more  strong  liquors  within  the  limits  of  Georgia.' 

The  matter,  however,  did  not  end  here,  but  was  eventually  brought 
to  the  notice  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  After  examining  into  the  facts  and 
hearing  argument,  the  commissioners  concluded  that  while  the, naviga- 
tion of  Savannah  was  open  alike  to  the  inhabitants  of  both  colonies,  and 
while  it  was  incumbent  upon  the  Georgians  to  render  the  Carolinians  all 
friendly  assistance  in  their  power,  it  was  not  lawful  for  Carolina  traders 
to  introduce  ardent  spirits  among  the  settlers  in  Georgia. 

Another  difficulty  arose  in  the  ibllowing  manner:  A  Salzburger  had 
indiscreetly  i-leaied  auu  planted  four  acres  of  land  beyond  the  boundary 
of  Ebenezer,  thus  encroaching  upon  the  reserved  territory  of  the  Uchees. 
Other  Salzburgers  permitted  their  cattle  to  stray  away  and  eat  up  the 
growing  corn  of  those  Indians  at  a  point  some  twenty  miles  abo\e  that 
village.  But  what  vexed  the  Uchees  most,  as  we  are  informed  by  Og- 
lethope,  was  that  some  people  from  Carolina  swam  a  great  herd  of  cattle 
over  the  Savannah,  and,  bringing  negroes  with  them,  formed  a  planta- 
tion near  the  Uchee  town  Taking  advantage  of  the  irritation  of  the 
Indians,  Captain  Green  advised  them  to  fall  upon  the  Salzburgers,  and  to 
declare  war  against  the  English.  So  soon  as  he  was  inforrned  of  these 
occurrences,  Mr.  Oglethope  compelled  the  Carolinians  to  recr,pss  the  Sa- 
vannah with  their  negroes  and  cattle,  and  ordered  the  Salzburgers  to  con- 
fine themselves  and  their  cattle  within  the  limits  which  had- been  pre- 
scribed for  their  occupancy. 

Instead  of  taking  Green's  advice,  the  Uchees  sent  their  king-jand 
twenty  warriors  to  Mr.  Oglethorpe  to  thank  him  for  having)  redressed 
their  wrongs  even  before  they  had  requested  him  to  do  so.  Such  con- 
duct on  his  part,  they  added,  made  them  love  him ;  and  that  so  far  fiom 
entering  upon  a  war  ai^ainst  the  English  they  were  now  ready  to  "  help 
them  against  the  Spaniards."  Thty  also  offered  Oglethorpe  the  services 
of  one  hundred  warriors  for  a  year  if  he  should  require  their  aid.^ 

It  was  during  this  second  visit  to  England  that  Mr.  Oglethorpe  was 

'  Historical  Account  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Colonies  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  48.     London.     MnCCLXXIX. 

^See  letter  of  Oglethorpe  to  the  trustees.  Colonial  Documents,  vol.  i.,  p.  31. 


Petition  to  Trustees.  107 


advanced  to  the  grade  of  colonel.  He  was  soon  afterwards  complimented 
with  the  position  of  "General  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  all  and  singular 
the  forces  employed  and  to  be  employed  in  the  provinces  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia  in  America."  He  returned  to  the  plantation  bringing 
with  him  a  large  accession  both  of  colonists  and  of  supplies. 

Busied  with  the  military  affairs  of  the  southern  part  of  the  province, 
and  personally  supervising  the  conduct  of  his  regiment,  General  Ogle- 
thorpe found  it  necessary  to  spend  most  of  his  time  on  St.  Simon's  Island 
and  in  that  vicinity.  The  government  of  Savannah  was  consequently 
largely  entrusted  to  the  bailiffs. 

The  impoverished  condition  of  the  province,  the  scarcity  of  supplies, 
Caiiston's  defalcation,  the  spasmodic  and  unsatisfactory  nature  of  the  ag- 
ricultural operations  near  Savannah,  the  enervating  character  of  the  cli- 
mate, the  disappointments  which  had  been  experienced  in  the  effort  to 
compass  a  comfortable  support  and  accumulate  wealth,  the  departure  of 
not  a  few  colonists,  who,  crossing'  the  river,  sought  better-  fortunes  in 
South  Carolina  where  lands  were  granted  in  fee  and  the  ownership  of 
slaves  was  permitted  by  law,  and  the  ruinous  outlook,  coupled  with  much 
dissatisfaction  and' lack  of  industry  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  settlers, 
induced  the  magistrates  to  unite  with  the  freeholders  dwelling  in  Savan- 
nah and  its  vicinity  in  a  petition  to  the  trustees  in  which,  after  express- 
ing their  disappointment  that  the  hopes  held  out  to  them  in  England  of 
pleasant  and  profitable  homes  in  Georgia  had  not  been  realized  ;  after 
asserting  that  their  best  exertions  in  tilling  the  soil  had  failed  to  procure 
sufificient  provisions  and  the  means  requisite  for  purchasing  clothing  and 
medicines;  after  declaring  that,  in  the  absence  of  cheap  slave  labor,  they 
were  unable  to  compete  successfully  with  their  neighbors  in  Carolina;  after 
expressing  the  conviction  that  the  cultivation  of  silk  and  wine  could  never 
be  made/ remunerative  so  long  as  white  servants  only  were  employed  ; 
after- assuring- the  trustees  that  commerce  languished  because,  not  being 
possessed  of  the  fee  in  their  lands  and  improvements,  they  were  incapa- 
ble of  offering  them  as  secitrity  to  nrierchants  in  procurement  of  goods  as 
was  frequently  done  in  other  English  provinces  ;  after  alluding  to  the 
numbers  who  had  left  the  plantation  because  of  the  precarious  land  titles 
existent  therein, "and  the  srnan  accessions  which  fiad  of  late  been  made 
to  the  population  of  the  province  ;  and   after  referring  ,tp  other  causes 


io8  History  of  Savannah. 

which  retarded  the  progress  of  the  settlement,  they  invoked  serious  and 
immediate  consideration  by  the  trustees  of  the  "two  following  chief 
causes  of  their  misfortunes:" 

"  First.  The  Want  of  a  free  Title  or  Fee  Simple  to  our  Lands,  which, 
if  granted,  would  both  occasion  great  Numbers  of  new  Settlers  to  come 
amongst  us,  and  likewise  encourage  those  who  remain  here  chearfuUy  to 
proceed  in  making  further  Improvernents,  as  well  to  retrieve  their  sunk 
Fortunes,  as  to  make  Provision  for  their  Posterity. 

"  Second.  The  Want  of  the  Use  of  Negroes  with  proper  Liijiitatiofls, 
which,  if  granted,  would  both  induce  great  Numbers  of  White  People  to 
come  here,  and  also  render  us  capable  to  subsist  ourselves  by  raising 
provisions  on  our  Lands  until  we  could  jnake  some  Produce  fit  for  Ex- 
port, and  in  some  measure  to  balance  our  Importation.  We  are  very 
sensible  of  the  Inconveniences  and  Mischiefs  that  have  already,  and  do 
daily  arise  from  an  unlimited  Use  of  Negroes ;  but  we  are  as  sen.sible 
that  these  may  be  prevented  by  a  due  Limitation,  such  as  so -many  bo 
each  White  Man,  and  so  many  to  such  a  Quantity  of  Land ;  or  in  any 
other  manner  which  your  Honours  shall  think  most  proper.  By  grant- 
ing us,  Gentlemen,  these  two  Particulars,  and  such  other  Privileges  as  his 
Majesty's  most  dutiful  Subjects  in  America  enjoy,  you  will  not  only  pre- 
vent our  impending  Ruin,  but,  we  are  fully  satisfied,  also  will  soon  make 
this  the  most  flourishing  Colony  possessed  by  his  Majesty  in  America, 
and  your  Memories  will  be  perpetuated  to  all  future  Ages,  our  latest  Pos- 
terity sounding  your  Praises  as  their  first  Founders,  Patrons  and  Guar.- 
dians ;  but  if,  by  denying  us  those  Privileges,  we  ourselves  and  Families 
are  not  only  ruined,  but  even  our  Posterity  likewise,  you  will  always  be 
mentioned  as  the  cause  and  Authors  of  all  their  Misfortunes  and  Calam- 
ities; which  we  hope  will  never  happen." ^ 

This  petition  was  dated  at  Savannah  on  the  9th  of  December,  1738, 
and  was  signed  by  one  hundred  and  twenty-orte  of  the  male  inhabitants. 

When  advised  of  the  submission  of  this  memorial,  the  Scots  at  New 
Inverness  and  the  Salzburgers  of  Ebcnezer  united  in  decided  protests 
which  were  promptly  forwarded  to  his  excellency  General  Oglethorpe. 
The  colonists  were  divided  in  sentiment  upon  the  question  of  the  expe- 

'  Account  shewing  the  progress.of  tlie  colony  of  Georgia  in  America,  etc.,  pp.  59,  63. 
London.     MDCCXtl. 


General  Oglethorpe's  Reply.  109 


diency  of  introducing  negro  slaves  into  the  province.  General  Ogle- 
thorpe's views  on  the  subject  are  embodied  in  a  letter  to  the  trustees 
written  from  Savannah  on  the  12th  of  March,  1739.  In  it  he  states  that 
Mr.  Williams,  to  whom  many  of  them  were  deeply  indebted,  had  induced 
the  poor  people  of  Savannah  "  to  sign  the  petition  for  the  Negroes  which 
affirms  that  white  men  cannot  work  in  this  Province."  This  assertion 
he  declares  he  can  disprove  by  hundreds  of  witnesses,  by  all  Salzburg- 
ers,  by  the  people  of  Darien,  by  many  at  Frederica  and  Savannah,  and 
by  all  in  the  province  who  were  industriously  inclined.  "The  idle  ones," 
he  adds,  "are  indeed  for  Negroes.  If  the  Petition  is  countenanced  the 
Province  is  ruined.  Mr.  Williams  and  Dr.  Tailfeur  will  buy  most  of  the 
lands  at  Savannah  with  Debts  due  to  them,  and  the  Inhabitants  must  go 
off  and  be  succeeded  by  Negroes.  Yet  the  very  Debtors  have  been  weak 
enough  to  sign  their  Desire  of  Leave  to  sell."' 

In  another  communication 2  to  the  trustees,  written  at  Frederica  on 
the  4th  of  July  in  the  same  year,  he  protests  against  any  material  change 
in  the  existing  land  tenures,  advising  the  trustees  that  the  "  Titles  are  at 
present  upon  a  very  good  Footing,  and  that  those  who  made  most  noise 
about  their  Lands  were  such  as  had  taken  no  care  to  m^ke  anv  use  of 
them." 

Twelve  days  afterwards,  in  reporting  the  status  of  affairs  to  the  trus- 
tees, he  again  refers  to  this  subject  in  the  following  manner:  "  There  is 
one  Tailfeur,  an  Apothecary  Surgeon  who  gives  Physick,  and  one  Will- 
iams, of  whom  I  wrote  to  you  formerly,  a  Merchant,  who  quitted  plant- 
ing to  sell  rum.  To  these  two  almost  all  of  the  Town  [Savannah]  is  in 
debt  for  Physick  and  Rum,  and  they  have  raised  a  strong  spirit  to  desire 
that  Lands  may  be  alienable,  and  then  they  would  take  the  Lands  for 
the  Debts,  monopolize  the  Country,  and  settle  it  with  Negroes.  They 
have  a  vast  deal  of  Art,  and  if  they  think  they  cannot  carry  this,  they 
would  apply  for  any  other  alteration  since  they  hope  thereby  tor  bring 
confusion,  and  you  cannot  imagine  how  much  uneasiness  I  have  had  here. 
I  hope,  therefore,  you  will  make  no  alterations. "^ 

Robert  Williams,  to  whom  allusion  is  made,  was  open  and  violent  in 

'  Collections  of  the  Georgia  Historidil  Society,  vol.  iii.  p.  70.     Savannah.     1873. 

'Idem,  pp.  T2.-T). 

^  Collections  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society,  vo\.'vi\.,  p.  79.     Savannah.     1873. 


no  History  of  Savannah. 


his  denunciation  of  the  policy  pursued  by  the  trustees  in  regard  to  the 
tenure  by  which  lands  in  the  province  were  liolden  of  them,  and  kept  the 
pubhc  mind  at  Savannah  in  a  constant  ferment  on  this  subject.' 

Possessing  some  means  and  a  vahiable  commercial  correspondence,  he 
desired  lo  utilize  them  in  the  accumulatiom  of  wealth.  Hence  his  anxi- 
ety to  have  the  fee  simple  to  lands  vested  in  the  colonists  so  that  they 
might  either  pledge  or  sell  them.  In  either  event  he  would  be  able  to 
secure  his  loans,  and  finally  to  become  possessed  of  much  of  the  landed 
estate. 

Doctor  Patrick  Tailfer  was  scarcely  less  pronounced  in  his  criticisms 
upon  the  conduct  of  the  colony,  and  in  his  representations  of  existing 
grievances.  He  was  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  General  Oglethorpe,  to  whom, 
under  the  7iom  de plume  of  The  Plain  Dealer,  he  addressed  a  communica- 
tion upon  colonial  affairs  full  of  condefn nation,  complaint,  and  sarcasm. 
He  was  the  chief  of  a  club  of  malcontents  whose  conduct  becanie  sc 
notorious  that  they  were  forced,  in  September,  1740,  to  quit  the  province 
and  take  refuge  in  South  Carolina.  When  thus  beyond  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Georgia  authorities,  in  association  with  Hugh  Anderson,  David 
Douglass,  and  others,  he  published  a  scurrilous  tract  entitled  "  A  True 
and  Historical  Narrative  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia  in  America," ^  which 
they  dedicated  to  General  Oglethorpe.  In  the  epistle  dedicatory,  which 
may  be  accepted  as  a  specimen  of  the  entire  production,  the  authors  say : 
"  Under  the  Influence  of  our  Perpetual  Dictator  we  have  seen  something 
like  Aristocracy,  Ogligarchy,  as  well  as  the  Triitminrate,  Decernvirate-, 
and  Consular  Authority  of  famous  Republicks  which  have  expired  many 
Ages  before  us.  What  Wonder  then  we  share  the  same  Fate?  Do  their 
Towns  and  Villages  exist  but  in  Story  and  Rubbish  ?  We  are  all  over 
Ruin's.  Our  Publick- works.  Forts,  Wells,  Highways,  Lighthouse,  Store; 
Water  Mills,  &c.,  are  dignified  like  theirs  with  the  same  venerable  Deso- 
lation. The  Log-house  indeed  is  like  to  be  the  last  forsaken  Spot  of  your 
Empire  ;  yet  even  this,  thro'  the  Death  or  Desertion  of  those  who  should 
continue  to  inhabit  it,  must  suddenly  decay;   the  bankrupt  Jailor  himself 

'  Stephens's   Journal  of  Proceedings,  vol.  i.,  pp.  8,   27,   57,   149,  289.     London. 
MDCCXLII. 

''Charles-Town,  South  Carolina,  p.  118.      Printed  by  P.  Timothy  for  the  authors, 

MDCCXLI, 


The  Trustees'  Answer.  i  i  i 

shall  be  soon  denied  the  Privilege  of  human  Conversation,  and  when 
this  last  Moment  of  the  Spell  expires,  the  whole  shall  vanish  hke  the  Illu- 
sion of  some  Eastern  Magician. 

"  ' — Like  Death  you  reign 
O'er  silent  subjects  and  a  desert  Plain.'  " 

Craving  rum,  negrd  slaves,  and  fee  simple  titles  to  lands,  such  disaf- 
fected colonists  hesitated  not  to  malign  the  authorities,  disquiet  the  set- 
tlers, and  belie  the  true  condition  of  affairs.  Georgia  was  certainly  in  an 
embarrassed  and  an  impoverished  situation,  tier  population  was  in- 
creasing but  slowly.  Labor  was  scarcely  remunerative,  and  the  Spanish 
war-cloud  was  looming  Lip  along  her  southern  borders;  but  the  impres- 
sion which  Dr.  Tailfer  and  others  sought  to  convey  of  the  i?tatiis'of  the 
colony  was  exaggerated,  spiteful,  and  without  warrant. 

Having  duly  considered  the  petition  of  the  magistrates  and  freehold- 
ers of  Savannah,  and  taken  counsel  of  General  Oglethorpe  and  other  in- 
fluential inhabitants  of  the  province,  the  trustees  returned  the  following 
answer: 


Georgia. 


To  the  Magistrates  of  tlie  Tozvn  of  Savannah  in  the  Province  of 
ia. 

•'The  Trustees  for  establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia  in  America  have 
received  by  the  Hands  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Ball  of  London,  Merchant,  an  at- 
tested Copy  of  a  Representation  signed  by  you  the  Magistrates,  and  many 
of  the  Inhabitants  of  Savannah  on  the  9th  of  December  last,  for  altering 
the  Tenure  of  the  Lands,  and  introducing  Negroes  into  the  Province, 
transmitted  from  thence  by  Mr.  Robert  Williams. 

"The  Trustees  are  not  surprized  to  find  unwary  People  drawn  in  by 
crafty  Men  to  join  in  a  Design  of  extorting  by  Clamour  from  the  Trus- 
tees an  Alteration  in  the  fundamental  Laws  framed  for  the  Preservation 
of  the  People  from  those  very  Designs. 

"  But  the  Trustees  cannot  but  express  their  Astonishment  that  you, 
the  Magistrates,  appointed  by  them  to  be  the  Guardians  of  the  People, 
by  putting  those  Laws  in  Execution,  should  so  far  forget  jour  Duty  as 
to  put  yourselves  at  the  Head  of  this  Attempt. 

"However,  they  direct  you  to  give  the  Complainants  this  Answer 


112  History  of  Savannah. 

from  the  Trustees  :  That  they  should  deem  themselves  very  unfit  for  the 
Trust  reposed  in  them  by  his  Majesty  on  their  Behalf  if  they  could  be 
prevailed  upon  by  such  an  irrational  attempt  to  give  up  a  Constitution, 
framed  with  tlie  greatest  caution,  for  the  Preservation  of  Liberty  and 
Property,  and  of  which  the  Laws  against  the  Use  of  Slaves,  and  for  the 
Entail  of  Lands  are  the  surest  Foundations. 

'  And  the  Trustees  are  the  more  confirmed  in  their  Opinion  of  the 
Unreasonableness  of  this  Demand  that  they  have  received  Petitions  from 
the  Darien  and  other  Parts  of  the  Province,  representing  the  Inconven- 
ience and  Danger  which  must  arise  to  the  good  People  of  the  Province 
from  the  Introduction  of  Negroes :  and  as  the  Trustees  themselves  are 
fully  convinced  that  besides  the  Hazard  attending  of  that  Introduction,  it 
would  destroy  all  Industry  among  the  White  Inhabitants ;  and  that,  by 
giving  them  a  Power  to  alien  their  Lands,  the  Colony  would  soon  be  too 
like  its  neighbours,  void  of  White  Inhabitants,  filled  with  Blacks,  and  re- 
duced to  be  the  precarious  Property  of  a  Few,  equally  exposed  to  domes- 
tick  Treachery  and  foreign  Invasion  :  And  therefore  the  Trustees  cannot 
be  supposed  to  be  in  any  Disposition  of  granting  this  Request;:  and  tf 
they  have  not,  before  this,  signified  their  Dislike  of  it,  their  Delay  is  to 
be  imputed  to  no  other  Motives  but  the  Hopes  they  had  conceived  that 
Time  and  Experience  would  bring  the  Complainants  to  a  better  Mind. 
And  the  Trustees  readily  join  Issue  with  them  in  their  Appeal  to  Poster- 
ity, wlio  shall  judge  between  them,  who  were  their  best  Friends,  those 
who  endeavoured  to  preserve  for  them  a  Property  in  their  Lands  by  tying 
up  the  Hands  of  their  unthrifty  Progenitors:  or  they  who  wanted  a  Power 
to  mortgage  or  alien  them  ;  who  were  the  best  Friends  to  the  Colony, 
those  who  with  great  Labour  and  Cost  had  endeavored  to  form  a  Colony 
of  his  Majesty's  Subjects,  and  persecuted  Protestants  from  other  Parts  of 
Europe  ;  had  placed  them  on  a  fruitful  soil,  and  strove  to  secure  them  in 
their  Possessions  by  those  Arts  which  naturally  tend  to  keep  the  Colony 
full  of  useful  and  industrious  People  capable  both  to  cultivate  and  defend 
it,  or  those  who,  to  gratify  the  greedy  and  ambitious  views  of  a  few  Ne- 
gro Merchants,  would  put  it  into  their  Power  to  become  sole  owners  of 
the  Province  by  introducing  their  baneful  Commodity  which,  it  is  #ell 
known,  by  sad  Experience,  has  brought  our  Neighbour  Colonies  to  the 
Brink  of  Ruin  by  driving  out  their  White   Inhabitants,  who  were  their 


Magistrates  Dismissed  from  Office.  113 

Glory  and  Strength,  to  make  room  for  Blacks  who  are  now  become  the 
Terror  of  their  unadvised  Masters. 

"  Signed  by  order  of  the  Trustees  this  Twentieth  day  of  June,  1739. 

Benj.  Martyn,  Secretary,      [l.  S.]"1 

On  the  20th  of  October  General  Oglethorpe  informed  the  trustees  that 
their  reply  had  been  received  and  published,  and  that  the  effect  produced 
by  it  upon  the  colonists  was  good.  Accompanying  this  response  came 
orders  dismissing  from  office  the  magistrates  in  Savannah  who  had  signed 
the  petition,  and  appointing  others  in  their  stead.  Perceiving  that  their 
agitation  of  the  question  of  the  introduction  of  negro  slavery  into  the 
province  had  only  confirmed  the  trustees  in  their  opinions  and  orders,  the 
leading  malcontents,  headed  by  Dr.  Tailfer,  who  by  their  clubs,  horse- 
racing,  idleness,  and  lawless  conduct  had  done  much  to  debauch  the  com- 
munity at  Savannah,  deserted  the  colony. 

This  was  the  second  time  that  the  trustees  had  been  importuned  to 
sanction  the  employment  of  slave  labor  within  the  limits  of  Georgia. 
Twice  did  they  positively  refuse  the  desired  permission.  Although  such 
was  their  determination,  and  although  the  effect  of  their  resolution  was 
pronounced  salutary  by  General  Oglethorpe,  it  may  well  be  questioned 
whether  the  adoption  of  a  different  policy,  permitting  the  introduction  of 
negro  slaves  under  wholesome  restrictions,  would  not  have  materially 
advanced  the  prosperity  of  the  plantation  Such  labor  was  demanded  by 
the  nature  of  the  soil  and  climate.  The  prohibition  upon  Georgia  placed 
her  at  a  disadvantage  when  her  situation  in  this  regard  was  contrasted 
with  that  of  her  sister  colonies.  Indented  white  servants  had  been  tried, 
and  the  experiment  was  unsatisfactory.  The  clearing  and  cultivation  of 
malarial  lands  originated  fevers  and  various  disorders  far  more  preju- 
dicial to  the  European  than  the  African  constitution.  The  potent  rays 
of  the  summer's  sun  enfeebled  the  white  servant,  while  they  shone  harm- 
lessly above  the  head  of  the  negro  laborer.  During  the  heated  term  it 
was  the  general  experience  that  many  of  the  whites  were  incapable  of 
performing  half  their  allotted  tasks.  The  expenses  incident  to  the  em- 
ployment of  white  servants  were  considerably  greater  than  those  con- 

^An  Account  shewing  the  Progress  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia,  etc.,  pp.  70,  7 1 ,  Lon- 
don.    MDCCXLI. 

15 


114  History  of  Savannah. 

nected  with  the  maintenance  of  negro  operatives.  The  exclusion  of  slave 
labor  and  the  refusal  to  grant  estates  in  fee  did  turn  aside  many  planters 
from  the  attractive  swamp  lands  of  Southern  Georgia,  and  retard  the  de- 
velopment of  the  colony. 

Although  in  their  reply  of  the  20th  of  June,  1739,  the  trustees  re- 
fused to  enlarge  the  tenures  of  land,  in  a  few  months  they  concluded  to 
modify  their  views  upon  this  important  subject.  Accordingly,  in  Au- 
gust of  that  year  they  passed  a  set  of  ponderous  resolutions  which  they 
caused  to  be  published  in  the  London  Gazette  on  the  8th  of  September, 
and  ordered  to  be  inserted  also  in  the  columns  of  the  Charlestown,  South 
Carolina,  Gazette.  Without  reproducing  them,  we  give  their  purport  as 
condensed  by  Benjamin  Martyn,  secretary  of  the  trustees.'  With  a  view 
to  enlarging  the  tenure  on  failure  of  issue  male,  and  in  order  to  provide 
for  the  widows  of  grantees,  it  was  ordained  that  lands  already  granted, 
and  such  as  might  thereafter  be  granted,  should,  on  failure  of  issue  male, 
descend  to  the  daughters  of  the  grantees.  In  case  there  should  be  no 
issue  male  or  female,  then  the  grantees  might  devise  such  lands.  In  the 
absence  of  any  devise,  the  lands  were  to  descend  to  the  heirs  at  law  of 
the  original  grantees.  The  possession  of  the  devisee  could  not  exceed 
five  hundred  acres.  Widows  of  grantees  were  declared  entitled  "for  and 
during  the  term  of  their  natural  lives,"  to  hold  and  enjoy  the  dwelhng- 
house,  garden,  and  one  moiety  of  the  lands  of  which  their  respective  hus- 
bands died  seized. 

All  persons  desiring  to  avail  themselves  of  the  benefit  of  this  enlarge- 
ment were  notified  to  present  their  claims  in  order  that  proper  grants 
might  be  forthwith,  and  without  charge,  prepared  and  executed. 

While  this  modification  inured  to  the  benefit  of  the  grantee  and  con- 
firmed the  ownership  of  the  land  in  his  heirs,  it  permitted  only  a  qualified 
alienation  by  way  of  devise.  It  did  not  fully  comply  with  the  request 
preferred  in  the  petition  which  we  have  just  considered. 

These  resolutions  were  published  by  paragraphs  in  the  Charlestown 
Gazette;  but,  as  they  were  not  well  understood.  Colonel  William  Stephens 
was  requested  on  a  certain  day  to  read  them  at  the  court-house  in  Sa- 

1  Account  of  the,  Progress  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia  in  America,  etc.,  p.  30.  Lon- 
don. MDCCXLI.  Compare  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  voi.  i.,  p.  132,  et  seq.  Savan- 
nah.    181 1. 


General  Oglethorpe  at  Savannah.  115 

vannah  and  to  explain  them.  "  After  he  had  finished  his  task,"  says 
Captain  McCall,'  "and  exerted  his  utmost  abilities  in  giving  an  explan- 
ation, one  of  the  settlers  ludicrously  remarked  that  the  whole  paper  con- 
sisted of  males  and  tails;  that  all  the  lawyers  in  London  would  not  be  able 
to  bring  the  meaning  down  to  his  comprehension ;  and  that  he  under- 
stood as  little  of  its  meaning  then  as  he  had  when  Stephens  began.  Oth- 
ers wished  to  know  how  often  those  two  words  had  occurred  in  the  reso- 
lutions, that  the  number  ought  to  be  preserved  as  a  curiosity,  and  that 
the  author  ought  to  be  lodged  in  bedlam  for  lunacy." 


CHAPTER.  VIII. 

General  Oglethorpe  Addresses  the  Citizens  of  Savannah — Military  Strength  of  the 
Town  in  1739 — Death  and  Burial  of  Tomo-chi  chi — A  Monument  Should  be  Erected  to 
his  Memory — General  Oglethorpe  Returns  to  England — Colonel  William  Stephens  Des- 
ignated as  President  of  the  Colony — Disappointment  Experienced  in  all  Efforts  to  Pro- 
mote Silk  Culture  and  the  Growth  of  the  Vine. 

UPON  the  conclusion  of  his  labors  at  Coweta-Town,  which  resulted  in 
a  renewal  on  the  part  of  the  Creeks  of  their  fealty  to  the  English 
Crown  and  the  confirmation  of  e^cisting  grants  of  territory.  General  Og- 
thorpe  returned  to  Frederica  by  the  way  of  Augusta  and  Savannah. 
While  in  the  latter  place  he  received  dispatches  announcing  a  declaration 
of  war  between  England  and  Spain.  On  the  3d  of  October  he  assembled 
all  the  freeholders  under  arms.  At  noon  there  was  a  general  convoca- 
tion at  the  court-house.  The  magistrates  in  their  gowns  took  their  seats 
upon  the  bench,  and  Oglethorpe  sat  with  them.  He  then  addressed  the 
multitude,  acquainting  the  citizens  of  Savannah  with  the  fact  that  in  the 
present  emergency  they  need  entertain  no  fears  of  the  Indian  nations  as 
they  had  all  been  brought  into  closer  alliance  by  the  recent  convention 
at  Coweta-Town.  Although  the  province  lay  open  to  the  sea,  he  assured 
them  that  English  frigates  would  cruise  along  the  coast  for  its  protection. 


^  History  of  Georgia,  wo\.  \.,'^.  Mp.     Savannah.     181 1. 


ii6  History  of  Savannah. 

and  that  additional  land  forces  might  soon  be  expected.  The  instruc- 
tions he  had  received  from  his  majesty's  secretary  of  State  in  reference 
to  the  opening  war  with  Spain  were  then  communicated,  and  the  inhab- 
itants were  exhorted  to  an  exhibition  of  becoming  activity,  watchfulness, 
and  bravery.  Upon  the  conclusion  of  his  address  the  cannons  of  the  fort 
were  discharged,  and  the  freeholders  "  fired  three  handsome  vollies  with 
their  small  arms  as  it  were  in  defiance,  without  the  appearance  of  any 
dread  of  the  Spainards.''^ 

Observing  that  the  common,  from  which  the  trees  had  been  cut,  was 
now  overgrown  with  bushes,  and  that  the  squares  and  some  of  the  streets 
were  filled  with  weeds,  the  general  ordered  the  entire  male  population 
out  on  police  duty,  and  caused  these  spaces  to  be  properly  cleared  and 
cleaned.  A  plenty  of  bread  and  beer  put  them  all  in  good  heart.  By 
actual  count  it  was  then  ascertained  that  there  were  in  Savannah  about 
two  hundred  men  capable  of  bearing  arms.  Two  days  afterwards  the 
colony  was  called  upon  to  mourn  the  demise  of  its  true  friend,  the  ven- 
erable Tomo-chi-chi.  His  final  illness  was  protracted,  and  he  passed 
away  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  mental  faculties.  The  following  letter 
conveys  an  interesting  account  of  the  last  moments  and  sepulture  of  this 
noted  Indian  king: 

"Savannah  in  Georgia,  Oct:  lo,  1739. 

"  King  Toma  chi-chi  died  on  the  5th,  at  his  own  town,  4  miles  from 
hence,  of  a  lingering  Illness,  being  aged  about  97.  He  was  sensible  to 
the  last  Minutes,  and  when  he  was  pursuaded  his  death  was  near  he 
showed  the  greatest  Magnanimity  and  Sedateness,  and  exhorted  his  Peo- 
ple never  to  forget  the  favours  he  had  received  from  the  King  when  in 
England,  but  to  persevere  in  their  Friendship  with  the  English.  He  ex- 
pressed the  greatest  Tenderness  for  Gen.  Oglethorpe,  and  seemed  to  have 
no  Concern  at  dying  but  its  being  at  a  Time  when  his  Life  might  be  use- 
ful against  the  Spainards.  He  desired  his  Body  might  be  buried  amongst 
the  English  in  the  Town  of  Savannah,  since  it  was  he  that  had  prevailed 
with  the  Creek  Indians  to  give  the  Land,  and  had  assisted  in  the  found- 
ing of  the  Town.  The  Corpse  was  brought  down  by  Water.  The  Gen- 
eral, attended  by  the  Magistrates  and  People  of  the  Town,  met  it  upon 
the  Water's  Edge.     The  Corpse  was  carried  into  Percival  Square.     The 

^^\e.^\\^m''s,'Journal  of  Proceedings, \o\.\\.,'^.  150.     London,     mdccxlii. 


Death  of  Tomo-chi-chi.  117 


pall  was  supported  by  the  General,  Col"  Stephens,  Col"  Montaigut,  M' 
Carteret,  M''  Lemon,  and  M''  Maxwell  It  was  followed  by  the  Indians 
and  Magistrates  and  People  of  the  Town.  There  was  the  Respect  paid 
of  firing  Minute  Guns  from  the  Batteiy  all  the  time  during  the  Burial, 
and  Funeral — firing  with  small  Arms  by  the  Militia,  who  were  under 
arms.  The  General  has  ordered  a  P)ramid  of  Stone,  which  is  dug  in 
this  Neighbourhood,  to  be  erected  over  the  Grave,  which  being  in  the 
Centre  of  the  Town,  will  be  a  great  Ornament  to  it,  as  well  as  testimony 
of  Gratitude. 

"Tomo-chi-chi  was  a  Creek  Indian,  and  in  his  youth  a  great  War- 
riour.  He  had  an  excellent  Judgment  and  a  very  ready  Wit,  which 
showed  itself  in  his  Answers  on  all  Occasions.  He  was  very  generous, 
giving  away  all  the  rich  presents  he  received,  remaining  himself  in  a  wil- 
ful Poverty,  being  more  pleased  in  giving  to  others,  than  possessing  him- 
self; and  he  was  very  mild  and  good  natured.''^ 

Nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  have  elapsed  since  these  funeral 
honors  were  paid,  and  the  monument  ordered  by  General  Oglethorpe 
has  never  been  erected.  Over  the  spot-  where  this  Indian  chief  was  in- 
terred rises  a  stately  monumental  structure  commemorative  of  the  life  and 
services  of  the  Hon.  W.  W.  Gordon.  Neither  street  nor  public  square 
perpetuates  the  name  of  this  mico,  and  his  memory  dwells  only  in  occa- 
sional recollection.  This  should  not  be.  May  we  not  hope  for  the  sake 
of  her  reputation,  in  response  to  the  wish  of  the  founder  of  the  colony  of 
Georgia,  and  in  glad  acknowledgement  of  the  debt  of  gratitude  she  owes 
to  this  noted  Indian,  that  Savannah — herself  a  living  witness  of  the  en- 
terprise, courage,  and  taste  of  General  Oglethorpe,  a  city  which  has  ren- 
dered such  conspicuous  tribute  to  the  memories  of  Greene,  and  Pulaski, 
and  Tasper,  and  the  Confederate  dead — will,  at  no  distant  day,  cause  to 
be  lifted  up  in  one  of  her  high  places  a  suitable  monument  in  just  and 
honorable  appreciation  of  the  friendship  and  worthy  deeds  of  the  vener- 
able Tomo-chi-chi? 

After  his  astonishing  defeat  of  the  Spaniards  in  their  formidable  at- 

'^  Gentleman's  Magazine  ,\o\.  x.,  p.  129.  Compare  Stephens's  Journal  of  Pro- 
ceedings, vol.  ii.,  pp.  152,  153.     London,     mdccxlii. 

Tor  the  precise  place  of  Tomo-chi-chi's  sepulture,  see  DeBrahm's  History  of  the 
Province  of  Georgia,  "  Plan  of  the  City  of  Savannah  and  Fortifications,''  facing  page 
36.     Wormsloe.    mdcccxlix. 


ii8  History  of  Savannah. 

tempt  to  possess  themselves  of  the  southern  defenses  of  the  colony,  and 
upon  the  consummation  of  the  deliverance  of  Georgia  from  perils  which 
threatened  utter  annihilation,  a  deliverance  which,  in  the  language  of  the 
Rev.  George  Whitefield,  can  be  "  paralleled  but  by  some  instances  out 
of  the  Old  Testament" — General  Oglethorpe — "  the  Romulus,  father,  and 
founder  of  Georgia"  who,  for  full  ten  years,  with  no  end  in  view  save 
the  enlargement  of  his  majesty's  dominion  in  America,  the  propagation 
of  the  Christian  religion,  the  promotion  of  the  trade  of  the  realm,  and  the 
relief  of  the  indigent  and  the  deserving,  had  voluntarily  banished  himself 
from  the  pleasures  of  court  and  metropolis,  postponed  his  parliamentary 
duties,  strained  his  private  fortune,  and  exposed  himself  to  vexations, 
privations,  and  dangers  incessant  and  exhausting,  resolved  to  return  to 
England  in  fulfillment  of  a  desire  earnestly  entertained,  but  long  repressed 
because  of  the  necessitous  condition  of  the  province,  and  in  response  to 
a  leave  of  absence  sanctioned  by  the  home  authorities.  Georgia  was  now 
established  upon  a  sure  basis.  The  natives  were  in  amity  with  the 
English,  and  the  Spaniards  had  learned  a  lesson  they  were  not  likely  soon 
to  forget.  His  separation  from  the  colony  he  then  regarded  as  only  tem- 
porary, but  it  proved  to  be  final. 

Upon  the  settlement  and  fortification  of  the  southern  frontier  of  the 
province  a  new  county  was  carved  out  and  named  Frederica.  Hitherto 
Georgia  had  contained  but  one  county,  and  that  was  known  as  Savan- 
nah. In  April,  1 74 1,  Colonel  William  Stephens,  who  for  several  years 
been  acting  in  the  colony  as  secretary  to  the  trustees,  was  by  them  ap- 
pointed president  of  the  county  of  Savannah.  In  the  administration  of 
public  affairs  he  was  aided  by  four  assistants.  As  General  Oglethorpe 
spent  most  of  his  time  in  Frederica,  the  designation  of  a  presiding  officer 
for  that  division  of  the  province  was  regarded  as  superfluous.  Bailiffs 
were  constituted  whose  duty  it  was,  under  the  immediate  supervision  of 
the  general,  to  attend  to  the  concerns  of  that  county. 

At  Augusta,  Captain  Richard  Kent  was,  in  November,  1741,  com- 
missioned as  "  Conservator  to  keep  the  peace  in  that  town  and  in  the  pre- 
cints  thereof" 

In  anticipation  of  the  return  of  General  Oglethorpe  to  England,  and 
in  order  to  provide  for  the  government  of  the  entire  colony,  the  trustees 
decided  that  the  president  and  assistants  who  had  been  appointed  for  the 


Colonel  William  Stephens  made  Governor.  119 

county  of  Savannah  should  be  proclaimed  president  and  assistants  for 
the  whole  province,  and  that  the  bailiffs  at  Frederica  should  be  consid- 
ered simply  as  local  magistrates  ;  their  powers  being  subordinate  to  those 
conferred  upon  the  president  and  assistants.  They  further  advised  that 
the  salary  of  the  recorder  of  Frederica  be  raised,  and  that  he  correspond 
regularly  with  the  president  and  assistants  at  Savannah,  and  transmit  to 
them  from  time  to  time  the  proceedings  of  the  town  court,  and  an  ac- 
count of  such  transactions  and  occurrences  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
province  as  it  might  be  necessary  for  them  to  know.^ 

Thus,  upon  the  departure  of  General  Oglethorpe,  he  was  succeeded 
in  the  office  of  colonial  governor  by  the  honest  minded  and  venerable 
Colonel  William  Stephens,  whose  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  colony 
and  fidelity  to  the  instructions  of  the  trustees  had  been  for  more  than 
five  years  well  approved. ^  In  association  with  his  members  of  council  or 
assistants,  he  was  directed  to  hold  in  Savannah,  each  year,  four  terms  of 
the  general  court  for  the  regulation  of  public  affairs  and  the  accommo- 
dation of  all  differences  affecting  person  or  property.  Public  moneys 
could  be  distributed  only  under  warrant  signed  and  sealed  by  the  presi- 
dent and  a  majority  of  his  assistants  in  council  assembled.  Monthly  ac- 
counts were  to  be  exhibited  to  the  board  of  trustees,  showing  the  amounts 
disbursed  and  the  particular  purposes  to  which  they  had  been  applied. 

Although  General  Oglethorpe's  regiment  was  retained  for  the  defense 
of  the  colony,  the  militia  of  the  province  was  organized,  and  all  citizens 
capable  of  bearing  arms  were  regularly  trained  and  discipHned.  Major 
William  Horton  remained  in  command  of  the  troops  in  Georgia,  with  his 
headquarters  at  Frederica.  In  the  administration  of  the  civil  affairs  of 
the  province  he  did  not  intervene,  except  where  his  assistance  was  in- 
voked to  enforce  the  measures  of  the  president  and  council.  On  all  oc- 
casions he  acted  with  prudence,  calmness,  and  humanity,  winning  the 
esteem,  confidence,  and  friendship  of  law-abiding  citizens. 

Bailiffs  or  magistrates  were  commissioned  in  various  and  remote  parts 
of  the  province  whose  duty  it  was  to  act  as  "  conservators  of  the  peace," 
hear  and  determine  "  petit  causes,"  and  commit,  for  trial  by  the  general 
court,  offenders  whose  transgressions  exceeded  their  hmited  jurisdiction. 


'Journal  of  the  Trustees,   1736-1745,  pp.  2  39>  243.  244- 

""-lie.  Journal  of  the  Proceedings  in  Geotgia,^a\i.i.,\\.,'<\\.     London     MDCCXLII. 


I20  History  of  Savannah. 

The  colony  was  still  at  low  ebb.  The  distractions  caused  by  Spanish 
incursions,  the  refusal  of  the  trustees  to  permit  the  importation  and  sale 
of  rum,  to  sanction  the  introduction  of  slave  labor,  and  to  enlarge  the 
tenure  of  land,  and  the  failure  of  crops,  disheartened  many  and  induced 
them  to  avail  themselves  of  the  greater  privileges  offered  in  South  Caro- 
lina where  similar  restrictions  were  unknown.  Intent  upon  the  cultiva- 
tion of  silk  and  wine,  the  home  authorities  discournged  the  tillage  of  rice, 
cotton,  and  indigo,  from  which  profit  might  more  readily  have  been  re- 
alized. The  trouble  lay  chiefly  with  the  English  colonists ;  not  a  few  uf 
whom,  unaccustomed  to  agricultural  pursuits  and  manual  occupations, 
were  easily  discciuraged  and  could  illy  suppress  their  feelings  of  disap- 
pointment. 

Except  among  the  Salzburgers,  silk  culture,  from  which  so  much  was 
expected  by  the  trustees,  proved  a  failure  in  Georgia.  The  Filature  at  Sa- 
vannah was  never  operated  to  advantage,  and  all  expenditures  in  behalf 
of  this  industry  were  futile.  The  efforts  of  the  authorities  to  encourage 
the  cultivation  uf  the  grape  were  even  less  successful  than  those  ex- 
pended in  the  production  of  silk.  No  practical  results  were  reached  ex- 
cept such  as  pntailed  loss  and  disappointment.  From  the  experiment  of 
Abraham  De  Lyon,  who  procured  vines  from  Portugal  and  planted  them 
upon  his  garden  lot  in  Savannah,  much  good  was  anticipated.  Although 
encouraged  b\-  the  trustees  the  business  did  not  expand  into  proportions 
sufficient  to  claim  public  attention,  and  the  colony  both  as  a  wine-pro- 
ducing and  a  silk-growing  community  disappointed  every  expectation. 

As  illustrating  the  early  hopes  entertained,  and  as  presenting  the 
only  picture  of  a  Savannah  vineyard  in  colonial  days  which  has  been 
handed  down  to  us,  we  reproduce  the  following  from  Colonel  William 
Stephens's  Journal  of  Proceedings  in  Georgia i^ 

"Tuesday,  December  6th,  1737.  After  dinner  walked  out  to  see  what 
Improvement  of  Vines  were  ma  ie  by  one  Mr.  Lyon  a  Portugese  Jev), 
which  I  had  heard  some  talk  of;  and  indeed  nothing  had  given  me  so 
much  Pleasure  since  my  Arrival  as  what  I  found  here ;  though  it  was  yet 
(if  I  may  say  it  properly),  only  a  Miniature,  for  he  had  cultivated  only 
for  two  or  three  Years  past  about  half  a  Score  of  them  which  he  received 
from  Portugal  for  an  Experiment;  and  by  his  Skill  and  Management  in 

'  Vol  i.,  p.  48.     London,     mdccxlii. 


Early  Grape  Culture.  121 

pruning  &c.  they  all  bore  this  Year  very  plentifully  a  most  beautiful, 
large  Grape  as  big  as  a  Man's  Thumb,  almost  pellucid,  and  Bunches  ex- 
ceeding big  ;  all  which  was  attested  by  Persons  of  unquestionable  Credit 
(whom  I  had  it  from)  but  the  Season  now  would  allow  me  only  to  see 
the  Vines  they  were  gathered  from,  which  were  so  flourishing  and  strong 
that  I  saw  one  Shoot,  of  this  last  Year  only,  which  he  allowed  to  grow 
from  the  Root  of  a  bearing  Vine,  as  big  as  my  Walking-Cane,  and  run 
over  a  few  Poles  laid  to  receive  it,  at  least  twelve  or  fourteen  Foot,  as 
as  near  as  I  could  judge.  From  these  he  has  raised  more  than  a  Hun- 
dred, which  he  has  planted  all  in  his  little  Garden  behind  his  House  at 
about  four  Foot  Distance  each,  in  the  Manner  and  Form  of  a  Vineyard: 
They  have  taken  Root  and  are  about  one  Foot  and  a  half  high:  the  next 
Year  he  says  he  does  not  doubt  raising  a  Thousand  more,  and  the  Year 
following  at  least  five  Thousand.  I  could  not  believe  (considering  the 
high  Situation  of  the  Town  upon  a  Pine  Barren,  and  the  little  Appear- 
ance of  such  Productions  in  these  little  Spots  of  Ground  annexed  to  the 
House)  but  that  he  had  found  some  proper  Manure  wherewith  to  im- 
prove the  sandy  Soil ;  but  he  assured  me  it  was  nothing  but  the  natural 
Soil,  without  any  other  Art  than  his  Planting  and  Pruning  which  he 
seemefd  to  set  some  Value  on  from  his  Experience  in  being  bred  among 
the  Vineyards  in  Portugal;  and,  to  convince  the  World  that  he  intends 
to  pursue  it  from  the  Encouragement  of  the  Soil  proving  so  proper  for 
it,  he  has  at  this  Time  hired  four  Men  to  clear  and  prepare  as  much  Land 
as  they  possibly  can  upon  his  forty-five  Acre  Lot,  intending  to  convert 
every  Foot  of  the  whole  that  is  fit  for  it  into  a  Vineyard:  though  he  com- 
plains of  his  present  Inability  to  be  at  such  an  Expence  as  to  employ 
Servants  for  Hire.  From  hence  I  could  not  but  reflect  on  the  small  Pro- 
gress that  has  been  made  hitherto  in  propagating  vines  in  the  publick 
Garden  where,  the  Soil  being  the  same,  it  must  be  owing  to  the  Unskil- 
fulness  or  Negligence  of  those  who  had  undertaken  that  Charge." 

16 


122  History  of  Savannah. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Mary  and  Thomas  Bosomworth— Hostile  Demonstrations  by  the  Creek  Indians  in 
Savannah  in  Support  of  Mary  Bosomworth's  Pretentions — Settlement  of  her  Claim. 

THE  deeply  laid  scheme  of  the  German  Jesuit,  Christian  Priber,  em- 
ployed by  the  French  to  alienate  the  affection  of  the  Cherokees,  in- 
terrupt their  affiliation  with  the  English,  and  compass  the  destruction  of 
the  Georgia  settlements,  had  fortunately  been  wholly  frustrated.  His 
sudden  death,  while  a  captive  at  Frederica,  relieved  the  public  mind  of 
the  intense  anxiety  which  had  pervaded  it,  and  put  an  end  to  machina- 
tions of  the  most  dangerous  character. 

During  the  administration  of  President  Stephens  trouble  arose  with 
the  Creek  Indians,  so  formidable  and  violent  in  its  nature,  that  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  settlement  at  Savannah  was  seriously  imperiled. 

In  his  earliest  intercourse  with  Tomo-chi-chi  and  his  followers  Mr. 
Oglethorpe  secured  the  services  of  Mary  Musgrove,  the  wife  of  an  Indian 
trader,  as  an  interpreter.  Finding  that  she  possessed  considerable  in- 
fluence with  the  Creeks,  and  that  her  inclinations  toward  the  English 
were  friendly,  he  retained  her  in  that  capacity,  allowing  her,  as  compen- 
sation for  her  services,  one  hundred  pounds  sterling  per  annum. 

She  afterwards  became  Mary  Matthews,  and  subsequently  married  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Bosomworth,  at  one  time  chaplain  to  General  Oglethorpe's 
regiment.  The  year  after  his  marriage  Bosomworth,  who  had  previously 
accepted  a  grant  of  lands  from  the  common  council  and  taken  up  his  resi- 
dence in  the  colony,  returned  to  England  where  he  informed  the  trus- 
tees that  he  did  not  purpose  a  return  to  Georgia.  In  1746  he  came 
again  to  Savannah  and  indicated  his  contempt  for  the  established  regula- 
tions of  the  province  by  introducing  six  negro  slaves  on  the  plantation  of 
his  wife  on  the  south  side  of  the  forks  of  the  Alatamaha  River,  known  as 
Mount  Venture.  This  affront  the  trustees  promptly  resented,  and  in- 
structed President  Stephens  and  his  assistants  to  cause  the  immediate  re- 
moval of  those  slaves.  The  execution  of  this  order  provoked  the  wrath 
of  Bosomworth.     He  resolved  upon  revenge.     Having  first  conciHated 


Malatche  Proclaimed  Supreme  Chief.  123 

the  Indians,  with  much  cunning  and  caution  he  began  to  develop  his 
plans,  which  embraced  not  only  compensation  from  the  general  govern- 
ment for  the  losses  sustained  and  the  services  rendered  by  his  wife,  but 
also  absolute  possession  of  Ossabaw,  St.  Catherine,  and  Sapelo  islands, 
and  of  a  tract  of  land  near  Savannah  which  the  Indians  had  reserved  for 
themselves  in  former  treaties  with  the  colonists. 

That  something  was  still  due  to  Mrs.  Bosomworth  for  losses  sustained 
and  labors  performed  in  the  service  of  the  colony  could  not  be  doubted; 
but,  moved  by  her  avaricious  and  unscrupulous  husband,  she  magnified 
her  claim  beyond  all  reasonable  measure.  By  his  address  Bosomworth 
enlisted  the  sympathy  of  several  of  the  officers  of  Ogletherpe's  regiment 
resident  at  Frederica ;  and,  on  the  lOth  of  August,  1747,  prepared  and 
caused  his  wife  to  sign  a  memorial,  addressed  to  Lieutenant- Colonel 
Heron  commanding  his  majesty's  forces  in  Georgia,  in  which,  after  claim- 
ing royal  descent,  and  narrating  the  services  she  had  rendered  and  the 
losses  she  had  sustained  in  the  service  of  the  colony,  Mary  Musgrove  de- 
manded payment  from  the  authorities  of  the  sum  of  ;^5,7i4,i7. 1 1. 

Not  content  with  prevailing  upon  his  wife  to  take  the  step  just  indi- 
cated, the  Rev.  Thomas  Bosomworth  resorted  to  an  additional  expedient 
to  compass  his  ambitious,  grasping,  and  sordid  purposes.  On  the  14th 
of  December,  1747,  an  Indian  king,  Malatche  by  name,  of  the  Creek  na- 
tion, and  sixteen  companions,  chiefs  of  various  towns  composing  that 
confederacy,  chanced  to  be  on  a  visit  to  Frederica.  Bosomworth,  who 
was  very  friendly  to  Malatche,  was  also  there.  Exerting  his  influence 
with  this  mico  he  persuaded  him  to  have  himself  then  and  there  form- 
ally acknowledged  as  the  head  of  the  Creek  nation,  with  full  power  to 
cede  lands,  conclude  treaties,  and  transact  any  other  business  connected 
with  the  kingly  administration  of  the  affairs  of  his  people. 

This  suggestion  meeting  with  the  approval  of  his  companions,  appro- 
priate ceremonies  were  performed  wherein  Malatche  was  proclaimed  and 
saluted  as  the  supreme  chief  of  the  Muscogulgee  confederacy.  At  the 
suggestion  of  Bosomworth  the  following  document  was  prepared  and 

signed: 

"Frederica  in  Georgia,  December  i^th,  1747. 

"  Know  all  men  by  these  presents  that  we  Simpeopy,  war-king  of  the 
Cowetas,  Thlockpalahi,  head  warrior  of  tbe  said  town,  Moxumgi,  king  of 


1:24  History  of  Savannah. 

the  Etchitas,  Iswige,  head  warrior  of  the  Etchitas,  and  Actithilki,  beloved 
man  of  the  said  town,  Ciocoliche,  king  of  Osuchees,  Appalya  and  Ischa- 
boagy,  beloved  men  of  Nipky,  and  Himmopacohi,  warriors  of  said  town, 
Tokeah,  war-king  of  the  Chehaws,  Whyanneachi  and  Etowah,  warriors 
of  the  said  town,  Mahelabbi,  beloved  man  of  the  Cusetas,  and  Scheyah, 
warrior  of  the  said  town,  and  Estchothalleachi  Yahulla,  Mico  of  the  Tis- 
kugas,  having  full  power  by  the  laws  of  the  nation  to  conclude  everything 
for  the  towns  we  represent,  do  hereby  acknowledge  Malatche  Opiya  Mico 
to  be  our  rightful  and  natural  prince.  And  we  likewise  further  acknowl- 
edge that  by  the  laws  of  our  nation  we  think  ourselves  obliged  to  stand 
by,  ratify,  and  confirm  every  act  and  deed  of  his  as  much  as  if  we  our- 
selves were  present,  and  we  therefore  make  this  public  declaration  to  all 
subjects  of  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain  that  Malatche  Opiya  Mico  has  full 
power  and  authority,  as  our  natural  prince,  to  transact  all  affairs  relating 
to  our  Nation  as  firmly  and  fully  to  all  intents  and  purposes  as  we  the 
whole  nation  might  or  could  do  if  present.  In  confirmation  of  which 
presents  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands  and  affixed  our  seals  in  behalf 
of  the  different  towns  we  represent,  the  day  and  date  above  written."  ^ 

Of  this  document,  signed  and  sealed  by  the  declarants,  and  witnessed 
by  Colonel  Heron,  Sir  Patrick  Houstoun,  and  four  others,  Malatche  re- 
quested that  a  copy  should  be  sent  over  to  the  king  of  England,  and  that 
due  record  should  be  made  of  the  original.  Having  thus  far  succeeded 
in  his  design,  Bosomworth  next  prepared,  and  prevailed  upon  Malatche 
to  execute  a  deed  by  which,  as  emperor  of  the  Upper  and  Lower  Creek 
nations,  he  conveyed  to  Thomas  and  Mary  Bosomworth,  of  the  colony  of 
Georgia,  the  three  islands  on  the  coast,  known  as  Hussoopp  or  Ossabaw, 
Cowleggee  or  St.  Catharine,  and  Sapelo.  The  consideration  mentioned 
was  "  ten  pieces  of  stroud,  twelve  pieces  of  duffles,  two  hundred  weight 
of  powder,  two  hundred  weight  of  lead,  twenty  guns,  twelve  pairs  of 
pistols,  and  one  hundred  weight  of  vermilion."  It  was  an  absolute  con- 
veyance ,.kh  I'uil  covenant  of  warralnty,  to  Bosomworth  and  his  wife, 
their  heirs,  and  assigns,  so  long  as  the  sun  should  shine  or  the  waters  run 
in  the  rivers.  This  transaction  followed  hard  upon  the  other.  In  fact 
the  first  was  simply  a  prelude  to  the  second.      In  the  existing  treaties 

'  See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  i.,  p.  367.     Savannah.     1811. 


Mary  Bosomworth's  Pretentions.  125 

with  the  Creek  Indians  these  three  beautiful  and  extensive  islands  had 
always  been  reserved  by  the  natives  as  their  Special  property  for  the  pur- 
poses of  hunting,  fishing,  and  bathing. 

The  reverend  gentleman  having  thus  acquired  title  to  this  attractive 
and  princely  domain  proceeded  to  utilize  it  by  stocking  thes'e  islands 
with  cattle  purchased  in  Carolina.  To  the  planters  in  that  province  he 
became  largely  indebted.  His  stock  raising  not  proving  as  remunera- 
tive as  he  anticipated,  this  ambitious  clergyman,  with  a  view  to  attaining 
greatness  and  acquiring  a  fortune  rapidly,  encouraged  his  wife  to  an- 
nounce herself  as  a  sister  of  Malatche,  descended  in  a  maternal  line  from 
an  Indian  king  who  held  from  nature  the  entire  territories  of  the  Creeks. 
He  persuaded  her  also  to  assert  her  right  to  them  as  superior  both  to  that 
of  the  trustees  and  of  the  king.  Mary  accordingly  assumed  the  title  of 
an  independent  empress,  disavowing  all  allegiance  or  subjection  to  the 
British  Crown,  and  summoned  a  general  convocation  of  the  Creeks,  to 
whom,  in  a  long  speech  prepared  for  the  occasion,  she  explained  the  jus- 
tice of  her  claim,  the  great  injury  which  they,  her  beloved  subjects,  had 
sustained  at  the  hands  of  the  English  by  the  loss  of  their  territorities,  and 
the  necessity  which  was  laid  upon  them  to  regain  them  by  force  of  arms. 
Inflamed  by  her  harangue,  the  assembled  Indians  admitted  her  claims, 
and  pledged  themselves  to  defend  to  the  last  extremity  her  royal  person 
and  lands.  Putting  herself  at  the  head  of  a  large  body  of  warriors,  she 
set  out  for  Savannah  to  demand  from  the  president  and  council  a  formal 
acknowledgment  of  her  assumed  rights.  A  messenger  was  dispatched  to 
convey  in  advance  to  the  president  of  the  colony  a  notification  of  her  ap- 
proaching visit,  and  to  acquaint  him  with  the  fact  that  she  had  assumed 
the  sovereignty  over  the  entire  territory  of  the  Upper  and  Lower  Creeks. 
This  notification  was  accompanied  with  a  demand  for  the  immediate 
evacuation  by  the  whites  of  all  lands  lying  south  of  the  Savannah  River, 
and  was  coupled  with  a  threat  that,  in  case  of  refusal,  every  settlement 
within  the  specified  limits  should  be  extirpated. 

Alarmed  at  these  bold  pretensions,  and  sensible  of  her  influence  over 
the  Creeks,  President  Stephens  ordered  the  mihtia  to  hold  themselves  in 
readiness  to  march  to  Savannah  upon  shortest  notice,  and  at  once  pro- 
ceeded to  put  the  town  in  the  strongest  attitude  of  defense.  Its  whole 
force  amounted  to  only  one  hundred  and  seventy  men  capable  of  bear- 


126  History  of  Savannah. 

ing  arms.  A  messenger,  dispatched  to  meet  Mary  while  she  was  still 
several  miles  from  the  town  to,inquire  whether  she  was  serious  in  her  in- 
tentions, and  to  endeavor  to  persuade  her  to  dismiss  her  followers  and 
abandon  her  pretensions,  found  her  resolute  and  inflexible. 

Nothing  remained  but  to  receive  the  Indians  boldly.  The  militia 
was  ordered  under  arms,  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  of  a  friendly  or  a  hostile  character.  Re- 
ceiving no  reply,  he  commanded  them  to  ground  their  arms,  declaring 
that  his  instructions  were  not  to  suffer  an  armed  Indian  to  set  foot  in  the 
town,  and  that  he  was  determined  to  enforce  those  orders  at  every  haz- 
ard. The  Indians  reluctantly  submitted.  Thomas  Bosomworth  in  his 
canonical  robes,  with  his  queen  by  his  side,  followed  by  the  kings  and 
chiefs  according  to  their  respective  rank,  marched  into  Savannah  on  the 
20th  of  July,  making  a  formidable  appearance.  The  citizens  were  ter- 
ror-stricken at  the  sight.  Advancing  to  the  parade  the)'  found  the  mil- 
itia drawn  up  under  arms  to  receive  them.  They  were  saluted  with  fif- 
teen cannon,  and  conducted  to  the  president's  house. 

Bosomworth  being  commanded  to  withdraw,  the  Indian  chiefs  in  a 
friendly  manner  were  required  to  declare  their  object  in  paying  this  visit 
in  so  large  a  body  without  being  convened  by  any  person  in  authority. 
Having  been  previously  taught  what  reply  to  make,  they  responded  that 
Mary  would  speak  for  them,  and  that  they  would  abide  by  what  she 
said.  They  further  stated  that  they  heard  she  was  to  be  sent  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  wished 
that  their  arms  might  be  restored  to  them.  They  gave  the  assurance 
that,  after  consulting  with  Bosomworth  and  his  wile,  they  would  amicably 
settle  all  public  affairs.  Their  guns  were  accordingly  returned  to  them, 
and  strict  orders  issued  to  allow  them  no  ammunition  until  the  council 
should  see  more  clearly  into  their  dark  designs.  The  day  following,  the 
Indians,  having  had  some  private  conferences  with  Mary,  with  sullen 
countenances  marched  about  the  streets  in  a  tumultuous  manner,  ap- 
parently determined  on  mischief  All  the  men  being  obhged  to  mount 
guard,  the  women  and  children,  afraid  to  remain  in  their  houses  by  them- 
selves, were  greatly  terrified,  expecting  every  moment  to  be  murdered 


Arrest  of  the  Bosomworths.  127 

and  scalped.  During  this  period  of  confusion  a  false  rumor  was  circu- 
lated that  the  Indians  had  cut  off  President  Stephens's  head  with  a  tom- 
ahawk. So  exasperated  were  the  inhabitants  that  it  was  with  great  diffi- 
culty the  officers  could  restrain  the  troops  from  firing  upon  the  savages. 
Bosom  worth  was  arrested  and  made  to  understand  that  in  the  event  of 
hostilities  he  should  be  marked  as  the  first  victim.  So  soon  as  he  was 
carried  into  close  confinement  Mary  became  frantic,  threatening  ven- 
geance against  the  magistrates  and  the  entire  colony,  ordering  all  white 
persons  to  depart  immediately  from  her  territories,  cursing  Oglethorpe, 
and  pronouncing  his  treaties  fraudulent.  Furiously  stamping  her  foot 
upon  the  earth,  she  swore  by  her  Maker  that  the  whole  globe  should 
know  the  ground  she  stood  upon  was  her  own.  To  prevent  the  whites 
from  acquiring  any  ascendency  over  the  chiefs  and  warriors,  she  kept 
the  leading  men  constantly  under  her  eye,  and  would  not  suffer  them  to 
utter  a  sentence  on  public  affairs  except  in  her  presence. 

Finding  it  utterly  impossible  to  pacify  the  Indians  while  under  the 
baleful  influence  of  their  pretended  queen.  President  Stephens  privately 
laid  hold  of  her  and  put  her  in  close  confinement  with  her  husband.  In 
order  to  faciliate  a  reconciliation,  a  feast  was  prepared  for  all  the  chiefs 
and  leading  warriors,  at  which  they  were  informed  that  Bosomworth  had 
involved  himself  in  debts  which  he  was  unable  to  pay ;  that  he  wanted  not 
only  their  lands  but  also  a  large  share  of  the  presents  which  the  king  had 
sent  over  for  chiefs  and  warriors  as  a  compensation  for  their  useful  ser- 
vices and  firm  attachment  to  him  during  the  war  against  the  common 
enemy;  that  Bosomworth  wished  to  obtain  these  presents  to  satisfy,  at 
their  expense,  his  creditors  in  Carolina  ;  that  the  lands  adjoining  Savan- 
nah had  been  reserved  for  them  to  encamp  upon  when  they  should  visit 
their  beloved  white  friends,  and  the  three  maritime  islands  for  them  to 
fish  and  hunt  upon  when  they  came  to  bathe  in  the  salt  waters ;  that 
neither  Mary  nor  her  husband  had  any  right  to  those  lands,  but  that  they 
were  the  common  property  of  the  whole  Creek  nation,  and  that  the  great 
King  George  had  ordered  the  president  to  defend  their  right  to  them, 
expecting  that  all  his  subjects,  both  white  and  red,  would  live  together 
like  brethren. 

Many  of  the  chiefs,  convinced  that  Bosomworth  had  deceived  them, 
declared  they  would  no  longer  be  controlled  by  his  advice.     Even  Mai- 


128  History  of  Savannah. 


atche,  the  leader  of  the  Lower  Creeks,  appeared  for  the  moment  satisfied, 
and  was  greatly  delighted  to  hear  that  presents  were  to  be  distributed. 
Taking  advantage  of  this  favorable  change  'in  their  sentiments,  President 
Stephens  determined  to  make  immediate  distribution  of  the  royal  bounty 
and  to  dismiss  the  Indians.  While  preparations  were  being  made  to 
carry  this  intentio:i  into  effect,  Malatche,  whom  the  Indians  compared  to 
the  wind  because  of  his  fickle  and  variable  temper,  having  sought  and 
intermediately  obtained  a  personal  interview  with  Bosomworth  and  his 
wife,  rose  up  in  the  midst  of  the  chiefs  and  warriors  assembled  to  receive 
their  respective  shares  of  the  king's  gifts,  and,  with  frowning  counten- 
ance and  in  a  violent  manner,  delivered  an  inflammatory  speech  abound- 
ing in  dangerous  insinuations  and  threats,  asserting  the  paramount  claims 
of  Mary,  as  queen  of  the  Creeks,  to  all  the  lands  in  question  ;  declaring 
that  her  words  were  the  voice  of  the  nation,  that  three  thousand  warriors 
were  prepared  to  maintain  with  their  lives  her  rights;  and  finally  con- 
cluding by  drawing  from  his  pocket  a  document  which  he  delivered  to 
President  Stephens  in  confirmation  of  what  he  said.  This  paper  had 
evidently  been  prepared  by  Bosomworth,  and  was  an  ambitious  and  vio- 
lent assertion  of  the  pretensions  and  designs  of  Mary.  When  the  paper 
was  read  in  council  the  members  were  struck  with  astonishment.  Per- 
ceiving the  effect  which  had  been  produced,  Malatche  became  uneasy 
and  begged  a  return  of  the  paper  that  he  might  iiand  it  back  to  the  party 
from  whom  he  received  it.  President  Stephens  discerning  more  clearly 
than  ever  how  sadly  the  Indians  had  been  duped  by  the  ambitious,  mer- 
cenary, and  designing  Bosomworth,  addressed  the  chiefs  and  warriors  in 
the  following  language: 

"  Friends  and  brothers:  When  Mr.  Oglethorpe  and  his  people  first  ar- 
rived in  Georgia  they  found  Mary,  then  the  wife  of  John  Musgrove,  living 
in  a  small  hut  at  Yamacraw;  he  had  a  license  frotn  the  governor  of  South 
Carolina  to  trade  with  the  Indians.  She  then  appeared  to  be  in  a  poor, 
ragged  condition,  and  was  neglected  and  despised  by  the  Creeks  ;  but 
General  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  appears.  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 


Council  with  Indians.  129 

Malatche,  but  the  daughter  of  an  Indian  woman  of  no  note,  by  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  settled  among  them  to  supply  their  wants."  He  further  told  them 
that  the  present  discontents  had  been  artfully  infused  into  the  minds  of 
the  Creeks  by  Mary,  at  the  instigation  of  her  husband  who  demanded  a 
third  part  of  the  royal  bounty  in  order  to  rob  the  naked  Indians  of  their 
rights;  that  he  had  quarreled  with  the  president  and  council  of  Georgia 
for  refusing  to  answer  his  exorbitant  demands,  and  had  filled  the  heads 
of  the  Indians  with  wild  fancies  and  groundless  jealousies  in  order  to  fer- 
ment mischief  and  induce  them  to  break  their  alliance  with  their  best 
friends  who  alone  were  able  to  supply  their  wants  and  defend  them  against 
their  enemies. 

At  this  point  the  Indians  acknowledged  that  their  eyes  were  opened 
and  that  they  were  ready  and  anxious  to  smoke  the  pipe  of  peace.  Pipes 
and  rum  were  brought,  and  all,  joining  hand  in  hand,  drank  and  smoked  in 
friendship.  The  distribution  of  the  royal  presents — except  the  ammuni- 
tion, with  which  it  was  deemed  imprudent  at  this  moment  to  entrust  them 
— was  made,  and  even  Malatche  seemed  fully  satisfied  with  the  share  he 
received. 

While  an  amicable  adjustment  of  existing  difficulties  had  thus  been 
effected,  and  while  all  were  rejoicing  in  the  re-establishment  of  friendly 
intercourse,  Mary,  drunk  with  liquor,  rushed  hke  a  fury  into  the  midst  of 
the  assembly,  telling  the  president  that  these  were  her  people  and  that 
he  had  no  business  with  them.  The  president  calmly  advised  her  to  re- 
tire to  her  lodgings  and  to  forbear  poisoning  the  minds  of  the  Indians,  as 
otherwise  he  would  order  her  again  into  close  confinement.  Turning  to 
Malatche  in  a  great  rage,  she  repeated  to  him,  with  some  ill-natured  com- 
ments, what  the  president  had  said.  Malatche  thereupon  sprang  from 
his  seat,  laid  hold  of  his  arms,  called  upon  the  rest  to  follow  his  example, 
and  dared  any  man  to  touch  his  queen.  In  a  moment  the  whole  house 
was  filled  with  tumult  and  uproar.  Every  Indian  having  his  tomahawk 
in  his  hand,  the  president  and  council  expected  nothing  but  instant  death. 

17 


130  History  of  Savannah. 

During  this  confusion  Captain  Jones,  who  commanded  the  guard,  with 
wonderful  courage  interposed  and  ordered  the  Indians  immediately  to  sur- 
render their  arms.  This  they  reluctantly  did.  Mary  was  conveyed  to  a 
private  room  where  a  guard  was  placed  over  her,  and  all  further  commu- 
nication with  the  Indians  was  denied  her  during  their  stay  in  Savannah. 

The  natives  were  finally  persuaded  to  leave  the  town  peaceably  and 
to  return  to  their  settlements.  Mary  and  her  husband  were  detained  un- 
til about  the  first  of  August,  when,  having  fully  confessed  their  errors 
and  craved  pardon,  they  were  allowed  to  depart. i 

Reprehensible  as  had  been  the  conduct  of  Bosomworth  a"hd  his  wife, 
Mary's  demand  was  still  pressed  in  London,  and  her  claim  to  the  islands 
of  Ossabaw,  St.  Catharine,  and  Sapelo  proved  a  source  of  constant  an- 
noyance to  the  colonists.  After  years  of  negotiation  the  affair  was  finally 
adjusted  in  1759  by  paying  to  Mrs.  Bosomworth  ^450  for  goods  alleged 
to  have  been  expended  by  her  in  his  majesty's  service  during  the  years 
1747  and  1748,  by  allowing  her  a  back  salary  at  the  rate  of  ;£'iOO  per 
annum  for  sixteen  years  and  a  half,  during  which  she  acted  in  the  capa- 
city of  government  agent  and  interpreter,  and  by  confirming  to  her  and 
her  designing  husband  full  right  and  title  to  St.  Catharine  Island  where 
they  had  fixed  their  home  and  were  then  cultivating  the  soil. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Rev.  George  Whitefield — Bethesda  Orphan  House — Hon.  James  Habersham — 
Scheme  to  Convert  the  Bethesda  Orphan  House  into  a  "  Seminary  of  Literature  and 
Academical  Learning."— Deatli  of  Mr.  Whitefield — His  Will — Lady  Huntingdon. 

AMONG  the  prominent  names  associated  with  the  colonial  history  of 
Georgia  few,  if  any,  are  more  widely  known  than  that  of  the  Rev. 
George  Whitefield.     Among  the  charitable  schemes  devised  for  the  sup- 

'  Account  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Colonies  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  152  et  seq.  London,  mdcclxxix.  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vo\.\., 
p.  214  et  seq.  Savannah.  i8n.  Stevens's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  i.,  p.  227  et 
:eq.  New  York,  mdcccxlvii.  Letter  of  Wm  Stephens  and  Others  to  the  Trus- 
tees, dated  Savannah,  September  8,  1749. 


kEV.  George  WHixEFiELb.  131 

port  and  the  education  of  the  penniless  and  bereaved  children  of  the 
province,  none  acquired  a  more  permanent  reputation  or  served  a  more 
valuable  purpose  than  the  Bethesda  Orphan  House.  Natural  and  most 
fitting  was  it  that  the  beneficent  capabilities  of  a  plantation,  itself  the  off- 
spring of  benevolence,  should  have  enlisted  the  sympathies  and  secured 
the  co-operatiye  labors  of  a  noted  philanthropist.  Since  the  days  of 
Luther  and  Calvin  no  one  has  appeared  better  quilified  than  Whitefield 
to  bear  messages  of  mercy  to  suffering  humanity.  None  more  eloquent 
in  utterance,  or  powerful  in  commending  his  convictions  to  the  apprehen- 
sion of  the  thousands  who  flocked  to  hear  him,  has  attracted  the  attention 
of  English-speaking  peoples. 

Above  medium  stature,  slender,  finely  formed,  graceful  in  every 
movement,  of  fair  complexion  and  regular  features,  with  dark  blue  eyes 
lively  and  expressive,  possessing  a  voice  excelling  alike  in  melody  and 
compass, — its  modulations  accompanied  by  gestures  most  appropriate 
and  impressive, — with  an  intellect  quick  and  strong,  a  memory  very  re- 
tentive, and  a  courageous  deportment  which  evinced  no  feai  in  the  dis- 
charge of  duty  :  such  is  the  pen-portrait  of  the  fellow  of  Pembroke  Col- 
lege, the  chosen  companion  of  the  Wesleys  and  of  Ingham,  and  one  of 
the  Oxford  club  of  fifteen,  the  originators  and  first  champions  of  Meth- 
odism. 

To  him,  a  young  clergyman  in  London,  earnestly  laboring  and  yet 
"waiting  to  see  what  Piovidence  would  point  out,''  came  letters  from  John 
Wesley  written  from  Savannah.  "  Only  Mr.  Delamotte  is  with  me  till 
God  shall  stir  up  the  hearts  of  some  of  His  Servants  who,  putting  their 
lives  in  His  hands,  shall  come  over  and  help  us  where  the  harvest  is  so 
great  and  the  laborers  are  so  few.  What  if  thou  art  the  man,  Mr.  White- 
field?  Do  you  ask  me  what  you  shall  have?  Food  to  eat  and  raiment 
to  put  on;  a  house  to  lay  your  head  in  such  as  your  Lord  had  not,  and  a 
crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away."  Upon  reading  these  lines  his 
heart  leaped  within  him  and  echoed  to  the  call.  Neither  the  tears  of  an 
aged  mother  nor  the  hope  of  preferment  at  home  swerved  him  from  his 
purpose.  Accepted  by  Oglethorpe  and  the  trustees,  he  embarked  for 
Georgia  in  December,  1737.  The  ship  which  bore  him  and  his  compan- 
ion, the  Hon.  James  Habersham,  one  of  the  sweetest,  purest,  most  use- 
ful, and  noblest  characters  in  the  long  line  of  colonial  worthies,  touched 


132  History  of  Savannah. 

at  Gibraltar  to  take  in  a  detachment  of  troops  for  the  province.  And 
now  the  vessel  proceeded  on  her  voyage  filled  with  soldiers  caring  little 
for  spiritual  things. 

Colonel  Cochrane,  the  commanding  officer,  and  Captain  Mackay  were 
polite  to  the  missionary  and  afforded  him  every  opportunity  for  preach- 
ing, and  holding  religious  conferences.  Incessant  were  his  ministrations 
and  eloquent  his  discanrses.  Before  the  ship  reached  Charlestown,  swear- 
ing had  well-nigh  ceased,  cards  were  exchanged  for  Bibles,  oaths  were 
supplanted  by  prayers,  and  the  great  cabin  had  been  converted  into  a 
bethel. 

Arriving  in  Savannah  he  was,  in  the  absence  of  Mr.  John  Wesley, 
entertained  at  the  parsonage  by  Mr.  Delamotte,  the  schoolmaster. 

Prior  to  his  departure  from  London  the  idea  of  founding  an  orphan 
house  in  Georgia  had  been  suggested  to  Mr.  Whitefield  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  Wesley.  Upon  an  inspection  of  the  condition  of  the  colony,  be- 
coming firmly  convinced  of  the  necessity  for  and  the  utility  of  such  an 
institution,  he  resolved  at  once  and  in  earnest  to  compass  its  foundation. 
Reflecting  upon  the  laws  which  denied  to  the  colonists  the  use  of  rum 
and  negro  slaves  and  declined  to  invest  them  with  a  fee  simple  title  to 
land,  he  expressed  the  opinion  that  while  such  regulations  were  well 
meant  at  home  and  were  designed  to  promote  the  good  order  and  integ- 
rity of  the  plantation,  they  were  incapable  of  enforcement  in  so  hot  a 
country.  To  locate  people  in  Georgia  on  such  a  footing,  he  declared, 
was  little  better  than  tying  their  legs  and  bidding  them  walk.  Thus 
early  was  he  persuaded  that  one  of  the  chief  causes  which  retarded  the 
development  of  the  colony  was  the  prohibition  placed  upon  the  intro- 
duction of  negro  labor.  That  restraint  he  sought  to  remove ;  and,  at  a 
later  period,  was  largely  instrumental  in  securing  such  a  modification  of 
existing  laws  that  the  employment  and  ownership  of  African  slaves  were 
allowed  within  the  province.  The  experience  of  Wesley  and  Ingham 
taught  him  there  was  small  hope  of  converting  the  Indians.  With  the 
discharge  of  the  priestly  duties  which  devolved  upon  a  clergyman  in  Sa- 
vannah he  was  not  content.  A  visit  to  the  Salzburgers'  orphan  house  at 
Ebenezer,  a  short  sojourn  at  Frederica  and  Darien,  and  a  personal  ac- 
quaintance with  the  recources  of  the  colony  convinced  him  that  aid  for  the 
erection  and  support  of  his  contemplated  orphan  house  must  come  from 
abroad.    He  therefore  sailed  for  London  on  the  6th  of  September,  1738. 


Bethesda  Orphan  House.  133 

Upon  unfolding  his  project  to  the  trustees,  they  were  pleased  to  grant 
five  hundred  acres  of  land  in  Georgia  as  a  home  for  his  purposed  institu- 
tion. Funds  were  needed  for  the  erection  of  buildings,  and  Whitefield 
went  abroad  in  the  land  to  solicit  them.  Although  many  churches  were 
closed  against  him,  in  imitation  of  his  Divine  Master,  "  who  had  a  moun- 
tain for  His  pulpit  and  the  Heavens  for  a  sounding  board,"  he  com- 
menced preaching  in  th;  fields  So  wonderful  were  these  open-air  min- 
istrations, so  eloquent  was  he  in  utterance,  and  so  powerful  in  thought 
and  argument,  that  multitudes  flocked  to  hear  him.  His  audiences  not 
infrequently  numbered  twenty  thousand.  Their  singing  could  be  heard 
for  two  miles,  and  his  magnificent  voice  often  reached  nearly  half  that 
distance.  Lord  Chesterfield  said  of  him,  "  He  is  the  greatest  orator  I 
ever  heard,  and  I  cannot  conceive  of  a  greater.''  From  the  common 
people  who  came  to  listen  to  him  at  Moorfields,  Kennington  Common, 
Blackheath,  and  elsewhere,  he  collected  for  his  orphan  house  more  than 
;^i,ooo.  The  willingness  with  which  his  hearers  gave,  and  the  prayers 
they  offered  when  throwing  in  their  mites,  were  very  encouraging  to  him. 

Accompanied  by  a  family  of  eight  men,  one  boy,  two  children,  and 
his  friend  Mr.  Seward,  he  sailed  for  America  on  the  14th  of  August,  1739. 
His  fame  had  preceded  him.  Upon  his  landing  in  Philadelphia  invita- 
tions to  preach  were  extended  in  all  directions.  So  occupied  was  he  in 
responding  to  them  that  he  did  not  reach  Savannah  until  the  nth  of  Jan- 
uary, 1740. 

Previous  to  his  arrival,  his  friend  Mr.  Habersham  had  located  the  grant 
of  five  hundred  acres  about  ten  miles  from  Savannah,  and  had  begun  to 
clear  and  stock  the  land.  Meanwhile,  such  orphans  as  he  had  collected 
were  entertained  and  instructed  in  a  house  hired  for  that  purpose.  Years 
afterwards,  in  reviewing  his  conduct  in  connection  with  the  inception  of 
the  institution,  Mr.  Whitefield  remarked :  "  Had  I  proceeded  according 
to  the  rules  of  prudence  I  should  have  first  cleared  the  land,  built  the 
house,  and  then  taken  in  the  orphans;  but  I  found  their  condition  so  piti- 
able and  the  inhabitants  so  poor,  that  I  immediately  opened  an  infirmary, 
hired  a  large  house  at  a  great  rent,  and  took  in,  at  different  times,  twen- 
ty-four orphans.  To  all  this  I  was  encouraged  by  the  example  of  Pro- 
fessor Franck.  But  I  forgot  to  recollect  that  Professor  Franck  built  in 
Glaucha,  in  a  populous  country,  and  that  I  was  building  in  the  very  tail 


134  History  of  Savannah. 

of  the  world,  where  I  could  not  expect  the  least  supply,  and  which  the 
badness  of  its  constitution,  which  everyday  I  expected  would  be  altered, 
rendered  by  far  the  most  expensive  part  of  his  majesty's  dominions.  But 
had  I  received  more  and  ventured  less,  I  should  have  suffered  less,  and 
others  more." 

The  first  collection  made  in  America  in  aid  of  the  orphan  house  was 
at  the  church  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  in  Charlestown,  early  in  March, 
1740.  Mr.  Whitefield  was  on  a  visit  to  that  place,  having  gone  there  to 
meet  his  brother,  who  was  a  ship  captain.  He  was  invited  to  deliver  a 
public  address  in  behalf  of  his  Georgia  orphans,  and  the  contribution 
amounted  to  £yo.  On  the  25th  of  that  month,  with  his  own  hand  he 
"  laid  the  first  brick  of  the  great  house  which  he  called  Bethesda,  i.  e. 
house  of  mercy."  At  this  time  the  orphans  under  his  charge  numbered 
forty.  Besides  them,  there  were  about  sixty  servants  and  workmen  to  be 
paid  and  fed.  Having  but  little  to  his  credit  in  bank,  he  again  departed 
to  influence  subscriptions  of  money  and  provisions.  By  the  Sth  of  June 
he  was  welcomed  in  Savannah,  bringing  for  Bethesda  money  and  sup- 
plies valued  at  more  than  ;^SOO.  His  family,  as  he  termed  them,  now 
numbered  one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  their  subsistence  and  compensation 
depended  entirely  upon  his  exertions.  He  could  take  no  rest,  and  in  a 
httle  while  was  off  for  Charlestown  on  his  way  to  the  populous  Northern 
provinces.  While  in  this  town  the  Rev.  Alexander  Garden,  a  man  of 
learning  and  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  took  occasion  to  denounce  White- 
field  for  what  he  termed  his  wild  doctrines  and  irregular  manner  of  life. 
To  keep  his  flock  from  straying  after  this  migratory  and  brilliant  shep- 
herd, Mr.  Garden  discoursed  from  the  passage,  "Those  that  have  turned 
the  world  upside  down  are  come  hither  also."  In  his  reply,  which  was 
delivered  with  abundant  wit  and  humor,  Whitefield  selected  as  his  text, 
"  Alexander  the  coppersmith  hath  done  me  much  evil ;  the  Lord  re- 
ward him  according  to  his  works."  "In  short,"  says  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hewitt, 
"  the  pulpit  was  perverted  by  both  into  the  mean  purposes  of  spite  and 
malevolence,  and  every  one,  catching  a  share  of  the  infection,  spoke  of 
the  clergymen  as  they  were  differently  affected."  1  Whitefield  carried  the 
day  in  the  popular  esteem,  and  made  a  clever  collection  too. 

1  Historical  Account  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Colonies  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  167.     London,     mdcclxxix. 


Whitefield's  Appeal  for  Funds.  135 

The  rest  of  the  year  was  consumed  in  preaching  in  the  northern  prov- 
inces, whence  he  returned  to  the  orphan  house  on  the  14th  of  December, 
having,  during  his  absence,  delivered  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  dis- 
courses in  public,  and  secured  "  upwards  of  seven  hundred  pounds  sterl- 
ing in  goods,  provisions,  and  money  for  the  Georgia  Orphans."  Having 
spent  a  happy  Christmas  with  his  charge,  committing  the  management  of 
the  temporal  affairs  to  Mr.  Habersham,  and  leaving  Mr.  Jonathan  Barber 
as  superintendent  of  spiritual  concerns  at  Bethesda,  he  departed  early  in 
January,  1741  for  England. 

With  the  dispute  which  about  this  time  waxed  warm  between  White- 
field  and  John  Wesley,  wherein  the  former  declared  himself  a  Calvinist 
and  the  latter  an  Arminian,  we  have  no  present  concern.  Debts. to  the 
amount  of  ;£■  1,000  were  outstanding  against  Whitefield.  They  had  been 
incurred  in  the  construction  of  buildings  at  Bethesda,  in  clearing  lands, 
in  the  employment  of  servants,  and  in  the  support  of  orphans.  He  "had 
not  ;£'20  in  the  world."  Many  of  his  white  servants  deserted  to  South 
Carolina,  and  the  trustees  would  not  permit  him  to  bring  in  slave  labor 
for  the  cultivation  of  his  plantation.  Sore  perplexed,  yet  not  despairing, 
his  appeals  for  aid  were  more  potent  than  ever.  Seward,  the  wealthiest 
and  the  most  devoted  of  his  disciples,  was  dead.  In  dying  he  left  no 
legacy  to  Bethesda.  To  add  to  Whitefield's  distresses,  he  was  threatened 
with  arrest.  "Many,  very  many  of  my  spiritual  children  who,  at  my  last 
departure  for  England,  would  have  plucked  out  their  own  eyes  for  me, 
are  so  prejudiced  by  the  dear  Messrs.  Wesleys  dressing  up  the  doctrine  of 
election  in  such  horrible  colors  that  they  will  neither  hear,  see,  nor  give 
me  the  least  assistance;  yea,  some  of  them  send  threatening  letters  that 
God  will  speedily  destroy  me."'  These  are  his  own  words.  He  appealed 
to  Scotland,  to  England,  to  America,  to  the  Bermudas,  to  Ireland,  and 
they  all  contributed  at  the  hands  of  the  common  people.  In  1747  he 
purchased  a  plantation  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  excellent  land 
in  South  Carolina,  and  placed  several  negro  slaves  upon  it.  The  profits 
and  products  of  this  investment  were  applied  to  the  support  of  the  or- 
phan asylum  at  Bethesda. 

The  next  year  he  advises  the  trustees  that,  although  he  had  expended 
more  than  five  thousand  pounds  upon  Bethesda,  very  little  progress  had 
been  made  in  clearing  and  cultivating  the  lands  appurtenant  to  it.     This 


136  History  of  Savannah. 

he  attributes  to  the  inefficiency  of  white  labor,  and  confidently  asserts 
that  if  he  had  been  allowed  the  use  of  negroes  the  plantation  would  long 
since  have  been  self-supporting.  Alluding  to  his  interests  in  Carolina, 
he  continues:  "Blessed  be  God,  this  plantation  has  succeeded;  and 
though  at  present  I  have  only  eight  working  hands,  yet,  in  all  proba- 
bility, there  will  be  more  raised  in  one  year,  and  with  a  quarter  the  ex- 
pense, than  has  been  produced  at  Bethesda  for  several  years  last  past. 
This  confirms  me  in  the  opinion  I  have  entertained  for  a  long  time  that 
Georgia  never  can  or  will  be  a  flourishing  province  without  negroes  are 
allowed." 

While  Mr.  Habersham  attended  to  the  disbursement  of  the  sums  re- 
mitted, and  administered  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  settlement,  the  entire 
burden  of  Bethesda's  support  rested  upon  Mr.  Whitefield's  shoulders. 
The  routine  of  duties  observed  by  the  orphans  is  thus  described  by  an 
eye-witness  :  "The  bell  rings  in  the  morning  at  sunrise  to  wake  the  fam- 
ily. When  the  children  arise  they  sing  a  short  hymn,  pray  by  them- 
selves, go  down  to  wash,  and  by  the  time  they  have  done  that,  the  bell 
calls  to  public  worship,  when  a  portion  of  Scripture  is  read  and  ex- 
pounded, a  psalm  sung,  and  the  exercises  begin  and  end  with  prayer. 
They  then  breakfast,  and  afterwards  some  go  to  their  trades  and  the  rest 
to  their  prayers  and  schools.  At  noon  they  all  dine  in  the  same  room, 
and  have  comfortable  and  wholesome  diet  provided.  A  hymn  is  sung 
before  and  after  dinner.  Then,  in  about  half  an  hour,  to  school  again; 
and  between  whiles  they  find  time  enough  for  recreation.  A  little  after 
sunset  the  bell  calls  to  public  duty  again,  which  is  performed  in  the  same 
manner  as  in  the  morning.  After  that  they  sup,  and  are  attended  to 
bed  by  one  of  their  masters  who  then  prays  with  them,  as  they  often  do 
privately." 

That  this  orphan  house,  in  the  face  of  many  disappointments  con- 
nected with  its  advancement  to  the  stage  of  usefulness  and  prosperity 
anticipated  and  predicted  for  it,  was  an  institution  of  great  benefit  to  the 
colony,  and  that  its  sheltering  arms  ministered  to  the  comfort  of  many 
homeless  orphans  and  pointed  the  way  to  future  industry,  respectabihty, 
and  mdependence,  cannot  be  questioned.  True  it  is  that  several  persons 
who  exercised  a  controlling  influence  over  Georgia  affairs  during  the  last 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  wards  of  this  charity.^ 

1  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  Milledge,  Ewen,  and  Langworthy. 


V  FOKaman-  •* 


r.gr 


OT^^-CJ 


d^-^' 


BEthesda  College  fROPosfeD.  i^f 

Mr.  Whitefield's  energy  surpassed  his  prudence.  In  his  enthusiasm 
he  lost  sight  of  his  better  judgment.  Thus,  so  eager  was  he  to  complete 
the  construction  of  his  orphan  house  that  he  engaged  the  services  of  all 
the  bricklayers  and  sawyers  and  of  most  of  the  carpenters  in  Georgia, 
when  he  was  not  in  funds  to  pay  for  their  labor,  and  when  a  smaller  num- 
ber might  have  been  employed  to  greater  advantage.  His  zeal  was  so 
great  that  he  collected  orplians  long  before  his  premises  were  ready  for 
occupation,  in  the  meantime  engaging  David  Douglass's  house,  at  an  ex- 
orbitant rent,  for  their  reception.  So  eager  was  he  to  multiply  the  ob- 
jects of  charity  under  his  charge  that  he,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  un- 
dertook to  transfer  to  Bethesda  lads  of  considerable  age  who  were  al- 
ready employed  in  satisfactory  positions.  Conceiving  the  design  pf  con- 
verting the  Bethesda  orphan  liouse  into  "  a  seminary  of  literature  and 
academical  learning"  Mr.  Whitefield,  on  the  i8th  of  December,  1764, 
submitted  a  memorial  which  evoked  from  his  excellency  Sir  James 
Wright  and  from  both  houses  of  Assembly  "fervent  wishes  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  so  useful,  so  beneficent,  and  so  laudable  an  undertak- 
ing." That  he  might  obtain  from  the  Crown  the  necessary  sanction  and 
assistance,  Mr.  Whitefield  made  a  special  journey  to  England-  In  his 
memorial  submitted, to  the  privy  council,  and  subsequently  referred  to 
his  grace  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  he  prayed  for  a  charter  upon  the 
plan  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey,  and  expressed  his  readiness  to  give 
up  his  present  trust  and  make  a  free  gift  of  all  lands,  negroes,  goods,  and 
chattels  which  he  then  stood  possessed  of  in  the  province  of  Georgia  for 
the  present  founding  and  toward  the  future  support  of  a  college  to  be 
called  by  the  name  of  Bethesda  College  in  the  province  of  Georgia." 
The  presidency  of  the  proposed  institution  Mr.  Whitefield  did  not  crave 
for  himself  His  shoulders  he  did  not  regard  as  well  suited  to  the  sup- 
port of  such  an  academical  burden.  His  capacity  he  pronounced  too 
limited  for  a  scholastic  trust  of  this  dignity.  To  be  a  presbyter-at-large 
he  deemed  his  proper  mission.  His  wish  was  to  obtain  a  college  charter 
"  upon  a  broad  bottom,"  to  provide  proper  niasters  to  instruct  and  pre- 
pare for  literary  honors  youths  who,  in  Georgia  and  the  adjacent  prov- 
inces, were  desirous  of  superior  educational  advantages,  to  inaugurate  a 
liberal  trust  which  would  endure  long  after  he  was  gathered  to  his  fath- 
ers, and  to  know  that  his  beloved  Bethesda  would  not  only  be  continued 

18 


138  History  of  Savannah. 

as  a  house  of  mercy  for  the  poor  orphans,  but  would  also  be  confirmed  to 
the  latest  posterity  "as  a  seat  and  nursery  of  sound  learning  and  religious 
education." 

Pleasing  as  were  these  anticipations,  they  were  never  realized.  Early 
on  the  morning  of  the  30th  of  September,  1770,  he,  whose  voice  had  so 
long  and  so  eloquently  filled  the  land,  died  of  an  acute  attack  of  asthma 
in  the  village  of  Newburyport,  Mass.;  and  shortly  afterwards  the  build- 
ings at  Bethesda  were  consumed  by  fire.  So  rapid  was  the  conflagra- 
tion that  only  a  little  of  the  furniture  and  a  few  of  the  books  were  saved. 
"  Happy  was  it,"  exclaims  Captain  McCall,^  "  for  the  zealous  founder  of 
this  institution  that  he  did  not  survive  the  ruins  of  a  fabric  on  which  his 
heart  was  fixed,  and  to  the  completion  of  which  he  had  devoted  so  much 
time  and  labor."  Profound  was  the  impression  produced  in  Savannah 
by  the  intelligence  of  his  death.  Church  and  State  House  were  draped 
in  black,  and  the  governor  and  council  arrayed  themselves  in  the  habili- 
ments of  mourning.  Funeral  discourses  were  pronounced,  and  the  en- 
tire population  bemoaned  his  loss. 

In  his  will,  now  of  file  in  the  oflSce  of  the  secretary  of  State  at  At- 
lanta, appears  the  following  devise:  "In  respect  to  my  American  con- 
cerns, which  I  have  engaged  in  simply  and  solely  for  His  great  name's 
sake,  I  leave  that  building  commonly  called  the  Orphan  House,  at  Be- 
thesda, in  the  province  at  Georgia,  together  with  all  the  other  buildings 
lately  erected  thereon,  and  likewise  all  other  buildings,  lands,  negroes, 
books,  furniture,  and  every  other  thing  whatsoever  which  I  now  stand 
possessed  of  in  the  Province  of  Georgia  aforesaid,  to  that  elect  Lady,  that 
Mother  in  Israel,  that  Mirror  of  true  and  undefiled  religion,  the  Right 
Honorable  Selina,  Countess  Dowager  of  Huntingdon :  desiring  that  as 
soon  as  may  be  after  my  decease,  the  plan  of  the  intended  Orphan-House 
Bethesda  College  may  be  prosecuted  :  if  not  not  practicable  or  eligible, 
to  pursue  the  present  plan  of  the  Orphan-House  Academy  on  its  old 
foundation  and  usual  channel ;  but  if  her  Ladyship  should  be  called  to 
enter  her  glorious  rest  before  my  decease,  I  bequeath  all  the  buildings, 
lands,  negroes,  and  everything  before  mentioned  which  I  now  stand  pos- 
sessed of  in  the  Province  of  Georgia  aforesaid,  to  my  dear  fellow-traveller 
and  faithful,  invariable  friend,  the  Honorable  James  Habersham,  Presi- 

^  Bistory  of  Georgia,  \o\.  \.,  ^.  162.     Savannah.     1811. 


Lady  Huntingdon.  139 


dent  of  His  Majesty's  honorable  Council;  and  should  he  survive  her  Lady- 
ship I  earnestly  recommend  him  as  the  most  proper  person  to  succeed 
her  Ladyship,  or  to  act  for  her  during  her  Ladyship's  life  time  in  the  Or- 
phan-House Academy." 

In  pursuance  of  this  devise  Lady  Huntingdon  sent  over  a  house- 
keeper to  manage  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  institution,  continued  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Crosse  as  teacher,  and  constituted  Mr.  Percy  president  and  gen- 
eral manager.  Her  plans,  however,  were  violently  frustrated  by  the  fire 
to  which  reference  has  already  been  made. 

With  her  private  means  she  erected  new  buildings  sufficient  to  ac- 
commodate the  few  pupils  in  attendance  upon  the  school.  Moribund 
was  the  condition  of  the  institution  during  her  life,  and  still  more  unsat- 
isfactory its  administration  under  the  board  of  trustees  appointed  by  the 
State  when  Georgia  exercised  dominion  over  this  property.  Another 
devastating  fire  occurred,  which  converted  into  ashes  the  greater  portion 
of  the  main  structure  ;  and  a  hurricane,  uplifting  the  tides,  desolated  the 
rice  fields.  The  trustees  were  powerless  to  make  the  needed  repairs, 
and  the  Legislature,  by  an  act  assented  to  on  the  22d  day  of  December, 
1808,1  directed  the  sale  of  the  estate  and  provided  for  the  distribution  of 
its  proceeds  among  certain  eleemosynary  institutions  in  the  city  of  Sa- 
vannah. 

In  1854  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Union  Society  purchased  a  part 
of  the  original  Bethesda  tract,  and  upon  the  very  spot  formerly  occupied 
by  Whitefield's  orphan  house  erected  buildings  for  the  accommodation 
and  instruction  of  the  boys  committed  to  their  charitable  care.  Thus 
happily  is  the  philanthrophic  scheme  of  the  most  noted  of  English  pulpit 
orators,  who  "  loved  to  range  in  the  American  woods,"  who  was  never 
happier  than  when  "  holding  a  levee  of  wounded  souls,"  and  whose  gen- 
erous arms  were  ever  open  to  succor  the  poor  and  the  orphan,  perpetu- 
ated in  the  living  present. 

1  Clayton's  Digest,  p.  463. 


146  History  of  Savannah. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Georgia  Divided  into  two  Counties — Colonel  William  Stephens  Appointed  President 
— His  Death  at  Bewlie — Mr.  Parker  Succeeds  to  his  Office — Negro  Slavery  and  the 
Itnportation  of  Spirituous  Liquors  Permitted — Land  Tenures  Enlarged — Commercial 
House  of  Harris  &  Habersham — First  Provincial  Assembly — Qualification  for  Mem- 
bership— First  General  Muster — The  Trustees  Surrender  their  Charter — Patrick  Gra- 
h4tli  Succeeds  Mr.  Parker  as  President  of  the  Colony. 

FOR  the  convenience  of  the  inhabitants,  and  in  the  interest  of  good 
government,  the  trustees,  on  the  isth  of  April  1741,  divided  the 
province  of  Georgia  into  two  counties — Savannah  and  Frederica.  The 
former  included  all  settlements  along  the  line  of  the  Savannah  River 
and  upon  both  banks  of  the  great  Ogechee,  and  such  additional  territory 
south  of  the  latter  stream  as  should  be  designated  when  a  proper  map  of 
the  country  could  be  prepared.  Within  the  latter  were  embraced  Darien, 
Frederica,  and  the  entire  region  lying  south  of  the  Alatamaha  River. 
Over  each  a  president  and  four  assistants  were  to  bear  rule,  constituting 
a  civil  and  judicial  tribunal  for  the  administration  of  political  affairs  and 
the  adjudication  of  all  controversies.  For  the  county  of  Savannah  Col- 
onel William  Stephens  was  selected  as  president,  with  a  salary  of  ;£'8o 
per  annum.  Henry  Parker,  Thomas  Jones,  John  Fallowfield,  and  Samuel 
Marcer  were  named  as  his  assistants.  No  nominations  were  made  for 
Frederica,  although  General  Oglethorpe  was  requested  to  suggest  a  suit- 
able president.  The  local  bailiffs  there  remained  in  charge.  So  long  as 
General  Oglethorpe  continued  to  reside  in  Georgia  all  disagreements  be- 
tween county  officials  could  be  readily  settled,  because  he  exercised  a  con- 
trolling influence  throughout  the  entire  province. 

In  anticipation  of  his  return  to  England,  and  to  avoid  the  erection  of 
separate  governments,  the  trustees,  on  the  i8th  of  April  1743,  abrogated 
so  much  of  the  constitution  as  provided  for  the  appointment  of  a  board 
for  Frederica,  and  empowered  the  president  and  assistants  at  Savannah 
to  administer  the  civil  and  judicial  affairs  of  the  whole  colony.  Thus, 
upon  the  departure  of  General  Oglethorpe,  Colonel  Stephens  became 
president  of  Georgia.  Prior  to  his  promotion  to  the  presidency  of  Sa- 
vannah county  he  had,  for  several  years,  occupied  the  position  of  secre- 
tary in  Georgia  to  the  trustees.     In  discharging  the  duties  appertaining 


President  Stephens's  Administration.  141 


to  this  office  his  industry,  his  loyalty,  and  his  prompt  obedience  were  con- 
spicuous. Although  his  experience,  attainments,  good  judgment,  and 
probity  of  character  admirably  fitted  him  for  the  execution  of  the  impor- 
tant trust,  so  advanced  was  he  in  years,  and  so  great  were  his  physical 
infirmities,  that  he  was  sometimes  incapable  of  dispatching,  with  neces- 
sary rapidity,  the  public  business.  As  the  years  rolled  on  he  became 
quite  sensible  of  his  feebleness,  and,  in  1750,  consented  that  his  assist- 
ants should,  in  the  main,  proceed  without  him.  On  the  19th  of  March, 
in  that  year,  Henry  Parker  was  appointed  vice-president,  and  subse- 
quently attended  to  the  duties  of  the  president,  although  Colonel  Ste- 
phens continued  to  hold  the  office  until  April  or  May  of  the  following 
year  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Parker.  He  then  carried  into  effect 
his  intention  of  retiring  from  Savannah — the  capital  of  the  province — 
into  the  country  where  he  would  "be  at  liberty  to  mind  the  more  weighty 
things  of  a  future  state,  not  doubting  but  the  trustees  would  enable  him 
to  end  his  few  remaining  days  without  care  and  anxiety."  In  this  ex- 
pectation he  was  not  disappointed,  for  the  Common  Council,  "  in  consid- 
eration of  his  great  age  and  infirmities  and  his  past  services,"  granted  him 
a  comfortable  annuity. 

The  evening  of  his  days  was  peacefully  spent  at  his  plantation  near 
Savannah  which  he  named  Bewlie  because  of  a  fancied  resemblance  wnich 
it  bore  to  the  manor  of  his  grace  the  Duke  of  Montague  in  the  New  For- 
est :  a  locality  in  after  years  rendered  memorable  by  the  debarkation  of 
Count  d'Estaing  on  the  12th  of  September,  1779,  and  by  the  erection  of 
formidable  batteries  for  the  protection  of  this  water  approach  to  the  city 
of  Savannah  during  the  war  between  the  States.  Here  he  fingered  until 
about  the  middle  of  August,  1753,  when,  at  the  tea  table,  having  just 
tasted  the  proffered  cup,  he  remarked  with  great  composure,  "  I  have 
done  eating  and  drinking  in  this  world."  Conducted  to  his  bedroom,  he 
lay  upon  his  couch,  unable  either  to  speak  or  to  receive  nourishment,  un- 
til the  next  day,  when  this  venerable  servant  of  the  trust  and  firm  friend 
of  the  colony  rested  from  his  labors  and  entered  into  peace. 

During  the  early  part  of  President  Stephens's  administration  Georgia 
did  not  prosper.  The  trustees  still  enforced  their  regulations  regarding 
land  tenures,  slaves  and  rum.  Failing  to  appreciate  the  true  difficulties 
of  the  situation,  they  sacrificed  the  material  interests  of  the  plantation  to 


142  History  of  Savannah. 


their  notions  of  policy  and  propriety.  The  present  was  utterly  unsatis- 
factory, and  the  future  appeared  devoid  of  hope.  The  acres  planted  in 
mulberries  were  so  neglected  that  they  scarcely  evinced  any  token  of 
their  former  cultivation.  Offered  bounties  failed  to  stimulate  the  pro- 
duction of  silk,  and  of  vines  there  were  none.  Rice  was  planted  only  in 
small  quantities;  cotton  was  a  curiosity;  indigo  seldom  seen;  and  the  corn 
crop  was  insufficient  for  home  consumption.  The  malaria  of  the  swamps 
poisoned  the  white  laborer,  and  the  hot  sun  robbed  him  of  all  energy. 
As  a  general  rule  the  articled  servants,  upon  the  expiration  of  their  terms, 
deserted  the  colony,  and  none  appeared  to  supply  their  places.  Immi- 
gration had  almost  ceased.  Money  was  scarce  and  labor  high.  Farms 
were  neglected,  and  the  inhabitants  were  dejected.  The  only  commercial 
house  in  Savannah  of  any  repute  was  that  of  Harris  &  Habersham,  and 
its  shipments  at  first  were  chiefly  confined  to  deer-skins,  lumber,  cattle, 
hogs,  and  poultry. 

At  the  request  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bolzius,  Mr.  James  Habersham,  who 
then  possessed  and  exerted  a  decided  political,  moral,  and  commer- 
cial influence  in  the  colony,  prepared  a  letter  in  which  he  carefully  re- 
viewed the  condition  of  the  province,  commented  upon  the  chimerical 
plans  of  the  trustees,  and  suggested  wise  changes  in  their  policy.  Con- 
trary to  his  expectations,  this  communication  found  its  way  into  the  hands 
of  the  Common  Council.  When  he  ascertained  this  fact  Mr.  Habersham 
feared  all  hope  of  favor  and  countenance  from  that  honorable  body  was 
at  an  end,  and  that,  taking  umbrage  at  the  views  he  had  expressed  and 
the  strictures  in  which  he  had  indulged,  the  trustees  would  be  disposed 
to  visit  upon  him  their  displeasure.  On  the  contrary,  his  forcible  pre- 
sentation of  the  case  and  his  cogent  reasoning  attracted  their  particular 
notice,  and  gave  rise  to  deliberate  discussion.  Instead  of  incurring  their 
wrath,  he  was,  to  his  surprise,  appointed  by  them  as  an  assistant  in  Sa- 
vannah in  the  place  of  Samuel  Marcer  who  had  proved  faithless  to  his 
trust. 

Although  frequently  memorialized  on  the  subject,  the  trustees  uni- 
formly refused  to  sanction  the  introduction  of  negro  slavery  into  the  prov- 
ince. They  could  not  be  persuaded  to  allow  the  Georgia  colonists  even 
to  hire  negroes  owned  in  Carolina.  The  impolicy  of  an  adherence  to  this 
course  of  administration  had  long  been  apparent  to  many.     It  was  now 


Negro  Slavery  Introduced.  143 

more  evident  than  ever  that  if  the  employment  of  the  African  laborer 
was  not  permitted  the  development  of  the  province  would  be  fatally  ob- 
structed. The  colonists  determined,  therefore,  to  disregard  the  injunc- 
tions of  the  trustees.  The  terms  for  which  European  servants  had  been 
engaged  had  generally  expired,  and  there  was  no  way  of  remedying  this 
deficiency  in  labor  except  by  hiring  negro  slaves  from  their  masters  in 
South  Carolina,  with  the  proviso  that  if  any  attempt  was  made  on  the 
part  of  the  Georgia  authorities  to  enforce  the  regulations  of  the  trustees 
the  owner  of  the  slave  should  be  promptly  notified  so  that  he  might  come 
forward  and  claim  his  property.  Finding  that  this  evasion  of  the  law 
succeeded,  the  colonists  went  one  step  further  and  hired  negro  slaves  for 
a  hundred  years,  or  during  life,  paying  in  advance  the  full  value  of  the 
slaves ;  the  former  owners  covenanting  to  intervene  and  claim  them  in 
case  such  action  was  rendered  necessary  by  any  proceedings  on  the  part 
of  the  Georgia  authorities. 

Finally,  purchases  from  negro  traders  were  openly  concluded  in  Sa- 
vannah. "  Some  seizures,"  says  Captain  McCall,  "  were  made  by  those 
who  opposed  the  principle,  but  as  a  majority  of  the  Magistrates  favored 
the  introduction  of  slaves  into  the  Province,  legal  decisions  were  sus- 
pended from  time  to  time,  and  a  strong  disposition  was  evidenced  by  the 
courts  to  evade  the  operation  of  the  law.  So  great  was  the  majority  on 
that  side  of  the  question  that  anarchy  and  confusion  were  likely  to  be 
kindled  into  civil  war.  Several  negro  servants  had  been  purchased  for  the 
Orphan  House,  and  Mr.  Habersham  declared  that  the  institution  could 
not  be  supported  without  them.  The  servants  sent  over  from  England  by 
Mr.  Whitefield,  after  a  few  months,  refused  to  yield  to  the  menial  duties 
assigned  to  them.  Many  ran  away,  and  were  supported  and  secreted  in 
Carolina  by  their  countrymen  until  an  opportunity  offered  to  escape  fur- 
thernorth,  where  they  were  secured  against  a  compliance  with  the  con- 
ditions of  their  indentures.  The  few  who  remained  were  too  old,  too 
young,  or  too  much  afflicted  with  disease  to  render  services  equal  to  a 
compensation  for  their  clothing  and  subsistence.  Those  who  had  fled 
soon  found  that  they  could  procure  land  in  the  other  colonies  on  easy 
terms,  and  engage  in  employments  less  degrading  and  more  advan- 
tageous." 

These  violations  and  evasions  of  the  regulations  in  regard  to  the  em- 


144  History  of  SavanJStaH. 


ployment  of  negroes  within  the  colony  having  been  brought  to  the  notice 
of  the  trustees,  the  Common  Council  sharply  reprimanded  the  president 
and  assistants,  and  ordered  them  at  once  to  put  an  end  to  these  en- 
croachments. In  their  response  those  gentlemen  expressed  a  fear  that 
the  trustees  had  been  misinformed  in  regard  to  their  conduct.  They 
confidently  asserted  that  the  board  had  always  discouraged  the  use  of 
black  slaves  in  the  province,  and  had  charged  those  to  whom  lands  were 
granted  not  to  attempt  the  introduction  or  use  of  negroes.  It  is  more 
than  hinted,  however,  that  while  the  president  and  his  assistants  were 
indulging  in  these  protestations  to  the  trustees  they  stimulated  popular 
clamor  and  seci^etly  connived  at  the  accession  of  negroes.  They  were 
charged  by  Mr.  Dobell  with  duplicity  and  dissimulation,  and  Colonel  Al- 
exander Heron  boldly  averred:  "  It  is  well  known  to  every  one  in  the 
Colony  that  Negroes  have  been  in  and  about  Savannah  for  these  several 
years  past :  that  the  magistrates  knew  and  winked  at  it,  and  that  their 
constant  toast  is  '  the  one  thing  needful,'  by  which  is  meant  Negroes." 

Those  who  supported  the  plans  of  the  trustees  in  this  regard  were 
denounced,  "and  the  leading  men  both  of  New  Inverness  and  Ebenezer 
were  traduced,  threatened,  and  persecuted  "  for  their  opposition  to  the 
introduction  of  negro  slavery.  Such  was  the  excitement  on  this  subject 
that  the  opponents  of  the  scheme  for  the  employment  of  African  labor 
shrunk  from  further  contest  with  its  advocates.  The  magistrates  were 
intimidated  ;  and  even  good  Mr.  Bolzius,  who,  with  his  followers,  had  al- 
ways protested  against  the  admission  of  negro  slaves,  wrote  to  the  trus- 
tees on  the  3d  of  May,  1748  :  "Things  being  now  in  such  a  melancholy 
state,  I  must  humbly  beseech  your  Honors  not  to  regard  any  more  our 
or  our  friends'  petitions  against  Negroes." 

No  two  individuals  were  so  instrumental  in  prevailing  upon  the  trus- 
tees to  relax  this  prohibition  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield  and  the  Honor- 
able James  Habersham.  The  former  boldly  asserted  that  the  transpor- 
tation of  the  African  from  his  home  of  barbarism  to  a  Christian  lajid, 
where  he  would  be  humanely  treated  and  be  required  to  perform' hi& 
share  of  toil  common  to  the  lot  of  humanity,  was  advantageous,  while 
the  latter  affirmed  that  the  colony  could  not  prosper  without  the  inter- 
vention of  slave  labor. 

On  the  loth  of  January,  1749,  the  president  and  assistants  and  ?i  con- 


Negro  Slavery  Permitted.  145 


siderable  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  Georgia  forwarded  to  the  trustees 
a  petition,  to  which  the  town  seal  was  affixed,  suggesting  certain  restric- 
tions and  regulations  under  which  they  prayed  that  negro  slaves  might 
be  admitted  into  the  colony.  This  petition  having  been  read  and  con- 
sidered by  the  trustees,  it  was  resolved  to  memoralize  his  majesty  in 
council  for  a  repeal  of  the  act  prohibiting  the  importation  and  use  of  black 
slaves  within  the  province  of  Georgia.  A  committee,  of  which  the  Earl 
of  Shaftesbury  was  appointed  chairman,  was  raised  to  prepare  an  act  re- 
pealing the  former  act  on  this  subject. 

The  result  of  all  this  agitation  was  that  the  trustees  yielded  to  the 
petition  of  the  colonists,  and  Georgia,  after  a  struggle  of  sixteen  years, 
acquired  the  right,  long  enjoyed  by  her  sister  English  colonies  in  Amer- 
ica, of  owning  and  employing  negro  slaves. 

Soon  another  regulation,  to  which  the  trustees  tenaciously  clung,  was 
abrogated.  By  a  vote  of  the  House  of  Commons  they  were  directed 
to  repeal  the  act  which  prohibited  the  introduction  of  rum  and  other 
distilled  liquors.^  And,  finally,  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  trustees 
on  the  25th  of  May,  1750  which  provided;  "That  the  Tenures  of  all  Grants 
of  Land  whatsoever  already  made  to  any  person  within  the  Province  of 
Georgia  be  enlarged  and  extended  to  an  absolute  Inheritance,  and  that  all 
future  Grants  of  Land  shall  be  of  an  absolute  Inheritance  to  the  Grantees, 
their  Heirs  and  Assigns." 

Thus  had  the  trustees  been  constrained,  by  force  of  circumstances,  to 
abrogate,  one  after  another,  several  fundamental  regulations  which  they 
at  first  promulgated  for  the  government  of  the  colony,  and  which  they 
long  esteemed  essential  to  its  moral  and  political  welfare.  Lands  in  Geor- 
gia were  now  held  in  fee  simple  :  and  the  power  of  alienation  was  unre- 
stricted. The  ownership  and  employment  of  negro  slaves  were  free  to 
all,  and  the  New  England  manufacturer  and  the  Santa  Cruz  merchant 
here  found  an  open  market  for  their  rum. 

The  trustees  also  misinterpreted  the  capabilities  of  the  climate  and  soil 

'  President  Stephens,'  in  writing  to  the  trustees,  expressed  the  opinion  that  less  rum 
was  consumed  in  the  colony  after  its  use  was  permitted  than  when  it  was  obtained  and 
drunk  clandestinely.     He  further  stated  that  "  a  beverage  compounded  of  one  part  of 
rum,  three  parts  of  water,  and  a  little  brown  sugar,  was  very  fit  to  be  taken  at  meals,' 
and  that  it  was,  "  during  the  warm  season,  far  more  wholesome  than  malt  liquors." 
19 


146  History  of  Savannah. 

of  Georgia.  Although  substantial  encouragement  had  been  afforded  to 
Mr.  Amatis,  to  Jacques  Camuse,  to  the  Salzburgers  at  Ebenezer,  to  Mr. 
Pickering  Robinson,  to  Mr.  Habersham,  and  to  Mr.  Lloyd;  although  cop- 
per basins  and  reeling-machines  had  been  supplied  and  a  filature  erected; 
although  silk-worm  eggs  were  procured  and  mulberry  trees  mutiplied, 
silk  culture  in  Georgia  yielded  only  a  harvest  of  disappointment.  The 
vine  too  languished.  The  olive  trees  trom  Venice,  the  barilla  seeds  from 
Spain,  the  kali  from  Egypt,  and  other  exotics,  obtained  at  much  expense, 
after  a  short  season  withered  and  died  in  the  public  garden.  The  hemp 
and  flax,  from  the  cultivation  of  which  such  rich  yields  were  anticipated, 
never  warranted  the  charter  of  a  single  vessel  for  their  transportation,  and 
indigo  did  not  commend  itself  to  general  favor.  Exportations  of  lumber 
were  infrequent.  Cotton  was  then  little  more  than  a  garden  plant,  and 
white  labor  had  been  unable  to  compete  successfully  with  Carolina  ne- 
groes in  the  production  of  rice.  Up  to  this  point  the  battle  had  been  with 
nature  for  life  and  subsistence;  and  upon  the  stores  of  the  trust  did  many 
long  rely  for  food  and  clothing.  Of  trade  there  was  little,  and  that  was 
confined  to  necessaries.  With  the  exception  of  occasional  shipments  of 
copper  money  for  circulation  among  the  inhabitants,  sola  bills'  consti- 
tuted the  currency  of  the  province.  These  were  issued  by  the  trustees 
and  placed  in  the  hands  of  their  Georgia  agents  to  be  by  them  paid  out 

iThe  following  is  a  copy  of  one  of  these  bills,  with  its  indorsement : 
"  Georgia  Bill  of  Exchange 
payable  in  England. 

A.  No.  13,464.  Westminster  29th  May,  1749.  Thirty  days  after  sight  hereof,  we 
the  Trustees  for  Establishing  the  Colony  of  Georgia  in  America  Promise  to  pay  this  our 
Sola  Bill  of  Exchange  to  W"  Stephens  Esq.,  Henry  Parker,  W"  Spencer,  and  Ja'  Hab- 
ersham or  the  order  of  any  two  of  them,  the  Sum  of  One  Pound  Sterling  at  our  Office  in 
Westminster,  to  answer  the  like  value  received  in  Georgia  on  the  Issue  hereof,  as  testi- 
fied by  Indorsement  hereon,  sign'd  by  the  said  two  who  shall  Issue  this  Bill. 

£^- 

Sealed  by  order  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  said  Trustees  for  Establishing  the 
Colony  of  Georgia  in  America.  Harman  Verelist,  Acco'""'. 

(Endorsed) 

Georgia,  October  13th,  1749. 

This  Bill  was  then  Issued  to  William  Stephens  Esq'  for  value  received.  Therefore 
Please  to  Pay  the  Contents  to  him  or  order.  HENRY  PARKER, 

Wm  Spencer. 

Will  Stephens.  1749." 


House  of  Harris  and  Habersham.  147 

as  occasion  required.  They  were  redeemable  in  England,  and,  when  not 
specially  indorsed,  passed  current  as  any  Bank  of  England  notes.  When 
presented  for  payment  and  redeemed  they  were  canceled  in  the  presence 
of  one  Common  Council  man  and  two  trustees.  A  careful  record  was 
preserved  of  all  bills  issued  and  redeemed.  While  General  Oglethorpe 
remained  in  Georgia,  to  him  was  confided  the  issuing  of  them,  and  after 
his  departure  this  duty  devolved  upon  the  president  and  assistants.  The 
trustees  required  that  specific  report  should  be  made  of  the  purpose  for 
which  each  bill  was  issued.  More  than  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  thou- 
sand dollars  were  thus  sent  over  to  the  colony  at  different  times  and  dis- 
bursed in  payment  of  salaries  and  in  discharge  of  other  expenses  con- 
nected with  the  execution  of  the  trust.  At  the  expiration  of  their  char- 
ter the  accountant  reported  to  the  trustees  that  sola  bills  to  the  amount 
of  ;^I,I49  had  not  been  returned  for  payment.  Whereupon,  the  Com- 
mon Council  placed  that  sum  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Lloyd,  a  reputable  silk 
merchant,  who  engaged  to  redeem  them  when  presented.  Public  notice 
was  also  inserted  in  the  American  gazettes  requiring  their  presentation 
before  the  ist  of  January,  1756.^ 

In  their  administration  of  the  financial  affairs  of  the  colony  the  trus- 
tees exhibited  the  utmost  prudence,  care,  and  economy.  In  all  their  la- 
bors they  were  exact.  No  body  of  men  could  have  executed  a  trust 
with  greater  fidelity  or  in  a  manner  further  removed  from  personal  gain 
or  the  hope  of  private  emolument.  They  were  philanthropists  all,  and 
in  the  consciousness  of  duty  discharged,  in  the  scrupulous  distribution  of 
blessed  charities,  in  honest  efforts  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of 
their  own  unfortunate  fellow  citizens  and  of  the  oppressed  Protestants  of 
Europe,  in  the  dissemination  of  the  truths  of  Christianity  upon  distant 
shores,  and  in  the  patriotic  extension  of  British  dominion  did  they  find 
honor  and  reward.  Commercial,  industrial,  and  governmental  mistakes 
they  did  commit,  but  their  errors  were  all  of  the  head  and  not  of  the 
heart.  For  more  than  a  century  and  a  quarter  has  their  record  been  made 
up,  and  it  stands  to-day  without  a  single  stain. 

To  the  house  of  Harris  &  Habersham  is  Georgia  indebted  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  her  earliest  commercial  relations  not  only  with  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  and  Boston,  but  also  with  London.     They  were  the  first  mer- 


iSee  Stevens's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  i.,  p.  315.     New  York.     MDCCCXLVli. 


148  History  of  Savannah. 


chants  here  engaged  in  exporting  and  importing.  By  them  was  the  first 
ship  chartered  for  a  Georgia  cargo.  This  was  in  1749,  and  the  articles 
exported  consisted  chiefly  of  pitch,  tar,  staves,  rice,  and  deer-skins.  Lib- 
eral in  their  dealings,  possessing  a  commercial  credit  and  correspondence 
beyond  any  others  in  the  province  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  and 
eager  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  metropolis  of  Georgia,  these  gen- 
tlemen sought  to  stimulate  the  inhabitants  to  such  a  degree  of  industry 
that  their  home  products  would  suffice  not  only  for  consumption  within 
the  plantation  but  also  for  exportation.  Their  effort  was,  by  an  accum- 
ulation of  needed  supplies,  to  secure  the  trade  of  the  Carolina  planters 
and  sell  their  crops  for  them.  By  attracting  English  shipping  to  the  port 
they  increased  the  growth  and  importance  of  Savannah  and  furnished 
a  direct  outlet  for  all  articles  seeking  a  foreign  market.  So  successful 
were  the  operations  of  this  enterprising  firm  that  the  colony  materially 
increased  in  wealth  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  comforts  to  which  its  inhab- 
itants had  hitherto  been  strangers.  Within  a  very  few  years  after  the 
establishment  of  its  relations  with  England,  and  after  the  introduction 
of  negro  slaves,  a  member ^  of  this  house  thus  writes:  "My  present 
thoughts  are  that  the  colony  never  had  a  better  appearance  of  thriving 
than  now.  There  have  been  more  vessels  loaded  here  within  these  ten 
months  than  have  been  since  the  Colony  was  settled.  Our  exportations 
for  a  year  past  are  an  evident  proof  that  if  proper  labouring  hands  could 
have  been  had  years  before,  this  Colony  before  now  would  have  demon- 
strated its  utility  to  the  Mother  Country  and  the  West  India  Islands. 
Two  days  ago  a  large  ship  arrived  here  addressed  to  my  partner  and  my- 
self, which  is  the  fifth  sea  vessel  which  has  been  here  to  load  within  a 
year ;  more,  I  may  affirm,  than  has  ever  been  loaded  in  this  Colony  be- 
fore since  its  first  settlement,  with  its  real  produce," 

On  the  8th  of  April,  175  i  Mr.  Henry  Parker  was  appointed  president 
of  the  colony  in  the  room  of  Colonel  William  Stephens.  Pickering  Rob- 
inson and  Francis  Harris  were  named  as  his  assistants,  and  Mr.  Noble 
Jones  was  commissioned  as  register  of  the  province. 

In  pursuance  of  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  trustees  in  June,  1750, 
writs  of  election  had  been  issued  for  the  selection  of  delegates  to  a  pro- 
vincial assembly  to  convene  at  Savannah  on  the   15th  of  the  following 

'  The  Hon.  James  Habersham. 


Provincial  Assembly.  149 

January.  Sixteen  delegates  composed  that  assembly,  and  they  were 
"proportioned  to  the  population  of  the  different  parishes  or  districts.'' 
For  the  convocation,  apportionment,  and  qualification  of  these  assembly- 
men, the  following  regulations  were  established  by  the  Common  Council. 

The  assembly  was  to  convene  in  the  town  of  Savannah  once  a  year, 
at  such  time  as  should  be  designated  as  most  convenient  by  the  presi- 
dent of  the  colony  and  his  assistants,  and  remain  in  session  not  longer 
than  one  month. 

Every  town,  village,  or  district  in  the  province,  containing  a  popula- 
tion of  ten  families,  was  empowered  to  send  one  deputy.  Any  settle- 
ment embracing  thirty  families  could  appoint  two  delegates.  To  the 
town  of  Savannah  four  deputies  were  allowed;  to  Augusta  and  Ebenezer 
two  each;  and  to  Frederica  two,  provided  there  were  thirty  families  resi- 
dent there. 

As  the  privilege  of  enacting  laws  was,  by  charter,  vested  solely  in  the 
trustees,  this  assembly  could  not  legislate.  Its  powers  were  limited  to 
discussing  and  suggesting  to  the  trustees  such  measures  as  they  might 
deem  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  particular  communities  and  important 
for  the  general  good  of  the  province. 

Within  three  days  after  their  assembling  these  deputies  were  required 
to  submit  in  writing  a  statement  showing  the  number  of  inhabitants,  both 
white  and  black  (specifying  sex  and  age  in  every  instance),  the  quantity 
of  land  cultivated  by  each  inhabitant  and  in  what  crop  planted,  the  num- 
ber of  negroes  owned  and  employed,  the  quantity  of  mulberry  trees 
standing  and  fenced  on  each  plantation,  and  the  progress  made  by  each 
man  or  family  in  the  culture  of  silk,  indigo,  cotton,  etc.,  in  the  several 
towns  or  parishes  represented  by  them. 

These  accounts,  and  also  the  suggestions  of  the  assembly  when  signed 
by  its  presiding  officer,  were  to  be  delivered  to  the  president  and  assist- 
ants for  prompt  transmission  to  the  trustees. 

The  presiding  ofHcer  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  delegates.  When  se- 
lected by  them,  he  must  be  presented  for  the  approval  or  disapproval  of 
the  president  of  the  colony.  Should  the  president  decline  to  sanction 
the  choice  of  the  assembly,  if  demanded  by  any  three  of  the  members, 
he  was  required  to  give  his  reasons  for  such  disapproval  and  to  transmit 
the  same  in  writing  for  the  consideration  of  the  trustees. 


ISO  History  of  Savannah. 

For  delegates  to  the  first  assembly,  which  was  convened  at  the  earliest 
practicable  moment,  no  qualifications  were  prescribed  ;  but  after  the  24th 
of  June,  175 1,  no  inhabitant  could  be  elected  a  deputy  who  had  not  one 
hundred  mulberry  trees  planted  and  properly  fenced  upon  every  tract  of 
fifty  acres  which  he  possessed.  From  and  after  the  24th  of  June,  1753, 
no  one  was  capable  of  being  a  delegate  who  had  not  strictly  conformed 
to  the  prescribed  limitation  of  the  number  of  negro  slaves  in  proportion 
to  his  white  servants,  who  had  not  in  his  family  at  least  one  female  in- 
structed in  the  art  of  reeling  silk,  and  who  did  not  annually  produce  fif- 
teen pounds  of  silk  for  every  fifty  acres  of  land  owned  by  him. 

Such  were  the  curious  qualifications  prescribed  for  membership  of  the 
first  quasi-deliberative,  quasi- legislative  body  which  ever  assembled  in 
Georgia.  They  were  evidently  intended  to  stimulate  the  production  of 
silk,  that  commodity  which  blinded  the  eyes  of  the  trustees  and  warped 
their  judgment  in  directing  the  industrial  pursuits  of  the  colonists. 

The  assembly  convened  at  Savannah  on  the  day  appointed,  and  or- 
ganized by  the  election  of  Francis  Harris  as  speaker.  Among  the  mem- 
bers who  appeared,  and,  having  taken  the  "  oaths  of  allegiance,  suprem- 
acy, and  abjurgation  "  were  duly  seated  were: 

From  the  Savannah  District:  Francis  Harris,  speaker,  John  Milledge, 
William  Francis,  and  William  Russel. 

The  proceedings  of  this  assembly  were  unimportant.  It  was  a  day  of 
small  things,  and  there  was  little  to  attract  notice,  save  such  trival  mat- 
ters as  the  want  of  a  pilot  boat,  the  lack  of  a  boat-house  under  the  bluff, 
of  standard  weights,  scales,  and  measures,  of  a  survey  of  the  Savannah 
River,  of  a  commissioner  to  regulate  pilotage,  of  a  clerk  of  the  market, 
and  needs  of  a  kindred  character. 

The  first  general  muster  of  the  militia  of  the  lower  districts  was  held 
in  Savannah  on  Tuesday,  the  13th  of  June,  1751.  About  two  hundred 
and  twenty  men, — infantry  and  cavalry, — armed  and  equipped,  paraded 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Noble  Jones.  In  the  language  of  the 
record  of  the  day,  they  "behaved  well  and  made  a  pretty  appearance." 

Although  the  charter  granted  by  his  majesty,  King  George  II.,  to  the 
trustees  for  establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America  did  not  by  its 
terms  expire  until  the  9th  of  June,  1753,  persuaded  that  the  proper  ad- 
ministration of  the  affairs  of  the  province  and  the  defrayal  of  the  ex- 


Patrick  Graham,  President.  151 


penses  connected  with  the  suitable  maintenance  of  the  civil  and  military- 
establishments  transcended  their  capabilities,  the  Common  Council,  on 
the  25th  of  April,  175  i,  appointed  a  committee,  with  the  Earl  of  Shaftes- 
bury as  its  chairman,  to  adjust  with  the  general  government  "  proper 
means  for  supporting  and  settling  the  colony  for  the  future,  and  to  take 
from  time  to  time  all  such  measures  as  they  should  find  necessary  for  its 
well  being."  Various  conferences  were  held  which  resulted  in  the  formal 
execution  of  the  deed  of  surrender  on  the  23d  of  June  in  the  following 
year.  Georgia  thereupon  ceased  to  exist  as  the  ward  of  the  trustees. 
Until  clothed  with  the  attributes  of  State  sovereignty  by  the  successful 
results  of  the  American  Revolution,  she  was  recognized  as  one  of  the 
daughters  of  the  Crown  under  the  special  charge  of  the  Lords  Commis- 
sioners for  Trade  and  Plantations.  By  the  terms  of  surrender  of  the 
charter  her  integrity  as  a  province, — separate  from  and  independent  of 
South  Carolina, — was  fully  assured,  and  all  grants  of  land  hitherto  made 
to  the  inhabitants  were  recognized  and  protected. 

Early  in  July,  1752,  the  lords  justices,  with  the  advice  of  the  Privy 
Council,  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  effect  that  until  his  majesty  in  his 
royal  wisdom  should  see  fit  to  establish  another  form  and  order  of  gov- 
ernment for  Georgia  all  officers  of  that  colony,  both  civil  and  military, 
holding  appointments  from  the  trustees,  should  continue  in  their  respec- 
tive places  of  trust,  and  receive  such  emoluments,  salaries,  and  fees  as  had 
been  incident  thereto  respectively.  Such  officers  were  admonished  to  be 
diligent  and  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  and  it  was  enjoined 
upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  province  to  render  them  every  obedience  and 
assistance. 

Benjamin  Martyn  was  appointed  agent  of  the  colony  in  England. 

Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Parker,  Patrick  Graham  succeeded  to  the  presi- 
dency of  Georgia.  His  assistants  were  James  Habersham,  Noble  Jones, 
Pickering  Robinson,  and  Francis  Harris.  In  a  letter  from  these  gentle- 
men to  the  board  of  trade,  dated  Savannah  in  Georgia,  April  II,  1753, 
we  are  informed  that  the  population  of  Georgia,  by  recent  count,  con- 
sisted of  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-one  whites  and  one 
thousand  and  sixty- six  blacks.^     This  estimate  did  not  include  his  ma- 

1  The  population  of  the  town  of  Savannah  was  then  between  seven  and  eight  hun- 
dred. 


152  History  of  Savannah. 


jesty's  troops  and  boatmen  then  in  the  colony,  or  a  congregation  of  two 
hundred  and  eighty  whites,  with  negro  slaves,  aggregating  five  hundred 
and  thirty- six,  coming  from  South  CaroHna  and  partially  located  in  the 
Midway  settlement,  or  Butler's  colony,  with  sixty  slaves.  Six  vessels 
were  reported  as  then  lying  at  the  wharves  in  Savannah  loading  for 
London  and  American  ports.  Joseph  Ottolenghe  who,  in  Italy,  had 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  best  method  of  conducting  filatures,  was 
about  to  succeed  Mr.  Pickering  Robinson  in  charge  of  the  silk  culture. 
Remittances  were  requested  in  support  of  this  industry,  and  also  in  aid 
of  the  friendly  Indians  who  were  craving  additional  presents. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Captain  John  Reynolds,  the  First  Royal  Governor  of  Georgia — His  Report  upon  the 
Condition  of  the  Province  and  of  Savannah  in  1754 — Recommends  the  Removal  of  the 
Seat  of  Government  to  Hardwicke — Courts  Established  in  Savannah — Population  and 
Military  Strength  of  the  Province — Governor  Reynolds's  Representation  for  the  Defense 
of  Savannah — Governor  Henry  Ellis — His  Admirable  Administration  of  Public  Affairs 
Georgia  Divided  into  Parishes — Christ  Church — Act  favoring  the  Erection  of  Churches 
in  Sympathy  with  the  Tenets  of  the  Established  Church  of  England — Legislation  with 
Regard  to  Savannah— Conference  with  the  Creek  Indians — Heat  in  Savannah — Re- 
tirement of  Governor  Ellis. 


w 


'ITH  the  plan  submitted  by  the  Lords  Commissioners  for  Trade 
and  Plantations  on  the  Sth  of  March,  1754,  "for  establishing  a  civil 
government  in  his  majesty's  colony  of  Georgia,"  his  majesty,  King  George 
II.,  was  well  pleased.  On  the  6th  of  August  he  appointed  Captain  John 
Reynolds  governor  of  the  province,  William  Clifton,  esq.,  attorney-gene- 
ral, James  Habersham,  esq.,  secretary  and  register  of  the  records,  Alex- 
ander Kellet,  esq.,  provost-marshal,  and  William  Russell,  esq.,  naval  offi- 
cer. Mr.  Henry  Yonge  and  Mr.  John  Gerar  William  DeBrahm  were  com- 
missioned as  "joint  surveyors  of  land  in  Georgia,"  at  a  salary  each  of  .^50 
per  annum,  and  Sir  Patrick  Houstoun,  Bart,  was  selected  as  register  of 
grants  and  receiver  of  quit  rents,  with  like  salary.  Patrick  Graham,  Sir 
Patrick  Houstoun,  Bart,  James  Habersham,  Alexander  Kellet,  William 
Clifton,  Noble  Jones,  Pickering  Robinson,  Francis  Harris,  Jonathan  Bryan, 


Governor  Reynolds.  153 

and  William  Russell  were  confirmed  as  members  of  council.     To  their 
number  Clement  Martin  was  subsequently  added. 

The  device  submitted  by  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Trade  and 
Plantations  for  a  public  seal  for  the  colony  was,  on  the  2 1st  of  June,  1754, 
approved  by  his  majesty,  and  the  chief  engraver  of  seals  was  ordered 
forthwith  to  engrave  one  of  silver  for  the  use  of  the  province.  It  was  to 
be  of  equal  size  with  those  sent  to  North  and  South  Carolina.  The  de- 
sign was  as  follows:  On  one  face  was  a  figure  representing  the  Genius  of 
the  colony  offering  a  skein  of  silk  to  his  majesty,  with  the  motto  "  Hinc 
laudem  sperate  Coloni,"  and  this  incription  around  the  circumference, 
"Sigillum  Provinciae  Nostrae  Georgiae  in  America."  On  the  other  side 
appeared  his  majesty's  arms,  crown,  garter,  supporters,  and  motto,  with 
the  inscription  "Georgius  II.,  Dei  Gratia  Magnae  Britanniae  Franciae  et 
Hiberniae  Rex,  Fidei  Defensor,  Brunsvici  et  Luneburgi  Dux,  Sacri  Ro- 
man! Imperii  Archi  Thesaurarius  et  Princeps  Elector." 

From  the  time  of  the  surrender  of  the  charter  until  the  arrival  of 
Governor  Reynolds  in  Georgia  the  government  of  the  province  was  ad- 
ministered, according  to  the  plan  inaugurated  by  the  trustees,  by  a  pres- 
ident and  four  assistants  who  received  their  instructions  from  and  made 
report  to  the  Lords  Justices,  and  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Trade  and 
Plantations. 

Sailing  in  the  man-of--wa.r  Porf  Makon,  Governor  Reynolds  landed  at 
Savannah  on  the  29th  of  October,  1754.  He  was  received  with  every 
demonstration  of  respect  and  joy.  Bonfires  at  night  supplemented  the 
general  delight  which  was  manifested  during  the  day.  After  a  formal  in- 
troduction to  the  president  and  assistants  in  council  assembled,  his  com- 
mission was  read.  He  was  then  conducted  to  the  president's  chair,  whence 
he  announced  the  dissolution  of  the  old  board  and  the  formation  of  a 
royal  council  under  letters- patent  from  the  Crown.  The  next  morning 
the  members  of  council  took  the  oath  of  ofiice  and  completed  their  or- 
ganization. Other  officers,  named  by  his  majesty,  were  sworn  to  faith- 
fully perform  the  duties  devolving  upon  them.  His  commission  as  cap- 
tain-general and  vice-admiral  of  the  province  was  "read  and  published 
at  the  head  of  the  militia  under  arms  before  the  council  chamber.  It  was 
listened  to  with  profound  attention  and  saluted  with  several  rounds  of 
20 


154  History  of  Savannah. 

musketry  and  shouts  of  loyalty."'  A  public  dinner,  given  by  the  mem- 
bers of  council  and  the  principal  inhabitants  of  Savannah  in  honor  of  the 
governor,  closed  the  public  exercises  of  the  occasion,  and  the  province 
passed  thus  simply  and  joyously  from  the  hands  of  the  trustees  into  the 
direct  keeping  of  the  Crown. 

Governor  Reynolds's  earliest  impressions  of  the  condition  and  needs 
of  the  province  are  conveyed  in  a  letter  and  two  memorials  to  the  Lords 
Commissoners  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  dated  "at  Savannah,  in  Georgia, 
December  5th,  1754."  After  announcing  his  arrival  on  the  29th  of  Oc- 
tober, and  his  pleasant  reception  by  the  inhabitants,  he  proceeds  to  give 
an  account  of  the  commercial  metropolis  and  capital  of  Georgia.  "The 
town  of  Savannah  is  well  situated  and  contains  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
houses,  all  wooden  ones,  very  small  and  mostly  very  old.  The  biggest 
was  used  for  the  meeting  of  the  President  and  Assistants,  wherein  I  sat 
in  Council  for  a  few  days,  but  one  end  fell  down  whilst  we  were  all  there, 
and  obliged  us  to  move  to  a  kind  of  shed  behind  the  Court-houpe,  which 
being  quite  unfit,  I  have  given  orders,  with  the  advice  of  the  Council,  to 
fit  up  the  shell  of  a  house  which  was  lately  built  for  laying  up  the  silk, 
but  was  never  made  use  of,  being  very  ill- calculated  for  that  purpose  as 
Mr.  Ottolenghe  informs  me,  wherefore  he  says  he  has  no  further  use  for 
it,  but  it  will  make  a  tolerable  good  house  for  the  Council  and  Assembly 
to  meet  in,  and  for  A  few  offices  besides."  The  prison  being  a  small 
wooden  structure  and  entirely  insecure,  he  ordered  it  to  be  strengthened 
and  supplied  with  bolts  and  bars.  With  the  advice  of  the  council  a  proc- 
lamation was  published,  continuing  all  officers  in  their  present  employ- 
ments until  further  notice.  Writs  of  election  were  issued  for  selecting 
representatives  to  serve  in  a  general  assembly  to  convene  in  Savannah 
on  the  7th  of  January,  1755.  The  erection  of  "Courts  of  Justice  and  Ju- 
dicature," in  accordance  with  his  majesty's  instructions,  was  receiving 
consideration.  Some  Indians  had  already  come  down  to  salute  the  new 
governor.  They  stated  that  so  soon  as  the  hunting  season  was  over  num- 
bers would  appear  to  receive  the  presents  which  were  subject  to  distribu- 
tion. The  necessity  for  additional  troops  to  garrison  the  southern  frontier 
of  the  province  and  to  prevent  the  desertion  of  negro  slaves  to  the  Span- 
iards in  St.  Augustine,  who  were  constantly  encouraging  them  to  run 
away  from  their  masters,  was  strongly  urged  upon  the  immediate  and 

'  See  Stevens's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  i.,  p.  386.    New  York,    mdcccxlvii. 


Governor  Reynolds'  Administration.  155 

favorable  notice  of  the  home  government.  Liberal  presents  were  re- 
quested for  the  Chickasaws,  Creeks,  Uchees,  Choctaws,  and  Cherokees, 
whom,  as  he  was  advised  by  Mr.  McGillivray  and  other  Indian  traders  of 
repute,  the  French  at  Mobile  were  endeavoring  to  excite  to  hostilities 
against  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  For  the  further  protection  of  the 
colony  demand  was  made  for  an  infantry  force  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  and  requisitions  were  filed  for  cannon,  small  arms,  and  ammunition. 

While  upon  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  southern  portions  of  the  prov- 
ince, Governor  Reynolds  was  so  favorably  impressed  with  the  location  of 
Hardwicke,  on  the  Great  Ogeechee  River,  he  represented  to  the  Lords 
Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations  that  it  was  the  only  place  within 
the  limits  of  Georgia  "fit  for  the  capital."  A  removal  of  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment from  Savannah  to  this  point  was  earnestly  recommended.  In 
this  suggestion  Governor  Ellis  subsequently  sympathized,  but  the  change 
was  never  sanctioned  by  the  home  authorities,  and  the  little  town  of 
Hardwicke — named  in  honor  of  the  lord  high  chancellor  of  England — 
deprived  of  its  anticipated  dignity  and  importance,  developed  into  simply 
a  small  trading  village  adapted  to  the  convenience  of  the  few  who  there 
resided  and  cultivated  the  lands  in  the  vicinity. 

The  attorney-general  of  the  province,  having  arrived  in  Savannah  on 
the  1 2th  of  December,  submitted  his  report  designating  the  best  method 
of  putting  into  practical  operation  his  majesty's  pleasure  with  regard  to 
the  organization  and  conduct  of  courts  within  the  colony.  The  council 
thereupon  proceeded  at  once  to  establish  them  so  that  there  might  be  no 
delay  in  the  orderly  administration  of  justice.  The  General  Court,  of 
which  Noble  Jones  and  Jonathan  Bryan  were  constituted  justices,  was 
organized  in  Savannah  where  it  was  permanently  located.  Four  regular 
terms  were  to  be  holden  in  each  year,  to  wit,  on  the  second  Tuesday  of 
January,  April,  July,  and  October.  Its  province  was  to  take  cognizance 
of  all  actions,  real,  personal,  and  mixed,  where  the  amount  in  controversy 
exceeded  forty  shillings.  Criminal  matters  were  also  subject  to  its  juris- 
diction ;  its  powers  and  authority  being  similar  to  those  inherent  in  the 
King's  Bench,  the  Common  Pleas,  and  the  Court  of  Exchequer  in  Eng- 
land. If  the  amount  involved  exceeded  ;^300,  an  appeal  lay  to  the  gov- 
ernor and  council;  and  if  the  judgment  was  for  more  than  £$00,  a  fur- 
ther appeal  could  be  prosecuted  to  his  majesty  in  council,  provided  the 
appellant  entered  into  proper  security  to  press  his  appeal  and  respond  to 


156  History  of  Savannah. 

the  final  condemnation.  Notice  of  such  appeal  was  to  be  given  within 
fourteen  days  after  the  rendition  of  the  judgment. 

A  Court  of  Chancery  for  hearing  equity  causes  was  organized:  In  it 
the  governor  sat  as  chancellor,  and  its  other  officers  were  a  master,  a  reg- 
ister, and  an  examiner.  Its  doors  were  to  be  open  after  each  session  of 
the  General  Court,  if  business  required. 

For  the  trial  of  criminal  matters  a  special  court  of  Oyer  and  Termi- 
ner, with  two  terms  a  year,  was  at  first  provided.  But  the  business  of  this 
court  having  been  soon  transferred  to  the  General  Court,  the  court  of  Oyer 
and  Terminer  was  discontinued. 

For  the  punishment  of  violations  of  the  Acts  of  Trade,  and  for  the  ad- 
judication of  claims  concerning  salvage,  the  wages  of  mariners,  and  other 
maritime  affairs,  a  Court  of  Admiralty  was  established.  Over  this  the 
governor  presided  as  vice-admiral,  and  the  other  officers  were  James  Ed- 
ward Powell,  judge- advocate;  William  Clifton,  advocate-general;  Alex- 
ander Kellet,  marshal;  and  William  Spencer,  register.  An  appeal  lay  to 
the  High  Court  of  Admiralty  in  England. 

Justices  were  appointed  for  the  several  districts  of  the  province,  and 
they  were  authorized  to  hear  and  determine  causes  where  the  amount  in- 
volved did  not  exceed  forty  shillings. 

For  punishing  slaves  committing  capital  crimes  a  commission  of 
Oyer  and  Terminer  might,  upon  an  emergency,  be  issued  to  the  justice  of 
the  district  in  which  the  offense  was  committed,  to  try  the  accused  with- 
out a  jury.  If  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  death,  the  justice  might 
award  execution,  and  set  upon  the  slave  a  value  which  was  afterwards  to 
be  paid  to  the  owner  by  the  General  Assembly,  "as  an  encouragement  to 
the  people  to  discover  the  villainies  of  their  slaves." 

True  to  his  military  instincts,  Governor  Reynolds  apparently  was 
more  concerned  in  regard  to  the  defenses  of  the  province  than  about  any 
other  matters  connected  with  its  civil  administration  and  commercial  de- 
velopment. The  population  of  Georgia  aggregated  scarcely  sixty-four 
hundred  souls  Of  these,  seven  hundred  and  fifty- six,  capable  of  bearing 
arms,  were  enrolled  in  the  mihtia  and  officered.  Badly  equipped,  and 
organized  into  eight  companies,  they  were  drilled  six  times  each  year. 
Widely  separated,  their  concentration  on  an  emergency  was  quite  diffi- 
cult. There  was  not  a  fortification  in  the  colony  which  could  be  regarded 
as  being  in  even  a  tolerable  condition.     In  Savannah  eleven  old  cannon 


Governor  Reynolds'  Administration.  157 

— three  and  four-pounders  —  without  carriages,  twenty- seven  antiquated 
swivel  guns,  and  sixty-one  dilapidated  muskets,  —  "most  of  them  with 
broken  stocks  and  many  without  locks,"  —  constituted  the  entire  show  of 
armament.  The  fort  in  the  town  was  rotting  down,  and  that  on  Cock- 
spur  island  was  in  no  better  plight. 

Summoning  to  his  assistance  John  Gerar  William  DeBrahm  —  one  of 
the  royal  surveyors  and  a  captain  of  engineers  of  high  repute — Governor 
Reynolds  matured,  and,  on  the  5th  of  January,  1756,  submitted  an  elab- 
orate "  Representation  of  the  Forts  and  Garrisons  necessary  for  the  de- 
fence of  Georgia."  In  it  the  following  provision  was  made  with  regard 
to  Savannah : 

"  Cockspur  is  to  be  a  Triangular  Fort,  i.  e.  three  Poligons,  a.  132  feet, 
with  three  Semi  Bastions  or  a  Block  House  with  a  Redoubt  of  4  Poli- 
gons, each  100  feet,  without  any  Bastion,  being  only  to  defend  the  Mouth 
of  Savannah  River. 

Artillery. 
6     24     18     Pounders  ] 

1,     12  Pounders     ^ 

-"  Ti        1        ^  Cannon. 

2       9  Pounders  ( 

2       8  Pounders  J 

2     10  Pounders.    Haubices. 


IS 
The  Garrison  is        .        .  ...       30  Regulars. 

-T-i-    -r.  ■  r  .  M5  Militia. 

The  Reinforcement  70  men  .  •         ■    ( 35  Indians. 

100 
"  Savannah  is  to  be  a  Square,  i   e.  four  Poligons,  each  448  feet,  with 
four  Bastions,  3   upon  the  Bluff  to  command  the  Town,  and  one  below 
the  Bluff:  besides  a  Battery  upon  the  Bluff  to  command  the  River,  be- 
ing only  a  Citidel  to  command  both  the  River  and  Town. 

Artillery. 

8     24     18  Pounders  ) 

4     12  Pounders  >  Cannon. 

10     1,2,  3,  8,  9     Pounders  ) 
2     12     10  Haubices. 

2  100     50  Mortars. 


26 
The  Garrison  is  .  .  1 50  Regulars. 

,      ^   ■   r  .  .T  (150  Militia. 

The  Remforcement  300  Men  .  .  )  150  Indians. 

450" 


158  History  of  Savannah. 

This  expensive  project  of  the  governor  did  not  receive  the  sanction 
of  the  commissioners  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  and  the  defenses  of  Geor- 
gia remained  in  a  deplorable  condition.  Fortunately  their  protective 
powers  were  not  called  into  requisition. 

The  administration  of  Governor  Reynolds  was  arbitrary,  partial,  and 
provocative  of  unrest.  That  of  his  successor,  Mr.  Ellis,  presented  a  most 
fortunate  and  pleasing  contrast.  Among  those,  who,  in  an  organized 
capacity,  tendered  a  cordial  welcome  upon  his  arrival  in  Savannah  on  the 
l6th  of  February,  1757,  to  assume  the  reins  of  government,  was  a  band  of 
school  boys  associated  together  as  a  military  company.  Having  paraded 
before  his  excellency  and  secured  his  commendation  of  their  soldiery  ap- 
pearance and  well  executed  manoeuvres,  these  boys,  through  their  cap- 
tain, presented  the  following  address  : 

"  Sir. — The  youngest  militia  of  this  Province  presume,  by  their  cap-' 
tain,  to  salute  your  Honour  on  your  arrival.  Although  we  are  of  too 
tender  years  to  comprehend  the  blessing  a  good  governor  is  to  a  pro- 
vince, our  parents  will  doubtless  experience  it  in  its  utmost  extent,  and 
their  grateful  tale  shall  fix  your  name  dear  in  our  memories." 

This  episode  Governor  ElHs  cherished  among  the  most  pleasing  inci- 
dents connected  with  his  early  sojourn  in  the  colony. 

He  found  the  colonists  dissatisfied,  discontented,  and  provoked  at  the 
manner  in  which  the  affairs  of  the  plantation  had  been  recently  adminis- 
tered. They  clamored  for  changes  in  the  case  of  not  a  few  of  the  office- 
holders, and  cited  acts  of  omission  and  of  commission  by  public  servants 
which  merited  condemnation.  His  conduct  under  the  circumstances, 
calm,  conservative,  self-reliant,  deliberate,  dispassionate,  and  statesman- 
like, soon  created  an  effect  most  beneficial.  The  tool  of  no  faction,  the 
instrument  of  no  party,  he  sought  only  the  public  good.  The  colonists 
quickly  recognized  his  merit,  his  impartiality,  his  integrity,  his  zeal  for 
the  common  weal,  and  accorded  to  him  a  place  high  in  their  respect  and 
affection. 

During  the  administration  of  Governor  Ellis  harmony  and  good  will 
obtained  between  the  executive  and  the  houses  constituting  the  General 
Assembly.  Even  the  efforts  of  Little,  who  had  so  long  disturbed  the 
public  tranquility,  to  poison  the  minds  of  some  of  the  legislators  and  to 
excite  a  prejudice  against  the  new  chief  magistrate,  failed  to  engender 
any  distrust  or  to  cause  a  division  in  the  sentiments  of  the  assembly. 


Christ  Church  Parish.  159 


He  had  been  unmasked.  The  day  of  his  influence  and  power  was  over. 
Those  who  had  of  late  fattened  by  the  favor  of  Governor  Reynolds  de- 
serted the  cause  of  the  deposed  chief  magistrate,  and  Governor  Ellis  was 
soon  able  to  report  the  "hydra  faction  which  had  long  preyed  upon  the 
happiness  of  the  people  seems  at  present  expiring." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  acts  passed  by  the  Legislature  during 
this  administration  was  that  dividing  the  several  districts  of  the  province 
into  parishes,  providing  for  the  establishment  of  religious  worship  accord- 
ing to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  empow- 
ering the  churchwardens  and  vestrymen  of  the  respective  parishes  to 
assess  rates  for  the  repair  of  churches,  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  for 
other  parochial  services.  This  act  was  approved  on  the  17th  of  March, 
1758.  According  to  its  provisions  the  "Town  and  District  of  Savannah 
extending  up  the  Savannah  River,  and  including  the  islands  therein,  as 
far  as  the  southeast  boundary  of  Goshen,  from  thence  in  a  southwest  line 
to  the  river  Great  Ogeechee,  and  from  the  town  of  Savannah  eastward 
as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  river  Savannah,  including  the  sea  islands  to 
the  mouth  of  the  river  Great  Ogeechee,  and  all  the  settlements  on  the 
north  side  of  the  said  river  to  the  western  boundaries  thereof,"  consti- 
tuted the  parish  of  Christ  Church. 

The  church^  already  erected  in  .Savannah,  and  the  ground  appurte- 
nant thereto  used  as  a  burial  place  were,  in  and  by  the  act,  designated 

'  Christ  church  stands  upon  the  identical  lot  first  designated  for  ecclesiastical  uses 
within  the  province  of  Georgia.  The  original  structure  was  small  and  builded  of  wood. 
After  various  changes,  and  having  suffered  total  demolition  by  fire  in  1796,  prior  edifices 
were  succeeded  by  the  present  religious  temple  which  was  completed  and  dedicated  in 
1840.  The  following  is  believed  to  be  a  correct  list  of  the  clergymen  who  ministered 
to  the  worshippers  at  Christ  church  during  the  eighteenth  century  :  Rev.  Dr.  George 
Herbert,  1733;  Rev.  Samuel  Quincy,  1733-1736;  Rev.  John  Wesley,  1736-1737;  Rev. 
George  Whitefield,  occasionally  from  1738  to  1770;  he  was  assisted  by  the  Hon.  James 
Habersham  as  a  reader,  and  by  Rev.  William  Norris,  1739,  Rev.  Christopher  Orton, 
1741-1742  ;  Rev.  Thomas  Bosomworth,  1743-1745  ;  Rev.  Bartholomew  Zouberbuhler, 
1745-1765,  and  by  Rev.  Samuel  Frink,  1767-1771.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Metcalf  was  appoint- 
ed rector  in  1740,  but  he  did  not  enter  upon  his  labors.  Then  followed  :  Rev.  Timothy 
Lowton,  1771-1773  ;  Rev.  Haddon  Smith,  1774-1775  ;  Rev.  Edward  Jenkins,  1779-1782  ; 
Rev.  Mr.  Lucas,  1785  ;  Rev.  Mr.  Nixon,  1786-1788  ;  Rev.  Benjamin  Lindsay,  1788-1791  ; 
Rev.  Edward  Ellington,  1792-1795,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Best,  1796.  During  Dr.  Best's  in- 
cumbency the  church  edifice  was  consumed  by  fire  ;  and,  until  the  installation  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Theodore  B.  Barton  in  181 1,  religious  ministrations  were  quite  irregular. 


i6o  History  of  Savannah. 

as  the  Parish  Church  and  Cemetery  of  Christ  Church.  It  was  further 
provided  that  "Bartholomew  Zouberbuhler,  clerk,  the  present  minister 
of  Savannah,  shall  be  the  rector  and  incumbent  of  the  said  Christ  Church, 
and  he  is  hereby  incorporated  and  made  one  body  politick  and  corporate 
by  the  name  of  the  rector  of  Christ  Church  in  the  town  of  Savannah; 
and  shall  be  and  he  is  hereby  enabled  to  sue  and  be  sued  by  such  name 
in  all  Courts  within  this  Province,  and  shall  have  the  cure  of  souls  within 
the  said  Parish,  and  shall  be  in  the  actual  possession  of  the  said  Church 
with  its  cemetery  and  appurtenances,  and  shall  hold  and  enjoy  the  same 
to  him  and  his  successors,  together  with  the  glebe  land  already  granted 
to  him,  and  the  messuage  or  tenement  near  to  the  said  Church,  with  all 
and  singular  the  buildings  and  appurtenances  thereunto  belonging ;  and 
also  all  other  lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments  as  shall  or  may  here- 
after be  given  and  granted  to  the  said  Church,  or  the  incumbent  there- 
of" 

For  the  purpose  of  keeping  church  edifices  in  repair,  for  the  care  of 
the  respective  cemeteries,  sacred  utensils  and  ornaments,  to  provide 
bread  and  wine  for  the  Holy  Eucharist,  to  pay  the  salaries  of  clerk  and 
sexton,  4nd  to  make  provision  for  the  poor  and  the  impotent  of  the  sev- 
eral parishes,  the  rector,  churchwardens,  and  vestrymen  were  author- 
ized to  levy  a  tax  on  the  estate,  real  and  personal,  ot  all  the  inhabitants 
within  the  respective  parishes  sufficient  to  yield  in  the  parishes  of  Christ 
Church  and  St.  Paul  ;£'30  each,  and  in  the  parishes  where  no  churches 
had  been  as  yet  erected  ;^io  each.  The  method  of  assessing  and  collect- 
ing this  tax  is  distinctly  pointed  out. 

With  the  rector,  churchwardens,  and  vestrymen  rested  the  power  of 
appointing  sextons,  and  of  fixing  their  salaries  and  fees.  The  rector  was 
to  forrn  one  of  the  vestry,  and  the  churchwardens  in  each  parish  were 
directed  to  procure,  at  the  charge  of  the  parish,  a  well-bound  paper  or 
parchment  book  wherein  the  vestry  clerk  of  the  parish  was  to  register 
the  "  births,  christenings,  marriages,  and  burials  of  all  and  every  person 
and  persons  thai;  shall  from  time  to  time  be  born,  christened,  married,  or 
buried  within  the  said  parish,  under  the  penalty  of  five  pounds  sterling 
on  failure  thereof"  For  each  entry  the  vestry  clerk  was  entitled  to  re- 
ceive, as  a  fee,  one  shilling  sterling.  These  registers  were  to  be  adjudged 
and  accepted  in  all  courts  of  record  in  the  province  as  furnishing  suffi- 


Vestry  Regulations. 


cient  proof  of  the  births,  marriages,  christenings,  and  burials  therein 
mentioned;  and  if  any  party  was  convicted  of  wilfully  making  or  caus- 
ing to  be  made  any  false  entry  therein,  or  of  maliciously  erasing,  alter- 
ing, or  defacing  an  entry,  or  of  embezzling  any  entry  or  book  of  record, 
he  was  to  be  adjudged  guilty  of  a  felony,  and  to  be  punished  with  death 
without  benefit  of  clergy.  Each  vestry  was  instructed  to  nominate  a 
proper  person  to  keep  a  record  of  its  proceedings,  and  to  act  as  the  cus- 
todian of  its  books  and  papers.  No  authority  was  conferred  upon  rectors 
to  exercise  any  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  or  to  administer  ecclesiastical 
law. 

Such  are  the  leading  provisions  of  the  act  dividing  Georgia  into  the 
parishes  of  Christ  Church,  Saint  Matthew,  Saint  George,  Saint  Paul, 
Saint  Philip,  Saint  John,  Saint  Andrew,  and  Saint  James,  and  erecting 
churches  in  sympathy  with  the  tenets  of  the  established  Church  of  Eng- 
land. While  the  patronage  of  the  Crown  and  of  the  Colonial  Assembly 
was  extended  in  this  special  manner  in  aid  of  churches  professing  the 
Episcopal  faith,  it  was  not,  as  we  conceive,  designed  to  favor  them  by  an 
exclusive  recognition.  The  idea  appeared  to  be  to  accord  to  that  denom- 
ination within  the  Hmits  of  Georgia  a  prestige  akin  to  that  which  the 
church  of  England  enjoyed  within  the  realm,  to  create  certain  offices  for 
the  encouragement  of  that  religious  persuasion  and  the  extension  of  the 
gospel  in  accordance  with  its  forms  of  worship  and  mode  of  government, 
and  to  provide  a  method  by  which  faithful  registers  of  births,  marriages, 
christenings  and  deaths  might  be  made  and  perpetuated.  Numerous  were 
the  dissenters  then  in  the  province.  They  were  represented  by  Presby- 
terians, Lutherans,  CongregationaUsts,  Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Hebrews. 
To  all  sects,  save  Papists,  was  free  toleration  accorded,  and  whenever  a  dis- 
senting congregation  organized  and  applied  for  a  grant  of  land  whereon 
to  build  a  church,  the  petition  did  not  pass  unheeded.  There  can  be  no 
reasonable  doubt,  however,  but  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  govern- 
ment, both  royal  and  colonial,  to  engraft  the  Church  of  England  upon 
the  province,  and,  within  certain  hmits,  to  advance  its  prosperity  and  in- 
sure its  permanency.  At  the  same  time  allegiance  to  its  rubrics  was  in 
no  wise  made  a  condition  precedent  to  poHtical  preferment,  i 


iQn  the  i6th  of  January,  1756,  by  grant  from  his  majesty,  King  George  II.,  a  public 
Jot  ii}  Savannah,  known  by  the  letter  K,  and  gituate  in  Decker  ward,  containing  60  feet 
21 


1 62  History  of  Savannah. 


At  the  hands  of  the  General  Assembly  Savannah  claimed  and  received 
much  attention.  Among  the  acts  passed  may  be  mentioned  one  estab- 
Hshing  a  watch  in  that  town;  two  regulating  taverns,  punch  houses,  and 
the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors;  two  more  for  the  proper  conduct  of  the 
market;  a  sixth  establishing  further  rules  for  the  conduct  of  the  watch; 
a  seventh  forbidding  the  erection  of  wooden  chimneys;  an  eighth  empow- 
ering trustees  to  purchase  a  residence  for  the  use  of  the  present  and  future 
governors  of  the  province;  a  ninth  regulating  the  assize  of  bread;  a  tenth 
for  the  construction  of  a  public  magazine;  an  eleventh  for  the  repair  of 
Christ  Church;  and  a  twelfth  for  the  general  regulation  of  the  town.  Ty- 
bee  light-house  was  not  forgotten.  Provision  was  made  for  the  support 
of  the  courts  of  oyer  and  terminer,  and  for  the  defrayal  of  expenses  con- 
nected with  the  administration  of  the  government.  Masters  of  vessels 
were  prevented  from  conveying  debtors  from  the  province,  and  frauds  in 
lumber  were  pointed  out  and  denounced.  Nearly  fifty  acts  passed  by 
the  general  assemblies  convened  during  Governor  Ellis's  administration 
received  royal  sanction.     Their  deliberations  were  characterized  by  hon- 

in  front  and  i8o  feet  in  depth,  was  conveyed  to  Jonathan  Bryan,  James  Edward  Powell, 
Robert  Bolton,  James  Miller,  Joseph  Gibbons,  William  Gibbons,  Benjamin  Farley,  Will- 
iam Wright,  David  Fox,  jr.,  and  John  Fox,  "  in  trust  nevertheless  and  to  the  intent  and 
purpose  that  a  Meeting-House,  or  place  of  Public  Worship  for  the  service  of  Almighty 
God,  be  thereupon  erected  and  built  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  of  our  loving  sub- 
jects now  residing,  or  that  may  at  any  time  hereafter  reside  within  the  District  of  Savan- 
nah in  our  said  Province  of  Georgia,  as  are  or  shall  be  professors  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  agreeable  to  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith." 

Upon  this  designated  lot,  between  Bryan  and  St.  Julian  streets,  facing  west  on  Mar- 
ket square,  and  extending  east  to  Whitaker  street,  a  brick  church  was  erected.  The 
first  pastor,  regularly  installed,  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  J.  Zubly,  of  St.  Gall,  Switzerland, 
a  clergyman  of  education,  public  spirit,  and  ability.  He  ministered  to  the  congregation 
until  compelled,  by  reason  of  his  political  defection,  to  take  his  departure  in  1778. 

During  the  occupation  of  Savannah  by  the  British  forces  a  chimney  was  erected  in  , 
the  middle  of  this  meeting-house,  and  the  structure  was  used  as  a  hospital. 

After  the  war  the  Rev.  Mr.  Philhps  supphed  the  pulpit  until  1790,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Johnston  who,  for  three  years,  performed  the  duties  of  pastor. 
Rev.  Mr.  McCall  became  the  clergyman  in  1794.  He  died  in  1796.  This  year  wit- 
nessed the  destruction  of  the  church  edifice  by  fire,  and  until  a  new  meeting-house  was 
builded  on  St.  James  square,  between  York  and  President  streets,  the  congregation  wor- 
shipped in  the  Baptist  Church ;  the  Rev.  Walter  Monteith  leading  in  such  religious  ser- 
vices as  were  observed  during  the  years  1797  and  1798. 

Of  the  new  church,  which  was  a  wooden  structure,  the  Rev.  Robert  Smith  was  in- 


War  Ship  Fitted  Out.  163 

esty  of  purpose,  unity  of  sentiment,  and  laudable  devotion  to  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  colony.  All  dissensions  had  ceased,  and  the  attitude  main- 
tained by  this  legislative  body  toward  the  governor  was  in  all  respects 
deferential  and  conciliatory.  Under  the  wise,  conservative,  and  gentle 
rule  of  Governor  Ellis,  Georgia  was  rapidly  lifting  herself  above  the  shad- 
ows which  gathered  so  darkly  about  her  during  the  administration  of 
Governor  Reynolds,  and  was  already  entering  upon  that  era  of  develop- 
ment and  prosperity  which  was  so  signally  confirmed  under  the  able 
guidance  of  Governor  Wright. 

Although  the  king's  vessels  of  war,  with  their  headquarters  at  Charles- 
town,  South  Carolina,  were  ordered  to  guard  the  coast  of  Georgia,  then 
infested  with  privateers,  they  responded  only  spasmodically  and  very  in- 
efficiently to  this  duty.  They  preferred  rest  in  the  harbor  to  active  ex- 
ercise at  sea.  Finding  his  remonstrances  ineffectual  to  beget  greater  ac- 
tivity on  their  part.  Governor  Ellis,  on  his  own  motion,  fitted  out  a  ship 
mounting  a  battery  of  fourteen  carriage  and  an  equal  number  of  swivel 

stalled  pastor  in  1800.  Without  pursuing  the  history  of  this  congregation  beyond  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  we  may  be  pardoned  for  adding  that  the  corner-stone 
of  the  present  Independent  Presbyterian  Church,  at  the  corner  of  Bull  and  South  Broad 
streets,  was  laid  on  the  13th  of  January,  181 7,  and  that  imposing  structure,  having  inter- 
mediately been  completed,  was,  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  dedicated  "  To  Jehovah, 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,"  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  Henry  KoUock,  D.D., 
in  May  1819. 

As  early  as  1759  a  Lutheran  Church  was  established  in  Savannah,  but  the  congre- 
gation was  too  feeble  to  support  a  pastor. 

In  1795  the  Baptists,  aided  by  Christians  of  other  denominations,  erected  in  Savan- 
nah "a  house  of  worship,  50  by  60  feet,  with  galleries  and  a  steeple."  Ebenezer  Hills, 
John  Millen,  Thomas  Polhill,  John  Hamilton,  Thomas  Harrison,  and  John  H.  Roberds 
were  named  as  trustees.  As  no  preacher  was  at  hand  to  fill  the  pulpit,  the  edifice  was. 
for  several  years,  rented  to  the  Presbyterians  who  had  lost  their  church  by  fire.  Under 
the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Holcombe,  commencing  in  1800,  this  congregation 
multiplied,  and  the  church  grew  rapidly  in  religious  fervor  and  influence. 

In  1788  a  congregation  of  colored  Baptists,  consisting  of  sixty-nine  members,  was 
organized  in  Savannah  under  the  joint  pastorate  of  Andrew  Bryan  and  Jesse  Peters. 

In  1771  the  Rev.  Mr.  Frink  submitted  the  following  estimate  of  the  strength  of  the 
several  religious  denominations  in  Savannah  : 

Church  of  England 1,185 

Lutherans 193 

Presbyterians  and  Independents ^.      499 

Hebrews 49 


1 64  HistorV  of  Savannah. 

guns,  placed  her  under  the  command  of  experienced  officers,  and  for  six 
weeks  kept  her  busily  cruising  up  and  down  the  Georgia  coast.  The 
effect  was  most  wholesome  both  upon  the  enemy  and  the  slothful  marine 
guard  at  Charlestown. 

The  intrigues  of  the  French  with  the  Indians  dwelling  beyond  the 
northern  borders  of  the  provinces  of  Carolina  and  Georgia  necessitated 
the  adoption  of  unusual  precautions  to  retain  their  friendship.  At  a  con- 
ference between  Governors  Ellis  of  Georgia  and  Lyttleton  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  Colonel  Bouquet,  commanding  the  king's  forces  in  the  southern 
department,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Indians  should  be  invited  Jto  Charles- 
town  and  afterwards  to  Savannah,  where  by  hospitable  entertainment,  a 
liberal  distribution  of  gifts,  and  an  exhibition  of  military  strength  on  the 
part  of  the  colonists,  the  red  warriors  might  be  induced  to  refrain  from 
violating  their  amicable  relations.  Influenced  by  the  earnest  representa- 
tions of  Governor  Ellis,  Colonel  Bouquet  detailed  one  hundred  troops  of 
the  Virginia  Provincials  to  take  post  at  Savannah,  and  placed  the  Georgia 
Rangers  upon  the  king's  establishment. 

The  conference  between  the  governor  and  council  and  the  chiefs  and 
head  men  of  the  Upper  and  Lower  Creeks  occurred  at  Savannah  on  the 
25th  of  October,  1757.  Anxious  to  impress  these  savages  with  the  high- 
est possible  conception  of  the  military  strength  of  the  town.  Governor 
Ellis  ordered  that  they  should  be  received  by  the  first  regiment  of  militia, 
commanded  by  Colonel  Noble  Jones,  that  sixteen  cannon  should  be 
mounted  in  the  different  batteries  around  Savannah, 1  and  that  seven  field- 
pieces  should  be  placed  in  position  in  front  of  his  dwelling.  As  the  In- 
dians approached,  escorted  by  Captain  Milledge  and  the  Rangers,  they 
were  met  beyond  the  lines  by  Captain  Bryan  and  a  cavalcade  of  the  prin- 
cipal inhabitants,  who  welcomed  them  in  the  name  of  the  governor  and 
regaled  them  in  a  tent  pitched  for  that  purpose.  This  preliminary  re- 
ception concluded,  preceded  by  the  citizens  on  horseback,  the  Rangers 
bringing  up  the  rear,  the  procession  of  Indians  advanced  to  the  town  gate 
where  salutation  was  made  with  three  cannon  from  the  King's  battery, 
three  from  the  Prince's,  five  from  Fort  Halifax,  and  five  from  Loudoun's 
bastions.  Pausing  at  the  gate,  the  citizens  opened  to  the  right  and  left,  fac- 
ing inwards,  and  the  Indians,  marching  between  them,  entered  the  town, 

'  This  town  had  been  fortified  by  Captain  De  Brahm. 


Convention  with  Indians.  165 

where  they  were  received  by  Colonel  Jones  at  the  head  of  the  regiment, 
and  conducted,  with  drums  beating  and  colors  flying,  to  the  council  cham- 
ber. While  passing  the  governor's  residence  the  column  was  saluted  by 
the  battery  there  stationed,  and  this  compliment  was  repeated  by  the 
guns  in  the  water  battery  and  by  cannon  on  vessels  in  the  river. 

At  the  council  house  the  regiment  filed  to  the  right  and  left,  and,  in 
parallel  lines  facing  the  chiefs  and  warriors  as  they  advanced,  presented 
arms.  At  the  steps  of  the  council  chamber  they  were  saluted  by  the 
Virginia  Blues;  and  upon  entering  the  house  they  were  met  by  the 
governor,  who,  with  outstretched  arms,  welcomed  them  thus:  "My  friends 
and  brothers,  behold  my  hands  and  my  arms!  Our  common  Enemies, 
the  French,  have  told  you  they  are  red  to  the  elbows.  View  them.  Do 
they  speak  the  truth?  Let  your  own  eyes  witness.  You  see  they  are 
white,  and  could  you  see  my  heart,  you  would  find  it  as  pure,  but  very 
warm  and  true  to  you,  my  friends.  The  French  tell  you  whoever  shakes 
my  hands  will  immediately  be  struck  with  disease  and  die.  If  you  be- 
lieve this  lying,  foolish  talk,  don't  touch  me.  If  you  do  not,  I  am  ready 
to  embrace  you." 

This  speech,  so  well  adapted  to  the  comprehension  of  the  natives,  and 
so  much  in  unison  with  their  favorite  style  of  utterance,  completely  captiva- 
ted their  hearts.  Approaching  the  governor  they  shook  his  hand  warmly, 
and  declared  that  the  French  had  often  sought  to  deceive  them.  Friendly 
greetings  followed,  and  the  cerenionies  of  the  day  were  concluded  by  a 
dinner  at  which  the  head  men  of  the  twenty- one  towns  represented  were 
kindly  and  pleasantly  entertained.  During  their  stay  in  Savannah  these 
red  men  were  complimented  with  many  presents,  and  were  bountifully 
feasted.  On  the  following  Thursday,  having  been  honored  with  another 
military  parade  and  by  martial  salutes,  they  assembled  in  the  council 
chamber,  which  was  thronged  to  its  utmost  capacity  by  the  citizens- 
There  they  were  again  addressed  by  Governor  Ellis.  "Observe,  my 
friends,"  said  he,  "how  serene  and  cloudless  this  day  appears!  I  cannot 
but  consider  it  as  a  good  omen  of  the  success  of  this  interview;  and  I 
hope  that  you  are  all  come  with  hearts  resembling  it,  unclouded  by  jeal- 
ousies, and  with  dispositions  suitable  to  the  good  work  of  tightening  the 
chain  and  making  the  path  straight  forever  between  us."  He  then  read 
in  their  hearing,  with  great  solemnity,  a  communication  which  he  had 


1 66  History  of  Savannah. 

prepared,  entitled  "A  Letter  from  the  Great  King  to  his  Beloved  Children 
of  the  Creek  Nation."  Its  conciliatory  terms  were  pleasing  to  the  In- 
dians, and  their  response  promised  peace  and  amity. 

The  result  of  this  convention  was  all  that  could  have  been  desired. 
It  was  shown  in  the  treaty  of  the  3d  of  November  following,  by  which 
friendly  relations  between  the  province  of  Georgia  and  the  Creek  confed- 
eracy were  firmly  pledged.' 

Governor  Ellis  was  seriously  affected  by  the  climate  of  Georgia.  The 
potent  rays  of  the  summer  sun  he  found  very  debilitating  in  their  influence. 
In  July,  1758,  writing  in  his  piazza,  open  at  each  end  and  completely 
shaded,  with  a  breeze  blowing  from  the  southeast  and  no  houses  near 
to  reflect  the  heat,  he  says  Fahrenheit's  thermometer  registered  102°. 
Twice  before,  to  wit,  on  the  28th  of  June  and  the  nth  of  July,  had  the 
mercury  attained  that  height,  and  for  days  it  rose  to  98°  That  summer 
he  regarded  as  unusually  hot,  and  imagined  that  the  weather  betokened 
the  advent  of  a  hurricane.  Savannah  being  situated  upon  a  sandy  emi- 
nence, .shut  in  by  tall  woods,  he  thought  the  heat  more  intense  than  in 
other  parts  of  the  colony.  Although  he  deemed  it  highly  probable  that 
the  inhabitants  of  Savannah  breathed  "  a  hotter  air  than  any  other  peo- 
ple on  the  face  of  the  earth,"  he  concludes  with  the  admission,  "  but  few 
people  die  here  out  of  the  ordinary  course."  ^ 

Captain  McCall,  in  commenting  upon  this  letter  of  Governor  Ellis,, 
comes  thus  loyally  and  truthfully  to  the  rescue:  "As  Governor  Ellis  was 
a  man  of  sense  and  erudition,  and  no  doubt  made  his  observations  with 
accuracy,  I  shall  not  presume  to  call  in  question  the  facts  which  he  re- 
lates, but  I  feel  bound  to  assert,  under  the  authority  of  the  oldest  inhab- 
itants now  living  in  Savannah,  that  there  have  been  but  few  instances  in 
which  the  mercury  has  risen  above  96°,  and  none  in  which  it  has  risen 
above  100°  in  the  shade  within  the  last  thirty  years.  The  trade  winds 
prevail  on  the  sea  coast  of  Georgia  with  great  uniformity  in  the  summer, 
particularly  on  the  southern  part  of  it;  and  it  is  not  unworthy  of  remark 
that  I  resided  at  Point  Peter,  near  the  mouth  of  St.  Mary's  River,  eighteen 
months,  and  the  garrison  consisted  of  near  one  hundred  troops,  and  that 

'  See  MS.  Minutes  of  Council.     Stevens's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  i.,  pp.  440-443. 
New  York,     mdcccxlvii. 

"  See  Gentleman' s  Magazine  for  1759,  p.  314. 


Health  of  Savannah.  167 

I  do  not  recollect,  after  the  first  fortnight,  to  have  seen  three  men  in  bed 
with  the  fever,  and  only  one  died  during  that  period,  and  his  disease  was 
a  consumption.  Indeed  the  seashore  is  healthy,  except  in  the  vicinity  of 
stagnant  fresh  water. 

"  I  have  annexed  these  remarks  because  Governor  Ellis  asserts  that 
the  maritime  parts  of  Georgia  are  the  most  unhealthy  and  unpleasant."' 

Beyond  controversy,  during  the  period  of  its  early  occupancy  when 
it  was  closely  fenced  about  by  forests  forbidding  a  free  circulation  of  air, 
when  little  attention  was  bestowed  upon  drainage,  when  the  inhabitants 
were  in  large  measure  unacclimated,  and  when  alluvial  lands,  dank  and 
reeking  with  the  decayed  vegetable  mould  of  unnumbered  centuries, 
were  first  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  sun's  rays,  the  health  of  Savannah 
was  much  inferior  to  that  which  it  now  enjoys,  and  the  temperature  un- 
questionably more  intolerable.  With  the  exception  of  occasional  epi- 
demics, this  city,  under  existing  sanitary  regulations,  despite  the  fact  that 
it  dwells  in  a  malarial  region,  must  be  regarded  as  not  unhealthy;  and 
no  one  familiar  with  the  delightful  influences  of  the  southeast  breezes 
which,  during  the  hot  months,  prevail  with  the  regularity  of  trade-winds, 
will  deny  that  many  climatic  pleasures  are  here  enjoyed,  even  in  the  heart 
of  summer. 

Governor  Ellis's  health  became  so  feeble  that,in  November,  1759,  he 
sohcited  a  recall.  His  hope  was  that  his  successor  would  be  speedily 
selected,  and  that  he  would  avoid  the  debilitating  influences  of  another 
warm  season  in  Georgia.  Although  his  request  was  granted,  and  James 
Wright,  esq.  was  commissioned  as  lieutenant-governor  of  the  province 
on  the  13th  of  May,  1760,  he  did  not  arrive  in  the  colony  to  relieve  Gov- 
ernor Ellis  until  the  following  October. 

Upon  the  expiration  of  his  official  duties  the  province  of  Georgia  pos- 
sessed a  population  of  some  six  thousand  whites  and  three  thousand  five 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  blacks. 

Having  turned  over  the  affairs  of  State  to  his  successor,  the  Honor- 
able James  Wright,  Governor  Ellis  departed  from  Georgia  on  the  2d  of 
November,  1760.     The  address  of  the  assembly  expressed  the  general 


T- History  of  Georgia,  vo\.  \.,  "p.  2c,/^.  Savannah.  1811.  Com'pa.K  Historical  Ac- 
count of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Colonies  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  vol.  ii., 
pp.  258,  259.      London.     MDCCLXXix. 


i68  History  of  Savannah. 

regret.  The  inhabitants  of  the  province  were  deeply  moved  at  the  re- 
tirement of  the  governor  whose  kind  and  paternal  administration,  whose 
honesty  of  purpose  and  unwearied  exertions  for  the  advancement  of  the 
welfare  of  the  colony,  whose  integrity  and  personal  worth  had  produced 
the  most  favorable  impression  upon  all.  The  Georgia  Society,  the  mer- 
chants of  Savannah,  the  citizens  of  Augusta,  and  others  presented  him 
with  affectionate  and  complimentary  addresses,  regretting  his  departure, 
extolling  his  administration  of  public  affairs,  commending  his  character, 
and  praying  for  his  welfare.  As  a  token  of  the  gratitude  entertained  by 
the  citizens  of  Savannah,  the  Union  Society  requested  his  acceptance  of 
a  handsome  piece  of  plate.^ 

Few  were  the  regrets  which  accompanied  Governor  Reynolds  when 
he  bade  farewell  to  distracted  and  unhappy  Georgia ;  but  now  the  good 
will  and  the  blessings  of  a  sorrowing  people  clustered  about  their  retiring 
chief  magistrate.  The  apple  of  discord  had  been  supplanted  by  the  olive 
of  peace.  Happy  in  the  confidence  and  the  love  of  those  over  whom  he 
ruled,  fortunate  and  just  in  his  intercourse  with  the  Indian  nations,  suc- 
cessful in  the  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  the  colony,  and  secure  in  the  es- 
teem of  the  home  government,  pleasant  and  honorable  is  the  memory 
which  Governor  Ellis  has  bequeathed  to  the  colonial  annals  of  Georgia. 

Subsequently  commissioned  as  governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  he  occupied 
that  position  for  two  years  and  a  half  Warned  by  feeble  health,  he 
dismissed  all  public  cares  and  sought  repose  in  the  south  of  France. 
Finally,  having  attained  a  venerable  age,  and  to  the  last  intent  upon  the 
prosecution  of  some  favorite  physical  researches,  he  fell  on  sleep,  as  did 
Pliny  the  elder,  within  sight  of  Vesuvius  and  upon  the  shore  of  the  beauti- 
ful Bay  of  Naples. 

iSee  Stevens's  .^w^ory  of  Georgia,  vol.  i.,  p.  456.     New  York,     mdcccxlvii. 


Governor  James  Wright.  169 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Governor  James  Wright — His  Admirable  Qualifications  for  Office — Population  and 
Military  Strength  of  the  Province — Occupations  of  the  Colonists— Condition  of  Savan- 
nah— Fortifications  of  the  Town — Construction  of  its  Wharves — Health  of  Savannah — 
Four  Additional  Parishes  Created — Improvement  in  the  Condition  of  Affairs — Repre- 
sentation in  the  Provincial  Assembly — Improper  Conduct  of  Chief  Justice  Grover. 

THE  selection  of  James  Wright,  esq.,  to  succeed  Mr.  Ellis  as  governor 
of  Georgia  was  in  every  respect  wise,  appropriate,  and  acceptable. 
Born  in  South  Carolina, — the  son  of  a  chief-justice  of  that  colony,  and 
having  himself  for  twenty-one  years  filled  the  office  of  attorney- general 
of  that  province, — he  was  not  only  loyal  to  the  traditions  of  an  ancient 
and  honorable  English  family  and  unswerving  in  his  allegiance  to  the 
British  Crown,  but  thoroughlj'  acquainted  with  the  sentiments,  indus- 
tries, and  needs  of  the  Southern  plantations.  Possessing  ample  means, 
a  liberal  education,  and  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  best  method  of  cul- 
tivating the  lands  of  this  marish  region,  trained  to  the  legal  profession, 
of  excellent  business  habits,  familar  with  the  conduct  of  colonial  affairs, 
with  an  honesty  of  purpose  and  a  courageous  conception  of  duty  which 
neither  threats  nor  the  offers  of  personal  advantage  could  influence,  and 
of  unquestioned  probity,  he  was  admirably  qualified  for  the  discharge  of 
the  responsibilities  appertaining  to  the  gubernatorial  office. 

Although  assiiming  the  reins  of  government  in  the  sunlight  of  peace, 
he  was  destined  to  encounter  the  storms  of  the  Revolution,  and,  in  a 
brave  adherence  to  the  cause  of  his  royal  master,  suffer  arrest,  banish- 
ment from  the  colony,  mortification,  and  loss.  It  was  his  lot  to  preside 
at  an  epoch  full  of  doubt  and  trouble  During  his  administration  the 
political  ties  which  united  Georgia  to  the  mother  country  were  violently 
sundered,  and  a  union  of  American  colonies  was  formed  which  in  after 
years  developed  into  a  republic  than  which  there  now  exists  no  more 
puissant  government  in  the  sisterhood  of  nations.  Throughout  his  offi- 
cial career,  despite  the  difficulties  which  environed,  he  was  at  all  times 
faithful  to  his  trust,  courageous  in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  wise  in 
the  administration  of  governmental  affairs,  and  sagacious  in  his  political 
views  and  suggestions.  The  more  closely  it  is  scanned  and  the  more  in- 
22 


lyo  History  of  Savannah. 

telligently  it  is  comprehended,  the  more  praiseworthy,  from  a  loyal 
standpoint,  appears  his  conduct.  Georgia  may  well  be  proud  of  the  ca- 
pabilities and  reputation  of  the  third  and  last  of  her  royal  governors. 

Through  the  conciliatory  and  prudent  course  adopted  by  Governor 
Ellis  the  province  had  escaped  collision  with  the  Indian  nations,  and 
avoided  participation  in  the  controversy  between  the  Virginians  and  the 
Carolinians  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Cherokees  on  the  other,  which  cul- 
minated in  bloodshed  and  ruin. 

At  the  inception  of  Governor  Wright's  administration,  the  white 
population  of  Georgia  amounted  to  barely  six  thousand  souls,  and  there 
were  three  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-eight  negro  slaves  owned 
and  employed  within  the  province.  The  military  force  of  the  colony 
consisted  of  sixty  men  belonging  to  his  majesty's  independent  companies, 
two  troops  of  rangers,  numbering  each  five  officers  and  seventy  privates, 
and  the  militia, —  organized  as  infantry, —  and  aggregating  one  thousand 
and  twenty-five.  But  thirty-four  hundred  pounds  of  rice  had  been  ex- 
ported in  1760,  and  the  entire  commerce  of  the  colony  was  conducted  by 
forty-two  vessels,  most  of  them  of  light  burthen. 

While  some  of  the  poorer  members  of  the  community  wove  a  coarse 
home- spun  cloth,  and  knit  cotton  and  woolen  stockings  for  their  own  use, 
all  silks,  linens,  and  woolens  were  imported.  There  were  some  tanners 
and  shoemakers,  and  of  blacksmiths  there  was  no  lack.  All  articles  of 
iron,  fictile  ware,  and  ornamental  furniture  came  from  abroad,  and  chiefly 
from  England.  Occasionally  a  snow,  a  brigantine,  or  a  schooner  was  built, 
and  saw-mills  of  primitive  construction  and  limited  capacity  were  scat- 
tered here  and  there  throughout  the  land.  The  cultivation  of  rice  was 
beginning  to  attract  attention,  but  the  energies  of  the  colonists  were  ex- 
pended upon  planting  corn,  pease,  wheat,  and  rye,  in  making  pitch,  tar,  and 
turpentine,  in  riving  shingles  and  staves,  in  sawing  lumber,  and  in  rais- 
ing cattle,  mules,  horses,  hogs,  and  sheep. 

The  town  of  Savannah  at  this  time  contained  between  three  and  four 
hundred  houses,  nearly  all  of  them  small  and  builded  of  wood.  The  most 
imposing  structures  were  Christ  Church,  an  Independent  meeting-house, 
a  council- house,  a  court-  house,  and  a  filature.  Using  the  present  names  of 
the  streets.  Savannah  was  then  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Bay,  on  the 
east  by  Lincoln  street,  on  the  south  by  South  Broad  street, and  on  the  west 


Fortifications.  171 


by  Jefferson  street.  Its  extreme  length  from  east  to  west  was  two  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet,  and  it  extended  from  north  to  south  one 
thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet.  Six  squares,  or  Market 
places,  were  included  within  these  limits.  Outside  these  boundaries  were 
scattering  settlements. 

After  a  pleasant  interchange  of  courtesies  between  the  governor  and 
the  council,  and  the  General  Assembly,  attention  was  bestowed  upon  the 
completion  of  the  fortifications  of  Savannah.  It  had  been  "proposed  with 
a  well  palisadoed  intrenchment  to  envelop  the  city  so  as  to  make  it  a  re- 
ceptacle and  shelter  for  all  the  planters,  their  families,  slaves,  etc.,"  and 
considerable  progress  had  been  made  in  this  labor  which  was  mapped 
out  and  supervised  by  Captain  DeBrahm.  Properly  environed  on  the 
south,  the  east,  and  the  west,  and  being  open  to  the  north  where  the  river 
afforded  facile  communication  with  South  Carolina,  whence,  upon  an 
emergency,  supplies  of  food  and  ammunition  could  be  obtained,  the  In- 
dians, it  was  thought,  would  never  be  able  to  do  more  than  burn  the 
dwellings  in  the  circumjacent  country,  and  kill  such  cattle  and  steal  such 
horses  as  might  be  left  upon  the  plantations.  Their  families  being  secure 
within  the  intrenchments  of  Savannah,  where  they  would  be  supplied 
with  requisite  stores  and  could  enjoy  the  protection  of  the  governor  and 
council,  the  male  inhabitants  would  be  free  to  operate  in  the  field  and  de- 
vote their  energies  to  the  expulsion  of  the  marauders.  Savannah, — the 
commercial  metropolis  and  capital  of  Georgia, — was  thus  to  be  rendered 
the  walled-town  and  place  of  security  for  the  region  in  seasons  of  peril. 
DeBrahm's  system  of  fortification  embraced  "two  Poligons  with  three 
Bastions"  for  the  protection  of  the  southern  exposure  of  the  town.  "With 
four  Poligons  more  (two  on  the  east  and  two  others  on  the  west  side  of 
the  city,  each  ending  with  a  demi-Bastion)" — the  eastern  and  western  in- 
trenchments terminating  northwardly  at  the  river, — he  proposed  to  com- 
plete the  environment  of  the  town.  The  soil  .of  Savannah  being  very 
sandy,  in  order  to  preserve  the  breastwork  the  outside  talus  was  faced 
with  pine  logs  set  in  the  ground.  Wooden  towers  were  erected  in  the  cor- 
ner bastions,  with  strong  platforms  in  their  first  stories  to  support  twelve- 
pounder  cannons.  These  fortifications  were  in  an  incomplete  condition 
when  Governor  Wright  assumed  the  reins  of  government.  That  they 
might  be  finished  at  the  earHest  practicable  moment,  the  Governor,  James 


172  History  of  Savannah. 

DeVeaux,  Lewis  Johnson,  William  Francis,  Joseph  Gibbons,  James  Read, 
and  Edmund  Tannatt  were  nominated  by  the  Commons  House  of  As- 
sembly as  a  supervising  committee.  To  this  board  were  added  from  the 
Upper  House,  the  Honorable  James  Habersham,  Colonel  Noble  Jones, 
James  Edward  Powell,  and  William  Knox.  The  work  progressed  rap- 
idly, and  Savannah  soon  afforded  within  its  intrenchments  an  asylum 
whither  the  adjacent  planters,  upon  occasions  of  alarm,  might  betake 
themselves  with  their  families  and  personal  property,  and  find  refuge 
from  the  rifle  and  scalping-knife  of  the  Indian. 

Governor  Wright  discountenanced  the  project,  which  had  been  favor- 
bly  entertained  by  his  predecessors,  of  transferring  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment from  Savannah  to  Hardwicke.  In  this  he  acted  most  wisely.  Pend- 
ing the  question  of  removal,  Savannah  had  suffered  much.  Her  public 
buildings  had  been  neglected,  and  her  citizens,  ignorant  of  the  future, 
grew  careless  of  their  homes.  As  soon,  however,  as  it  was  definitely  as- 
certained that  the  little  city  of  Oglethorpe  was  to  remain  the  capital  and 
commercial  metropolis  of  the  province,  a  new  impulse  was  imparted 
which  conduced  most  materially  to  the  general  prosperity  and  encour- 
agement of  the  town. 

The  light-house  on  Tybee  Island  was  repaired,  a  lazaretto  was  estab- 
lished, and  the  wharves  along  the  Savannah  River  were  rendered  con- 
venient and  permanent.  These  wharves  were  constructed  upon  a  plan 
furnished  by  DeBrahm  to  Thomas  Eaton  in  1759.  His  suggestion  was 
"to  drive  two  rows  of  Piles  as  far  asunder  as  he  desired  his  Wharf  to  be 
wide,  and  as  far  towards  the  River  as  low  Water  Mark;  secure  their  tops 
with  plates,  and  to  trunnel  Planks  within  on  the  Piles;  this  done,  then  to 
brace  the  insides  with  dry  Walls  of  Stones  intermixed  with  willow  Twigs, 
and  in  the  same  manner  to  shut  up  the  Ends  of  the  two  Rows  with  a  like 
Front  along  the  Stream;  to  build  inside  what  Cellars  he  had  occasion 
for;  then  to  fill  up  the  Remainder  with  Sand  nearest  at  hand  out  of  the 
Bluff' or  high  shore  of  the  Stream  under  the  Bay."i 

This  method  was  adopted  and  observed  for  many  years.  It  was  aban- 
doned only  when  heavy  freights  and  larger  vessels  rendered  the  con- 
struction of  more  substantial  landing-places  a  matter  of  commercial  ne- 
cessity. 

'  History  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,  etc.,  p.  45.     Wormsloe.     MDCCCXLIX. 


General  Improvements.  173 


For  nearly  thirty  years  after  its  settlement,  Savannah  was  regarded  as 
a  healthy  town.  Thither  did  the  rice  planters  from  .the  adjacent  low- 
lands in  South  Carolina  resort  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  the 
year  that  they  might  escape  the  fevers  incident  to  the  swamps.  The 
dense  forests  growing  upon  Hutchinson's  Island  and  in  the  low  grounds 
to  the  east  and  west  of  the  town  shielded  it  from  the  noxious  vapors  and 
malarial  influences  of  the  fields  beyond,  which  were  cultivated  in  rice. 
So  soon,  however,  as  these  trees  were  felled,  and  the  regions  they  form- 
erly covered  were  converted  into  rice  plantations,  the  miasmatic  exhala- 
tions thence  arising  were,  by  north  and  east  winds,  rolled  in  upon  the 
town  to  the  prejudice  of  the  health  of  its  inhabitants.'  At  a  later  period  it 
was  found  necessary  to  guard  Savannah  against  the  unwholesome  effects 
to  which  we  have  alluded,  by  the  rigid  enforcement  of  a  dry-culture  sys- 
tem within  specified  limits. 

So  tardy  was  the  communication  between  the  colony  and  the  mother 
country  that  intelligence  of  the  demise  of  his  majesty  George  II.  was  not 
received  in  Savannah  until  February,  1761.  The  assembly  was  there- 
upon immediately  dissolved  and  writs  of  election  were  issued  for  a  new 
assembly  to  convene  on  the  24th  of  the  following  March. 

Funeral  honors  were  rendered  to  his  late  majesty,  and  George  III. 
was  saluted  as  king  with  all  the.  pomp  and  ceremony  of  which  the  prov- 
ince was  capable.  Then  for  the  first  and  only  time  was  a  king  proclaimed 
upon  Georgia  soil. 

Out  of  the  lands  lying  between  the  rivers  Alatamaha  and  St.  Mary 
which,  by  royal  proclamation  dated  at  St.  James  on  the  7th  of  October, 
1763,  his  majesty  King  George  III.  was  pleased  to  annex  to  the  province 
of  Georgia,  four  additional  parishes  were  laid  off,  viz.:  St.  David,  St. 
Patrick,  St.  Thomas,  and  St.  Mary.  No  longer  plagued  by  the  French 
and  Spaniards,  at  peace  with  the  circumjacent  Indian  nations,  her  bound- 
aries widened  and  guarded  on  the  south  and  west  by  two  new  English 
plantations  erected  in  Florida,  —  Georgia  now  occupied  a  position  of  se- 
curity never  before  enjoyed.  With  an  increasing  population  and  an  ex- 
panding commerce,  and  presided  over  by  a  chief  magistrate  eager  for  the 
promotion  of  its  best  interests,  the  province  day  by  day  rose  in  impor- 

'  See  DeBrahm's  History  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,  etc.,  pp.  47,  48.     Wormsloe. 

MDCCCXLIX. 


174  History  of  Savannah. 

tance,  and  was  fast  realizing  the  expectations  which  its  illustrious  founder 
had  conceived  for  it.  Christ  Church  Parish  now  had  the  following  rep- 
resentation: 

From  Savannah:  Joseph  Ottolenghe,  Grey  Elliott,  Lewis  Johnson, 
and  Joseph  Gibbons. 

From  Acton  :  William  Gibbons. 

From  Vernonburg :  Edmund  Tannatt. 

From  the  Sea  Islands:  Henry  Yonge,  and 

From  Little  Ogeechee :  James  Read. 

Alluding  to  the  condition  of  Georgia  at  this  epoch  Captain  McCalli 
says:  "No  province  on  the  continent  felt  the  happy  effects  of  this  pubHc 
security  sooner  than  Georgia  which  had  long  struggled  under  many  dif- 
ficulties arising  from  the  want  of  credit  from  friends,  and  the  frequent 
molestations  of  enemies.  During  the  late  war  the  government  had  been 
given  to  a  man  who  wanted  neither  wisdom  to  discern  nor  resolution  to 
pursue  the  most  effectual  means  for  its  improvement.  While  he  proved 
a  father  to  the  people  and  governed  the  province  with  equity  and  justice, 
he  discovered  at  the  same  time  the  excellence  of  its  low-lands  and  river 
swamps,  by  the  proper  management  and  diligent  cultivation  of  which  he 
acquired  in  a  few  years  a  plentiful  fortune.  His  example  and  success 
gave  vigor  to  industry  and  promoted  a. spirit  of  emulation  among  the 
planters  for  improvement.  The  rich  lands  were  sought  for  with  zeal  and 
cleared  with  that  ardor  which  the  prospect  of  riches  naturally  inspired, 
The  British  merchants,  observing  the  province  safe  and  advancing  to  a 
hopeful  and  promising  state,  were  no  longer  backward  in  extending 
credit  to  it,  but  supplied  it  with  negroes,  and  goods  of  British  manufacture 
with  equal  freedom  as  other  provinces  on  the  continent.  The  planters 
no  sooner  got  the  strength  of  Africa  to  assist  them  than  they  labored  with 
success,  and  the  lands  every  year  yielded  greater  and  greater  increase. 
The  trade  of  the  province  kept  pace  with  its  progress  in  cultivation.  The 
rich  swamps  attracted  the  attention  not  only  of  strangers  but  even  of  the 
planters  of  Carolina  who  had  been  accustomed  to  treat  their  poor  neigh- 
bors with  the  utmost  contempt ;  several  of  whom  sold  their  estates  in  that 
colony  and  removed  with  their  families  and  effects  to  Georgia.  Many 
settlements  were  made  by  the  Carolinians  about  Sunbury  and  upon  the 

'  History  of  Georgia,  vol  i.,  p  288.     Savannah.     181 1. 


Improper  Conduct  of  Chief  Justice  Grover.  175 

Alatamaha.  The  price  of  produce  at  Savannah  increased  as  the  quality 
improved, — a  circumstance  which  contributed  much  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  country.  The  planters  situated  on  the  opposite  side  of  Savannah 
River  found  in  the  capital  of  Georgia  a  convenient  and  excellent  market 
for  their  staple  commodities.  In  short,  from  this  period  the  rice,  indigo, 
and  naval  stores  arrived  at  the  markets  in  Europe  of  equal  excellence  and 
perfection  and,  in  proportion  to  its  strength,  in  equal  quantities  with  those 
of  its  more  powerful  and  opulent  neighbors." 

So  rapid  had  been  the  development  of  the  Midway  District,  and  such 
importance  had  the  town  of  Sunbury  attained,  that  in  September,  1762, 
Governor  Wright,^  with  the  assent  of  council,  constituted  it  a  port  of  en- 
try, and  appointed  Thomas  Carr,  collector;  John  Martin,  naval  officer; 
and  Francis  Lee,  searcher. 

Much  attention  was  bestowed  upon  the  public  roads  of  the  province, 
upon  the  maintenance  of  ferries  at  important  points,  and  upon  establish- 
ing easy  communication,  by  direct  lines,  between  the  principal  towns. 
To  Captain  DeBrahm  is  great  credit  due  for  the  intelligence  and  industry 
exhibited  in  the  location  and  construction  of  these  highways.  As  late  as 
December,  1764,  the  road  from  Charlestown  to  Savannah  terminated  at 
Purrysburg,  whence  the  conveyance  was  down  the  river  by  boat.  Soon 
afterwards,  however,  a  new  highway  was  opened  which  rested  upon  the 
Savannah  River  less  than  two  miles  below  the  town  of  Savannah,  and 
there  a  ferry  was  established  which  greatly  facilitated  travel  and  the  trans- 
mission of  postal  matter.- 

One  of  the  earliest  annoyances  experienced  by  Governor  Wright  in 
the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  colony  arose  from  the  extraordi- 
nary conduct  of  William  Grover.  He  was  the  chief  jdstice  of  this 
province  and  perverted  his  office,  ignoring  its  responsibilities,  disregard- 
ing its  obligations,  prostituting  its  functions,  and  proving  recreant  to  its 
trusts.  When  held  to  account  for  his  maladministration,  he  grew  insub- 
ordinate and  even  went  so  far  as  to  publish  a  scandalous  libel  upon  the 
governor.  Prompt  action  on  the  part  of  the  Executive  and  the  general 
assembly  resulted  in  a  suspension  of  the  chief  justice  from  office. 


1  See  Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Halifax,  dated  Savannah  8th  of  December,  1763. 
'  See  Letter  of  Governor  Wright  to  the  Earl  of  Halifax,  dated  Savannah  in  Geor- 
gia, 24th  Dec,  1764. 


176  History  of  Savannah. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Stamp  Act  of  1765. — Profound  Impression  Created  in  Savannah — Convention  of 
the  2d  of  September — Governor  Wright's  Letters  of  the  31st  of  January  and  the  7th 
of  February,  1776 — Declaration  of  Rights — Stamps  Issued  in  Savannah — Joy  upon 
the  Repeal  of  the  Act. 

THE  passage  by  both  houses  of  Parliament,  in  the  teeth  of  ail  pro- 
tests entered  by  the  agents  of  the  Colonies,  of  the  Stamp  Act  of 
1765,  produced  a  profound  impression  in  Savannah.  Being  a  commer- 
cial town,  its  inhabitants  were  most  nearly  concerned  in  the  practical  op- 
eration of  this  legislation  which  evoked  the  unqualified  denunciation  of 
the  impassioned  Barre  and  his  friends,  encountered  the  opposition  of  the 
eloquent  Otis,  elicited  from  the  calm  Habersham  the  emphatic  rejoin- 
der— "  it  is  an  insult  on  the  most  common  understanding  to  talk  of  our 
being  virtually  represented  in  Parliament," — banded  the  "  Sons  of  Lib- 
erty "  into  associations  all  over  the  land,  intent  upon  retaliation  or  re- 
dress,— and  touched  in  Virginia  that  alarum  bell  which  "gave  the  signal 
for  the  continent." 

Upon  receipt  of  the  circular  letter  forwarded  by  the  general  Assem- 
bly of  Massachusetts,  soliciting  the  formation  of  a  congress  to  assemble 
in  New  York  in  October,  1765,  Mr.  Wylly,  speaker  of  the  Commons 
House  of  Assembly  of  Georgia,  issued  a  call  to  the  members,  request- 
ing a  convention  at  Savannah  at  an  early  day.  Sixteen  members  re- 
sponded, and  on  the  2d  of  September  came  together  at  the  place  named. 
Through  the  strenuous  influence  of  Governor  Wright  they  were  pevailed 
upon  not  to  send  delegates  to  the  proposed  congress.  They  did,  never- 
theless, prepare  and  transmit  a  response  to  the  Massachusetts  invitation, 
intimating  their  readiness  to  cooperate  heartily  in  every  measure  devised 
for  the  support  and  protection  of  the  common  rights  of  the  colonies. 

So  satisfied  was  the  governor  with  his  loyal  exertions  and  with  the 
apparent  tranquillity  of  the  province  that  as  late  as  the  20th  of  Septem- 
ber he  informed  the  Earl  of  Halifax  that  everything  was  well  and  doing 
well.  Far  otherwise  was  the  tenor  of  his  communication  addressed  to 
Mr.  Secretary  Conway  on  the  31st  of  January,  1766: 


Governor  Wright's  Communication.    _  177 

"  Sir, — Yesterday  I  had  the  honour  to  receive  the  duplicates  of  your 
Excellency's  letter  of  the  24th  of  October,  and  it  is  with  the  utmost  con- 
cern that  I  am  to  acquaint  your  Excellency  that  the  same  spirit  of  se- 
dition, or  rather  rebellion,  which  first  appeared  at  Boston  has  reached 
this  Province,  and  I  have  for  three  months  past  been  continually  rea- 
soning and  talking  with  the  most  dispassionate  and  sensible  people  in 
order  to  convince  them  of  the  propriety  of  an  acquiescence,  and  sub- 
mission to  the  King's  authority  and  that  of  the  British  Parliament,  until 
they  could  point  out  their  grievances,  if  any,  and  apply  for  redress  in  a 
constitufional  way.  I  have  also  Sir,  pointed  out  the  dangerous  conse- 
quences, distresses,  and  misery  they  must  inevitably  bring  upon  them- 
selves by  following  the  example  of  the  Northern  Colonies.  This  I  have 
done  in  the  strongest  and  most  striking  point  of  view  I  could  place  it  in, 
and  exactly  agreeable  to  the  sense  and  spirit  of  your  Excellency's  letter 
I  had  the  honor  to  receive  yesterday.  At  other  times  I  have  had  re- 
course to  such  little  force  as  is  in  my  power,  and  have  in  some  measure 
preserved  and  supported  his  Majesty's  authority  and  prevented  the 
Stamp  papers  from  being  destroyed ;  but  Sir,  I  must  at  the  same  time 
declare  that  I  have  had  the  great  mortification  to  see  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment nearly  wrested  out  of  my  hands,  his  Majesty's  authority  in- 
sulted, and  the  civil  power  obstructed.  But  that  your  Excellency  may 
be  more  clearly  enabled  to  judge  of  the  true  state  of  affairs  in  this  Prov- 
ince, and  to  lay  the  same  before  his  Majesty,  I  humbly  beg  leave  to  state 
a  brief  narrative  of  some  transactions  here,  and  which  I  from  time  to 
time  have  acquainted  the  Lords  of  Trade  with. 

"  On  the  26th  of  October,  the  day  of  his  Majesty's  accession,  I  had 
ordered  a  general  Muster :  and  in  the  evening,  a  little  after  night,  there 
was  a  very  great  tumult  in  the  streets,  and  some  effigies  burnt,  and  a 
day  or  two  after  several  incendiary  threatening  letters  were  wrote  on 
which  I  issued  a  proclamation  as  your  Excellency  will  see  by  the  en- 
closed newspaper.  I  also  issued  another  proclamation  against  riots  and 
tumultuous  and  unlawful  assemblies,  and  from  that  time  the  spirit  of 
faction  and  sedition  took  place  and  increased,  and  those  persons  who 
falsely  call  themselves  the  Sons  of  Liberty  began  to  have  private  cabals 
and -meetings,  and  I  was  informed  that  many  had  signed  an  Association 
to  oppose  and  prevent  the  distribution  of  Stamped  papers,  and  the  act 

23 


178  History  of  Savannah. 

from  taking  effect.  But  it  was  impossible  to  come  at  such  proof  as 
would  enable  me  to  support  any  legal  proceedings  against  them,  and  I 
found  they  had  determined  on  attacking  the  distributor  as  soon  as  he  ar- 
rived, and  compelling  him  to  resign  or  promise  not  to  act,  as  had  been 
done  in  the  Northern  Colonies.  I  had  also  been  informed  that  they  in- 
tended to  seize  upon  and  destroy  the  papers  whenever  they  should  .come. 
In  the  mean  time  Sir,  every  argument  I  could  suggest  was  used  to  con- 
vince them  of  the  rashness  of  such  attempts  and  the  dangerous  conse- 
quences that  must  attend  them,  and  every  method,  both  public  and  pri- 
vate, was  pursued  by  me  to  bring  them  to  a  right  way  of  thinking,  and 
which  I  frequently  thought  I  had  effected,  and  am  sure  I  should  have 
done  but  for  the  inflammatory  papers,  letters,  and  messages  continually 
sent  to  the  people  here  from  the  Liberty  Boys,  as  they  call  themselves, 
in  Charlestown,  South  Carolina,  and  by  whom  I  am  very  clear  all  our 
disturbances  and  difficulties  have  been  occasioned. 

"And  thus  matters  rested  Sir,  till  the  5th  of  December,  when  his 
Majesty's  ship  Speedwell  arrived  here  with  the  stamped  papers  on  board. 
I  had  used  every  precaution  necessary  to  prevent  either  papers  or  offi- 
cers Irom  falling  into  the  hands  of  those  people,  which  they  were  not 
ignorant  of  And  when  it  was  known  that  the  Speedwell  was  in  the 
river  with  the  papers,  several  of  the  principal  inhabitants  came  to  me 
and  gave  me  the  strongest  assurances  possible  that  there  was  then  no  in- 
tention to  seize  upon  or  destroy  the  papers.  And  they  were  landed 
without  any  appearance  of  tumult  and  lodged  in  the  King's  store  or 
warehouse  under  the  care  of  the  Commissary.  But  notwithstanding 
these  assurances  with  respect  to  the  papers,  I  still  found  there  was  a 
design  against  the  Officer. 

"From  the  5th  of  November  everything  remained  pretty  quiet,  but  I 
found  cabals  were  frequently  held  and  inflammatory  letters  sent  from 
Charlestown,  and  on  the  2d  of  January,  about  3  in  the  afternoon,  I  was 
informed  that  the  Liberty  Boys  in  town  had  assembled  together  to  the 
number  of  about  200  and  were  gathering  fast,  and  that  some  of  them 
had  declared  they  were  determined  to  go  to  the  Fort  and  break  open  the 
Store  and  take  out  the  stamped  papers  and  destroy  them ;  on  which  I 
immediately  ordered  the  officers  to  get  their  men  together,  but  appear- 
ances and  threats  were  such  that  in  three  days  I  had  not  less  than  40 


Governor  Wright's  Communication.  179 

men  on  duty  every  night  to  protect  the  papers,  or  I  am  confident  they 
would  have  been  destroyed. 

"  On  the  3d  of  January  Mr.  Angus,  the  distributor  for  this  Province, 
arrived,  of  which  I  had  the  earliest  notice  in  consequence  of  measures 
concerted  for  that  purpose,  and   immediately  sent  the  scout  boat  with 
an  officer  and  a  party  of  men  to  protect  him  and  suffer  no  body  to  speak 
to  him,  but   conduct  him  safely  to  my  house,  which  was  done  the  next 
day  at  noon  when  he  took  the  State  oaths  and  oath  of  office,  and  I  had 
the  papers  distributed  and  lodged  in  all  the  different  offices  relative  to 
the  shipping  and  opening  our  ports,  which  had  been  shut  for  some  time. 
But  here  the  people  in  general  have  agreed  not  to  apply  for  any  other 
papers   till   his  Majesty's  pleasure  be  known  on  the  petitions  sent  from 
the  Colonies.     I  kept  the  Officer  in  my  house  for  a  fortnight,  after  which 
he  went  into   the  Country,  to  avoid  the   resentment   of  the  people  for 
awhile.     No  pains  have  been  spared  in  the  Northern  Colonies  to  spirit 
up  and  inflame  the  people,  and  a  spirit  of  faction  and  sedition  was  stirred 
up  throughout   the   Province,   and   parties  of  armed   men   actually   as- 
sembled themselves  together  and  were  preparing  to   do  so  in  different 
parts,  but  by  sending  expresses  with   letters  to  many  of  the  most  pru- 
dent I  had   the  satisfaction  to  find   that  my  weight  and  credit  was  suffi- 
cient to  check  all  commotions  and  disturbances  in  the  Country  at  that 
time,  and  everything  was  quiet  again  and  remained  so  till  a  few   days 
ago  when  some  incendiaries  from  Charlestown  came  full  fraught  with  se- 
dition and  rebellion,  and  have  been  about  the  Country  and  inflamed  the 
people  to  such  a  degree  that  they  were  again  assembling  together  in  all 
parts  of  the  province  and,  to   the  number  of  about  600,  were   to   have 
come  here  on  yesterday,  all  armed,  and  these  people,  as  I  have  been  in- 
formed, were  to  have  surrounded  my  house  and  endeavoured  to  extort  a 
promise  from  me  that  no  papers  should  be  issued  till  his  Majesty's  pleas- 
ure be  known  on  the  petitions  sent  home,  and  if  I  did  not  immediately 
comply,  they  were  to  seize  upon  and   destroy  the  papers  and  commit 
many  acts  of  violence  against  the  persons  and  property  of  those  gentle- 
men that  have  declared  themselves  friends  of  Government.     On  this  last 
alarm  I  thought  it  advisable  to  remove  the  papers  to  a  place  of  greater 
security,  and  accordingly  ordered  them  to  be  carried  to  Fort  George, 
on  Cockspur  Island,  where  they  are  protected  by  a  Captain,  two  Subal- 
terns, and  fifty  private  men  of  the  Rangers. 


i8o  History  of  Savannah. 

"  But  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  inform  your  Excellency  that  I  have, 
with  the  assistance  of  some  well  disposed  Gentlemen,  taken  off  and  got 
a  great  many  dispersed  who  were  actually  on  their  way  down  here,  but 
many  are  still  under  arms  and  I  can't  yet  say  how  the  affair  will  end. 

"  This  Sir,  is  a  wretched  situation  to  be  in,  and  it's  clear  that  further 
force  is  necessary  to  support  his  Majesty's  authority  from  insults,  and 
reduce  the  people  to  obedience  to  the  civil  power.  My  task  is  rendered 
much  more  difficult  by  the  people  in  the  next  Province  going  the  lengths 
they  have  done,  and  to  this  day  do,  and  it's  said,  and  I  believe  it  may 
be  true,  (although  Sir,  I  will  not  aver  it  for  a  fact),  that  the  Carolinians 
have  offered  to  assist  the  people  here  with  500  men  to  prosecute  their 
vile  attempts. 

"  Upon  the  whole  Sir,  there  is  still  a  possibility  of  bringing  the  people 
to  reason  and  restoring  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  Province,  on 
which,  your  Excellency  so  justly  observes,  their  welfare  and  happiness 
depend.  A  few  days  will  determine  this  point,  and  if  not,  then,  agree- 
able to  your  Excellency's  letter,  I  shall  write  to  General  Gage  and  Lord 
Colvile  for  assistance.  I  have  only  to  add  that  notwithstanding  every 
threat  and  attempt,  your  Excellency  may  be  assured  I  will  firmly  perse 
vere  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  my  duty  to 
his  Majesty ;  but  really  Sir,  such  of  the  King's  Servants  in  America  as 
are  firm  in  their  opposition  to  the  present  seditious  spirit  have  a  very 
uncomfortable  time  of  it. 

"The  whole  military  force  in  this  Province,  Sir,  is  two  troops  of 
Rangers,  consisting  in  the  whole  of  120  effective  men,  which  occupy  5 
forts  or  posts  in  different  parts  of  the  Province,  and  30  of  the  Royal 
Americans, — 20  of  them  at  fort  Augusta  150  miles  from  hence,  and  10 
at  Frederica  about  the  same  distance.  And  on  the  first  appearance  of 
faction  and  sedition  I  ordered  in  some  of  the  Rangers  from  each  post 
and  made  up  the  number  here  at  Savannah  56  privates  and  8  officers, 
with  which,  and  the  assistance  of  such  gentlemen  as  were  of  a  right  way 
of  thinking,  I  have  been  able  in  some  measure  to  support  his  Majesty's 
authority,  but  I  have  been  obliged  to  send  two  officers  and  35  of  those 
men. with  the  papers  to  Fort  George." 

On  the  7th  of  February  Governor  Wright  acquaints  Secretary  Con- 
way with  what  had  further  transpired  in  the  colony  in  relation  to  the 
contemplated  enforcement  of  the  Stamp  Act : 


Governor  Wright's  Communication.  i8i 

"  On  the  2nd  inst.  I  had  the  pleasure  to  hear  of  the  arrival  of  his 
Majesty's  ship  Speedwell,  Capt.  Fanshawe,  who  had  promised  me  when 
he  went  from  hence,  after  bringing  the  papers,  that  he  would  return  again 
soon.  I  assure  your  Excellency  he  came  at  a  very  reasonable  time,  as 
by  his  taking  the  papers  on  board  the  King's  ship  I  was  enabled  to  order 
up  the  Officers  and  Rangers  to  town,  and  then  mustered  70  Officers, and 
men.  Capt.  Fanshawe  brought  his  ship  up,  and  several  gentlemen  and 
others  also  promised  to  join  me  if  the  Villains  should  come  into  town. 
For  notwithstanding  I  had  been  able  to  dispose  of  a  great  number,  yet 
two  hundred  and  forty  of  them  were  within  3  miles,  and,  being  much 
exasperated  against  me  for  sending  the  papers  away,  agreed  to  come  to 
me  and  demand  that  I  would  order  the  papers  to  be  delivered  up  to 
them,  and  if  I  did  not,  they  were  to  shoot  me.  This  Sir,  was  avowedly 
declared  by  some  of  them  ;  and  on  Thursday,  the  4th  instant,  they  ac- 
tually had  the  insolence  to  appear  at  the  Town  Common  with  their  arms 
and  colours,  but  finding  I  had  near  100  men  I  could  command  and  de- 
pend upon,  and  being  told  that  many  would  join  me  as  volunteers,  after 
staying  about  3  hours  I  was  informed  they  differed  among  themselves 
and  began  to  disperse,  and  I  have  now  the  great  satisfaction  to  acquaint 
your  Excellency  that  they  are  all  dispersed  ;  but  Sir,  some  of  them  de- 
clared they  were  offered  the  assistance  of  from  4  to  500  men  from  Car- 
olina, and  if  they  came,  would  be  ready  to  return  again.  If  none  come 
from  thence  I  hope  to  remain  quiet.  I  shall  see  some  of  the  most  dis- 
passionate people  and  of  the  most  considerable  property  amongst  them, 
and  endeavour  to  restore  the  peace  of  the  Province,  but  even  if  I  suc- 
ceed in  this  so  far  as  to  obtain  promises  of  submission,  yet  Sir,  some 
troops  will  nevertheless  be  absolutely  necessary,  for  I  fear  I  cannot  have 
entire  confidence  in  the  people  for  some  time,  and  your  Excellency  sees 
the  insults  his  Majesty's  authority  has  received,  and  which  I  am  still 
Uable  to.  Possibly  your  Excellency  may  be  surprized  that  I  have  not 
mentioned  calling  out  the  militia,  but  I  haye  too  much  reason  to  think 
I  should  have  armed  more  against  me  than  for  me,  and  that  volunteers 
were  the  only  people  I  could  have  any  confidence  in  or  dependence 
upon." 

Led  by  the  fearless  Gadsden,  tiie  eloquent  Rutledge,  and  the  patri- 
riotic  Lynch,  the  delegates  from  South  Carolina  were  the  first  to  respond 


1 82  History  of  Savannah. 

to  the  call  for  an  American  congress.  During  its  session  in  New  York 
they  gave  shape  to  its  deliberations  and  moulded  its  conclusions.  So 
potent  was  their  influence  at  home  that  upon  their  return  to  Charles- 
town  the  General  Assembly  of  South  Carolina,  on  the  29th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1765,  was  moved  to  the  adoption  of  a  series  of  resolutions  entirely 
in  unison  with  those  promulgated  by  the  congress.  In  them  it  was  de- 
clared that  his  majesty's  subjects  in  the  province  of  Carolina  owed  the 
same  allegiance  to  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain  that  was  due  from  his 
subjects  there  born  ;  that  they  were  entitled  to  all  the  inherent  rights 
and  liberties  of  natural  born  subjects  ;  that  it  was  inseparably  essential 
to  the  freedom  of  a  people  and  the  undoubted  right  of  Englishmen  that 
no  taxes  should  be  imposed  on  them  but  with  their  own  consent  given 
personally  or  by  their  representatives ;  that  the  people  of  Carolina  from 
their  local  circumstances  could  not  be  represented  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons of  Great  Britain,  and  that  the  several  powers  of  legislation  in 
America  were  constituted  in  some  measure  upon  the  apprehension  of 
this  impracticability  ;  that  the  only  representatives  of  the  people  of  the 
province  were  persons  chosen  therein  by  themselves,  and  that  no  taxes 
ever  had  been  or  ever  could  be  constitutionally  imposed  on  them  but  by 
the  legislature  of  the  province  ;  that  all  supplies  to  the  Crown  being  the 
free  gifts  of  the  people,  it  was  unreasonable  and  inconsistent  with  the 
principles  and  spirit  of  the  British  constitution  for  the  people  of  Great 
Britain  to  grant  to  his  majesty  the  property  of  the  people  of  Carolina ; 
that  the  trial  by  jury  was  the  inherent  and  valuable  right  of  every  Brit- 
ish subject  in  the  province  ;  that  the  late  act  of  Parliament  entitled  "  An 
Act  for  granting  and  applying  certain  stamp  duties  and  other  duties  ot 
the  British  Colonies  and  Plantations  in  America,"  etc.,  by  imposing  taxes 
on  the  inhabitants  of  Carolina,  and  other  acts  by  extending  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  courts  of  admiralty  beyond  their  ancient  limits,  had  a  mani- 
fest tendency  to  subvert  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people  of  the  prov- 
ince; that  the  duties  imposed  by  several  late  acts  of  Parliament  on  the 
people  of  Carolina  would  prove  extremely  burthensome  and  grievous, 
and,  from  a  scarcity  of  gold  and  silver,  the  payment  of  them  would  be 
absolutely  impracticable  ;  that  as  the  profits  of  the  trade  of  the  people 
of  the  province  ultimately  centred  in  Great  Britain  to  pay  for  the  man- 
ufactured articles  they  were  obHged  to  take  from  thence,  they  eventually 


Declaration  of  Rights.  183 


contributed  very  largely  to  all  the  supplies  there  granted  to  the  Crown, 
and  that  as  every  individual  in  South  Carolina  was  as  advantageous  to 
Great  Britain  as  if  he  were  a  resident  there  and  paid  his  full  proportion 
of  taxes  for  the  support  of  his  majesty's  government,  it  was  unreason- 
able for  him  to  be  called  upon  to  pay  any  additional  part  of  the  charges 
of  the  general  government. 

This  declaration  of  rights,  disseminated  through  the  public  prints, 
was  read  everywhere  both  in  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  evoked  earnest 
sympathy  from  most  of  the  inhabitants  on  both  sides  of  the  Savannah. 
Because  Georgia  had  not  been  fully  represented  in  the  New  York  Con- 
gress, Carolina  was  inclined  to  question  her  determination  to  resist,  by 
every  means,  the  enforcement  of  the  Stamp  Act.  Because  Governor 
Wright  was  bolder  than  Governor  Bull  in  his  efforts  to  carry  into  effect 
the  expressed  will  of  Parliament,  Georgia  was  taunted  with  being  a  pen- 
sioned government.  In  the  South  Carolina  Gazette  of  February  11, 
1756,  it  was  scurrilously  hinted  that  "her  inhabitants  were  looked  upon 
as  a  fair  purchase  and  therefore  to  be  treated  as  slaves  without  ceremony;" 
that  they  had  been  "  deluded  and  bullied  out  of  their  rights  and  privi- 
leges;'' and  that  "like  Esau  of  old  they  had  sold  their  birthright  for  a 
mess  of  pottage."  The  truth  was,  the  resistance  offered  by  Georgia  to 
the  enforcement  of  the  Stamp  Act  within  her  borders  was  much  more 
determined  and  pronounced  than  that  exhibited  by  South  Carolina,  and 
for  the  reason  that  Sir  James  Wright  resolutely  upheld  the  act  by  every 
means  at  command,  while  Lieutenant-Governor  Bull,  yielding  to  pressure, 
lodged  the  stamp  papers  in  Fort  Johnson  and  suffered  Charlestown  to 
be  used  as  a  free  port.^  Certain  it  is  that  although  Governor  Wright,  at 
all  times  a  brave  man  and  loyal  to  his  king,  summoned  all  his  energies 
and  exerted  his  every  influence  to  support  the  act,  so  thoroughly  was 
the  province  of  Georgia  aroused,  and  so  closely  did  her  inhabitants 
watch  the  stamp  papers  and  the  officer  designated  for  their  issue,  that 
none  of  them  found  their  way  into  use.  Georgians  did  not  remain  pas- 
sive under  those  exactions.  They  resisted  with  arms  in  their  hands,  and 
triumphed  in  the  contest.  Even  the  gentle,  self-poised,  and  influential 
James  Habersham,  president  of  his  majesty's  council,  confessed  openly, 

'   See  Governor  Wright's  letter  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  under  date  Savannah  in 
Georgia,  loth  February,  1766. 


184  History  qf  Savannah. 

"  The  annual  tax  raised  here  for  the  support  of  our  internal  policy  is  full 
as  much  as  the  inhabitants  can  bear  :  and  suppose  the  stamps  produce 
only  one-eighth  of  what  they  would  in  South  Carolina,  it  would  amount 
to  as  much  in  one  year  as  our  tax  laws  will  raise  in  three ;  and  perhaps 
we  have  not  five  thousand  pounds  in  gold  and  silver  come  into  the 
Province  in  five  years,  though  the  act  requires  it  in  one.  If  this  is  really 
the  case,  as  I  believe  it  is,  how  must  every  inhabitant  shudder  at  the 
thought  of  the  act  taking  place,  which,  according  to  my  present  appre- 
hension, must  inevitably  ruin  them." 

The  only  stamps  issued  in  Georgia  were  those  employed  in  clearing 
between  sixty  and  seventy  vessels  which  were  congregated  in  the  port 
of  Savannah  fearing  to  depart  without  them.  The  emergency  was  press 
ing.  Yielding  to  the  urgency  of  the  situation,  the  citizens  consented  in 
this  instance,  and  in  this  alone,  to  relax  the  prohibition  they  had  forcibly 
placed  upon  the  use  of  stamp  papers  and  the  payment  of  stamp  duties. 
Violent  was  the  umbrage  which  South  Carolina  took  at  this  act.  It  was 
resolved  in  Charlestown  that  no  provisions  should  be  shipped  to  Georgia, 
which  was  denounced  as  an  "  infamous  Colony  ;"  that  "every  vessel 
trading  there  should  be  burnt,"  and  that  all  persons  who  should  traffic 
with  the  Georgians  "should  be  put  to  death."  These  were  not  idle 
threats,  for  two  vessels,  clearing  for  Savannah,  were  captured  before 
they  crossed  Charlestown  bar,  were  brought  back  to  the  city,  condemned, 
and,  with  their  cargoes,  were  destroyed. 1  Sincerely,  however,  did  the  Car- 
olinians repent  of  this  behavior  which  was  unneighborly,  lawless,  and 
wholly  unjustified  by  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  True  to  the  com- 
mon cause  of  the  colonies,  Georgia,  in  this  emergency,  was  not  unmind- 
ful of  the  equities  of  the  moment,  and  did  not,  in  a  whirlwind  of  passion, 
lose  sight  of  her  better  judgment.  Overawed  by  the  popular  uprising, 
Governor  Bull  did  not  pretend  to  stem  the  current,  and  Carolina  achieved 
a  comparatively  easy  victory.  Georgia,  on  the  contrary,  prevailed  in 
defiance  of  an  executive  who  pertinaciously  brought  every  influence 
and  power  to  bear  in  behalf  of  the  enactments  of  Parliament  and  in  di- 
rect opposition  to  the  will  of  the  province. 

It  was  at  one  time  reported  that  the  failure  of  Governor  Wright  to 
sustain  the  provisions  of  the  Stamp  Act  within  the  limits  of  the  colony 

'  See  Stevens's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.  p.  48.     Philadelphia,     1859. 


Joy  Upon  Repeal  of  Stamp  Act.  185 

had  incurred  royal  displeasure,  and  that  he  was  to  be  removed  from 
office.  Eventually,  however,  he  was  comforted  with  the  assurance  that 
his  conduct  was  approved  by  the  king,  and  that  there  was  "  no  thought 
of  recalling  or  superseding  him."  Perilous  and  perplexing  was  his  sit- 
uation. He  acquitted  himself  like  a  brave  man  and  a  faithful  servant  of 
his  royal  master. 

The  joy  of  the  American  colonies  upon  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act 
was  universal.  To  Pitt — foremost  statesman  of  England  and  the  Apos- 
tle of  freedom, — came  a  message  from  across  the  ocean  :  "  To  you  grate- 
ful America  attributes  that  she  is  reinstated  in  her  former  liberties.  .  . 
America  calls  you  over  and  over  again  her  father.  Live  long  in 
health,  happiness,  and  honor.  Be  it  late  when  you  must  cease  to  plead 
the  cause  of  liberty  on  earth." 

Upon  the  official  announcement  in  Savannah  of  the  repeal  of  this 
act,  Govornor  Wright  convened  the  General  Assembly  and  tendered  his 
congratulations  upon  the  fortunate  issue  out  of  impending  difficulties. 
The  response  of  the  members — not  a  few  of  whom  were  recently  almost 
in  arms  against  the  Crown  and  Parliament, — breathed  nothing  but  loy- 
alty to  the  king  and  firm  attachment  to  the  mother  country. 

Rejoicing  in  their  deliverance  from  the  turmoils  which  had  of  late 
robbed  the  colony  of  its  wonted  repose,  and  happy  in  the  thought  that 
the  province  was  no  longer  annoyed  by  the  presence  of  either  stamp 
papers  or  distributing  officers,  both  Houses  on  the  22nd  of  July  united 
in  a  most  conciliatory  and  grateful  address  to  his  most  gracious  Majesty. 
That  address  was  signed  by  James  Habersham, — President  of  the  Upper 
House, — and  by  Alexander  Wylly, — Speaker  of  the  Commons  House 
of  Assembly. 

Notwithstanding  these  protestations  of  loyalty  and  this  proclama- 
tion of  abiding  devotion  to  the  Crown  and  its  fortunes,  a  new  spirit  of 
liberty  was  abroad  in  the  land,  and  thoughts  of  political  freedom  already 
possessed  the  minds  of  the  people.  The  sentiment  that  colonies,  separated 
by  a  wide  ocean  from  the  mother  country  and  united  by  kindred  inter- 
ests, possessed  an  inahenable  right  to  fashion  and  sustain  their  own  in- 
stitutions without  paying  tribute  to  the  home  government,  was  fast  de- 
veloping into  a  cherished  principle.  Less  than  ten  years  afterwards  it 
was  asserted  with  the  "  consenting  thunders  of  so  many  cannon  that 


1 86  History  of  Savannah. 


even  the  lands  across  the  Atlantic  were  shaken  and  filled  with  the  long 
reverberation."  The  calm  consequent  upon  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious 
Stamp  Act  was  only  temporary.  Sir  James  Wright  did  not  fail  to  inter- 
pret the  signs  of  the  times :  for,  in  transmitting  to  Secretary  Conway  a 
copy  of  the  address,  so  loyal  and  even  subservient,  he  intimates  that 
while  many  Georgians  seemed  just  then  to  entertain  a  grateful  sense  of 
the  "  special  grace  and  favours  received,"  and  appeared  disposed  to  ex- 
hibit a  dutiful  acquiescense  in  and' obedience  to  the  legislative  authority 
of  Great  Britain,  there  were  nevertheless  not  a  few  who  still  retained  "  the 
late  avowed  sentiments  and  strange  ideas  of  liberty,"  and  insisted  that 
no  power  save  representatives  of  their  own  choosing  could  subject  them 
to  the  payment  of  internal  taxes. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Marked  Improvement  in  the  Condition  of  the  Province— Silk-Culture— Convention 
of  the  3rd  of  September,  1768 — Benjamin  Franklin  Appointed  the  Agent  of  Georgia — 
Meeting  of  Savannah  Merchants  on  the  i6th  of  September,  1769 — Patriotic  Resolu- 
tions adopted  in  Savannah  —Non-importation  Agreement — Suspension  of  the  Hon. 
Jonathan  Bryan  as  a  Member  of  Council — Revolutionary  Temper  of  the  Lower  House 
of  Assembly — Dr.  Noble  Wymberly  Jones — Governor  Wright  Visits  England — The 
Hon.  James  Habersham  Governor  of  Georgia  During  his  Absence. 

UNDER  the  wise  administration  of  Governor  Wright,  Georgia  was  now 
prospering.  In  six  years  her  white  population  had  increased  four 
thousand ;  and  four  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  slaves  had  been 
added  to  the  negro  laborers  at  work  in  her  fields.  During  that  period 
the  export  of  rice  had  been  trebled,  and  the  production  of  corn,  indigo, 
and  wheat  wonderfully  augmented.  The  trade  in  lumber,  shingles, 
staves,  and  naval  stores  became  each  year  more  important,  and  both  Sa- 
vannah and  Sunbury  prospered  in  their  commercial  adventures.  Stren- 
uous exertions  were  still  made  to  promote  silk-cuhure:  and,  although 
the  Filature  in  Savannah  was  still  open,  the  operations  there  conducted 
did  not  yield  any  income  or  justify  the  expenditures  requisite  for  its 
maintenance.  There  was  something  in  the  climate  which  apparantly 
caused  the  worms  to  degenerate.  It  was  only  when  stimulated  by  a 
bounty  that  the  industry  was  prosecuted,  and  even  then  the  cost  of  pro- 


Silk  Culture. 


187 


duction  was  ruinous.     The  following  table  exhibits  the  amount  realized 
in  the  colony  from  this  source  during  thirteen  years. 


438  lbs. 
268  •■ 
358  ■• 
358  " 
734  " 
839  " 
332  " 
1,047  " 
953  " 


of  silk. 


712 

1,084 

671 


8  ozs. 
4   " 

9  " 


I"  •755'     5.458  lbs.  of  cocoons  made 

1756,  3,667  "      '' 

1757,  4,994  " 

1758,  burnt 

1759,  10,136  " 

1760,  7,983  " 
1761   5,307  " 

1762,  15,186  "      '' 

1763,  15,486  " 

1764,  15,212  '■ 

1765,  12,514  ■■ 

1766,  20,350  " 

1767,  10,768  "      " 

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

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


The  Salary  of  the  Governor .        . 

"       Chief  Justice  .         .  

Secretary  of  the  Province       .... 

''  "       Clerk  of  the  Assembly 

"  "       Surveyor-General 

"  "       Receiver-General  of  Quit  Rents 

"  "       Attorney-General   .  .  .... 

"  "       Provost  Marshal     .  

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

Salary  of  the  Agent  for  the  Affairs  of  the  Colony 

Pilot,  with  the  Expenses  of  the  Boat,  etc. 
Allowance  for  the  encouragement  of  Silk  Culture      .... 


£1,000 
500 
100 
20 
150 
100 
150 
100 
116 
200 
500 
100 


£3.036 


History  of  Savannah. 


On  the  3rd  of  September,  1768,  an  important  convention  was  held  in 
the  Council  Chamber  in  Savannah  for  the  determination  of  the  boundary 
lines  which  separated  the  English  possessions  in  the  colony  from  the  ter- 
ritory reserved  by  the  Creeks.  On  the  part  of  the  Whites  his  Excel- 
lency James  Wright  and  members  of  council  James  Habersham,  Noble 
Jones,  James  Mackay,  Grey  Elliott,  and  James  Read  were  present.  The 
Indians  were  led  by  Emisteseegoe,  the  most  noted  and  influential  head 
man  of  the  Creek  Confederacy.  Lachlan  McGillivray  acted  as  interpre- 
ter. The  conference  was  fairly  conducted,  lasted  three  days,  resulted  in 
the  adjustment  of  all  existing  disagreements,  and  proved  satisfactory  to 
all  parties  in  interest. 

With  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  of  1765  George  HI.  was  thor- 
oughly dissatisfied.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  characterize  the  proceeding 
as  "  a  fatal  compliance  "  which  had  placed  thorns  under  his  pillow  and 
wounded  the  majesty  of  England.  Although  Parliament  receded  from 
the  position  at  first  taken  in  regard  to  stamp  duties  in  America,  the 
"Sugar"  and  the  "  Quartering  "  Acts  still  remained  of  force.  Town- 
stiend's  bill,  specifying  paints,  paper,  glass,  lead,  and  all  articles  of  British 
fabrication  as  subjects  for  custom-house  taxation  in  the  Colonies,  and 
other  statutes,  clearly  evinced  to  the  Colonists  a  determination  on  the 
part  of  the  British  Government  to  raise  a  parliamentary  revenue  in 
America,  and  united  them  in  the  opinion,  advanced  by  Otis,  "  that  taxes 
on  trade,  if  designed  to  raise  a  revenue,  were  just  as  much  a  violation 
of  their  rights  as  any  other  taxes."  John  Dickinson  clearly  demon- 
strated the  danger  of  allowing  any  precedent  of  parliamentary  taxation 
on  grounds  no  matter  how  specious,  or  to  any  extent  no  matter  how 
trifling;"  and  Benjamin  Franklin  gave  expression  to  the  growing  resolu- 
tion of  the  colonists  to  deny  the  power  of  the  British  legislature  to  in- 
tervene in  their  affairs  when  he  said  :  "  I  will  freely  spend  nineteen  shil- 
lings in  the  pound  to  defend  my  right  of  giving  or  refusing  the  other 
shilling." 

In  1768  Georgia  secured  the  services  of  Dr.  Franklin  as  an  agent 
"to  represent,  solicit,  and  transact  its  affairs  in  Great  Britain,"  and  a 
committee  consisting — on  the  part  of  the  Council — of  James  Haber- 
sham, Noble  Jones,  James  Edward  Powell,  Lewis  Johnson,  Clement 
Martin,  and,  in  behalf  of  the  Commons  House  of  Assembly,  of  John 


Meeting  of  Savannah  Merchants.  189 

Mullryne,  John  Smith,  Noble  Wimberley  Jones,  John  Milledge,  John 
Simpson,  Archibald  Bulloch,  William  Ewen,  and  Joseph  Gibbons  was 
appointed  to  correspond  with  him,  "  and  give  him  such  orders  and  in- 
structions from  time  to  time  as  they  should  judge  to  be  for  the  service 
of  this  province." 

Parliament  being  still  intent  upon  an  enforcement  of  the  acts  of  which 
the  American  colonies  complained,  and  all  petitions  for  redress  having 
proved  fruitless,  the  provinces  resolved  to  take  the  matter  in  their  own 
hands,  and,  by  a  suspension  of  commercial  dealings  with  England,  to 
work  that  change  in  the  purposes  of  the  administration  which  their  re- 
monstrances had  failed  to  effect.  Upon  her  colonial  trade  did  the  pros- 
perity of  England  largely  depend.  Commercial  non-intercourse,  there- 
fore, could  not  do  otherwise  than  seriously  affect  the  well-being  of  the 
mother  country.  The  appeal  to  sentiment,  affection,  and  right  was 
abandoned.  The  argument  was  now  addressed  to  the  pockets  of  the 
English  people.  The  proposition  was  to  import  no  articles  whatever 
which  could  be  manufactured  or  produced  at  home,  and  to  abandon  the 
use  of  luxuries.  To  the  merchants  of  Boston  does  the  credit  belong  of 
suggesting  this  plan,  "but  the  Assembly  of  Virginia,  in  June  1769,  was 
the  first  Legislative  Body  which  adopted  resolves  of  non- importation 
which  ere  long  were  sanctioned  by  the  other  Colonies." 

Georgians  quickly  recognized  the  advisability  of  the  scheme,  and 
earnestly  sympathized  in  its  consummation. 

On  the  1 6th  of  September,  1769,  at  a  meeting  of  merchants  con- 
vened at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Alexander  Creighton,  in  Savannah,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  late  acts  of  Parliament,  against  which  the  Northern  Col- 
onies had  so  unanimously  remonstrated,  "  were  unconstitutional,  and  that 
the  taxes  therein  contemplated  were  inconsistent  with  the  abilities  of  the 
American  Provinces."  Full  sympathy  was  expressed  with  the  other  col- 
onies upon  the  question  of  non-importation.  Speaking  for  the  interests 
of  Georgia,  the  gentlemen  then  present  affirmed  that  the  sterling  current 
money  of  the  province,  which,  by  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  assented 
to  by  his  majesty,  was  declared  equal  in  value  to  the  coin  of  the  realm 
and  a  lawful  tender  for  the  payment  of  all  dues,  having  been  refused 
when  offered  in  payment  of  the  duties  imposed  by  the  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment, had  been   thereby   greatly  depreciated   in  value  ;  that  in  conse- 


1^0  History  of  Savannah. 


quence  of  this  refusal  all  the  citizens  of  the  province  had  suffered  injury; 
and  that  Georgia  having  been  excluded  from  the  benefit  of  the  Spanish 
trade,  by  means  of  which  specie  was  most  readily  procurable,  and  the 
recent  acts  imposing  duties  which  were  solvable  only  in  gold  or  silver, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  province  were,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  ren- 
dered incapable  of  responding  to  any  call  which  the  mother  country 
might  constitutionally  make. 

It  was  therefore  resolved  "  That  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever 
importing  any  of  the  articles  subject  to  such  duties,  after  having  it  in 
their  power  to  prevent  it,  ought  not  only  to  be  treated  with  contempt 
but  deemed  enemies  to  their  country :  it  being  a  circumstance  that  need 
only  be  mentioned  to  any  person  inspired  with  the  least  sense  of  liberty, 
that  it  may  be  detested  and  abhorred." 

Not  long  afterwards,  at  a  called  public  meeting,  the  Honorable  Jon- 
athan Bryan  being  in  the  chair,  the  following  resolutions,  reported  by  a 
special  committee,  were  agreed  to  and  ordered  to  be  published  in  the 
next  issue  of  the  Gazette :  ^ 

"  We,  inhabitants  of  Georgia,  finding  ourselves  reduced  to  the  great- 
est distress  and  most  abject  condition  by  the  operation  of  several  acts  of 
the  British  Legislature  by  means  whereof  our  property  is  arbitrarily 
wrested  from  us  contrary  to  the  true  spirit  of  our  Constitution  and  the 
repeatedly  confirmed  birthright  of  every  Briton,  under  all  these  oppres- 
sions finding  that  the  most  dutiful  and  loyal  petitions  from  the  Colonies 
for  redress  of  these  grievances  have  not  answered  the  salutary  purpose 
we  intended,  and  being  destitute  of  all  hope  of  relief  from  our  multi- 
plied and  increasing  distresses  but  by  our  industry,  frugality,  and  econ- 
omy, are  firmly  resolved  never  to  be  in  the  least  accessory  to  the  loss 
of  any  privilege  we  are  entitled  to  : 

"  Therefore,  we,  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed,  do  solemnly 
agree  and  promise  to  and  with  each  other  that  until  the  said  acts  are  re- 
pealed, we  will  most  faithfully  abide  by,  adhere  to,  and  fulfill  the  follow- 
ing resolutions. 

"  I.  That  we  will  encourage  and  promote  American  manufactures, 
and  of  this  Province  in  particular. 

"  n.  That  as  the  raising  of  Sheep  for  the   benefit  of  wool  will  be  of 

'  This  was  the  only  newspaper  then  printed  within  the  limits  of  the  province. 


Non-Importation  Agreement.  191 


the  utmost  utility,  we  do  therefore  engage  not  to  kill  or  sell  any  lambs 
that  shall  be  yeaned,  before  the  first  of  May  in  every  year,  to  any 
butcher  or  other  person  who,  we  may  have  reason  to  think,  intends  to 
kill  the  same. 

"  III.  That  we  will  promote  the  raising  of  cotton  and  flax,  and  en- 
courage spinning  and  weaving. 

"  IV.  That  we  will  upon  no  pretence,  either  upon  our  own  account 
or  on  commission,  import  into  this  Province  any  of  the  manufactures  of 
Great  Britain;  or  European  or  East  India  goods,  other  than  may  be 
shipped  in  consequence  of  former  orders,  except  only  cloth,  not  exceed- 
ing I"  4'^  pr  yard,  osnabrigs,  canvass,  cordage,  drugs,  and  hardware  of 
all  sorts,  paper  not  exceeding  10''  pr  ream,  fire  arms,  gunpowder,  shot, 
leads,  flints,  salt,  saltpetre,  coals,  printed  books  and  pamphlets,  white  and 
striped  flannels,  not  above  9'  pr  yard,  white  linen  not  above  i'  8"^  pr 
yard,  woollen  and  thread  hose  not  exceeding  24^  pr  doz:  striped  cotton 
not  exceeding  i^  4*  pr  yard,  checks  not  above  i^  3*^  pr  yard,  felt  hats 
not  above  48^  pr  doz :  bolting  cloths,  mill  and  grind  stones,  cotton  and 
wool  cards,  and  wire,  thread  not  above  8"  pr  lb.,  sho-s  not  above  48" 
per  doz  :  as  also  the  following  goods  necessary  for  the  Indian  Trade,  viz. 
strouds,  vermilion,  beads,  looking  glasses  and  paint.  And  exclusive  of 
these  articles  do  we  solemnly  promise  and  declare  that  we  will  immedi- 
ately countermand  all  orders  to  our  correspondents  in  Great  Britain  for 
shipping  any  goods,  wares,  and  merchandize  other  than  hereinbefore  ex- 
cepted, and  will  sell  and  dispose  of  the  goods  we  now  or  hereafter  may 
have  at  the  same  rates  and  prices  as  before. 

"  V.  That  we  will  neither  purchase  nor  give  mourning  at  funerals. 

"  VI.  That  from  and  after  the  ist  June  1770  we  will  not  import,  buy, 
or  sell,  any  negroes  that  shall  be  brought  into  this  Province  from  Africa, 
nor,  after  the  1st  of  January  next,  any  negroes  from  the  West  Indies  or 
any  other  place  excepting  from  Africa  aforesaid  And  if  any  goods  or 
negroes  be  sent  to  us  contrary  to  our  agreement  in  this  subscription, 
such  goods  shall  be  reshipped  or  stored,  and  such  negroes  reshipped 
from  this  Province  and  not  by  any  means  offered  for  sale  therein. 

"  VII.  That  we  will  not  import  on  our  own  account  or  on  commis- 
sion, or  purchase  from  any  masters  of  vessels,  transient  persons,  or  non- 
subscribers,  any  wines  after  the  ist  March  next. 


192 


History  of  Savannah. 


"  VIII.  That  we  will  not  purchase  any  negroes  imported,  or  any 
goods,  wares,  or  merchandize,  from  any  resident  of  this  Province,  or 
transient  person,  that  shall  refuse  or  neglect  to  sign  this  agreement 
within  5  weeks  from  the  date  thereof,  except  it  appear  he  shall  have 
been  unavoidably  prevented  from  so  doing.  And  every  person  signing 
and  not  strictly  adhering  to  the  same  according  to  the  true  intent  and 
meaning  thereof,  and  also  every  non-subscriber,  shall  be  looked  upon  as 
no  friend  to  his  country." 

Mr.  Bryan,  who  presided  at  the  meeting,  was  at  the  time  a  member 
of  his  majesty's  council  for  the  province  of  Georgia.  These  non-impor- 
tation resolutions  produced  a  decided  effect  upon  the  public  mind,  and 
were  generally  endorsed.  The  estrangement  between  Great  Britain  and 
her  colonies  was  rapidly  becoming  more  manifest,  and  but  little  effort 
was  made  on  the  part  of  England  to  conciliate  her  disaffected  provinces. 
When  informed  of  the  action  of  the  Savannah  meeting  the  king  was 
much  incensed.  Manifesting  his  disapprobation  of  the  combination  then 
formed,  he  was  pleased,  on  the  9th  of  December,  1769,  through  the  Eaj-1 
of  Hillsborough,  to  order  that  Mr.  Bryan  "should  be  immediately  sus- 
pended from  his  seat  at  the  Council  Board,  and  removed  from  any  office 
he  might  hold  in  Georgia:"  it  being  the  determination  of  his  majesty  to 
discountenance  "  every  measure  that  tended  to  violate  the  Constitution 
and  excite  opposition  to  the  laws."  1  Thus,  in  the  person  of  the  Hon- 
orable Jonathan  Bryan,  a  pure  patriot,  an  influential  citizen,  and  a  brave 
man,  do  we  record  the  first  instance  of  political  martyrdom  in  Georgia. 
His  deposition,^  so  far  from  intimidating  the  "  Liberty  Boys,"  caused 
their  numbers  to  multiply  and  their  hearts  to  grow  stronger. 

Constant  now  became  the  struggle,  and  frequent  were  the  disagree- 
ments between  the  Governor  and  Council  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
Commons  House  of  Assembly  on  the  other. 

Of  the  eight  thousand  slaves  at  this  time  owned  and  employed  in  the 
province  of  Georgia,  nine  hundred  and  fifty-four  were  the  property  of 
the  governor  and  council.     The  members  of  the  Common  Council  being 

'  See  Letter  of  the  Earl  of  Hillsborough  to  Governor  Wright,  dated  Whitehall, 
9th  December,  1769. 

'  His  removal  from  his  seat  at  the  Council  Board  was  reported  by  Governor  Wright 
in  a  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  dated  Savannah,  ist  March,  1770. 


Resolutions  Complimentary  to  Dr.  Jones.  193 

men  of  substance,  character,  and  influence,  holding  their  positions  by  di- 
rect appointment  from  the  Crown,  and  acting  as  the  special  advisers  of 
the  governor,  were,  as  might  reasonably  be  expected,  more  conservative 
in  their  views  and  more  frequently  in  sympathy  with  the  wishes  of  Par- 
liament than  the  members  of  the  Lower  House,  who,  drawn  from  and 
elected  by  the  people,  naturally  reflected  the  temper  and  sentiments  of 
their  constituents.  This  latter  body  was  always  aggressive  during  this 
period  of  political  unrest.  From  its  deliberations  and  declarations  of 
rights  sprang  the  main  opposition  to  the  acts  of  Parliament. 

Reflecting  the  revolutionary  sentiments  of  the  masses,  its  members 
were  tenacious  of  their  rights,  intolerant  of  executive  interference,  and 
aggressive  in  their  assertion  of  legislative  power  and  political  freedom. 
Although  ^time  and  again  dissolved  because,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
Crown  officers,  the  Lower  House  of  Assembly  was  arrogating  to  itself 
the  prerogatives  of  Parliament,  defying  the  laws  of  England,  and  exer- 
cising privileges  beyond  those  accorded  by  royal  instructions,  each  new 
House  of  Assembly  surpassed  its  predecessor  in  an  exhibition  of  inde- 
pendent thought  and  action,  and  manifested  signs  more  emphatic  of  a 
determination  to  control  the  political  fortunes  of  the  province. 

Upon  the  convocation  of  the  General  A.ssembly  of  1770,  Dr.  Noble  W. 
Jones, — the  son  of  Colonel  Noble  Jones  whose  name  and  services  had 
been  intimately  and  honorably  associated  with  the  Colony  of  Georgia 
since  its  inception  under  Oglethorpe, — was  elected  speaker  of  the  Lower 
House.  So  pronounced  and  influential  had  been  his  views  and  conduct 
in  opposition  to  some  of  the  objectionable  acts  of  Parliament  that  Gov- 
ernor Wright,  exercising  the  power  vested  in  him,  refused  to  sanction 
this  choice  and  ordered  the  House  to  elect  another  speaker. 

Incensed  at  the  affront  off'ered  to  him  who  has  been  aptly  styled 
"  one  of  the  morning  stars  of  Liberty  in  Georgia,"  and  resenting  what 
they  deemed  an  unwarrantable  interference  with  the  power  resting  solely 
with  them  to  nominate  their  own  presiding  officer,  the  members  of  the 
House  passed  resolutions  complimentary  to  Dr.  Jones,  and  declared 
"  that  the  sense  and  approbation  this  House  entertain  of  his  conduct  can 
never  be  lessened  by  any  slight  cast  upon  him  in  opposition  to  the  unan- 
imous voice  of  the  Commons  House  of  Assembly  in  particular  and  the 
Province  in  general."     Criticising   the  action  of  the  executive  they  re- 

25 


194  History  of  Savannah. 

solved  "  that  this  rejection  by  the  Governor  of  a  Speaker,  unanimously 
elected,  was  a  high  breach  of  the  privileges  of  the  House,  and  tended  to 
subvert  the  most  valuable  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people  and  their  rep- 
resentatives." This  bold  assertion  the  council  was  pleased  to  stigma- 
tize as  "a  most  indecent  and  insolent  denial  of  his  Majesty's  authority;" 
and  the  governor,  wielding  the  only  punitive  weapon  at  command,  dis- 
solved the  assembly  on  the  22d  of  February,  1 770.1 

Having  purchased  valuable  lands,  introduced  negro  slaves,  and  set- 
tled several  plantations  in  the  province,  anxious  to  devote  some  time  to 
the  advancement  of  his  private  affairs,  and  wishing  to  visit  England, 
Governor  Wright,  on  the  3d  of  July,  1769,  applied  for  a  leave  of  ab- 
sence for  a  year ;  that  leave  to  become  operative  not  sooner  than  the 
spring  of  1770.^  In  submitting  this  application  he  remarked  to  the  Earl 
of  Hillsborough  :  ''  Mr.  Habersham,  the  Secretary  of  the  Province,  who 
is  the  President,  or  eldest  Councillor,  is  a  gentleman  of  property,  no  Lib- 
erty Boy,  but  a  firm  friend  to  the  Government,  and  a  very  worthy,  hon- 
est man.  He  has  been  in  the  Provincefrom  nearly  its  first  settling,  and 
must  therefore  know  the  people,  and  I  think  him  of  sufficient  ability  to 
fill  up  a  short  vacancy,  especially  when  things  are  in  an  orderly  way." 

This  request  was  granted,  and  a  royal  license  issued  on  the  2d  of 
November,  1769.^  In  forwarding  it  to  Governor  Wright  the  Earl  of 
Hillsborough  said  :  "  I  hope  that  Mr.  Habersham's  conduct  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  Government  during  your  absence  will  justify  the  favor- 
able report  you  made  of  him,  and  that  it  will  not  be  found  necessary  to 
send  out  a  Lieutenant  Governor."  No  better  selection  could  have  been 
made  on  the  part  of  the  Crown. 

It  was  not  until  the  10th  of  July,  177 1,  that  Governor  Wright  availed 
himself  of  his  leave  of  absence."*  Three  days  afterwards  Mr.  Haber- 
sham took  the  usual  oaths  of  office  and  entered  upon  the  discharge  of 
the  gubernatorial  duties.       His  official   title  was  "  President   and   Com- 

'  See  Stevens's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  71.     Philadelphia.     1859. 

'  See  Letter  of  Governor  Wright  to  the  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  dated  Savannah, 
July  3,  1769. 

'Letter  of  the  Earl  of  Hillsborough  to  Governor  Wright,  dated  Whitehall,  2d 
November,  1769. 

*  See  Letter  of  James  Habersham  to  the  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  dated  Savannah 
in  Georgia,  3d  August,  1771. 


Governor  James  HabersHaM.  tgS 

mander-in- chief  of  his  Majesty's  Province  of  Georgia,  Chancellor,  Vice- 
Admiral,  and  Ordinary  of  the  same  for  the  time  being."  His  personal 
acquaintance  with  the  inhabitants,  his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  history, 
development,  and  wants  of  the  colony,  his  long  experience  in  the  con- 
duct of  its  public  affairs,  the  purity  of  his  character,  and  the  high  esteem 
in  which  he  was  held,  admirably  fitted  him  for  this  responsible  position. 
He  was  also  the  firm  friend  ot  law,  order,  and  of  the  British  Constitu- 
tion. Of  his  loyalty  to  the  king  there  could  be  no  doubt,  and  all  his 
avowed  affiliations  were,  at  the  time,  with  those  who  obeyed  the  acts  of 
Parliament  and  maintained  their  allegiance  to  the  throne  of  England. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Eighth  Provincial  Assembly  Dissolved  by  Governor  Habersham — Governor 
Wright  Complimented  with  a  Baronetcy — Convention  of  the  20th  of  October,  1773 — 
Effect  produced  in  Savannah  by  the  Passage  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill — Meeting  of  Lead- 
ing Citizens  at  Tondee's  Tavern  on  the  27th  of  July,  1774 — Governor  Wright  Alarmed 
at  the  Revolutionary  Movements — Admirable  Resolutions  of  the  loth  of  August,  1774 
— Division  of  Political  Sentiment  in  Georgia — The  Georgia  Gazette—  Protests  from  Sev- 
eral Parishes — Parish  of  St.  John — Meeting  of  the  8th  of  December,  1774 — Provincial 
Congress  of  January  i8th,  1775— Independent  Action  of  St.  John's  Parish — Dr.  .Lyman 
Hall — Embarrassing  Position  of  Governor  Wright. 

SAVANNAH  prospered.  Good  order  prevailed  throughout  the  prov- 
ince of  Georgia.  Person  and  property  were  secure.  An  occasional 
alarm  on  the  confines,  or  a  quarrel  now  and  then  in  the  Indian  territory 
between  some  avaricious  trader  and  the  natives,  was  all  that  disturbed  the 
apparent  calm.  And  yet  the  heart  of  town  and  province  was  deeply 
stirred.  Although  couched  in  terms  most  respectful,  the  protests  against 
the  encroachments  of  Parliament  were  earnest  and  emphatic.  There  still 
lingered,  especially  in  the  breasts  of  the  older  inhabitants,  a  love  for  the 
home  government,  an  affection  for  the  king,  and  a  strong  hope  that  the 
grievances  complained  of  would  be  speedily  and  effectually  redressed  by 
England.  Many  there  were  who  believed  that  the  ministry  did  not  ser- 
iously contemplate  the  distress  and  oppression  of  America.     Even  the 


196  History  of  Savannah. 

most  violent  in  their  strictures  and  resolves  did  not  yet  anticipate  an 
open  rupture,  or  prophesy  a  separation  from  the  mother  country.  Re- 
taliatory measures  were  at  first  devised  and  supported  not  so  much  with 
a  view  to  an  assertion  of  independence,  as  with  the  intention  of  forcing 
the  ministry  to  a  reconsideration  of  obnoxious  acts,  and  of  preserving, 
unimpaired,  rights  which  were  esteemed  inviolable.  The  idea  of  a  dis- 
tinct nationality,  however,  was  expanding.  The  spirit  of  freedom  from 
kingly  rule  was  abroad  in  the  land :  and  as  revolutions  never  turn  back- 
ward, agencies  and  sentiments  were  already  at  work  which  were  des- 
tined, at  no  distant  day,  to  rob  the  British  Crown  of  some  of  its  fairest 
jewels. 

Because  the  eighth  General  Asserpbly  of  the  Province,  convened  a* 
Savannah  in  April,  1772,  persisted,  in  the  face  of  gubernatorial  remon- 
strance, in  electing  Dr.  Noble  Wimberley  Jones  as  its  Speaker,  his  Ex- 
cellency, Governor  James  Habersham,  acting  in  obedience  to  royal  com- 
mand, peremptorily  dissolved  that  assembly.  Although  this  act  was  ap- 
proved by  the  king,  its  effect  upon  Georgia  was  perplexing  and  deleter- 
ious. The  treasury  was  empty  and  no  tax-bill  had  been  digested.  Im- 
portant statutes  were  expiring  by  their  own  limitations,  and  no  new  laws 
were  framed  for  the  orderly  conduct  of  the  province.  The  people  viewed 
the  dissolution  as  an  arbitrary  exercise  of  imperial  power,  as  a  violent 
suppression  of  the  general ,  preference,  as  an  unjustifiable  interference 
with  legislative  privilege.  From  across  the  sea  there  came  po  redress  of 
grievances.  At  home  the  shadows  multiplied,  and  the  waves  of  popu- 
lar unrest,  disquietude,  and  passion  chafed  more  sullenly  than  ever 
against  the  barriers  which  the  ministry  had  erected. 

The  servicesof  Governor  Wright  were  specially  recognized  by  the  king 
who,  on  the  8th  of  December,  1 772,  was  pleased  to  compliment  him  with  a 
baronetcy.  He  returned  to  Savannah  and  resumed  his  gubernatorial  office 
about  the  middle  of  February,  1773.  For  some  time  trouble  had  been 
brewing  with  the  Creeks,  and  acts  of  violence  had  been  perpetrated  at  sev- 
eral points.  It  became  necessary  to  convene  a  congress  of  the  Upper  and 
Lower  Creeks.  Thirteen  head-men  of  the  former,  and  seven  kings  and 
head- warriors  of  the  latter,  met  Governor  Wright  and  his  members  of 
Council  in  Savannah  on  the  20th  of  October,  1774.  The  Honorable 
John  Stuart, — superintendent  of  Indian  affairs  in  the  Southern  District, — 


Meeting  at  Tondee's  Tavern.  197 

was  also  present.      After   some   discussion  and  mutual  explanations  a 
treaty  of  amity  was  happily  concluded. 

Georgia  now  claimed  a  population  of  rather  more  than  eighteen 
thousand  whites  and  about  fifteen  thousand  negro  slaves.  Her  imports 
and  exports  were  annually  increasing,  and  the  indications  of  prosper- 
ity,— commercial,  agricultural,  and  industrial, — were  multiplying  on 
every  hand. 

The  passage  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill  was  the  first  step  in  a  series  of 
coercive  measures  which  the  British  ministry  had  now  determined  to 
pursue  with  regard  to  the  American  colonies.  It  was  quickly  followed 
by  other  acts  which  were  regarded  in  America  as  forming  a  complete 
system  of  tyranny.  A  knowledge  of  this  legislation  and  an  appreciation 
of  its  pernicious  influence  inflamed  the  minds  of  the  patriots  in  Savan- 
nah and  elsewhere. 

On  the  20th  of  July,  1774,  the  following  invitation,  signed  by  Noble 
W.  Jones,  Archibald  Bulloch,  John  Houstoun,  and  John  Walton,  ap- 
peared in  the  Georgia  Gazette. 

"  The  critical  situation  to  which  the  British  Colonies  in  America  are 
likely  to  be  reduced  from  the  arbitrary  and  alarming  imposition  of  the 
late  acts  of  the  British  Parliament  respecting  the  town  of  Boston,  as  well 
as  the  acts  that  at  present  exist  tending  to  the  raising  of  a  perpetual 
revenue  without  the  consent  of  the  people  or  their  representatives,  is 
considered  an  object  extremely  important  at  this  juncture,  and  particu- 
larly calculated  to  deprive  the  American  subjects  of  their  constitutional 
rights  and  liberties  as  a  part  of  the  English  Empire.  It  is  therefore  re- 
quested that  all  persons  within  the  limits  of  this  Province  do  attend  ait 
the  Liberty  Pole,  at  Tondee's  tavern  in  Savannah,  on  Wednesday,  the 
27th  instant,  in  order  that  the  said  matters  may  be  taken  under  consid- 
eration and  such  other  constitutional  measures  pursued  as  may  then 
appear  to  be  most  eligible." 

Responding  to  this  call,  a  respectable  number  of  the  freeholders  and 
inhabitants  of  the  province  assembled  at  the  Watch  House  in  Savannah 
on  the  day  appointed.  The  meeting  was  organized  by  the  selection  of 
John  Glen  as  chairman.  Sundry  communications  and  resolutions  from 
committees  of  correspondence  at  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Annapolis,  Will- 
iamsburg, Charlestown,  and  elsewhere,  were  read  and  considered.       It 


198  History  of  Savannah. 

was  moved  and  carried  that  a  committee  should  be  raised  to  prepare 
resolutions,  similar  to  those  adopted  by  the  northern  colonies,  expressive 
of  the  sentiments  and  determination  of  this  province.  The  following 
gentlemen  were  constituted  members  of  that  committee  :  John  Glen, 
John  Smith,  Joseph.  Clay,  John  Houstoun,  Noble  Wimberley  Jones, 
Lyman  Hall,  William  Young,  Edward  Telfair,  Samuel  Farley,  George 
Walton,  Joseph  Habersham,  Jonathan  Bryan,  Jonathan  Cochran,  George 
Mcintosh,  Sutton  Bankes,  Willam  Gibbons,  Benjamin  Andrew,  John 
Winn,  John  Stirk,  Archibald  Bulloch,  James  Screven,  David  Zubly, 
Henry  Davis  Bourquin,  Elisha  Butler,  William  Baker,  Parmenus  Way, 
John  Baker,  John  Mann,  John  Benefield,  John  Stacy  and  John  Morel. 
A  more  intelligent,  responsible,  and  manly  committee  could  not  have 
been  nominated  from  out  the  entire  circuit  of  the  colonial  population. 
While  the  resolutions  were  under  consideration,  it  was  wisely  suggested 
that  inasmuch  as  the  inhabitants  of  some  of  the  more  distant  parishes 
had  not  been  advised  of  the  present  meeting  in  time  sufficient  to  allow 
them  to  attend,  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions  should  be  postponed  to 
a  future  occasion.  It  was  therefore  determined  that  the  meeting  "  stand 
adjourned"  until  the  loth  of  August.  The  chairman  was  requested  to 
communicate  with  the  different  parishes  and  districts,  and  to  request  that 
delegates  be  sent  to  unite  with  the  committee  in  framing  the  contem- 
plated resolutions.  It  was  the  sense  of  the  meeting  that  those  delegates 
should  be  equal  in  number  to  the  representatives  usually  elected  to  the 
General  Assembly,  and  that  the  resolutions,  as  sanctioned  by  the  meet- 
ing in  August,  should  be  regarded  as  expressing  the  sentiments  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  province. 

In  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  meeting,  Mr.  Glen,  the  chairman, 
caused  notice  to  be  published  and  widely  distributed  reqesting  the  re- 
spective parishes  to  elect  delegates  to  attend  on  the  committee  at  Savan- 
nah at  the  time  agreed  upon. 

Alarmed  at  the  proceeding.  Governor  Wright  convened  his  council 
and  consulted  with  the  members  in  regard  to  the  best  method  of  placing 
a  check  upon  proceedings  which  he  deemed  unconstitutional  and  revolu- 
tionary. A  motion  was  made  to  expel  Mr.  Bryan  from  council  because 
his  name  appeared  among  the  committee  men.  That  gentleman,  says 
Captain   McCall.i  "  with  patriotic  indignation,  informed  them  in  a  style 

^  History  of  Georgia,  yo\.  \\.,  ^.  20.     Savannah.     1816. 


Admirable  Resolutions.  199 

peculiar  to  himself  for  its  candour  and  energy,  that  he  would  '  save  them 
the  trouble,'  and  handed  his  resignation  to  the  governor." 

In  direct  opposition  to  the  will  of  his  Excellency,  Sir  James  Wright, 
and  in  utter  disregard  of  his  proclamation,  a  general  meeting  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  province  was  held  at  Tondee's  tavern  in  Savannah  on 
the  loth  of  August,  1774. 

The  following  resolutions,  reported  by  the  committee  raised  for  the 
purpose  at  the  former  covocation,  were  adopted  and  given  to  the  public 
as  an  expression  of  the  sentiments  of  Georgia  with  respect  to  the  im- 
portant questions  which  were  then  agitating  the  minds  of  the  American 
colonists : 

"  Resolved,  nemine  contradicente.  That  his  Majesty's  subjects  in  Amer- 
ica owe  the  same  allegiance  and  are  entitled  to  the  same  rights,  privileges, 
and  immunities  with  their  fellow  subjects  in  Great  Britain. 

"  Resolved,  nemine  contradicente.  That  as  protection  and  allegiance  are 
reciprocal,  and  under  the  British  Constitution  correlative  terms,  his  Maj- 
esty's subjects  in  America  have  a  clear  and  indisputable  right,  as  well 
from  the  general  laws  of  mankind,  as  from  the  ancient  and  established 
customs  of  the  land,  so  often  recognized,  to  petition  the  Throne  upon 
every  emergency. 

"  Resolved,  netnine  contradicente.  That  an  Act  of  Parliament,  lately 
passed  for  blockading  the  port  and  harbour  of  Boston,  is  contrary  to  our 
idea  of  the  British  Constitution  :  First,  for  that  it  in  effect  deprives  good 
and  lawful  men  of  the  use  of  their  property  without  judgment  of  their 
peers  :  and  Secondly  for  that  it  is  in  the  nature  of  an  ex  post  facto  law, 
and  indiscriminately  blends  as  objects  of  punishment  the  innocent  with 
the  guilty;  Neither  do  we  conceive  the  same  justified  upon  a  principle 
of  necessity,  for  that  numerous  instances  evince  that  the  laws  and  exec- 
utive power  of  Boston  have  made  sufficient  provision  for  the  punishment 
of  all  offenders,  against  person  and  property. 

"Resolved,  nemine  contradicente.  That  the  Act  for  abolishing  the  Char- 
ter of  Massachusetts  Bay  tends  to  the  subversion  of  American  rights ; 
for,  besides  those  general  liberties,  the  original  settlers  brought  over  with 
them  as  their  birthright  particular  immunities,  granted  by  such  Charter, 
as  an  inducement  and  means  of  settling  the  Province  :  and  we  appre- 
hend the  said  Charter  cannot  be  dissolved  but  by  a  voluntary  surrender 
of  the  people  representatively  declared. 


200  History  of  Savannah. 

"  Resolved,  nemine  contradicente.  That  we  apprehend  the  Parliament  of 
Great  Britain  hath  not,  nor  ever  had  any  right  to  tax  his  Majesty's 
American  subjects :  for  it  is  evident,  beyond  contradiction,  the  Constitu- 
tion admits  of  no  taxation  without  representation :  that  they  are  coeval 
and  inseparable :  and  every  demand  for  the  support  of  government 
should  be  by  requisition  made  to  the  several  houses  of  representatives. 

''Resolved,  nemine  cotitradicente.  That  it  is  contrary  to  natural  justice 
and  the  established  law  of  the  land,  to  transport  any  person  to  Great 
Britain  or  elsewhere  to  be  tried  under  indictment  for  a  crime  committed 
in  any  of  the  Colonies,  as  the  party  prosecuted  would  thereby  be  de- 
prived of  the  privilege  of  trial  by  his  peers  from  the  vicinage,  the  injured 
perhaps  prevented  from  legal  reparation,  and  both  lose  the  full  benefit 
of  their  witnesses. 

"  Resolved,  nemine  contradicente.  That  we  concur  with  our  Sister  Colo- 
nies in  every  constitutional  measui'e  to  obtain  redress  of  American  griev- 
ances, and  will,  by  every  lawful  means  in  our  power,  maintain  these  in- 
estimable blessings  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  God  and  the  Constitu- 
tion of  our  Country — a  Constitution  founded  upon  reason  and  justice 
and  the  indelible  rights  of  mankind. 

"  Resolved,  nemine  contradicente.  That  the  committee  appointed  by  the 
meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  Province  on  Wednesday,  the  27th  of 
July  last,  together  with  the  deputies  who  have  appeared  here  on  this  day 
from  the  different  parishes,  be  a  general  Committee  to  act,  and  that  any 
eleven  or  more  of  them  shall  have  full  power  to  correspond  with  the 
committees  of  the  several  Provinces  upon  the  Continent :  and  that  copies 
of  these  Resolutions,  as  well  as  of  all  other  proceedings,  be  transmitted 
without  delay  to  the  Committees  of  Correspondence  in  the  respective 
Provinces." 

A  committee  consisting  of  William  Ewen,  William  Young,  Joseph 
Clay,  John  Houstoun,  Noble  Wimberley  Jones,  Edward  Telfair,  John 
Smith,  Samuel  Farley,  and  Andrew  Elton  Wells  was  appointed  to  solicit, 
receive,  and  forward  subscriptions  and  supplies  for  the  suffering  poor  in 
Boston.  Within  a  short  time  five  hundred  and  seventy-nine  barrels  of 
rice  were  contributed  and  shipped  to  that  town.  This  donation  came 
principally  from  Savannah  and  the  Parish  of  St.  John. 

While  this  meeting  was  most  respectably  constituted,  while  its  delib- 


Division  of  Political  Sentiment.  201 

erations  were  harmonious  and  its  conclusions  perhaps  unanswerable,  it 
must  not  be  supposed  that  there  was  no  division  of  sentiment  in  Georgia 
upon  the  political  questions  of  the  day.  On  the  contrary,  the  royalist 
party  was  rich,  influential,  strong,  and  active,  and  it  required  no  little  ef- 
fort on  the  part  of  the  "  Liberty  Boys  "  to  acquire  the  mastery  and,  in 
the  end,  to  place  the  province  fairly  within  the  lists  of  the  Revolutionists. 
The  line  of  demarkation  was  sometimes  so  sharply  drawn  that  father  was 
arrayed  against  son,  and  brother  against  brother.  Thus,  not  to  multiply 
instances,  the  Honorable  James  Habersham  and  Colonel  Noble  Jones 
maintained  their  allegiance  to  the  Crown,  while  their  sons  were  among 
the  earliest  and  foremost  champions  of  the  rights  of  the  Colony.  The 
brothers  Telfair  were  divided  in  sentiment  upon  the  momentous  issues 
then  involved.  The  cruel  effects  of  such  disagreements,  experienced 
during  the  progress  of  the  Revolution  were,  not  infrequently,  projected 
even  beyond  the  establishment  of  the  Republic.  No  calamities  are  so 
appalling  as  those  engendered  in  a  strife  between  peoples  of  the  same 
race  and  claiming  privileges  emanating  from  the  same  fountain  head. 
Polybius  was  right  when  he  said  that  such  dissensions  were  to  be 
dreaded  much  more  than  wars  waged  in  a  foreign  country  or  against  a 
common  enemy. 

The  only  paper  published  at  this  time  in  the  Province  was  the 
Georgia  Gazette.  It  was  printe'd  in  Savannah,  was  largely  under  the 
control  of  Governor  Wright,  and  its  official  utterances  were  in  support  of 
the  royal  cause.  In  its  issue  of  Wednesday,  September  7,  1774, 1  ap- 
peared a  card  signed  by  James  Habersham,  Lachlan  McGillivray,  Josiah 
Tattnall,  James  Hume,  Anthony  Stokes,  Edward  Langworthy,  Henry 
Yonge,  Robert  Botton,  Noble  Jones,  David  Montaigut  and  some  ninety- 
three  others, — inhabitants  and  freeholders  chiefly  of  the  town  and  dis- 
trict of  Savannah, — criticising  the  meeting  of  the  loth  of  August,  and 
protesting  that  the  resolutions  then  adopted  should  not  be  accepted  as 
reflecting  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of-  Georgia.  "  The  important 
meeting  of  the  lOth  of  August  in  defence  of  the  constitutional  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  American  Subjects,"  these  gentlemen  affirmed,  "was  held 
at  a  tavern,  with  the  doors  shut  for  a  considerable  time  :  and  it  is  said 
26  persons  answered  for  the  whole  Province,  and  undertook  to  bind  them 

'  No  570. 

26 


202  History  of  Savannah. 

by  resolutions  :  and  when  several  Gentlemen  attempted  to  go  in,  the 
Tavern  Keeper,  who  stood  at  the  door  with  a  list  in  his  hand,  refused 
them  admittance  because  their  names  were  not  mentioned  in  that  list. 
Such  was  the  conduct  of  these  pretended  advocates  for  the  Liberties  of 
America.  Several  of  the  inhabitants  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  George — two 
of  the  most  populous  Parishes  of  the  Province — had  transmitted  their 
written  dissents  to  any  Resolutions,  and  there  were  Gentlemen  ready  to 
present  these  dissents,  had  not  the  door  been  shut  for  a  considerable  time 
and  admittance  refused.  And  it  is  conceived  the  shutting  of  the  door 
and  refusing  admittance  to  any  but  resolutioners  was  calculated  to  pre- 
vent the  rest  of  the  Inhabitants  from  giving  their  dissent  to  measures 
that  were  intended  to  operate  as  the  unanimous  sense  of  the  Province. 
Upon  the  whole  the  world  will  judge  whether  the  meeting  of  the  loth 
of  August,  held  by  a  few  persons  in  a  tavern,  with  doors  shut,  can,  with 
any  appearance  of  truth,  or  decency,  be  called  a  General  Meeting  of  the 
Inhabitants  of  Georgia." 

Such  is  one  side  of  the  story  as  told  by  a  pen  dipped  in  the  king's  ink. 

Captain  McCall,i  who  was  himself  an  eye-witness  of  the  occurrences, 
and  who  wrote  while  many  of  the  actors  were  still  in  life,  asserts  that  a 
few  days  after  the  meeting  of  the  lOth  of  August  Governor  Wright 
called  a  convention  to  test  the  strength  of  his  party.  About  a  third  of 
the  inhabitants  in  and  near  Savannah,  including  his  council  and  other 
civil  and  military  officers,  met  at  the  court-house,  signed  a  dissent  from 
the  republican  proceedings,  and  entered  a  protest  against  the  late  assem- 
blage as  being  unconstitutional.  Documents  of  similar  import  were  pre- 
pared and  placed  in  the  hands  of  influential  friends  of  the  governor  with 
instructions  vo  procure  signatures  to  them  from  various  parishes  in  the 
province.  To  the  parties  having  charge  of  these  papers  moneys  were 
allowed,  "  proportioned  to  the  number  of  subscribers  they  obtained,"  as 
compensation  for  their  services.  Under  such  advantageous  circum- 
stances these  royal  agents  were  successful  in  procuring  signatures  from 
many  timid  men  who  sympatiiized  with  the  American  cause.  P'raud  too 
was  practiced.  In  some  instances  the  number  of  subscribers  exceeded 
the  population  of  the  parish  from  which  the  protest  purported  to  come. 
Signatures  of  dead  men  were  forged.     Thus  was  earnest  effort  made  to 

"^  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  24.     Savannah,  1816. 


The  Georgia  Gazette.  203 

overestimate  the  strength  of  the  king's  party  in  Georgia  and  to  belittle 
the  power  of  such  as  were  resolved  to  resist  an  enforcement  of  the  recent 
tyrannical  Paliamentary  enactments.  Several  protests,  obtained  in  this 
manner  and  intended  not  only  to  influence  public  sentiment  in  Georgia 
but  also  to  reach  the  ear  and  confirm  the  purposes  of  the  home  author- 
ities, were  published  in  the  Georgia  Gazette.  We  instance  one  from  the 
inhabitants  of  the  parish  of  St.  Matthew  and  town  of  Ebenezer,  which 
appeared  on  the  21st  of  September; '  another  on  the  28th  of  the  month,^ 
signed  by  sundry  parties  in  the  parish  of  St.  George,  and  from  the  town 
of  Queensborough  ;  and  a  third  on  the  12th  of  October,^  subscribed  by 
a  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish  of  St.  Paul  and  town  of  Au- 
gusta, and  also  by  citizens  of  Wrightsboro,  Kyoka,  and  the  Broad  River 
settlements.  In  his  communication  ''  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  Gover- 
nor Wright  alludes  to  the  preparation  of  these  protests,  and  ventures  the 
opinion  that  when  they  are  all  received  it  will  be  apparent  that  the  res- 
olutions of  the  loth  of  August  "  were  not  the  voice  of  the  People,  but 
unfairly  and  insolently  made  by  a  Junto  of  a  very  few  only." 

The  two  parties  in  the  province  were  already  counting  noses,  and 
marshaling  their  forces  for  the  coming  contest.  His  excellency,  with 
that  political  sagacity  which  distinguished  him  in  a  remarkable  degree, 
foresaw  the  danger  and  confessed  the  inability  of  the  colonial  govern- 
ment to  sustain  itself  in  the  face  of  the  gathering  storm. ^  He  frankly 
admitted  that  it  required  the  interposition  of  a  power  greater  than  that 
possessed  by  the  executive  to  rectify  abuses,  remedy  existing  evils,  and 
subdue  the  flame  of  independence  which  was  each  year  burning  more 
fiercely  in  the  province. 

In  the  meeting  of  the  loth  of  August  the  expediency  of  sending  six 
deputies  to  the  proposed  general  congress  of  the  American  colonies  was 
discussed.  The  proposition  did  not,  however,  receive  the  sanction  of  the 
assemblage. 

Of  all  the  parishes  composing  the  province  none  was  more  patriotic  or 
resolute,  none  more  public- spirited  or  anxious  to   form  a  league  against 

'  Georgia  Gazette^  No.  572. 

'  Georgia  Gazette,  No.  573. 

'  Georgia  Gazette,  No.  575. 

■"  Dated  Savannah,  24th  of  August,  1774. 

°  See  his  Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  dated  Savannah,  the  24th  of  August,  1774. 


204  History  of  Savannah. 

British  oppression,,  than  the  parish  of  St.  John.  Of  the  five  hundred 
and  seventy-nine  barrels  of  rice  contributed  by  Georgia  for  the  relief  of 
the  suffering  poor  of  Boston  two  hundred  were  given  by  the  inhabitants 
of  this  parish.  Brave,  inteUigent,  generous,  and  most  intolerant  of  the 
semblance  of  oppression,  they  were  prepared  "  to  exert  themselves  to 
the  utmost,  and  to  make  every  sacrifice  that  men  impressed  with  the 
strongest  sense  of  their  rights  and  liberties,  and  warm  with  the  most  be- 
nevolent feelings  for  their  oppressed  brethren,  can  make  to  stand  firmly 
or  fall  gloriously  in  the  common  cause."  Dissatisfied  with  the  ac- 
tion of  the  meeting  in  Savannah,  which  declined  to  commission  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Congress,  they  called  a  convention  of  their  own  on 
the  30th  of  August,  1774.  By  invitation,  deputies  from  St.  George  and 
St.  David  were  also  present.  It  was  then  resolved  "  that  if  a  majority 
of  the  Parishes  would  unite  with  them,  they  would  send  deputies  to  join 
the  General  Congress  and  faithfully  and  religiously  abide  by  and  con- 
form to  such  determination  as  should  be  there  entered  into,  and  come 
from  thence  recommended." 

Georgia,  however,  was  not  represented  in  the  first  general  congress 
of  the  colonies. 

To  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty  "  the  position  now  occupied  by  Georgia 
was  distressful  and  mortifying.  From  her  isolated  situation,  from  her 
apparent  indifference  to  the  compact  into  which  the  other  American  col- 
onies had  entered,  and  from  the  ban  under  which  she  was  placed  by  her 
failure  to  participate  in  the  deliberations  of  and  to  be  bound  by  the  con- 
clusions reached  by  the  Continental  Congress,  they  determined  to  liberate 
her  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment. 

A  Provincial  Congress  was  determined  upon  as  the  surest  and  best 
method  of  accomplishing  this  desirable  result,  and  the  1 8th  of  January, 
177s,  was  suggested  for  the  convocation.  Savannah  was  named  as  the 
most  suitable  place  for  the  session.  On  the  8th  of  December,  1774, 
many  of  the  leading  citizens  of  that  town  and  of  Christ  Church  parish 
convened  at  the  market-place,'  and,  having  summoned  John  Glen,  esq., 
to  the  chair,  proceeded  to  an  election  of  delegates  to  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress. Upon  closing  the  polls  at  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  "  the  lol- 
lowing  gentlemen  were  declared  duly  elected,  viz.  :  Joseph  Clay,  George 
Houston,  Ambrose  Wright,  Thomas  Lee,  Joseph   Habersham,  Edward 


Provincial  Congress.  205 

Telfair,  John  Houstoun,  Peter  Tondee,  Samuel  Farley,  William  Young, 
John  Smith,  Archibald  Bulloch,  John  McCluer,  Noble  Wimberley  Jones, 
and  John  Morel." 

In  commenting  upon  this  action  of  Christ  Church  parish  a  writer  in 
the  Georgia  Gazette '  says :  "  It  cannot  surely  at  this  time  admit  of  a 
doubt  but  every  Parish  and  District  throughout  the  Province  will,  as 
soon  as  possible,  follow  so  laudable  an  example. 

"  Every  thinking  man  must  be  convinced  how  much  the  honour, 
welfare,  and  happiness  of  us  and  our  posterity  depend  upon  a  vigorous 
assertion  and  claim  of  our  just  and  natural  rights  which  the  arbitrary 
system  of  politicks  adopted  by  the  Administration  is  undeniably  calcu- 
lated to  deprive  us  of" 

This  anticipation  was  not  realized  :  for,  as  we  shall  see,  upon  the  as- 
sembling of  the  Provincial  Congress  it  was  found  that  only  five  of  the 
twelve  parishes  composing  the  province  sent  delegates.  Governor 
Wright  and  the  supporters  of  the  Crown  were  most  earnest  in  discoun- 
tenancing all  these  preliminary  meetings,  and  the  home  authorities  as- 
sured him  that  in  his  efforts  to  "  suppress  such  unwarrantable  proceed- 
ings "  he  should  have  every  support.  The  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  were 
instructed  to  direct  Admiral  Graves  to  station  one  of  his  small  cruisers 
in  Savannah  River,  and  General  Gage  was  ordered  to  send  to  Governor 
Wright  a  detachment  of  one  hundred  men  from  the  garrison  at  St.  Au- 
gustine.2 

Although  not  yet  thoroughly  republican,  Georgia  was  rapidly  becom- 
ing so,  and  neither  the  persuasions  of  the  king's  officers  nor  the  threats 
of  a  resort  to  military  force  to  compel  submission  to  the  will  of  Parlia- 
ment were  sufficiently  potent  to  silence  the  voice  of  the  protestants  or  to 
prohibit  public  demonstrations  in  favor  of  Colonial  rights. 

Christ  Church,  St.  John,  and  St.  Andrew  were  the  strongest  and 
most  intelligent  parishes  within  the  limits  of  the  province,  and  in  their  pri- 
mary meetings  they  all  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  the  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  Continental  Congress,  and  appointed  delegates  to  the 
contemplated  Provincial  Congress. 

It  was  the  expectation  of  Governor  Wright,  by  convening  the  Gen- 

1  No.  584,  Wednesday,  December  14,  1774. 

'  See  Letter  from  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  to  Governor   Wright,  dated  Whitehall, 
1st  February,  1775. 


2o6  History  of  Savannah. 

eral  Assembly  of  the  province  on  the  same  day  which  was  named  for  the 
meeting  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  either  to  prevent  a  session  of  the 
latter  body  or  to  neutralize  the  effect  of  its  deliberations.  In  this  antici- 
pation he  was  doomed  to  disappointment.  The  Provincial  Congress  as- 
sembled in  Savannah  simultaneously  with  the  Legislature  and  perfected 
its  organization  by  calling  John  Glen  to  the  chair.  Of  the  twelve  par- 
ishes composing  the  Colony  only  five  were  represented  by  delegates,  and 
some  of  them  were  hampered  by  restrictions  which  materially  interfered 
with  their  freedom  of  expression  and  action. 

Chagrined  at  the  inaction  of  a  majority  of  the  parishes,  the  delegates 
to  this  congress  essayed  to  accomplish  through  the  Commons  House  of 
Assembly  that  which  of  themselves  they  were  not  strong  enough  to  per- 
form. Laying  before  that  body  the  papers  and  resolutions  which  were 
then  engaging  their  attention,  they  hoped  by  securing  the  sanction  of  the 
representatives  to  announce  those  resolutions,  which  were  akin  to  such 
as  had  been  adopted  by  the  Continental  Congress,  as  embodying  the 
general  sentiments  of  the  province.  After  a  conference  with  the  Upper 
House,  finding  it  impossible  to  bring  about  unity  of  thought  and  action, 
the  members  of  the  Lower  House  proceeded  to  a  consideration  of  var- 
ious communications  received  from  other  provinces  on  the  subject  of 
American  grievances,  and  entered  upon  a  discussion  of  the  resolutions 
of  the  Provincial  Congress  which  were  submitted  for  their  approval. 
These  resolutions  were  substantially  the  same  as  those  which  had  been 
adopted  on  the  14th  of  October,  with  the  addition  of  three  other  ones: 
rendering  grateful  acknowledgment  to  the  noble,  honorable,  and  patriotic 
advocates  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  who  had  so  generously  and  pow- 
erfully espoused  and  defended  the  cause  of  America  both  in  and  out  of 
Parliament ;  another  giving  thanks  to  the  members  of  the  late  American 
congress  for  their  wise  and  able  exertions  in  behalf  of  American  liberty  ; 
and  a  third  urging  that  deputies  should  be  sent  from  Georgia  to  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  which  was  to  convene  on  the  loth  of  May  next  irt  the 
city  of  Philadelphia. 

Pending  the  deliberations  upon  these  important  matters,  and  in  order 
to  prevent  any  authoritative  and  final  action  in  the  premises,  the  gover- 
nor, on  the  loth  of  February,  adjourned  the  General  Assembly  until  the 
9th  of  the  following  May.     This  action  completely  thwarted  the  designs 


Independent  Action  of  St.  John's  Parish.  207 

of  the  liberty  party  and  utterly  prevented  the  nomination,  by  the  repre- 
sentatives, of  delegates  to  the  Philadelphia  congress. 

Embarassed  by  this  unexpected  event ;  perplexed  by  the  paucity  of 
the  representation  present,  which,  in  all  honesty,  forbade  that  the  conclu- 
sions and  recommendations  of  the  Provisional  Congress  should  be  pro- 
mulgated as  expressive  of  the  will  of  even  a  majority  of  the  parishes  of 
Georgia ;  hampered  by  the  restrictions  under  which  some  of  the  dele- 
gates labored,  and  weakened  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  deputies  from  St. 
John's  Parish  who  would  listen  to  nothing  short  of  an  emphatic  indorse- 
ment of  all  the  measures  and  resolutions  suggested  by  the  Continental 
Congress,  the  Provisional  Congress  adjourned  on  the  25th  of  January. 
Before  doing  so,  however,  it  elected  Noble  W.  Jones,  Archibald  Bulloch, 
and  John  Houston  to  represent  the  province  in  the  Philadelphia  congress. 
Having  failed  to  indorse  all  the  resolutions  entered  into  by  her  sister  col- 
onies, Georgia,  to  the  delight  of  the  governor  and  council  and  the  sin- 
cere mortification  of  the  lovers  of  American  liberty,  still  remained  out- 
side of  the  Continental  association. 

Disappointed,  and  yet  not  despondent,  the  inhabitants  of  St.  John's 
Parish,  with  surprising  unanimity,  "  resolved  to  prosecute  their  claims  to 
an  equality  with  the  Confederated  Colonies."  This  parish  then  possessed 
nearly  one-third  of  the  aggregate  wealth  of  Georgia,  and  its  citizens 
were  remarkable  for  their  thrift,  courage,  honesty,  intelHgence  and  deter- 
mination. Having  adopted  certain  resolutions  by  which  they  obligated 
themselves  to  hold  no  commerce  with  Savannah  or  other  places  except 
under  the  supervision  of  a  Committee,  and  even  then  only  with  a  view 
to  procuring  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  having  avowed  their  entire  sym- 
pathy with  all  the  articles  and  declarations  promulgated  by  the  General 
Congress,  the  inhabitants  of  St.  John's  Parish  elected  Dr.  Lyman  Hall  to 
repre.sent  them  in  the  Continental  Congress.  This  appointment  was 
made  on  the  2ist  of  March,  and  no  more  suitable  selection  could  have 
been  suggested.  Among  the  prominent  citizens  of  this  parish  none  oc- 
cupied a  position  superior  to  that  accorded  to  Dr.  Hall.  A  native  of 
Connecticut,  a  gentleman  of  education  and  refinement,  he  had  long  been 
identified  with  the  region,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Midway  Congrega- 
tion. Owning  and  cultivating  a  rice- plantation  on  the  Savannah  and 
Darien  road  only  a  few  miles  from  Midway  meeting-house,  he  resided 


2o8  History  of  Savannah. 

in  Sunbury  and  was  the  leading  physician  in  that  community.  When 
departing  for  the  Continental  Congress  he  carried  with  him,  as  a  present 
from  his  constituents  to  the  suffering  republicans  in  Massachusetts,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  barrels  of  rice  and  fifty  pounds  sterling.  Upon  pre- 
senting his  credentials  Dr.  Hall  was  unanimously  admitted  to  a  seat  in 
Congress  "  as  a  delegate  from  the  Parish  of  St.  John  in  the  Colony  of 
Geors'ia,  subject  to  such  regulations  as  the  Congress  should  determine 
relative  to  his  voting." 

Rightly  judging  that  they  could  not  properly  be  regarded  as  repre- 
senting the  entire  province,  Messrs.  Jones,  Bulloch,  and  Houstoun  did  not 
take  their  seats  in  the  Continental  Congress  to  which  they  had  been  ac- 
credited by  the  Provincial  Congress  of  the  i8th  of  January,  1775. 

The  patriotic  spirit  of  its  inhabitants,  and  this  independent  action  of 
St.  John's  Parish  in  advance  of  the  other  Georgia  parishes,  were  subse- 
quently acknowledged  when  all  the  parishes  were  in  accord  in  the  Rev- 
olutionary movement.  As  a  tribute  of  praise,  and  in  token  of  general 
admiration,  by  special  act  of  the  Legislature  the  name  of  LIBERTY 
County  was  conferred  upon  the  consolidated  parishes  of  St.  John,  St. 
Andrew,  and  St.  James. 

Sir  James  Wright  was  not  far  from  the  mark  when  he  located  the 
head  of  the  rebellion  in  the  parish  of  St.  John,  and  advised  the  Earl  of 
Dartmouth  that  the  rebel  measures  there  inaugurated  were  to  be  referred 
mainly  to  the  influence  of  the  "  descendants  of  New  England  people  of 
the  Puritan  Independent  sect  who,  retaining  "  a  strong  tincture  of  Re- 
publican or  Oliverian  principles,  have  entered  into  an  agreement  amongst 
themselves  to  adopt  both  the  resolutions  and  association  of  the  Continen- 
tal Congress."  On  the  altars  erected  within  the  Midway  District  were 
the  fires  of  resistance  to  the  dominion  of  England  kindled  at  an  early  pe- 
riod of  the  struggle,  and  of  all  the  dwellers  there  Dr.  Lyman  Hall,  by 
his  counsel,  exhortations,  and  determined  spirit,  added  stoutest  fuel  to  the 
flames.  Between  the  immigrants  from  Dorchester  and  the  distressed  Bos- 
tonians  existed  not  only  the  ties  of  a  common  Hneage,  but  also  sympa- 
thies begotten  of  the  same  religious,  moral,  social,  and  poHtical  educa- 
tion. This  Puritan  element — cherishing  and  proclaiming  intolerance  of 
Established  Church  and  of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  impatient  of  re- 
straint, accustomed  to  independent  thought  and  action,  and  without  as- 


Embarrassing  Position  of  Governor  Wfight.         209 


sociations  which  encouraged  tender  memories  of  and  love  for  the  mother 
country^-asserted  its  hatreds,  its  affiliations,  and  its  hopes,  with  no  un- 
certain utterance,  and  appears  to  have  controlled  the  action  of  the  entire 
parish. 

Since  its  settlement  Georgia  had  received  from  the  royal  treasury 
nearly  ;^200,000.  In  addition,  generous  bounties  had  been  expended  in 
aid  of  special  industries.  Governor  Wright, — mindful  of  this  benefac- 
tion,— in  the  present  disturbed  condition  of  the  province  sought  every 
opportunity  to  inculcate  gratitude  towards  a  government  the  parental 
care  of  which  had  been  so  kindly  manifested. 

Other  colonies  possessed  charters  upon  which  to  base  claims  for  re- 
dress. Georgia  had  none.  Upon  the  surrender  by  the  Trustees  of  the 
charter  granted  to  them  by  King  George  II.  all  chartered  rights  became 
extinct.  After  its  erection  into  a  royal  province,  the  commission  of  the 
governor  and  the  instructions  of  his  majesty — communicated  through 
the  Lord  Commissioners  of  Trade  and  Plantations  and  the  Privy  Council 
— constituted  the  supreme  measure  of  privilege,  and  the  rules  of  gov- 
ernment. 

For  fourteen  years  Sir  James  Wright  had  presided  over  the  colony 
with  wisdom,  firmness,  and  impartiality.  Through  his  zeal  and  watch- 
fulness the  province  had. been  delivered  from  the  horrors  of  Indian  war- 
fare, and  guided  into  the  paths  of  peace  and  plenty.  By  his  negotiations 
the  Indian  title  to  millions  of  acres  of  the  ceded  domains  had  been  am- 
icablj'  extinguished.  Diligent  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties,  firm 
in  his  resolves,  just  in  the  exercise  of  his  powers,  loyal  in  his  opinions 
and  acts,  courteous  in  his  intercourse,  thrifty  in  the  conduct  of  his  pri- 
vate affairs,  and  exhibiting  the  operations  of  a  vigorous  and  well-balanced 
judgment,  he  proved  himself  a  model  colonial  governor,  securing  the  re- 
spect and  challenging  the  affection  of  his  people. 

Although  differing  from  many  of  the  inhabitants  upon  the  political 
questions  which  were  now  dividing  the  public  mipd,  and  always  intent 
upon  maintaining  the  binding  force  of  the  acts  of  Parliament,  he  never 
suffered  himself  to  be  betrayed  into  acts  of  violence,  of  meanness,  or  of 
revenge.  He  preferred  to  counsel,  to  enlighten,  to  exhort.  Georgia 
was  prospering  under  his  administration.  Her  development  year  by 
year  became  more  marked.     Her  position  was  peculiar,  and  it  excites  no 

27 


210  History  of  Savannah. 

surprise  that  at  the  outset  there  should  have  existed  a  division  of  senti- 
ment upon  the  momentous  political  issues  presented  for  her  considera- 
tion.. The  period  of  doubt,  however,  was  short  in  its  duration.  Before 
Jefferson  framed  the  declaration  of  independence  Georgia  had  cast  her 
lot  with  her  sister  American  colonies,  and,,  through  her  delegates,  was 
participating  in  the  adoption  of  those  measures  which  brought  about  the 
War  of  the  Revolution.  Of  all  the  English  provinces  in  America,  Geor- 
gia had  least  cause  to  take  arms  against  the  mother  country. 


CHAPTER  XVn. 

News  of  the  Affairs  at  Lexington  and  Concord — The  Powder  Magazine  in  Savan- 
nah Broken  Open  and  Much  of  the  Powder  Removed  by  the  Liberty  Boys — The  King's 
Cannon  Dismounted — First  Liberty  Pole  in  Savannah — Meeting  of  the  22d  of  June — 
Mob  Law — Capture  of  Captain  Maitland's  Powder  Ship — Memorable  Provincial  Con- 
gress of  July  4,  1775 — Delegates  Appointed  to  the  Continental  Congress — Article  of 
Association — Council  of  Safety — The  Militia  Purged  of  its  Loyal  Element — Pitiable 
Plight  of  Governor  Wright — Battalion  Raised  and  Officered  on  the  Continental  Estab- 
lishment. 

THE  news  of  the  affairs  at  Lexington  and  Concord  reached  Savannah 
on  the  evening  of  the  tenth  of  May,  and  created  an  excitement  most 
profound.  The  blood  then  shed  cemented  the  union  of  the  colonists. 
The  thunders  of  the  nineteenth  of  April  awoke  the  Georgia  parishes  from 
their  lethargy,  and  turned  the  tide  in  favor  of  resistance  to  parliamenary 
rules. 

The  magazine  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  Savannah,  built  of  brick 
and  sunk  some  twelve  feet  under  ground,  contained  a  considerable  sup- 
ply of  ammunition.  So  substantial  was  the  structure  that  Governor 
Wright  deemed  it  useless  to  post  a  guard  for  its  protection.  The  ex- 
cited Revoulutionists  all  over  the  land  cried  aloud  for  powder.  Impressed 
with  the  necessity  of  securing  the  contents  of  this  magazine  for  future . 
operations,  quietly  assembling  and  hastily  arranging  a  plan  for  opera- 
tions,' Dr.  Noble  W.  Jones,  Joseph  Habersham,  Edward  Telfair,  William 

1  This  meeting  was  held  at'  the  residence  of  Dr  Jones.  McCall's  History  of  Geor- 
gia, vol.  ii.,  p.  43.     Savannah.     1816. 


The  King's  Powder  Taken  by  the,  Liberty  Boys.        211 

Gibbons,  Joseph  Clay,  John  Milledge  and  some  other  gentlemen,  most 
of  them  members  of  the  council  of  safety  and  all  zealous  in  the  cause  of 
American  liberty,  at  a  late  hour  on  the  night  of  the  eleventh  of  May, 
1775,  broke  open  the  magazine  and  removed  therefrom  aboilt  six  hund- 
red pounds  of  gunpowder, 1  A  portion  was  sent  to  Beaufort,  South 
Carolina,  for  safe  keeping,  and  the  rest  was  concealed  in  the  garrets  and 
cellars  of  the  houses  of  the  captors.  Upon  ascertaining  the  robbery. 
Governor  Wright  immediately  issued  a  proclamation  offering  a  reward  of 
;£"i50  sterling  for  the  apprehension  of  the  offenders.^  It  elicited  no  in- 
formation on  the  subject,  although  the  actors  in  the  matter  are  said  to 
have  been  well  known  in  the  community.  The  popular  heart  was  too 
deeply  stirred,  and  the  ,"  Sons  of  Liberty  "  were  too  potent  to  tolerate 
any  hindrance  or  annoyance  at  the  hands  of  Royalist  inforrriers.  The, 
tradition  .lives,  and  is  generally  credited,  that  some  of  the  powder  thus 
obtained  was  forwarded  to  Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  was  actually  expended 
by  the  patriots  in  the  memorable  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  We  know  that 
the  liberty-loving  citizens  of  Savanhah,  on  the  1st  of  June,  1775,  deeply 
moved  by  the  distresses  which  the  Bostonians  were  experiencing,  from 
the  enforcement  of  the  "  late,  acts  of  a  cruel  and  vindictive  ministry,"  and 
ardently  desiring  that  the  noble  stand  they  had  taken  in  the  defense  of 
those  rights  to  which  as  men  and  British  subjects  they  were  entitled 
might  be  crowned  with  success,  transmitted  by  the  Juliana,  Captain 
Stringham,  and  under  the  special  conduct  of  John  Eaton  LeConte,  esq., 
sixty- three  barrels  of  rice  and  one  hundred  and  twenty- two  pounds  ster- 
ling in  specie  for  the  relief  of  such  as  had  recently  left  the^  town  of  Bos- 
ton. It  is  not  improbable  that  the  powder  in  question  may  have  been 
forwarded  in  some  such  way  at  an  earlier  day. 

It  had  been  the  custom  in  the  province  to  celebrate  with  festivities 
and  military  salutes  the  king's  birthday,  which  occurred  on  the  4th  of 
June.  Notwithstanding  the  unsettled  condition  of  affairs.  Governor 
Wright  was  loath  to  omit  the  usual  formalities.     He  accordingly,  on  the 

'  In  his  communication  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  dated  Savannah,  May  12,  1775, 
Sir  James  Wright  estimates  the  amount  stolen  at  the  figure  we  have  named,  and  says 
he  was  informed  by  the  powder  receiver  that  there  remained  in  the  magazine  "not 
above  300  lbs  of  the  King's  Powder,  and  about  as  much  more  belonging  to  the  mer- 
chants."    David  Montaigut,  esq.,  was  then  the  powder  receiver  of  the  province. 

'  See  the  proclamation  printed  in  the  Georgia  Gazette  of  May  17,  1775. 


212  History  of  Savannah. 

1st  of  June,  issued  orders  for  suitable  preparations  in  anticipation  of  the 
event.  On  the  night  of  the  2d  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  Savannah 
came  together  and,  having  spiked  all  the  cannon  on  the  bay,  dismounted 
and  rolled  them  to  the  bottom  cf  the  bluff.  Such  was  the  pointed  in- 
sult offered  to  the  memory  of  his  majesty.  It  was  with  great  difficulty 
that  some  of  these  disabled  guns  could  be  drilled  and  restored  to  their 
positions  in  battery  in  time  to  participate  in  the  loyal  ceremonies  of  the 
4th, 1  which,  as  that  day  chanced  to  fall  on  Sunday,  were  observed  on  the 
Monday  following. 

The  first  liberty  pole  erected  in  Georgia  was  elevated  in  Savannah  on 
the  Sth  of  June,  1775.  The  Royalists  were  then  celebrating  the  king's 
birthday.  The  "  Liberty  Boys,"  in  testimony  of  their  desire  for  a  recon- 
ciliation with  the  mother  country  on  the  basis  of  a  recognition  of  consti- 
tutional principles  and  colonial  privileges,  at  the  feast  which  they  pre- 
pared drank  as  the  first  regular  toast,  "  the  king."  The  second  was 
"American  liberty." 

Within  a  week  afterwards  thirty-four  leading  friends  to  the  union  of 
the  colonies  convened  in  Savannah  and  adopted  a  series  of  spirited  reso- 
lutions recommending  an  early  association  of  Georgia  with  her  sister  col- 
onies and  suggesting  an  equitable  adjustment  of  the  unhappy  differences 
existing  between  Great  Britain  and  America. 

On  the  2ist  of  June  was  published  a  call  signed  by  Noble  W.  Jones, 
Archibald  Bulloch,  John  Houstoun,  and  George  Walton,  requesting  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town  and  district  of  Savannah  to  meet  at  the  liberty 
pole  on  the  following  day  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  for  the  purpose 
of  selecting  a  committee  to  bring  about  a  union  of  Georgia  with  the  other 
colonies  in  the  cause  of  freedom.  The  alarming  situation  of  affairs  in 
America,  and  particularly  in  this  province,  was  urged  as  a  reason  for 
punctual  and  general  attendance. 

At  the  appointed  place  and  designated  hour  many  were  present.  A 
council  of  safety  consisting  of  William  Ewen,  president,  William  Le- 
Conte,  Joseph  Clay,  Basil  Cooper,  Samuel  Elbert,  William  Young,  Elisha 
Butler,  Edward  Telfair,  John  Glenn,  George  Houstoun,  George  Walton, 
Joseph  Habersham,  Francis  H.  Harris,  John  Smith,  and  John  Morel, 
members,  and  Seth  John  Cuthbert,  secretary,  was  nominated,  with  in- 

'  See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  44.     Savannah.     1816. 


Mob  Law.  213 


structions  to  maintain  an  active  correspondence  with  the  continental  con- 
gress, with  the  councils  of  safety  in  other  provinces,  and  with  the  com- 
mittees appointed  in  the  other  parishes  in  Georgia.  This  business  con- 
cluded, a  number  of  gentlemen  dined  at  Tondee's  tavern.  The  union 
flag  was  hoisted  upon  the  liberty  pole,  and  two  field-pieces  were  posted 
at  its  foot.  Thirteen  patriotic  toasts  were  drunk,  each  being  responded 
to  by  a  salute  from  the  cannon  and  by  martial  music. 

One  of  the  resolutions  adopted  at  this  meeting  of  the  22d  of  June  pro- 
vided that  Georgia  should  not  afford  protection  to,  or  become  an  asylum 
for,  any  person  who,  from  his  conduct,  might  be  properly  considered  in- 
imical to  the  common  cause  of  America  or  who  should  have  drawn  upon 
himself  the  disapprobation  or  censure  of  any  of  the  other  colonies.  In 
defiance  of  this  resolution  a  young  man  named  Hopkins  spoke  contempt- 
uously of  the  objects  and  conclusions  of  the  meeting,  and  heaped  epithets 
of  ridicule  upon  the  heads  of  the  gentlemen  composing  the  committee  of 
public  safety.  He  was  arrested  by  a  mob,  tarred  and  feathered,  hoisted 
into  a  cart  illuminated  for  the  occasion,  and  was  paraded  for  four  or  five 
hours  through  the  principal  streets  of  Savannah.  Similar  punishment 
was  meted  out  by  the  parish  committee  of  Augusta  in  the  case  of  Thomas 
Brown,  who  had  openly  declared  his  enmity  to  the  American  cause  and 
scoffed  at  the  proceedings  of  the  continental  congress.  The  intention  of 
the  patriots  to  ally  Georgia  with  her  sister  American  colonies  at  the 
earliest  moment  was  boldly  proclaimed  at  another  meeting  of  the  citizens 
of  Savannah  held  at  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Cuyler  on  the  13th  of  June. 

The  suggestion  contained  in  a  communication  of  Governor  Wright  to 
Admiral  Graves  that  the  port  of  Savannah  was  blockaded,  may  be  thus 
explained.  The  Carolina  committee,  notified  of  the  fact  that  a  ship  had 
sailed  for  Georgia  having  on  board  a  large  supply  of  powder  intended 
for  the  use  of  the  Indians  and  the  service  of  the  Royalists,  resolved  to 
capture  it.  Captains  Barnwell  and  Joyner,  of  Beaufort,  were  directed  to 
employ  every  means  at  command  to  seize  the  expected  ship  and  secure 
the  military  stores  on  board.  Embarking  forty  men,  well  armed,  in  two 
barges,  they  proceeded  to  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  and  encamped  on 
Bloody  Point  in  full  view  of  Tybee  Island  light  house.  The  Provincial 
Congress  of  Georgia  offered  every  assistance  to  these  officers,  and  told 
them,  if  they  so  desired,  they  should  be  aided  in  the  capture  of  the  Brit- 


214  History  of  Savannah. 

ish  armed  schooner  stationed  in  the  river.  To  that  end  arrangements 
were  rr  ■ide  for  a  junction  of  the  CaroHna  and  Georgia  forces.  A  schooner 
was  commissioned  by  the  congress  and  placed  under  the  command  of 
Captain  Bowen  and  Joseph  Habersham.  On  the  approach  of  the  Geor- 
gia schooner  the  British  armed  vessel  weighed  anchor,  put  to  sea,  and 
departed.  The  Georgia  schooner,  taking  a  position  beyond  the  bar,  had 
been  on  the  lookout  only  a  few  days  when,  on  the  lOth  of  July  Captain 
Maitland's  ship,  direct  from  London  and  having  the  powder  on  board, 
was  descried  in  the  offing.  Perceiving  the  schooner,  and  perhaps  sus- 
pecting some  evil  design,  the  ship  paused  before  entering  Tybee  inlet, 
and,  in  a  little  while,  tacked  and  stood  out  to  sea.  Quickly  pursued,  she 
was  overhauled  by  Captain  Bowen  and  the  Georgians  who,  assisted  by 
the  Carolina  party,  boarded  and  took  possession  of  her. 

This  Georgia  schooner  ^  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  provincial  vessel 
commissioned  for  naval  warfare  in  the  Revolution,  and  this  the  first  cap- 
ture made  by  order  of  any  congress  in  America.  Of  the  powder  taken 
from  this  ship  nine  thousand  pounds  fell  to  Georgia  as  her  share  of  the 
prize.  At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  Continental  Congress  five  thou- 
sand pounds  were  sent  to  Philadelphia  and  were  there  issued  in  supply- 
ing the  necessities  of  the  embryo  armies  of  the  united  colonies.  ^  One 
authority  states  that  six  tons  of  gunpowder  were  taken  from  this  vessel, 
and  Captain  McCall  estimates  the  amount  at  thirteen  thousand  pounds. 
It  formed  a  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  mihtary  stores  of  the  nas- 
cent, republic,  and  its  exploding  thunders  shook  the  earth  upon  more  than 
one  battle-field  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 

In  the  memorable  Provincial  Congress  which  assembled  in  Savannah 
on  the  4th  of  July,  1775,  every  parish  was  represented,  and  the  delegates 
were  fitting  exponents  of  the  intelligence,  the  dominant  hopes,  and  the 
material  interests  of  the  communities  from  which  they  respectively  came. 
The  town  and  district  of  Savannah  were  present  in  the  persons  of  Archi- 
bald Bulloch,  Noble  Wymberley  Jones,  Joseph  Habersham,  Jonathan 
Bryan,  Ambrose  Wright,  William  Young,  John  Glen,  Samuel  Elbert, 
John  Houstoun,  Oliver  Bowen,  John  McCluer,  Edward  Telfair,  Thomas 


'  This  schooner  was  armed  with  ■'  ten  carriage  guns  and  many  swivels,"  and  had  a 
complement  of  fifty  men. 

'See  Stevens's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  103.  Philadelphia.  1859.  Moul- 
trie's Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  81.     New  York.     1803. 


Article  of  Association.  215 

Lee,  George  Houstoun,  Joseph  Reynolds,  John  Smith,  William  Ewen, 
John  Martin,  Dr.  Zubly,  William  Bryan,  PhiHp  Box,  Philip  Allman,  Will- 
iam O'Bryan,  Joseph  Clay,  and  Seth  John  Cuthbert. 

The  Congress  was  organized  by  the  unanimous  choice  of  Archibald 
Bulloch  as  president,  and  George  Walton  as  secretary.  This  was  Geor- 
gia's first  secession  convention.  Without  pausing  to  enumerate  its  va- 
rious and  important  proceedings,  it  may  be  stated,  in  general  terms,  that 
it  proclaimed  a  declaration  of  rights,  placed  the  province  in  active  sym- 
pathy, confederated  alliance,  and  positive  representation  with  the  other 
twelve  American  colonies,  practically  annulled  within  her  limits  the  oper- 
ation of  the  objectionable  acts  of  Parliament,  questioned  the  supremacy 
of  the  realm,  and  inaugurated  measures  calculated  to  accomplish  the  in- 
dependence of  the  plantation  and  its  erection  into  the  dignity  of  a  State. 

John  Houstoun,  Archibald  Bulloch,  the  Rev.  J.  J.  Zubly,  Dr.  Lyman 
Hall,  and  Dr.  Noble  Wymberley  Jones  were  elected  delegates  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  the  following  article  of  association  was,  on  the 
13th  of  July,  unanimously  adopted: 

"  Georgia.  Being  persuaded  that  the  salvation  of  the  rights  and  lib- 
erties of  America  depend,  under  God,  on  the  firm  union  of  the  inhabit- 
ants in  its  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  measures  necessary  for  its  safety, 
and  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  preventing  the  anarchy  and  confusion 
which  attend  the  dissolution  of  the  powers  of  government,  we,  the  free- 
men, freeholders,  and  inhabitants  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,  being  greatly 
alarmed  at  the  avowed  design  of  the  ministry  to  raise  a  revenue  in  Amer- 
ica, and  shocked  by  the  bloody  scene  now  acting  in  the  Massachusetts 
Bay,  do,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  resolve  never  to  become  slaves,  and 
do  associate,  under  all  the  ties  of  religion,  and  honour,  and  love  to  our 
country,  to  adopt  and  endeavour  to  carry  into  execution  whatever  may 
be  recommended  by  the  Continental  Congress,  or  resolved  upon  by  our 
Provincial  Convention  appointed  for  preserving  our  constitution  and  op- 
posing the  execution  of  the  several  arbitrary  and  oppressive  acts  of  the, 
British  Parliament  until  a  reconciliation  between  Great  Britain  and  Amer- 
ica, on  constitutional  principles,  which  we  most  ardently  desire,  can  be 
obtained ;  and  that  we  will  in  all  things  follow  the  advice  of  our  general 
committee  appointed,  respecting  the  purposes  aforesaid,  the  preservation 
of  peace  and  good  order,  and  the  safety  of  individuals  and  private  prop- 
erty." 


2i6  History  of  Savannah. 

Joha  Smith,  Basil  Cowper,  George  Houstoun,  Joseph  Clay,  William 
Young,  Philip  Box,  Seth  John  Cuthbert,  William  O'Bryan,  George  Wal- 
ton, William  LeConte,  William  Gibbons,  Samuel  Elbert,  Edward  Telfair 
and  Oliver  Bowen  were  designated  as  a  committee  "  to  present  this  asso- 
ciation to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Town  and  District  of  Savannah  to  be 
signed.",  Expedition  was  enjoined,  and  these  gentlemen  were  requested 
to  furnish  the  general  committee  with  the  names  of  all  who  dechned  to 
affix  their  signatures. 

Georgia  was  now  practically  under  the  control  of  the  Republican 
council  of  safety.  Although  Governor  Wright  still  remained  in  Savan- 
nah, he  fully  realized  that  the  reins  of  government  had  been  wrested 
from  him ;  that  he  was  simply  a  locum  tenens,  beholding,  reporting,  crit- 
icising, but  without  the  power  to  stay  the  onward  march  of  events,  or  to 
shape  them  to  the  will  of  his  majesty.  His  inability  to  control  the  "  Lib- 
erty people,"  he  freely  confessed,  and  humbly  requested  royal  permission 
to  return  to  England  that  he  might  resign  his  office.  Under  orders  ot 
the  council  of  safety,  the  militia  was  thoroughly  purged  of  all  officers  who 
declined  to  sign  the  article  of  association,  and  professed  loyalty  to  the 
crown. 

Possession  was  taken  of  the  custom  house  in  Savannah,  and  an  officer 
appointed  to  prevent  vessels  from  landing  cargoes  from  England.  The 
port  was  practically  closed.  Governor  Wright  appealed  in  vain  for  a 
sloop  of  war  to  put  an  end  to  this  "  most  disagreeable  situation." 

On  the  17th  of  September  a  vessel  arrived  from  London,  having  on 
board  two  hundred  and  fifty  barrels  of  gunpowder,  most  of  which  had 
been  sent  out  by  his  majesty,  consigned  to  Mr.  Stuart,  the  superinten- 
dent, and  intended  as  a  royal  present  to  the  Indians.  This  was  too  val- 
uable an  accession  to  their  military  stores  to  escape  the  notice  of  the  lib- 
erty people.  They  accordingly  boarded  the  ship  at  Tybee,  removed  the 
powder,  and,  transporting  it  to  Savannah,  diverted  it  from  its  destination 
and  retained  possession  of  it. 

A  ship  coming  from  Senegal  with  a  cargo  of  two  hundred  and  four 
slaves  was  prevented  from  lapding.  Compelled  to  depart  the  port,  the 
captain,  in  his  distress,  set  out  for  St.  Augustine  as  affording  the  only 
prospect  of  saving  the  Africans  on  board  from  death  by  famine. 

The  lamentations  of  Governor  Wright,  although  frequently  uttered, 


"**. 


?  ^~by  F-&-Kirii,im,trl 


Pitiable  Plight  of  Governor  Wright.  217 


were  as  yet  unheeded.  "  It  is  really  a  wretched  state  to  be  left  in,  and 
what  it's  impossible  to  submit  to  much  longer,  government  totally  anni- 
hilated and  assumed  by  congresses,  councils,  and  committees,  and  the 
greatest  acts  of  tyranny,  oppression,  .gross  insults,  etc.,  committed,  and 
not  the  least  means  of  protection,  support,  or  even  personal  safety,  and 
these  almost  daily  occurences  are  too  much,  my  Lord."  ' 

The  plight  of  the  governor  was  truly  pitiable.  The  only  functions  he 
now  exercised  were  those  connected  with  the  probate  of  wills  and  the 
granting  of  letters  of  administration.  In  view  of  what  had  occurred,  and 
of  what  was  daily  transpiring,  he  pathetically  yet  truthfully  exclaimed  : 
"  There  is  hardly  a  shadow  of  government  remaining."  The  royal  cause 
experienced  a  heavy  blow  in  the  demises  of  Clement  Martin,  Noble  Jones, 
—  associate  justice  and  treasurer  of  the  colony  —  and  the  Honorable 
James  Habersham,  who  quickly  followed  each  other  to  the  tomb. 

Before  adjourning  on  the  nth  of  December,  1775,  the  Provincial 
Congress  appointed  the  following  persons  members  of  the  council  of 
safety:^  George  Walton,  William  Ewen,  Stephen  Drayton,  Noble  W. 
Jones,  Basil  Cowper,  Edward  Telfair,  John  Bohun  Girardeau,  John 
Smith,  Jonathan  Bryan,  William  Gibbons,  John  Martin,  Oliver  Bowen, 
Ambrose  Wright,  Samuel  Elbert,  Joseph  Habersham,  and  Francis  Henry 
Harris.  That  body  organized  by  electing  George  Walton  president,  and 
Edward  Langworthy  secretary.  It  was  resolved  to  meet  regularly  at 
Tondee's  Long  Room  in  Savannah  every  Monday  morning  at  ten  o'clock, 
and  as  much  oftener  as  the  emergency  demanded. 

The  Continental  Congress  having  on  the  4th  of  November  ordered 
that  a  battalion  should  be  raised  at  the  common  charge  of  the  united  pro- 
vinces for  the  protection  of  Georgia,  and  made  an  appropriation  of  five 
thousand  dollars  toward  the  defrayal  of  the  expenses  of  this  organiza- 
tion, the  council  of  safety,  at  its  first  meeting,  commissioned  Andrew 
Maybank,  Joseph  Woodrufife,  Hezekiah  Wade,  and  John  Dooly  as  cap- 
tains ;  James    Cochran,  John    Morrison,  Jeremiah    Beale,  and  Thomas 

'  Communication  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth, dated  Savannah,  September  23,  1775. 

'  As  constituted  in  June,  1775,  the  council  of  safety  consisted  of  William  Ewen, 
William  LeConte,  Basil  Cowper,  Samuel  Elbert,  William  Young,  Elisha  Butler,  Edward 
Telfair,  John  Glen,  George  Houstoun,  George  Walton,  Joseph  Habersham,  Francis  H. 
Harris,  John  Smith,  and  John  Morel.  William  Ewen  was  chosen  president,  and  Seth 
John  Cuthbert  appointed  secretary. 


2i8  History  of  Savannah. 


Dooly  as  first  lieutenants;  James  Galoche,  Moses  Way,  Jacob  Blunt, 
Zephaniah  Beale  and  William  Bugg  second  lieutenants;  and  Thomas 
Dowly,  George  Philips,  and  Joshua  Smith,  third  lieutenants. 

On  the  7th  of  January,  1776,  the  battalion  was  further  organized  by 
the  appointment  of  the  following  field  officers:  Lachlan  Mcintosh,  colo- 
nel ;  Samuel  Elbert,  lieutenant-colonel ;  and  Jpseph  Habersham,  major. 
Mcintosh  and  Elbert  subsequently  rose  to  the  rank  of  brigadier- general 
in  the  army  of  the  Revolution. 

The  following  company  officers  were  then  elected  and  commissioned: 

Francis  Henry  Harris,  captain,  and  John  Habersham,  first  lieutenant 
of  the  first  company. 

Oliver  Bowen,  captain,  and  George  Handley,  first  lieutenant  of  the 
second  company. 

John  Mcintosh,  jr.,  captain,  and  Lachlan  Mcintosh,  jr.,  first  lieutenant 
of  the  third  company. 

Arthur  Carney,  captain,  and  Benjamin  Odingsell,  first  lieutenant  oi 
the  fourth  company. 

Thomas  Chisolm,  captain,  and  Caleb  Howell,  first  lieutenant  of. the 
fifth  company. 

John  Green,  captain,  and  Ignatius  Few,  first  lieutenant  of  the  sixth 
company. 

Chesley  Bostick,  captain,  and  John  Martin,  first  lieutenant  of  the 
seventh  company  ;  and  Jacob  Colson,  captain,  and  Shadrach  Wright, 
first  lieutenant  of  the  eighth  company.' 

The  erection  of  Georgia  into  a  body  politic  apart  from  and  opposed 
to  the  government  hitherto  existing  by  authority  of  the  Crown,  was  now 
virtually  accomplished.  The  president  of  the  Council  of  Safety  was  vir- 
tute  officii,  the  governor  of  this  quasi- commonwealth,  and  Savannah  was 
its  capital.  Such  laws  as  were  requisite  for  the  preservation  of  the  pub- 
lic peace,  the  maintenance  of  order,  and  the  defrayal  of  current  expenses, 
were  promulgated  as  resolutions  by  the  Provincial  Congress  and  by  the 
Council  of  Safety.  Courts  were  provided  for  the  assertion  of  rights  and 
the  redress  of  wrongs.  A  military  force  had  been  organized  for  the 
common  defense,  and  union  perfected  with  sister  American  Colonies. 
A  royal  governor,  it  is  true,  still  resided  in  Savannah,  but  he  was  little 

'  Georgia  Gazettf  for  February  7,  1776 — No,  644, 


Arrest  oP  Governor  Wright.  219 

else  than  a  prisoner  with  a  barren  sceptre  in  his  grasp.  Members  of  the 
King's  Council  remained,  but  their  advice  was  neither  asked  nor  heeded 
in  the  conduct  of  affairs.  All  officers  holding  warrants  from  the  Crown 
were  idle  spectators  of  events.  Within  the  entire  circuit  of  the  province 
there  was  no  one  to  enforce  the  will  of  his  majesty.  Well  might  Gover- 
nor Wright  exclaim  in  behalf  of  himself  and  the  other-  servants  of  the 
King  in  Georgia  :  "We  shall  not  remain  much  longer  in  this  distressful 
condition." 

From  this  period  until  the  erection  of  Georgia  into  a  State  upon  con- 
clusion of  the  Revolutionary  War,  but  little  legislation  occurred  in  the 
proper  acceptation  of  that  term.  The  Colonial  Legislatures  had  given 
to  the  statute  book  various  acts  and  resolutions  covering  a  wide  range  of 
subjects,  and  providing  for  the  wants  of  a  province  rapidly  assuming  the 
proportions  of  an  important,  a  populous,  and  a  profitable  dependency. 
Where  these  laws  did  not  militate  against  the  new  government  and  the 
changed  condition  of  affairs  they  were  recognized  of  force  and  were  per- 
mitted to  remain  inactive  operation. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Arrest  of  Governor  Wright  by  Major  Habersham — His  Subsequent  Escape  to  the 
Scarborough — His  Communication  to  the  Members  of  Council  Still  in  Savannah — Pro- 
vincial Congress  of  January  22,  1776 — Provisional  Constitution  of  April,  1776 — Presi- 
dent Archibald  Bulloch — First  Passage  at  Arms  in  Georgia  Between  the  Revolutionists 
and  the  King's  Forces — Conduct  and  Resolutions  of  the  Council  of  Safety — Affair  on 
Tybee  Island — Military  Assistance  from  South  Carolina. 

THE  arrival  at  Tybee,  on  the  12th  of  January,  1776,  of  two  men-of- 
war  and  a  transport  from  Boston,  with  a  detachment  of  royal  troops 
under  the  command  of  Majors  Maitland  and  Grant,  cheered  the  loyal  yet 
despondent  heart  of  Governor  Wright,  and  encouraged  the  hope  that 
by  force  of  arms  the  dominion  of  the  king  might  soon  be  reestablished 
in  Georgia.  Six  days  afterwards,  in  view  of  the  impending  danger,  to 
strengthen  the  independent  temper  of  the  inhabitants,  and  to  demon- 
strate most  emphatically  that  royal  rule  in  the  province  was  at  an  end, 


i26  KtisTORV  OF  Savannah. 

the  Council  of  Safety  resolved  "that  the  persons  of  his  excellency  Sir 
James  Wright,  Bart.,  and  of  John  Mullryne,  Josiah  Tattnall,  and  Anthony 
Stokes,  Esqrs.,  be  forthwith  arrested  and  secured,  and  that  all  non-associ- 
ates be  forthwith  disarmed  except  those  who  will  give  their  parole  assur- 
ing that  they  will  not  aid,  assist  or  comfort  any  of  the  persons  on  board 
his  Majesty's  ships  of  war,  or  take  up  arms  against  America  in  the  pres- 
ent unhappy  dispute." 

With  a  party  selected  by  himself.  Major  Joseph  Habersham  volun- 
teered to  secure  the  person  of  the  governor.  Proceeding  to  the  residence 
of  the  chief  .magistrate,  who  was  at  the  moment  in  conference  with  his 
council,  Major  Habersham,  passing  the  sentinel  at  the  door,  entered  the 
hall,  and  advancing  to  the  governor  and  placing  his  hand  upon  his  shoul- 
der, said,  "  Sir  James,  you  are  my  prisoner."  Astonished  at  the  bold  and 
unexpected  act,  the  members  of  council  and  friends  to  the  Crown  there 
assembled  fled  precipitately  from  the  house.  Having  exacted  a  solemn 
promise  from  the  governor  neither  to  depart  from  Savannah  nor  to  hold 
any  correspondence  with  the  officers  and  soldiers  on  the  ships  lying  in 
Tybee  Roads,  Major  Habersham  suffered  him  to  remain  in  his  mansion. 
A  guard  was  posted  to  keep  watch  upon  his  movements,  and  to  prohibit 
all  intercourse  with  members  of  council.  Crown  officers,  or  persons  deemed 
inimical  to  the  cause  of  America.  Of  the  bravery  of  this  act  too  much  can 
not  be  said  in  commendation.  The  personal  courage  displayed  in  mak- 
ing the  arrest,  pronounced  as  it  was,  will  be  reckoned  but  as  a  trifle  when 
contrasted  with  the  moral  heroism  involved  in  openly  defying  the  power 
of  the  realm  and  in  humbling  the  duly  appointed  representative  of  the 
Crown  in  the  face  of  the  province  he  was  commissioned  to  rule.  The 
effect  was  dramatic,  startling. 

Wearied  with  his  confinement,  mortified  at  his  situation,  and  harrassed 
by  dangers,  some  of  them  arising  from  shots  wantonly  fired  into  his 
dwelling,  Governor  Wright  effected  his  escape  on  the  night  of  the  i  Ith  of 
February.  Slipping  out  of  the  back  part  of  his  house,  he  reached  the 
river,  and  thence  descended  to  Bonaventure  where  his  friend  Mullryne 
resided.  There  a  boat  and  crew  were  in  waiting,  and  he  was  conveyed 
through  Tybee  Creek  to  the  armed  ship  Scarborough,  Captain  Barclay, 
lying  in  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River.  He  was  received  on  board  at 
three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  I2th.     The  following  day  he  penned 


President  Archibald  Bulloch.  22 1 

a  letter  to  James  Mackay  and  other  members  of  the  king's  council  re- 
maining in  Savannah,  in  which,  "  as  the  best  friend  the  people  of  Georgia 
have,"  he  counseled  an  immediate  return  to  peace  and  security  under 
royal  protection,  exhorted  the  inhabitants  to  save  themselves  and  their 
posterity  from  impending  ruin  and  destruction,  cautioned  them  to  desist 
from  their  present  plans,  promised  on  his  return  to  England  to  intervene 
in  their  behalf  if  they  exhibited  signs  of  penitence  and  craved  pardon,  and 
warned  them  against  a  continuance  of  their  disloyalty.  The  warnings 
and  the  threats  of  the  fugitive  governor  were  disregarded.  His  persua- 
sions from  the  cabin  of  the  Scarborough  brought  a  smile  to  the  counte- 
nances of  those  who  had  feared  not  his  menaces  while  still  the  king's  gov- 
ernor resident  in  Savannah.  The  "Sons  of  Liberty"  had  proceeded  too 
far  to  think  of  pause  or  to  cry  for  pardon.  The  public  voice  was  for  lib- 
erty, and  the  general  mind  counseled  resistance.  The  oHve  branch  was 
extended  in  vain.  As  a  matter  of  courtesy  the  Hon.  Archibald  Bulloch, 
president  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  responded  to  the  communication. 
His  reply  was  satisfactory  neither  to  the  governor  nor  to  Captain  Barclay. 
The  former  said  he  could  not  consider  it  as  an  answer  because  no  notice 
was  taken  of  his  advice  and  proffer  of  service  to  the  colony.  "  However," 
he  added,  "if  Georgians  will  not  be  their  own  friends,  the  province  will 
blame  them  and  not  me  who  through  friendship  put  it  in  their  power  to 
be  happy." 

The  Provincial  Congress  which  assembled  in  Savannah  on  the  20th  of 
January,  1776,  was  organized  on  the  22d  by  the  election  of  the  Hon. 
Archibald  Bulloch  as  president.  On  the  2d  of  February  Archibald  Bul- 
loch, John  Houstoun,  Lyman  Hall,  Button  Gwinnett,  and  George  Walton 
were  appointed  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress. ^  Of  the  five  del- 
egates thus  selected,  the  signatures  of  three — Hall,  Gwinnett,  and  Wal- 
ton— were  affixed  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  sudden  flight  of  Governor  Wright,  the  presence  of  ai\  armed  force 
in  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River,  and  the  absence  of  any  definitive 
rules  of  government  rendered  it  obligatory,  for  the  orderly  administration 
of  public  affairs,  that  a  constitution  for  Georgia  should  be  at  once  adopted 
and  proclaimed  by  the  Provincial  Congress.  Accordingly,  in  April,  i  ^^6, 
at  Savannah,  a  temporary  constitution  was  framed  and  promulgated  "  as 


Georgia  Gazette  of  February  7,  1776,  No.  644, 


222  History  of  Savannah. 

the  groundwork  of  a  more  stable  government"  of  the  province.     It  read 

as  follows : 

"Colony  of  Georgia: 

"Whereas,  the  unwise  and  iniquitous  system  of  administration  obsti- 
nately persisted  in  by  the  British  Parliament  and  ministry  against  the 
good  people  of  America  hath  at  length  driven  the  latter  to  take  up  arms 
as  their  last  resource  for  the  preservation  of  their  rights  and  liberties 
which  God  and  the  constitution  gave  them; 

"And  whereas  an  armed  force,  with  hostile  intentions  against  the  peo- 
ple of  this  Province,  having  lately  arrived  at  Cockspur,  his  Excellency 
Sir  James  Wright,  Baronet,  and  King's  Governor  of  Georgia,  in  aid  of  the 
views  of  the  administration,  and  with  a  design  to  add  to  those  inconven- 
iences which  necessarily  result  from  a  state  of  confusion,  suddenly  and 
unexpectedly  carried  off  the  great  seal  of  the  Province  with  him ; 

"And  whereas,  in  consequence  of  this  and  other  events,  doubts  have 
arisen  with  the  several  magistrates  how  far  they  are  authorized  to  act  un- 
der the  former  appointments,  and  the  greatest  part  of  them  have  abso- 
lutely refused  to  do  so,,  whereby  all  judicial  powers  are  become  totally 
suspended  to  the  great  danger  of  persons  and  property; 

"  And  whereas,  before  any  general  system  of  government  can  be  con- 
cluded upon,  it  is  necessary  that  application  be  made  to  the  Continental 
Congress  for  their  advice  and  directions  upon  the  same ;  but,  neverthe- 
less, in  the  present  state  of  things,  it  is  indispensably  requisite  that  some 
temporary  expedient  be  fallen  upon  to  curb  the  lawless  and  protect  the 
peaceable ; 

"This  Congress,  therefore,  as  the  representatives  of  the  people,  with 
whom  all  power  originates,  and  for  whose  benefit  all  government  is  in- 
tended, deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  duty  to  their  constituents,  of 
love  to  their  country,  and  inviolable  attachment  to  the  liberties  of  Amer- 
ica, and  seeing  how  much  it  will  tend  to  the  advantage  of  each  to  pre- 
serve rules,  justice,  and  order,  do  take  upon  them  for  the  present,  and 
until  the  further  order  of  the  Continental  Congress,  or  of  this,  or  any  fu- 
ture Provisional  Congress,  to  declare,  and  they  accordingly  do  declare, 
order,  and  direct  that  the  following  rules  and  regulations  be  adopted  in 
this  Province — that  is  to  say  — 

"1st.  There  shall  be  a  President  and  Commander-in-Chief  appointed 


Provisional  Constitution.  223 


by  ballot  in  this  Congress,  for  six  months,  or  during  the  time  specified 
above. 

"2d.  There  shall  be  in  like  manner,  and  for  the  like  time,  also  a  Coun- 
cil of  Safety,  consisting  of  13  persons,  besides  the  five  delegates  to  the 
General  Congress,  appointed  to  act  in  the  nature  of  a  Privy  Council  to 
the  said  President  or  Commander-in-Chief. 

"3d.  That  the  President  shall  be  invested  with  all  the  executive  pow- 
ers of  government  not  inconsistent  with  what  is  hereafter  mentioned,  but 
shall  be  bound  to  consult  and  follow  the  advice  of  the  said  Council  in  all 
cases  whatsoever,  and  any  seven  of  said  Committee  shall  be  a  quorum  for 
the  purpose  of  advising. 

"4th.  That  all  the  laws  whether  common  or  statute,  and  the  acts  of 
Assembly  which  have  formerly  been  acknowledged  to  be  of  force  in  this 
Province,  and  which  do  not  interfere  with  the  proceedings  of  the  Conti- 
nental or  our  Provincial  Congresses,  and  also  all  and  singular  the  resolves 
and  recommendations  of  the  said  Continental  and  Provincial  Congress, 
shall  be  of  full  force,  validity,  and  effect  until  otherwise  ordered. 

"5th.  That  there  shall  be  a  Chief- Justice,  and  two  assistant  judges, 
an  Attorney- General,  a  Provost- Marshal,  and  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Ses- 
sions, appointed  by  ballot,  to  serve  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Congress. 
The  Court  ot  Sessions,  or  Oyer  and  Terminer,  shall  be  opened  and  held 
on  the  second  Tuesday  in  June  and  December,  and  the  former  rules  and 
methods  of  proceeding,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  shall  be  observed  in  regard 
to  summoning  of  Juries  and  all  other  cases  whatsoever. 

"6th.  That  the  President  or  Commander-in-Chief,  with  the  advice  ol 
the  Council  as  before  mentioned,  shall  appoint  magistrates  to  act  during 
pleasure  in  the  several  Parishes  throughout  this  Province,  and  such  mag- 
istrates shall  conform  themselves,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  to  the  olS  estab- 
lished forms  and  methods  of  proceedings. 

''7th.  That  all  legislative  powers  shall  be  reserved  to  the  Congress, 
and  no  person  who  holds  any  place  of  profit,  civil  or  military,  shall  be 
eligible  as  a  member  either  of  the  Congress  or  of  the  Council  of  Safety. 

"  8th.  That  the  following  sums  shall  be  allowed  as  salaries  to  the  re- 
spective officers  for  and  during  the  time  they  shall  serve,  over  and  be- 
sides all  such  perquisites  and  fees  as  have  been  formerly  annexed  to  the 
said  offices  respectively : 


224  History  of  Savannah. 

"To  the  President  and   Commander-in-Chief  after  the  rate,  per  annum, 

of        ...       .  .       sterling  £  300 

"  To  the  Chief  Justice       .  .  .    100 

"  To  the  Attorney-General      ...  ...      25 

"  To  the  Provost  Marshal  .  60 

"  To  the  Cleric  of  Court     .  .  50  ■ 

Archibald  Bulloch  was  elected  President  and  Commander-in-Chief  of 
Georgia;  John  Glen,  Chief  Justice;  William  Stephens,  Attorney- General, 
and  James  Jackson,  Clerk  of  Court. 

President  Bulloch  was  a  tower  of  strength.  His  personal  integrity, 
his  high  sense  of  honor,  his  patriotism,  his  admirable  executive  abilities, 
his  honesty  of  thought  and  purpose,  his  sturdy  manhood,  his  unques- 
tioned courage,  and  his  enlarged  views  of  the  public  good  were  invaluable 
in  shaping  the  conduct  and  maintaining  the  dignity  of  the  infant  com- 
monwealth. Although  the  first  man  in  Georgia  to  read  and  promulgate 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  he  did  not  live  to  behold  the  fortunate 
issue  of  his  people's  struggle  for  independence.  Under  the  provisions  of 
this  temporary  constitution  was  the  Province  of  Georgia  guided  by  the 
Revolutionists  until  the  adoption  of  the  first  regular  constitution,  on  the 
5th  of  February,  1777,  by  the  convention  then  assembled  in  Savannah. 

The  first  passage  at  arms  in  Georgia  between  the  "Sons  of  Liberty" 
and  the  king's  troops  occured  in  Savannah  early  in  March,  1776.  Eleven 
vessels  laden  with  rice  and  ready  for  sea,  were  on  the  first  of  that  month 
lying  at  the  Savannah  wharves.  Some  of  them  were  owned  by  parties 
entertaining  little  sympathy  with  the  American  cause,  and  prepared  at 
the  first  opportunity  to  disregard  the  non-intercourse  resolutions  of  Con- 
gress and  seek  the  most  advantageous  market.  Aware  of  this  fact,  re- 
membering also  that  the  order  promulgated  by 'the  Continental  Con- 
gress prohibiting  the  exportation  of  rice  from  the  united  colonies  expired 
that  day  by  its  own  limitations,  and  apprehending  from  the  presence  of 
the  British  vessels  of  war  in  Tybee  Roads  that  the  cause  for  such  cont- 
inental restriction  had  not  been  removed,  the  council  of  safety  assumed 
the  responsibility  of  passing  and  publishing  the  following  resolutions: 

"Resolved  that  no  ships  loaded  with  ride  or  any  other  article  of  pro- 
duce, in  this  Province,  shall  be  permitted  to  sail  without  leave  of  the 
Council  of  Safety  or  next  Congress,  except  such  vessels  as  are  or  shall 
be  permitted  to  sail  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  the  necessary  means  of 
defence. 


R-ESOLUTioNS  or"  the  Council  of  SafSty.  225 

"  Resolved  that  in  case  any  loss  shall  be  sustained  by  such  detention, 
the  Delegates  from  this  Province  shall  be  instructed  to  apply  to  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  to  make  the  reimbursement  for  such  loss  a  general 
charge. 

"Ordered  that  the, rudders  be  unshipped,  and  that  the  rigging  and 
sails  be  taken  away  ^nd  secured  from  the  several  vessels  now  riding  in 
the  port  of  Savannah." 

With  the  enforcement  of  these  resolutions  and  this  order  Colonel 
Lachlan  Mcintosh  was  charged. 

"  For  the  safety  of  the  Province  and  the  good  of  the  United  Colonies  " 
it  was,  on  the  2d  of  March,  unanimously  resolved  by  the  council  of 
safety : 

"  That  the  houses  in  the  town  of  Savannah  and  the  hamlets  thereunto 
belonging,  together  with  the  shipping  now  in  port  of  Savannah  the  pro- 
perty of  or  appertaining  to  the  friends  of  America  who  have  associated 
and  appeared  or  who  shall  appear  in  the  present  alarm  to  defend  the 
same,  and  also  the  houses  of  the  widows  and  orphans,  and  none  others, 
be  forthwith  valued  and  appraised. 

"Ordered  that  Messrs.  Joseph  Clay,  Joseph  Reynolds,  John  McLuer, 
Joseph  Dunlap  and  John  Glen,  or  any  three  of  them,  be  a  committee  for 
that  purpose,  and  that  they  make  a  return  of  such  value  and  appraise- 
ment to  the  Council  of  Safety  to-morrow  morning  at  9  o'clock  or  as  soon 
after  as  possible. 

Resolved  That  the  delegates  for  this  Province  shall  be  instructed  to 
apply  to  the  Continental  Congress  for  an  indemnification  to  such  persons 
as  shall  suffer  in  the  defence  of  this  town  or  shipping. 

"  Resolved  That  it  shall  be  considered  a  defection  from  the  cause  of 
America,  and  a  desertion  of  property  in  such  persons  as  have  left  or  who 
shall  leave  the  town  of  Savannah  or  the  hamlets  thereunto  belonging 
during  the  present  alarm,  and  such  persons  shall  be  precluded  from  any 
support  or  countenance  towards  obtaining  an  indemnification. 

"  Resolved  That  it  be  incumbent  upon  the  friends  of  America  in  this 
Province  to  defend  the  Metropolis  as  long  as  the  same  shall  be  tenable. 

"  Resolved  That  rather  than  the  same  shall  be  held  and  occupied  by 
our  enemies,  or  that  the  shipping  now  in  the  port  of  Savannah  should  be 
taken  and  employed  by  them,  the  same  shall  be  burnt  and  destroyed. 


i26  History  of  Savannah. 

"  Resolved  That  orders  shall  be  issued  to  the  commanding  officer  di- 
recting him  to  have  the  foregoing  resolutions  put  into  execution." 
These  brave  resolves  were  supplemented  by  this  proclamation  : 

"  In  the  Council  of  Safety, 

Savannah,  March  2nd,  1776. 
"Whereas   many  householders   in   the   town   of  Savannah,  and  the 
hamlets  thereunto  belonging,  have  basely  deserted  their  habitations  since 
the  commencement  of  the  present  alarms : 

"  And  whereas  some  of  them  are  associates  in  the  great  American 
Union,  and,  by  consequence,  their  lives  and  fortunes  bound  to  support  it: 
"And  whereas  there  is  a  number  of  shipping  in  the  port  of  Savannah 
belonging  and  appertaining  to  persons  resident  in  this  Province  : 

"  And  whereas  we  deem  it  incumbent  on  every  person,  more  especi- 
ally on  those  who  have  associated,  to  defend  their  property  with  their 
lives : 

"These  are  therefore  to  cite  and  admonish  all  persons  holding  any 
property  in  the  town  or  hamlets,  or  shipping  aforesaid,  forthwith  to  re- 
pair to  head  quarters  in  Savannah  to  defend  the  same,  on  pain  of  suffer- 
ing all  the  consequences  contained  in  the  foregoing  resolutions. 
"  By  order  of  the  Council  of  Safety. 

Wm.  Ewen,  President" 

Thus  courageously  and  thoroughly  did  the  authorities  prepare  to  offer 
the  stoutest  and  most  patriotic  resistance  to  the  anticipated  demonstration 
from  the  king's  forces  at  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  river.  So  soon  as 
Georgia  united  her  fortunes  with  those  of  her  sister  colonies,  all  animosity 
ceased  on  the  part  of  South  Carolina.  Between  these  adjacent  provinces 
now  existed  the  warmest  friendship,  and  each  pledged  to  the  other  a  sup- 
port most  cordial,  in  seasons  of  doubt  and  peril.  Of  the  situation  of  af- 
fairs the  council  of  safety  in  Savannah  promptly  advised  the  council  of 
safety  in  Charlestown,  and  furnished  that  body  with  copies  of  the  resolu- 
tions, orders,  and  proclamation  of  the  2d  of  March.  To  such  communica- 
tions a  tender  of  substantial  succor  was  speedily  returned. 

Captain  Barclay's  request  having  been  refused,  and  the  vigilance  of 
the  Council  of  Safety  preventing  him  from  obtaining  the  supplies  desired 
for  the  land  and  naval  forces  concentrated  below  Cockspur  Island,  the 
British  commander  resolved  to  capture  the  rice-laden  vessels  lying  at  the 


Capture  of  Merchant  Ships  by  the  British.  227 

Savannah  wharves  and  thus  secure  by  force  of  arms  what  his  negoti- 
ations had  failed  to  obtain.  With  this  intention,  on  the  last  of  February, 
with  the  Scarborough  of  twenty  guns,  the  Tamer  of  sixteen  guns,  the 
Cherokee  of  ten  guns,  and  the  Hinchinbrook  schooner  of  eight  guns,  he 
ascended  the  Savannah  River  as  far  as  Five- Fathom  hole.  He  was  ac- 
companied by  Major  Grant  who,  with  his  command  consisting  of  between 
two  and  three  hundred  light  infantry  and  marines,  was  conveyed  in  two 
transport  ships,  one  of  which  mounted  sixtren  guns.^ 

The  soundings  of  Back  River  opposite  Hutchinson's  Island  having 
been  taken,  two  of  the  vesels  passed  up.  One  of  them  came  into  position 
just  in  front  of  Savannah,  and  the  other,  in  attempting  to  round  the  up- 
per end  of  the  island  so  as  to  attack  the  town  from  above,  grounded  on 
a  bank  opposite  Rae's  Hall.  In  this  disabled  situation  this  armed  vessel, 
which  proved  to  be  the  Hinchinbrook,  was  fired  upon  by  riflemen  under 
the  command  of  Major  Joseph  Habersham,  who  quickly  drove  her  crew 
from  the  deck.  Had  boats  been  procurable  he  would,  with  his  detach- 
ment, have  boarded  and  captured  this  vessel.  At  high  water  she  liberat- 
ed herself  from  the  bank,  and  moved  off.  During  the  night  of  the  2nd  of 
March  between  two  and  three  hundred  troops,  under  the  command  of 
Majors  Maitland  and  Grant,  landed  from  the  vessel  in  Back  River  and 
silently  marched  across  Hutchinson's  Island.  At  four  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  3d  they  took  possession  of  the  rice-laden  vessels  lying 
in  the  Savannah  River  near  the  store  on  that  island  opposite  the  town  of 
Savannah.  So  quietly  had  this  movement  been  conducted  that  it  was 
nine  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  before  the  authorities  in  Savannah  became 
aware  of  the  fact  that  British  troops  were  on  board  of  those  merchant- 
men. It  was  suspected  that  they  had  been  noislessly  and  collusively  sur- 
rendered by  their  captains.  The  intelligence  was  first  communicated  by 
two  sailors  from  one  of  these  vessels  who,  coming  ashore  under  the  pret- 
ence of  procuring  some  clothes,  gave  information  that  Captain  Rice,  who 
had  been  detailed  to  execute  the  order  issued  by  the  council  of  safety 
directing  that  all  ships  in  port  should  be  dismantled,  having  boarded  one 
of  these  vessels  in  performances  of  his  duty  was,  with  his  boat's  crew 
forcibly  detained.     Great  excitement  prevailed  in  Savannah. 

iSee  letter  of  Governor  Wright  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  dated  "onboard  his 
Majesty's  ship  Scarborough,  at  Cockspur,  in  the  river  Savannah,  in  the  Province  of 
Georgia,  the  loth  of  March,  1776." 


228  History  of  Savannah. 

Colonel  Mcintosh,  with  three  hundred  men,  at  once  proceeded  to 
Yamacraw  Bluff,  where  he  hastily  threw  up  a  breastwork  and  posted 
three  four-pounder  guns  bearing  upon  the  shipping.  Before  opening 
fire,  Lieutenant  Daniel  Roberts,  of  the  St.  John's  Rangers,  and  Captain 
Raymond  Demere,  of  St.  Andrew's  parish,  were  dispatched  under  a  flag  of 
truce  to  demand  the  release  of  Rice  and  his  boats  crew.  Rowing  across  the 
river  they  boarded  the  vessel  in  which  Captain  Barclay  and  Major  Grant 
then  were.  In  utter  disregard  to  the  flag,  Roberts  and  Demere,  although 
unarmed  and  on  a  peaceful  mission,  were,  by  command  of  British  of- 
ficers, arrested  and  detained  as  prisoners. 

A  half  hour  having  elapsed  and  the  commissioners  not  returning,  the 
vessel  was  hailed  through  a  speaking-trumpet,  and  the  release  of  Rice, 
Roberts,  and  Demere  peremptorily  demanded.  Insulting  replies  being 
received,  two  four-pounder  shots  were  fired  at  the  vessel,  when  it  was 
answered  that  if  the  Americans  would  send  on  board  two  men  in  whom 
they  most  confided,  the  British  commander  would  treat  with  them. 
For  this  purpose  Captain  Screven,  of  the  St.  John's  Rangers,  and  Captain 
Baker,  of  the  St.  John's  Riflemen,  were  detailed.  Taking  with  them 
twelve  men  of  the  St.  John's  Rangers,  they  were  rowed  immediately  un- 
der the  stern  of  the  vessel,  where  they  demanded  the  return  of  the  of- 
ficers and  of  Rice.  Incensed  at  an  insulting  remark.  Captain  Baker 
fired  a  shot  at  some  one  on  board.  This  was  answered  by  a  discharge 
of  swivels  and  small  arms  from  the  vessel  which  almost  sank  the  boat 
and  wounded  one  man  in  it.  Screven  and  Baker  retired,  the  fire  upon 
them  being  kept  up  as  long  as  their  boat  was  within  range.  The 
battery  at  Yamacraw  Bluff  now  opened.  For  the  space  of  about  four 
hours  firing  was  maintained  between  it  and  the  British  troops  on  the 
merchant  vessels. 

The  council  of  safety  having  convened,  it  was  resolved  to  set  fire  to 
the  shipping.  Among  the  volunteers  for  this  service  were  Captain 
Bowen,  John  Morel,  Lieutenant  James  Jackson,  Thomas  Hamilton,  and 
James  Bryan.'  The  Inverness,  late  Captain  McGillivray,  loaded  with 
rice  and  deer-skins,  was  ignited  and  turned  adrift  in  the  river.  "  Upon 
this,"  writes  President  Ewen  to  the  council  of  safety  in  South  Carolina, 
"  the  soldiers  in  the  most  laughable  confusion  got  ashore  in  the  marsh, 

'  See  Charlton's  Life  of  Jackson,  Part  i.,  p.  8.     Augusta,  Georgia.       1809. 


Ships  Burned.  229 


while  our  riflemen,  and  field- pieces  with  grape  shot,  were  incessantly- 
galling  them.  The  shipping  was  now  also  in  confusion.  Some  got  up 
the  river  under  cover  of  the  armed  schooner,  while  others  caught  the 
flame,  and,  as  night  approached,  exhibited  a  scene  as  they  passed  and 
repassed  with  the  tide,  which  at  any  but  the  present  time  would  be 
truly  horrible,  but  now  a  subject  only  of  gratitude  and  applause.  The 
Ships  of  Captains  Inglis '  and  Wardell  neither  got  up  the  river  nor  on 
fire.  They  were  ordered  on  shore  and  now  are  prisoners  of  Capt" 
Screven  in  the  country,  and  their  vessels  brought  down  close  into  a 
wharf.  They  were  permitted  to  write  to  Captain  Barclay  in  the  evening 
to  inform  him  of  their  situation  and  to  request  an  exchange  of  prisoners, 
which  the  latter  peremptorily  refused." 

Responding  to  their  promise  to  furnish  aid,  the  South  Carolina  Coun- 
cil of  Safety  sent  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  volunteers  from  Charles- 
town,  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  country  militia,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Colonel  Bull,  who,  arriving  at  the  critical  moment,  assisted  the 
Georgians  in  dislodging  the  enemy.  Three  of  the  merchant  vessels 
were  burnt,  six  were  dismantled,  and  two  escaped  to  sea. 

Before  the  British  resumed  their  station  at  Tybee  Roads  a  detach- 
ment of  marines  went  ashore  on  Skidoway  Island  to  collect  stores.  It 
was  driven  ofi'by  a  company  of  militia  under  the  command  of  Lieuten- 
ant Hext.  In  a  skirmish  which  occurred  the  same  day  at  Cockspur, 
Lieutenants  Oates  and  Laroach  were  killed  ^. 

That  the  British  forces  were  utterly  foiled  in  their  purpose  may  not 
be  denied,  although  Governor  Wright  sought  to  convey  a  different  im- 
pression of  the  affair.  In  his  letter  '  of  the  loth  of  March,  addressed  to 
Lord  Dartmouth,  he  claims  that  the  expedition  returned  to  Tybee  Roads 
"  with  14  or  15  merchant  ships  and  vessels  of  one  sort  and  another,  hav- 
ing on  board  about  1600  barrels  of  rice."  This  is  unquestionably  an 
exaggeration.  He  further  states  that  the  troops  sustained  no  loss,  and 
that  only  four  sailors  were  wounded. 

Lieutenant  Roberts  and  Messrs.  Demere  and  Rice  being  still  de- 
tained as  prisoners  by  the  enemy,  the  Georgia  authorities,  as  a  retalia- 

'  It  was  in  his  vessel  that  many  of  the  British  soldiers  had  been  received. 
'  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  68.     Savannah.     1816. . 
'  Written  on  board  his  majesty's  ship  Scarbot  ough,  at  Cockspur,  in  the  river  Savan- 
nah.    P.  R.  O.,  Am.  &  vv^.  Ind.,  vol.  ccxxxvii. 


230  History  of  Savannah. 

tory  measure,  arrested  James  Edward  Powell,  Anthony  Stokes,  Josiah 
Tattnall,  John  Mullryne,  and  such  other  members  of  the  king's  coun- 
cil as  remained  in  Savannah.  Several  merchants  and  parties  pecul- 
iarly obnoxious  to  the  "  Liberty  Boys,"  were  compelled  to  leave  the 
town.  They  sought  refuge  in  the  fleet.  After  various  negotiations, 
about  the  20th  of  March  Messrs.  Roberts,  Demere,  and  Rice  were  re- 
leased upon  condition  that  the  members  of  council  under  arrest  should 
be  set  at  liberty,  with  permission  either  to  remain  in  Savannah  upon  pa- 
role that  they  should  have  "  no  connection  with  the  King's  ships  or 
troops  in  this  Province,  and  with  the  understanding  that  the  safety  of 
their  persons  and  property  should  be  secured  so  far  as  the  same  could 
be  protected  by  the  Council  of  Safety,"  or  with  liberty  "  to  go  on  board 
the  ships  at  Cockspur  and  take  their  apparel,  provisions,  and  anything 
else  they  might  think  necessary  for  their  voyage,  if  they  were  disposed 
to  leave  the  Province." 

Governor  Wright,  the  officers  of  the  fleet,  and  the  soldiers  were  in 
the  habit  of  going  ashore  on  Tybee  Island  and  utilizing,  for  their  comfort 
and  enjoyment,  the  houses  there  situated.  This  the  council  of  safety  de- 
termined to  prevent  in  future  by  the  destruction  of  those  edifices.  Ac- 
cordingly, an  expedition, — consisting  of  riflemen,  light  infantry,  volun- 
teers, and  a  few  Creek  Indians, — led  by  Archibald  Bulloch,  on  the  25th 
of  March  made  a  descent  upon  that  island  and  burned  every  house  ex- 
cept one,  in  which  a  sick  woman  and  several  children  were  lying.  Two 
marines  from  the  fleet  and  a  Tory  were  killed,  and  one  marine  and  sev- 
eral Tories  were  captured.  Although  the  Cherokee,  man-of-war,  and 
an  armed  sloop  kept  up  an  incessant  fire,  the  party,  consisting  of  about 
one  hundred  men,  sustained  no  loss  and  returned  safely,  having  fully 
executed  the  prescribed  mission. 

Apprehending  that  the  British  forces  would,  at  an  early  day,  renew 
the  demonstration  against  Savannah,  every  effort  was  expended  by  the 
council  of  safety  in  fortifying  the  town  and  in  concentrating  troops  for 
its  protection.  The  Rubicon  had  been  passed.  Blood  had  been  shed, 
and  resistance  to  the  death  offered  on  the  part  of  Georgians  to  Englisii 
dominion.  The  patriotism  displayed  by  the  citizens  of  Savannah  and 
the  manhood  exhibited  in  the  defense  of  their  homes  cannot  be  too 
highly  commended.      In  commenting  upon  the  resolutions  of  the  coun- 


Preparations  for  Defense.  231 

cil  of  safety,  unanimously  adopted,  which  provided  that  the  torch  should 
be  applied  to  Savannah  in  every  direction  to  prevent  its  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  so  that  if  its  defenders  were  compelled  to  abandon 
the  town  the  victors  would  become  possessed  of  only  a  mass  of  smok- 
ing ruins,  Captain  McCall  ^  justly  observes  :  "  There  are  many  instances 
of  conflagration  by  order  of  a  monarch  '  who  can  do  no  wrong,'  but 
there  are  few  instances  upon  record  where  the  patriotism  of  the  citizen 
has  urged  him  on  to  the  destruction  of  his  own  property  to  prevent  its 
becoming  an  asylum  to  the  enemies  of  his  country-." 

The  same  author  intimates,  in  explanation  of  the  remarkably  few 
casualties  sustained  during  this  demonstration  against  Savannah,  that 
the  hostile  disposition  of  the  opposing  parties  had  not  then  been  fully 
roused  ;  that  some  hope  still  remained  of  an  amicable  adjustment  of 
the  differences  existing  between  England  and  America ;  and  that  the  in- 
clination was  rather  to  excite  alarm  by  menace  than  to  irritate  by  the 
shedding  of  blood.  The  suggestion  is  not  without  force,  and  is  specially 
applicable  to  the  conduct  of  the  English  troops.^ 

The  forces  furnished  by  South  Carolina  and  present  in  Savannah 
during  this  period  of  alarm  numbered  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  men^ 
officers  and  privates.  They  were  commanded  by  Colonel  Stephen  Bull, 
assisted  by  Major  Bourquin.  Some  forty  of  them  were  posted  at  Eb- 
enezer  as  a  guard  to  the  public  records  and  the  surplus  powder  which 
had  been  removed  from  Savannah  to  that  point  as  a  place  of  greater  se- 
curity. Various  were  the  detachments  which  composed  this  little  army 
under  Colonel  Bull.  In  his  general  return,  prepared  at  Savannah  on  the 
15th  of  March,  certified  by  Thomas  Rutledge,  adjutant,  and  forwarded 
to  Colonel  Henry  Laurens,  then  president  of  the  council  of  safety  in 
Charlestown,  the  following  organizations  are  enumerated  :  the  Charles- 
town  Volunteers,  the  Charlestown  Rangers,  the  Charlestown  Light  In- 
fantry, the  Charlestown  Fuzileers,  the  Beaufort  Light  Infantry,  the  St. 
Helena  Volunteers,  the-Euhaw  Volunteers,  the  Huspa  Volunteers,  the 
Light  Horse  or  Pocotaligo   Hunters,  detachments  from  Oakety  Creek, 

'  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  60.     Savannah.     1816. 

"  For  a  further  account  of  the  incidents  connected  with  this  demonstration  against 
Savannah,  see  Drayton's  Memoirs  of  the  American  Revolution,  vol.  ii.,  chap.-  xiv. 
Charleston.  -  1821. 


232  History  of  SavannaiI. 

St.  Peter's,  Black  Swamp,  Pipe  Creek,  Boggy- Gut,  New  Windsor,  and 
Upper  three  Runs,  and  the  Beaufort  Artillery.^ 

After  the  affair  of  the  2d  of  March  there  still  remained  near  the 
wharves  the  following  vessels  which  had  escaped  destruction  by  fire  and 
capture  by  the  enemy:  the  ship  Unity,  Captain  Wardell,  with  700  bar- 
rels of  rice  on  board ;  the  ship  Georgia  Packet,  Captain  Inglis,  with  500 
barrels  of  rice;  the  hrigs  Amity,  freighted  with  ash  and  live-oak;  the 
Rebecca,  Captain  Rutherford,  with  a  cargo  of  lumber  ;  the  Sorick,  Cap- 
tain Steel,  in  ballast;  the  Beaufort,  Captain  Wood,  also  in  ballast;  the 
Fair  Lady,  Captain  Robertson,  with  30  hogsheads  of  tobacco ;  and  the 
schooner  Horse  Race,  Captain  Burch,  in  ballast  To  prevent  all  possibil- 
ity of  their  departure  to  sea,  the  council  of  safety  ordered  their  rigging 
to  be  brought  ashore,  and  that  their  rudders  should  be  "  unhung.''  Col- 
onel Bull  was  requested  to  superintend  the  execution  of  this  order.  As 
it  was  noised  abroad  by  evil-disposed  persons  that  the  Carolinians  had 
taken  possession  of  Savannah,  Colonel  Bull  suggested  that  the  matter  had 
better  be  attended  to  by  Georgia  troops,  aud  that  he  would  be  near  with 
his  command  to  render  assistance  in  case  resistance  was  offered  by  the 
captains  and  crews  of  the  vessels.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Stirk,  with  forty 
of  the  Georgia  militia,  was  therefore  detailed  to  dismantle  these  vessels. 
This  service  he  performed  in  a  satisfactory  manner. 

All  danger  of  an  immediate  renewal  of  the  attack  by  the  enemy 
being  now  regarded  as  overpast,  and  there  being  no  longer  any  neces- 
sity for  the  retention,  on  Georgia  soil,  of  the  Carolina  troops.  Colonel 
Bull  departed  with  his  command.  Having  disbanded  it  in  the  lower 
part  of  South  Carolina,  he  repaired  to  Charlestown  where  he  rendered 
an  account  to  the  council  of  safety  of  all  affairs  which  had  been  entrusted 
to  him.  Sensible  of  the  valuable  aid  rendered  by  this  officer  and  his 
companions  to  the  colony,  in  a  trying  hour,  the  Provincial'  Congress  of 
Georgia  on  the  24th  of  March  passed  the  following  resolution:  "That 
the  thanks  of  the  Congress  be  returned  to  Stephen  Bull  Esqr.  of  Shel- 
don, Colonel  of  the  Granville  County  regiment  of  militia,  for  his  import- 
ant services  in  command  of  the  Colony  forces  in  Savannah ;    and  that 


'  Drayton's  Memoirs  of  the  American  Revolution,  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  238.    Charleston. 
1821. 


Declaration  of  Independence.  233 

he  be  desired  to  signify  their  thanks  to  the  officers  and  men  then  under 
his  command.''  ^ 

Upon  the  departure  of  the  Carolina  troops  there  remained  for  the 
protection  of  Savannah  the  Georgia  battalion,  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Mcintosh,  numbering  only  two  hundred  and  thirty-six  men. 
Of  these  not  more  than  one  hundred  were  present  for  duty.  Along  the 
Florida  line  was  distributed  a  troop  of  sixty  mounted  men  to  prevent 
cattle  stealing.  A  body  of  cavalry  of  like  strength  guarded  the  west- 
ern frontier  against  the  threatened  invasion  of  the  Indians.  For  the 
protection  of  the  sea-coast,  permeated  with  bays  and  inlets  and  infested 
by  armed  vessels  of  light  draft,  there  was  not  a  single  ship.  Such  was 
the  defenseless  condition  of  the  province.  Evincing  no  alarm,  however, 
the  patriots  calmly  and  energetically  organized  their  government,  ac- 
cumulated warlike  stores,  and  placed  the  militia  upon  the  best  possible 
footing.  His  excellency  Archibald  Bulloch,  president  and  commander- 
in-chief,  true  to  the  high  trusts  confided  to  him,  manifested  "  an  ability 
suited  to  the  occasion,"  and  an  "energy  adequate  to  the  crisis." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Promulgation  in  Savannah  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence — King  George  III. 
Interred  in  Effigy — General  Charles  Lee  Plans  an  Expedition  Against  East  Florida — 
Constitution  of  1777 — Military  and  Political  Events — The  Theater  of  War  Transferred  to 
the  Southern  Department — Reduction  of  Savannah  Resolved  Upon — Invasion  of  Georgia 
by  Colonels  Fuser  and  Prevost — Successful  Delense  of  Sunbury  by  Colonel  John  Mcin- 
tosh— Colonel  Campbell's  Advance  upon  and  Capture  of  Savannah  in  December,  1778 
— Details  of  the  Affair — Losses  Sustained  by  the  Rebels. 

SIX  days  after  the  defeat  of  the  British  fleet  before  the  palmetto  walls 
of  the  fort  on  Sullivan's  Island,  the  United  Colonies  proclaimed  them- 
selves free  and  independent. 

So  tardy  were  the  means  of  communication  when  the  electric  tele- 


'  This  expedition  for  the  relief  of   Georgia  cost  the  province  of  South  Carolina 
ie6,2i3  7 J.  6rf, 

30 


234  History  of  Savannah. 

s;raph  and  conveyance  by  steam  were  wholly  unknown,  that  the  Declar- 
ation of  Independence,  sanctioned  in  Philadelphia  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1776,  was  not  heard  of  in  Georgia  until  the  loth  of  August.  On  that 
day  an  express  messenger  delivered  to  President  Bulloch  a  copy  of  that 
memorable  document,  accompanied  by  a  letter  from  John  Hancock,  pres- 
ident of  the  Continental  Congress.  The  Provincial  Council  was  at  once 
assembled,  and  to  it  did  President  Bulloch  read  aloud  that  historic  utter- 
ance. Profound  was  the  impression  created  upon  the  minds  of  his  audi- 
tors, and  rapturously  did  the  assembled  councilors  hail  the  elevation  of  a 
British  colony  into  the  dignity  of  a  free  and  independent  State. 

This  ceremony  concluded,  the  president  and  council  repaired  to  the 
public  square,  where,  in  front  of  the  building  set  apart  for  the  deliberations 
of  the  Provincial  Assembly,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  again 
read,  and  this  time  amid  the  acclamations  of  the  congregated  citizens  of 
Savannah.  The  grenadier  and  light  infantry  companies  then  fired  a 
general  salute.     A  procession  was  formed  consisting  of 

The  Grenadiers  in  front  ; 

The  Provost  Marshal  on  horseback,  with  his  sword  drawn  ; 

The  Secretary,  bearing  the  Declaration  ; 

His  Excellency  the  President  ; 

The  honorable  the  Council,  and  gentlemen  attending ; 

The  Light  Infantry  ; 

The  Militia  of  the  town  and  district  of  Savannah  ; 

and  lastly,  the  citizens. 

In  this  order  they  marched  to  the  liberty  pole,  where  they  were  met 
by  the  Georgia  battalion.  Here  the  declaration  was  read  for  the  third 
time.  At  the  command  of  Colonel  Mcintosh,  thirteen  volleys  were  fired 
from  the  field-pieces  and  also  from  the  small  arms.  Thence  the  entire 
concourse  proceeded  to  the  battery,  at  the  Trustees'  Garden,  where  the 
declaration  was  publicly  read  for  the  fourth  and  last  time,  and  a  salute 
was  fired  from  the  siege  guns  planted  at  that  point. 

His  excellency,  the  members  of  council.  Colonel  Lachlan  Mcintosh, 
many  gentlemen,  and  the  militia  dined  under  the  cedar  trees  and  cordi- 
ally drank  to  the  "  prosperity  and  perpetuity  of  the  United,  Free,  and 
Independent  States  of  America." 

In  the  evening  the  town  was  illuminated.  A  funeral  procession,  em- 
bracing a  number  of  citizens  larger  than  had  ever  been  congregated  in 


fixPEDitioN  Against  Florida  t'LAN>fED.  235 


the  history  of  Savannah,  and  attended  by  the  grenadier  and  Hght  infan- 
try companies,  the  Georgia  battalion,  and  the  militia,  with  muffled  drums, 
marched  to  the  front  of  the  court-house  where  his  majesty  George  the 
Third  was  interred  in  effigy,  and  the  following  burial  service,  prepared 
for  the  occasion,  was  read  with  all  solemnity  : 

"  For  as  much  as  George  the  Third,  of  Great  Britain,  hath  most  fla- 
grantly violated  his  Coronation  Oath,  and  trampled  upon  the  Constitu- 
tion of  our  country,  and  the  sacred  rights  of  mankind :  we,  therefore, 
commit  his  political  existence  to  the  ground — corruption  to  corruption — 
tyranny  to  the  grave — and  oppression  to  eternal  infamy ;  in  sure  and 
certain  hope  that  he  will  never  obtain  a  resurrection  to  rule  again  over 
these  United  States  of  America.  But,  my  friends  and  fellow-citizens,  let 
us  not  be  sorry,  as  men  without  hope,  for  Tyrants  that  thus  depart — 
rather  let  us  remember  America  is  free  and  independent ;  that  she  is,  and 
will  be,  with  the  blessing  of  the  Almighty,  GREAT  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth.  Let  this  encourage  us  in  well  doing,  to  fight  for  our  rights 
and  privileges,  for  our  wives  and  children,  and  for  all  that  is  near  and 
dear  unto  us.  May  God  give  us  his  blessing,  and  let  all  the  people  say 
Amen." 

With  similar  joy  was  the  Declaration  of  Independence  welcomed  in 
other  parishes  of  Georgia.  St.  John's  Parish,  the  home  of  Hall  and 
Gwinnett,  two  of  the  signers,  was  most  pronounced  in  its  demonstrations 
of  approval. 

Now  that  Georgia  had  been  formally  recognized  as  a  State  by  the 
highest  congress  known  to  the  late  provinces,  and  as  it  had  been  recom- 
mended by  the  Colonial  Congress  that  governments  should  be  provided  in 
the  several  States  adapted  to  the  exigencies  of  the  new  order  of  affairs  and 
conducive  to  the  happiness  and  safety  alike  of  the  respective  States  and 
of  the  United  States,  Presdient  Bulloch  issued  his  proclamation  ordering 
a  general  election  to  be  held  between  the  1st  and  lOth  of  September  for 
the  purpose  of  selecting  representatives  to  meet  in  convention  in  Savan- 
nah on  the  first  Tuesday  in  October. 

Flushed  with  his  recent  victory  in  Charles-Town  harbor,  General 
Charles  Lee,  in  August,  planned  an  expedition  for  the  reduction  of  St. 
Augustine.  A  concentration  of  forces  was  had  at  Savannah  ;  and,  on 
the   1 8th  the   general  reviewed   the  army   on  the  green  at  Yamacraw. 


236  MistoRy  of  Savannah. 

Precipitate  action,  the  absence  of  needful  supplies  and  requisite  transpor- 
tation, hot  suns,  and  severe  fevers  interrupted  the  advance  of  the  troops, 
and  the  whole  affair  was  countermanded  at  Sunbury. 

In  obedience  to  the  proclamation  and  circular  letter  of  President  Bul- 
loch, the  various  parishes  of  Georgia,  within  the  specified  time,  proceeded 
to  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  constitutional  convention  which  was 
ordered  to  assemble  in  Savannah  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  October,  1776. 
These  delegates  were  men  of  repute  in  the  communities  from  which  they 
came.  They  had  been  carefully  chosen,  were  pronounced  friends  of  lib- 
erty, and  were  not  insensible  to  the  weighty  obligations  resting  upon 
them.  At  this  crisis  of  the  nation's  fate  so  n,umerous  were  the  subjects 
claiming  the  attention  of  the  convention,  and  so  exhaustive  were  its  de- 
liberations, it  was  not  until  the  Sth  of  February,  1777,  that  satisfactory 
conclusions  were  reached,  and  that  the  constitution  ^  was  promulgated 
which,  for  twelve  years,  defined  and  supported  the  rights  of  Georgia  as 
an  independent  State. 

Then  followed  the  capture  of  Fort  Mcintosh  by  Colonels  Brown, 
Cunningham,  and  McGirth,  the  defeat  by  Colonel  Mcintosh  of  an  expe- 
ditionary force  issuing  from  East  Florida,  the  death  of  President  Bulloch 
—  the  lamp  of  liberty  in  his  hand  trimmed  and  burning  —  the  election  of 
Button  Gwinnett  as  his  successor,  his  disagreement  with  Mcintosh,  his  ill- 
timed  and  disastrous  expedition  for  the  subjugation  of  East  Florida,  the 
defeat  of  Colonel  Baker,  the  election  of  John  Adam  Treutlen  as  gover- 
nor, the  duel  between  Gwinnett  and  Mcintosh,  the  futile  attempt  of  the 
South  Carolinians  to  absorb  Georgia,  the  elevation  of  John  Houstoun  to 
the  gubernatorial  chair  on  the  loth  of  January,  1778  and  his  investiture 
by  the  executive  council  with  almost  dictatorial  powers,  the  joint  effort 
of  Governor  Houstoun  and  General  Robert  Howe,  in  the  spring  of  that 
year,  to  overrun  East  Florida,  the  gallant  capture  by  Colonel  Elbert  of 
the  brigantine  Hinchinbrook,  the  sloop  Rebecca,  and  a  prize  brig,  Col- 
onel Elijah  Clarke's  brilliant  but  vain  attempt  to  dislodge  the  enemy 
from  his  works  on  Alligator  Creek,  the  abandonment  of  the  expedition 
at  Fort  Tonyn,  and  the  return  of  the  troops  to  Sunbury,  Savannah,  and 
Charles-Town. 

In  the  fall  of  1778  Lord  George  Germain  determined  to  transfer  the 

I  For  the  provisions  of  this  instrument  see  "  Jones's  History  of  Georgia,"  vol.  i\,  pp. 
252-260. 


Reduction  of  Savannah  Resolved  Upon.  237 


theater  of  active  warfare  from  the  northern  to  the  southern  provinces. 
His  hopes  were  fixed  upon  the  subjugation  of  Georgia  and  South  Caro- 
lina. The  former  was  to  be  invaded  by  General  Augustine  Provost,  is- 
suing from  East  Florida,  while  a  heavy  force,  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Archibald  Campbell,  sailing  from  New  York,  was  to  supplement 
this  movement  by  a  direct  attack  upon  Savannah.  Thus  caught  between 
the  upper  and  the  nether  millstone,  it  was  confidently  expected  that 
Georgia  would  speedily  and  surely  be  ground  down  into  absolute  sub- 
mission to  British  rule. 

As  a  diversion,  and  with  a  view  to  distracting  the  attention  of  General 
Howe  and  the  continental  forces  concentrated  at  Savannah,  General  Pre- 
vost  dispatched  from  St.  Augustine  two  expeditions,  one  by  sea  to  operate 
directly  against  Sunbury,  and  the  other  by  land  to  march  through  and 
devastate  the  lower  portions  of  Georgia,  and,  at  that  town,  to  form  a  junc- 
tion with  the  former.  Sunbury  having  been  reduced,  both  columns  were 
to  advance  upon  Savannah.  Of  the  detachment  moving  by  water,  and 
consisting  of  infantry  and  light  artillery.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Fuser  was 
placed  in  command,  while  the  column  penetrating  by  land  was  entrusted 
to  Lieutenant-Colonel  Mark  Prevost.  Having  successfully  pushed  his 
advance  some  six  miles  beyond  Midway  Meeting-house,  and  there  learn- 
ing not  only  that  the  expedition  under  Colonel  Fuser  had  not  arrived 
before  Sunbury,  but  also  that  Colonels  Elbert  and  White  were  prepared 
vigorously  to  dispute  his  crossing  at  the  great  Ogeeche  River,  Colonel 
Prevost  determined  to  abandon  his  enterprise  and  to  return  to  St.  Au- 
gustine. Delayed  by  head- winds  Colonel  Fuser  did  not  appear  in  front 
of  Sunbury  until  Prevost  had  entered  upon  his  retreat  and  was  beyond 
the  reach  of  communication.  In  the  face  of  Colonel  John  Mcintosh's 
brave  defense  of  that  place,  Fuser  was  forced  to  raise  the  siege  of  the 
town.  Re-embarking  his  troops  he  returned  to  the  River  St.  John  where 
he  met  the  retreating  troops  under  the  command  of  Prevost.  Mutual  re- 
criminations ensued  between  these  officers,  each  charging  upon  the  other 
the  responsibility  of  the  failure  of  the  respective  expeditions.  While 
this  demonstration  fell  short  of  the  object  proposed,  it  had  the  effect  of 
drawing  General  Howe  and  his  little  army  away  from  Savannah  for  the 
relief  of  Sunbury. 

The  first  definite  intelligence  of  Colonel  Campbell's  approach   was 


^38  History  of  SaVannaiI. 


communicated  by  William  Haslen,  a  deserter  from  the  British  transport 
ship  Neptune.  He  was  examined  before  Governor  Houstoun  on  the  6th 
of  December,  and  a  copy  of  his  deposition  ^  was  at  once  forwarded  by 
express  to  General  Howe  who  was  still  at  Sunbury.  His  declaration  left 
no  doubt  on  the  minds  of  the  authorities  but  that  a  very  formidable  ex- 
pedition was  afloat  destined  for  the  reduction  of  Savannah  and  the  con- 
quest of  Georgia.  About  the  same  time  General  Howe  received  another 
express  from  the  south  verifying  the  rumor  that  General  Augustine  Pre- 
vost  was  on  the  eve  of  marching  from  St.  Augustine,  with  all  his  forces, 
against  Georgia. 

In  this  alarming  posture  of  affairs  the  militia  was  hastily  summoned  to 
the  field,  and  Captain  John  Milton,  secretary  of  State,  was  directed  by  the 
governor  to  pack  and  remove,  without  delay,  to  a  place  of  safety,  all  the 
public  records  appertaining  to  his  office.  They  were  accordingly  trans- 
ported in  boats  to  Purrysburg,  and  thence  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  Bryan. 

Early  in  December  the  first  vessels  belonging  to  Colonel  Campbell's 
expedition  made  their  appearance  at  Tybee.  The  weather  proving  very 
unfavorable,  they  withdrew  to  sea,  and  at  one  time  it  was  hoped  that  the 
alarm  created  by  their  presence  was  premature  and  possibly  false.  Even 
the  governor  shared  in  this  impression,  for  he  ordered  that  the  public 
records  should  be  returned  to  Savannah.  Before  this  was  done  the  Brit- 
ish vessels  were  again  upon  the  coast,  and  Captain  Milton  proceeded  to 
Charlestown  and  there  deposited  the  State's  papers  for  safe-keeping. 

We  learn  from  Lieutenant-Colonel  Archibald  Campbell's  report^  to 
Lord  George  Germain,  dated  Savannah,  January  i6,  1779,  that  in  obedi- 
ence to  Sir  Henry  Clinton's  orders  he  set  sail  from  Sandy  Hook  on  the 
27th  of  November,  1778,  with  his  majesty's  Seventy-first  Regiment  of 
foot,  two  battalions  of  Hessians,  four  battalions  of  Provincials,  and  a  de- 
tachment of  the  royal  artillery,  en  route  for  Georgia.  He  was  escorted  by 
a  squadron  of  his  majesty's  ships  of  war  commanded  by  Commodore 
Parker.  The  entire  fleet,  with  the  exception  of  two  horse  sloops,  arrived 
off"  the  Island  of  Tybee  on  the  23d  of  December.  By  the  27th  the  vessels 
had  crossed  the  bar  and  were  lying  at  anchor  in  the  Savannah  River. 

1  For  a  copy  of  this  deposition  see  McCall's  History  of  Georgia.^  vol.  ii.,  p.  165.    Sa- 
vannah.    i8i6. 

''See  Gentleman' s  Magazine  for  the  year  1739,  p.  177. 


British  Troops  Before  Savannah.  239 


From  the  provincial  battalions  two  corps  of  light  infantry  were  formed, 
one  to  be  attached  to  Sir  James  Baird's  light  company  of  the  Seventy- 
first  Highlanders,  and  the  other  to  Captain  Cameron's  company  of  the 
same  regiment.  Possessing  no  intelligence  that  could  be  relied  upon  with 
regard  to  the  military  force  in  Georgia  or  the  dispositions  made  for  her 
defense,  Sir  James  Baird's  Highland  Company  of  Light  Infantry,  with 
Lieutenant  Clarke  of  the  navy,  was  dispatched  in  two  flat-boats,  on  the 
night  of  the  27th,  to  seize  any  of  the  inhabitants  they  might  find  on  the 
banks  of  Wilmington  River.  Two  men  were  captured,  and  the  informa- 
tion derived  from  them  confirmed  Colonel  Campbell  and  Commodore 
Parker  in  the  resolution  to  land  their  troops  the  next  evening  at  Mr. 
Girardeau's  plantation,  less  than  two  miles  below  the  town  of  Savannah. 
This  was  the  first  practicable  bluff  near  the  Savannah  River, — the  region 
between  it  and  Tybee  Island  being  a  continuous  marsh  intersected  by 
streams. 

The  Vigilant,  a  man-of-war,  with  the  Comet  galley,  the  Kepel,  an 
armed  brig,  and  the  armed  sloop  Greenwich,  followed  by  the  transports 
in  three  divisions  in  the  order  established  for  a  descent,  proceeded  up  the 
river  with  the  tide  at  noon.  About  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  Vig- 
ilant opened  the  reach  to  Girardeau's  plantation,  and  was  cannonaded 
by  two  American  galleys.  A  single  shot  from  the  Vigilant  quickened 
their  retreat.    ' 

The  tide  and  the  evening  being  too  far  spent,  and  many  of  the  trans- 
ports having  gotten  aground  some  five  or  six  miles  below  Girardeau's 
plantation,  the  debarkation  was  delayed  until  the  next  morning.  At 
daybreak  the  first  division  of  the  troops — consisting  of  all  the  light  in- 
fantry of  the  army,  the  New  York  volunteers,  and  the  first  battalion  of 
the  Seventy-first  Regiment,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant- Colonel 
Maitland — was  landed  on  the  river  dam  in  front  of  Girardeau's  planta- 
tion. Thence  a  narrow  causeway,  about  eight  hundred  yards  in  length, 
with  a  ditch  on  each  side,  led  through  a  swamp  directly  towards  Girar- 
deau's residence,  which  stood  upon  a  bluff  some  thirty  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  river  delta.  The  light  infantry,  under  Captain  Cameron,  having 
first  reached  the  shore,  were  rapidly  formed  and  led  briskly  forward  to 
the  bluff  where  Captain  John  C.  Smith,  of  South  Carolina,  with  forty 
men,  was  posted.      Here  the   British  were  welcomed  by  a  smart  fire  of 


240 


History  of  Savannah. 


musketry  by  which  Captain  Cameron  and  two  Highlanders  were  slain 
and  five  others  were  wounded.  Rushing  onward  and  upward  the  enemy 
quickly  succeeded  in  driving  Captain  Smith  from  his  position.  He  re- 
treated upon  the  main  army.  The  bluff  was  soon  occupied  by  the  first 
division  of  the  king's  troops  and  one  company  of  the  Second  Battalion 
of  the  Seventy-first  Regiment,  the  first  battalion  of  Deiancey,  the 
Wellworth  Battalion,  and  a  portion  of  Wissenbach's  regiment  of  Hes- 
sians. 

A  company  of  the  second  battalion  of  the  Seventy-first  Regiment 
and  the  first  battalion  of  Deiancey  being  left  to  cover  the  landing  place, 
Colonel  Campbell  moved  on  in  the  direction  of  Savannah  in  the  follow- 
ing order.  The  light  infantry,  throwing  off  their  packs,  formed  the  ad- 
vance. Then  came  the  New  York  Volunteers,  the  first  battalion  of  the 
Seventy-first  Regiment,  with  two  six-pounder  guns,  and  the  Wellworth 
battalion  of  Hessians  with  two  three-pounders.  A  part  of  Wissenbach's 
Hessian  battalion  closed  the  rear.  Upon  entering  che  great  road  leading 
to  the  town,  Wissenbach's  battalion  was  there  posted  to  secure  the  rear 
of  the  army.  A  thick,  impenetrable,  wooded  swamp  covered  the  left 
of  the  line  of  march,  while  the  cultivated  plantations  on  the  right  were 
scoured  by  the  light  infantry  and  the  flankers. 

The  open  country  near  Tattnall's  plantation  was  reached  just  before 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  command  was  halted  in  the  highway, 
about  two  hundred  paces  from  the  gate  opening  into  Governor  Wright's 
plantation,  and  the  light  infantry  was  formed  upon  the  right  along  the  rail 
fence. 

Leaving  the  English  forces  in  this  position,  we  turn  for  a  moment  to 
General  Howe's  army.  That  officer  had  formed  his  encampment  south- 
east of  Savannah,  and  anxiously  awaited  reinforcements  of  militia  and 
continental  troops  from  South  Carolina.  His  soldiers  had  not  yet  recov- 
ered from  the  pernicious  influences  of  the  Florida  campaign.  About  a 
fourth  of  the  Georgia  Continentals  lay  prostrate  by  disease,  and  many 
who  were  convalescing  were  too  feeble  to  endure  the  fatigue  of  battle.' 
He  had  found  it  impracticable  to  concentrate  the  militia.  On  the  day 
when  Colonel  Campbell  wrestled  with  General  Howe  for  the  possession 
of  Savannah,  the  army  of  the  latter,  exclusive  of  the  militia,  numbered 

.    '  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  169.     Savannah.     1816. 


Order  of  Battle  Announced.  241 

only  six  hundred  and  seventy-two,  rank  and  file;  while  that  of  the  former 
showed  an  aggregate  present  of  more  than  two  thousand. 

On  the  28th  of  December  general  instructions  were  issued  to  prepare 
for  action,  and  on  the  following  day  this  order  of  battle  was  announced: 

"Head  Quarters,  Savannah,  December  29,  1778. 

"  Parole,  Firmness.  The  first  brigade  is  to  be  told  off  into  sixteen 
platoons  of  an  equal  number  of  files;  the  odd  files  to  be  formed  into  one 
platoon  on  the  right  wing  of  the  brigade  t  act  as  light  infantry  accord- 
ing to  exigencies. 

"Two  field  officers  to  be  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  right  wing 
of  both  brigades. 

"  The  second  brigade  to  be  told  off  into  eight  platoons  of  an  equal 
number  of  files  to  be  formed  on  the  left  of  the  first  brigade  in  order  to  act 
as  light  infantry  as  will  be  directed. 

"Colonel  Isaac  Huger  will  command  the  right  wing  of  the  army  com- 
posed of  the  first  brigade  and  the  light  troops  belonging  to  it. 

"  The  artillery  of  both  brigades  and  the  park  to  be  posted  before 
and  during  the  action  as  shall  be  directed,  and  defend  their  ground  until 
further  orders.  The  artillery  when  ordered  or  forced  to  retreat  are  to 
fall  into  the  road  leading  to  the  western  defile  where  Colonel  Roberts  is 
to  take  as  advantageous  a  post  as  possible  to  protect  the  retreat  of  the 
line." 

The  town  of  Savannah  was  approached  by  three  principal  roads:  one 
leading  from  the  high  grounds  of  the  Brewton  Hill  plantation  and  Thun- 
derbolt, and  forming  a  causeway  where  it  crossed  a  morass  adjacent  to 
the  town,  with  rice-fields  to  the  north  and  wooded  swamps  on  the  south; 
a  second,  formed  by  the  union  of  the  White  Bluff  and  the  Ogeechee  ferry 
highways,  coming  in  from  the  south;  and  a  third,  leading  westwardly 
across  the  deep  swamp  of  Musgrove  Creek,  with  rice-fields  on  the  north 
and  an  extensive  morass  toward  the  south. 

On  the  morning  of  the  29th  when  Colonel  Elbert  discovered  the  en- 
emy in  the  act  of  landing,  he  urged  upon  General  Howe  the  importance 
of  defending  Brewton  Hill,'  and  offered  with  his  regiment  to  prevent  the 
British  from  obtaining  possession  of  it.     The  strategic  value  of  the  bluff 


I  Then  known  as  Girardeau's  plantation. 
31 


242  History  of  Savannah. 

was  apparent,  and  Colonel  Elbert's  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
locality  would  have  enabled  him  in  all  probability  to  have  defeated 
the  enemy  in  his  effort  to  effect  a  lodgment  there.  With  surprising 
stupidity  General  Howe  committed  the  fatal  blunder  of  rejecting  this 
offer,  and  formed  his  army  for  battle  on  the  southeast  of  Savannah 
along  the  crest  of  the  high  ground  and  in  proximity  to  the  town  as  it 
then  stood. 

No  position  more  apt  for  defense  could  have  been  selected  in  the  en- 
tire neighborhood  than  the  bluff  at  Girardeau's  plantation.  A  regiment 
there  posted,  and  a  few  pieces  of  field  artillery  advantageously  distributed 
along  the  brow,  would  have  utterly  shattered  the  advancing  column  of 
the  enemy  moving  along  a  narrow  rice  dam  half  a  mile  in  length  with 
marish  and  impracticable  grounds  on  either  hand.  Persisting  in  such  a 
movement,  the  enemy  could  have  been  torn  to  pieces  by  the  plunging 
and  enfilading  fire.  We  marvel  at  the  lack  of  observation  and  general- 
ship which  permitted  such  an  opportunity  to  pass  unimproved.  The  dis- 
parity of  forces  rendered  it  all  the  more  obligatory  that  every  advantage 
should  have  been  taken  of  this  position.  It  was  the  key  to  Savannah. 
Once  in  the  keeping  of  Colonel  Campbell,  the  subsequent  reduction  of 
the  place  by  means  of  the  preponderating  forces  under  his  command  be- 
came a  matter  only  of  a  short  time  and  energetic  action.  Repulsed  from 
this  landing-place,  and  defeated  in  the  effort  to  obtain  a  base  of  opera- 
tions here,  the  acquisition  of  Savannah  would  have  proved  to  the  enemy  a 
far  more  difficult  problem.  General  Moultrie  condemns  General  Howe  for 
attempting,  under  the  circumstances,  the  defense  of  Savannah,  but  omits 
the  special  censure  which  should  properly  be  visited  upon  him  for  the 
neglect  which  we  have  pointed  out.      He  says:'^ 

"  When  General  Howe  perceived  that  the  British  by  their  movements 
intended  a  descent  upon  Savannah  he  called  a  council  of  war  of  his  field- 
officers  to  advise  with  them  whether  he  should  retreat  from  Savannah  or 
stay  and  defend  the  town  with  his  troops.  The  majority  of  the  council 
were  of  opinion  that  he  should  remain  in  Savannah  and  defend  it  to  the 
last.  This  was  the  most  ill-advised,  rash  opinion  that  could  possibly  be 
given.  It  was  absurd  to  suppose  that  6  or  700  men,  and  some  of  them 
very  raw  troops,  could  stand  against  2  or  3,000  as  good  troops  as  any  the 

'  Memoirs  of  the  American  Revolution,  etc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  253.     New  York.     1802. 


Line  of  Battle.  243 


British  had,  and  headed  by  Colonel  Campbell,  an  active,  brave,  and  ex- 
perienced officer. 

"  From  every  information  which  General  Howe  received  he  was  well 
assured  that  the  British  troops  were  at  least  that  number.  General  Howe 
should  have  retreated  with  his  6  or  700  men  up  the  country,  especially 
as  he  had  certain  information  that  General  Lincoln  was  marching  with  a 
body  of  men  to  join  him,  and  did  actually  arrive  at  Purisburgh  on  the  3rd 
day  of  January,  only  4  days  after  his  defeat.'' 

In  this  judgment  after  event  we  do  not  fully  sympathize.  Had  the 
landing  of  the  enemy  been  properly  disputed,  the  capture  of  Savannah 
would  have  been  either  indefinitely  postponed  or  entirely  prevented. 

General  Howe  formed  line  of  battle  across  the  road  leading  from 
Brewton  Hill  and  Thunderbolt  to  Savannah  at  a  point  about  eight  hun- 
dred yards  distant  from  the  gate  leading  to  Governor  Wright's  planta- 
tion. One  brigade,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  regiments  of  Colonels  Hu- 
ger  and  Thompson,  and  commanded  by  Colonel  Huger,  was  disposed  on 
the  right;  its  left  resting  obliquely  on  the  road,  and  its  right  on  a  wooded 
swamp  covered  by  the  houses  of  the  Tattnall  plantation  in  which  some 
riflemen  were  placed.  The  other  brigade,  consisting  of  par'ts  of  the  first, 
second,  third,  and  fourth  battalions  of  the  Georgia  Continentals,  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  Elbert,  was  posted  upon  the  left ;  its  right  rest- 
ing upon  the  road  and  its  left  extending  to  the  rice-fields  of  Governor 
Wright's  plantation.  Behind  the  left  wing  of  this  brigade  was  the  fort 
on  the  Savannah  River  bluff".  The  town  of  Savannah,  around  which 
were  the  remains  of  an  old  line  of  intrenchments,  was  in  the  rear  of  the 
army.  One  piece  of  field  artillery  was  planted  on  the  right  of  the  line, 
and  another  on  the  left.  Just  where  the  line  crossed  the  Thunderbolt 
roaid  a  traverse  had  been  thrown  up,  and  behind  this  two  cannons  were 
posted.  One  hundred  paces  in  front  of  this  traverse,  at  a  critical  point 
between  two  swamps,  a  trench  was  cut  across  the  road  to  impede  the  ad- 
vance of  the  enemy,  and,  at  about  the  same  distance  beyond  this  trench  in 
the  direction  of  the  enemy,  a  marshy  stream  ran  parallel  with  the  Ameri- 
can line  of  battle.     Where  it  crossed  the  road  the  bridge  had  been  burnt. 

In  this  situation  General  Howe  waited  for  the  approach  of  the  Brit- 
ish. Although  informed  by  Colonel  George  Walton  that  there  was  a 
private  way  through  the  swamp  by  means  of  which  the  enemy  could 


^44  HIstorV  ot  SaVa^tnaH. 

pass  from  the  high  grounds  of  Brewton  Hill  plantation  and  gain  the 
fear  of  the  American  right,  and  although  urged  by  him  to  have  the  same 
properly  guarded,  General  Howe  neglected  to  give  any  attention  to  the 
matterj  thus  committing  another  fatal  error  in  the  conduct  of  this  impor- 
tant affair.    ■ 

Falling  in  with  an  old  negro  man  named  Quamino  Dolly,  Colonel 
Campbell  acquired  information  from  him  of  the  existence  of  the  private 
path  leading  through  the  wooded  swamp  and  debouching  in  the  rear  of 
the  American  right.  He  at  once  secured  his  services  as  a  guide.  The 
first  battalion  of  the  Seventy-first  Regiment  was  ordered  to  form  on  the 
English  right  of  the  road  and  move  up  in  rear  of  the  light  infantry 
which  was  extended  to  the  right  as  though  threatening  the  American 
left.  Taking  advantage  of  a  hollow  which  concealed  the  manoeuvre,  Sir 
James  Baird  was  directed  to  conduct  the  light  infantry  quite  to  the  Brit- 
ish rear ;  and  thence,  passing  to  the  left,  to  enter  the  path  which  led  to 
the  rear  of  the  American  right.  The  New  York  volunteers  under  Colo- 
nel Trumbull  were  instructed  to  support  him. 

While  this  movement  was  in  progress  the  British  artillery,  concen- 
trated in  a  field  in  front  of  the  American  right  and  sheltered  from  obser- 
vation by  an  intervening  swell  in  the  ground,  was  held  in  readiness  either 
to  play  upon  the  American  line  of  battle  or  to  open  upon  any  force 
which  might  be  detached  to  enter  the  wood  and  interrupt  the  progress 
of  the  Hght  infantry.  Wellworth's  Hessian  battalion  was  formed  on  the 
left  of  this  artillery. 

Meanwhile,  the  Americans  opened  upon  the  enemy  with  cannon. 
This  fire  provoked  no  reply.  Sir  James  Baird  and  the  light  infantry, 
having  fairly  gained  the  rear  of  the  right  of  General  Howe's  army,  issued 
from  the  swamp  and  attacked  a  body  of  militia  which  had  been  posted 
to  guard  the  road  leading  to  the  Great  Ogeechee  ferry.  This  force  was 
quickly  put  to  flight.  At  the  sound  of  these  guns  Colonel  Campbell  ran 
his  field- pieces  to  the  front  and  opened  a  heavy  cannonade.  He  at  the 
same  time  ordered  a  vigorous  charge  all  along  his  line.  Attacked  in 
front  and  rear  the  patriots  soon  gave  way.  A  retreat  was  sounded.  A 
panic  ensued,  and  the  Americans  made  their  way,  as  best  they  could, 
and  in  a  confused  manner,  through  the  town.  Before  the  retiring  army 
gained  the  head  of  the  causeway  over  Musgrove's  swamp,  west  of  Savan- 


t)EFEAt   OF   tHfe   CoNTINfeNTAL  TrOOPS.  245 

nah — the  only  pass  by  which  a  retreat  was  practicable, — the  enemy  se- 
cured a  position  to  interrupt  the  crossing.  By  extraordinary  exertions 
Colonel  Roberts  kept  the  British  in  check  until  the  center  of  the  army 
made  its  escape.  The  American  right  flank  being  between  two  fires  suf- 
fered severely.  The  left,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Elbert,  con- 
tinued the  cot^flict  with  such  gallantry  that  a  retreat  by  the  causeway  be- 
came impracticable.  That  officer  therefore  attempted  to  lead  his  troops 
through  the  rice-fields  between  the  Springfield  causeway  and  the  river. 
In  doing  so  he  encountered  a  heavy  fire  from  the  enemy,  who  had  taken 
possession  of  the  causeway  and  of  the  adjacent  high  grounds  of  Ewens- 
burg.  Reaching  Musgrove  Creek,  Colonel  Elbert  found  it  filled  with 
water,  for  the  tide  was  high.  Consequently,  only  those  of  his  command 
who  could  swim  succeeded  in  crossing,  and  this  they  did  with  the  loss  of 
their  arms  and  accoutrements.  The  others  were  either  drowned  or 
captured. 

The  Georgia  militia,  about  one  hundred  in  number,  posted  in  rear  of 
the  right  of  the  American  line  on  the  South  Common,  and  commanded 
by  Colonel  George  Walton,  received  the  shock  of  the  column  led  by  Sir 
James  Baird.  The  conflict  was  spirited,  but  of  short  duration.  Colonel 
Walton,  wounded,^  fell  from  his  horse  and  was  captured.  Pressed  by  Sir 
James  Baird  from  the  southeast,  this  command  in  retreating  into  the 
town  was  met  by  the  enemy  in  hot  pursuit  of  the  fugitive  army  of  Gen- 
eral Howe.  It  suffered  terribly,  and  was  wholly  killed,  wounded,  or 
captured.  Some  of  its  members — inhabitants  of  Savannah — were  bayo- 
neted in  the  streets  by  their  victorious  pursuers. ^ 

As  soon  as  Sir  Hyde  Parker  perceived  the  impression  made  upon  the 
American  line  by  Colonel  Campbell,  he  quickly  moved  his  small  armed 
vessels  up  to  the  town,  sending  the  Comet  galley  as  far  as  the  ebb  tide 
would  permit.  Thus  all  the  shipping  at  the  wharves  was  taken,  and  Sa- 
vannah was  cut  off"  from  communication  with  South  Carolina.  His 
squadron  captured  one  hundred  and  twenty- six  prisoners,  three  ships, 
three  brigs,  and  eight  smaller  vessels.  The  only  loss  experienced  by 
him  consisted  of  one  seaman  killed  and  five  sailors  wounded.^ 

'  Colonel  Walton  received  a  shot  in  the  thigh  from  which  he  never  entirely  recovered 
Ch.?ix\\.OT\'%  Life  of  Jackson,"^.  \j).     Augusta.     1809. 

'See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol,  ii.,  p.  175.     Savannah.     1816. 
'  See  Steven's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  177.     Philadelphia.     1859. 


246  History  of  Savannah. 

Having  vainly  endeavored  to  rally  his  routed  army  on  the  high 
ground  west  of  Musgrove's  swamp,  General  Howe  retreated  to  Cherokee 
Hill,  about  eight  miles  from  Savannah,  where  he  halted  until  the  strag- 
glers could  come  up.  From  this  point  he  dispatched  Lieutenant  Ten- 
nill  with  orders  to  Lieutenant  Aaron  Smith,  of  the  Third  South  Carolina 
Regiment  commanding  at  Ogeechee  Ferry,  and  to  Major  Lane,  com- 
manding at  Sunbury,  to  evacuate  their  posts  and  join  the  army  at  Sis- 
ter's and  Zubly's  ferries.  After  a  march  of  thirty-six  hours,  through  a 
swampy  region.  Lieutenant  Smith,  with  twenty  men,  joined  a  detach- 
ment of  the  rear  guard  of  the  army  at  Ebenezer. 

Persuaded  by  Captain  Dollar,  commanding  a  corps  of  artillery,  and 
by  many  of  the  leading  inhabitants  of  Sunbury  who  regarded  his  with- 
drawal as  fatal  to  all  their  hopes  of  safety.  Major  Lane  deliberately  dis- 
obeyed these  orders.  He  was  subsequently  captured  by  General  Prevost; 
and,  upon  his  release  and  return  to  the  army,  was  tried  by  a  courtmartial 
and  dismissed  from  service  for  this  improper  conduct. 

From  Cherokee  Hill  General  Howe  marched  up  the  Savannah  River 
to  Sister's  and  Zubly's  ferries  where  he  crossed  over  into  South  Carolina, 
abandoning  Georgia  to  her  fate. 

In  this  disastrous  and  sadly  conducted  affair  the  Americans  lost 
eighty-three  killed  and  drowned. ^  Thirty-eight  officers  and  four  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates  were  made  cap- 
tive. Among  the  prisoners  were  many  sick  who  had  not  participated  in 
the  unfortunate  engagement.  Forty-eight  pieces  of  cannon,  twenty- 
three  mortars,  ninety-four  barrels  of  powder,  a  fort,  the  shipping  in  port, 
and,  above  all,  the  capital  of  Georgia  were  among  the.  substantial  tro- 
phies of  this  victory. 2 

Wonderful  to  relate,  the  loss  sustained  by  the  British  consisted  of 
only  one  captain  and  two  privates  killed,  and  one  sergeant  and  nine  pri- 
vates wounded. 

Although  Colonel  Campbell  reported   that  "every  possible  care  was 

I  Colonel  Campbell  says,  in  his  report  to  Lord  George  Germain,  that  eighty-three 
Americans  were  found  dead  upon  the  common,  and  eleven  wounded,  and  that  he  learned 
from  the  prisoners  that  thirty  were  drowned  in  the  swamp  in  attempting  to  make  their 
escape.     Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1779,  P-  '79- 

^  F"or  a  full  enumeration  of  the  articles  captured,  see  Stedman's  History  of  the  Ameri- 
can War,  vol.  ii.,  p.  71.     London.     1794. 


Outrages  Committed.  247 

taken  of  the  houses  in  town,"  and  that  "  few  or  no  depredations  oc- 
curred," and  although  he  would  have  Lord  George  Germain  to  believe 
that  many  of  the  respectable  inhabitants  of  Savannah  at  once  flocked  to 
the  king's  standard,  the  truth  is  the  houses  of  all  rebels  were  given  up  to 
the  spoiler.  Brutal  outrages  were  committed  by  both  officers  and  men. 
Prisoners  were  alternately  threatened  and  persuaded,  and  such  as  reso- 
lutely refused  to  enlist  in  the  British  army  were  immured  in  prison  ships 
where  they  suffered  the  privations  and  the  tortures  of  the  damned. 
Among  the  victims  of  British  vengeance  who  were  consigned  to  such 
horrid  confinement  may  be  mentioned  Rev.  Moses  Allen, ^  chaplain  to 
the  Georgia  brigade  and  as  pure  a  patriot  as  dwelt  within  the  confines  of 
the  State,  who  lost  his  life  in  attempting  to  regain  his  liberty  by  swimming 
to  land, —  and  the  venerable  Jonathan  Bryan, —  bending  beneath  the 
weight  of  years  and  many  infirmities,  yet  proud  in  spirit  and  unswerving 
in  his  devotion  to  the  principles  of  American  freedom. 2  The  names  of 
the  Nancy,  Captain  Samnel  Tait,  the  Whitby,  Captain  Lawson,  the  El- 
eanor, Captain  Rathbone,  and  the  Munificence  will  always  be  associated 
with  memories  of  privation,  suffering,  inhumanity,  and  death. 

What  Colonel  Henry  Lee  calls  the  "supineness"  exhibited  by  General 
Howe  in  not  discovering  and  guarding  the  by-way  leading  to  the  rear 
of  his  line  of  battle,  as  well  as  his  general  conduct  in  the  affair  of  the  29th 
of  December,  have  been  severely  criticised  and  censured.  They  became 
subjects  of  serious  inquiry  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Georgia.  A 
committee  of  investigation  was  raised  which,  on  the  17th  of  January, 
1780,  submitted  the  following  report:  "The  Committee  appointed  to 
take  into  consideration  the  situation  of  the  State  since  the  29th  of  De- 
cember, 1778,  report  that  the  Capital  and  troops  in  this  State  were  sac- 
rificed on  the  said  29th  of  December,  which  was  the  first  cause  of  the 
distresses  and  consequences  which  ensued.  Your  Committee  are  of  opin- 
ion that  the  delegates  of  this  State  should  be  directed  to  promote  a  trial 
of  Major-General  Howe  who  commanded  on  that  day.  They  find  that 
the  good  people  of  the  State  were  still  further  discouraged  by  the  said 

'  Ramsay's  History  of  the  Re-volution  of  South  Carolina,  vol.  ii.,  p.  7.     Trenton. 

MDCCLXXXV. 

'  Captain  McCall  states  that  when  his  daughter  entreated  Commodore  Parker  to  miti- 
gate the  sufferings  of  her  aged  parent,  she  was  dismissed  with  vulgar  rudeness  and  con- 
tempt.   History  of  Georgia,  vo\.\\., -p.  i^d.     Savannah.     1816. 


248  History  of  Savannah. 

Major- General  Howe  crossing  Savanaah  River  the  next  day  with  the 
troops  that  escaped  from  Savannah,  and  ordering  those  at  Sunbury  and 
Augusta  to  do  the  same  ;  leaving  the  State  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy 
without  any  Continental  troops :  instead  of  retreating  to  the  back  coun- 
try and  gathering  the  inhabitants.  The  country,  thus  abandoned,  be- 
came an  easy  prey  to  the  British  troops,  they  marching  up  and  taking 
post  at  Augusta  and  sending  detachments  to  every  part  of  the  State," 

A  court  of  inquiry  was  held  ;  and  although  General  Howe  was  ac- 
quitted, his  military  reputation  never  recovered  from  the  shadow  cast 
upon  it  by  the  loss  of  the  capital  of  Georgia. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

Proclamations  of  Colonels  Innis  and  Campbell  and  Admiral  Parker — Return  of  Gov- 
ernor Wright — Divided  Government  in  Georgia — The  French  Alliance — Count  d'Estaing 
—  Preparations  by  the  Allied  Army  to  Dislodge  the  English  from  Savannah — Siege  of 
Savannah  in  September  and  October,  1779. 

UPON  the  capture  of  Savannah,  Colonel  Innis,  aid- de-camp  to  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  who  had  accompanied  the  expedition,  was  assigned 
to  the  immediate  command  of  the  town.  He  at  once  issued  a  proclama- 
tion requiring  the  inhabitants  of  Savannah  and  of  the  adjacent  region  to 
bring  in  their  arms,  ammunition,  and  accoutrements  of  every  sort,  and 
surrender  them  to  the  military  storekeeper.  They  were  also  enjoined  to 
reveal  the  places  where  arms  and  stores  were  buried  or  secreted,  under 
penalty  that  if,  upon  search,  such  articles  should  be  foi'.nd,  the  parties 
owning  the  houses  or  plantations  where  such  concealments  occurred, 
should  be  regarded  and  punished  as  enemies  to  the  royal  government. 
Trade  regulations  were  established,  and  special  places  were  designated 
for  the  incoming  and  the  departure  of  boats.  For  entry  or  departure  a 
permit  from  the  superintendent  of  the  port  was  requisite.  A  violation 
of  these  regulations  involved  confiscation  of  boats  and  cargoes,  and  pun- 
ishment of  the  crews. 

On  the  4th  of  January,  1779,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Campbell  and  Sir 


Proclamations.  249 


Hyde  Parker  united  in  a  proclamation  setting  forth  the  fact  that  a  fleet 
and  army  had  arrived  in  Georgia  for  the  protection  of  the  friends  of  law- 
ful government,  and  to  rescue  them  from  the  bloody  persecution  of  their 
deluded  fellow-citizens.  All  well-disposed  inhabitants  "who  reprobated 
the  idea  of  supporting  a  French  league,  and  wished  to  embrace  the  happy 
occasion  of  cementing  a  firm  union  with  the  Parent  State  free  from  the 
imposition  of  taxes  by  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  and  secured  in 
the  irrevocable  enjoyment  of  every  privilege  consistent  with  that  union 
of  force  on  which  their  material  interests  depended,"  were  assured  that 
they  would  meet  with  the  most  ample  protection  on  condition  that  they 
forthwith  returned  to  the  class  of  peaceful  citizens  and  acknowledged 
their  just  allegiance  to  the  Crown.  Against  those  who  should  attempt 
to  oppose  the  reestablishment  of  legal  government  the  rigors  of  war  were 
denounced. 

Persons  desiring  to  avail  themselves  of  the  benefits  of  this  proclama- 
tion'were  invited  to  repair  to  Savannah,  and,  as  an  evidence  of  their  sin- 
cerity, to  subscribe  the  following  oath  :  "  I  .  .  .  do  solemnly  swear 
that  I  will  bear  true  and  faithful  allegiance  to  his  Majesty  King  George 
the  Third,  my  lawful  Sovereign,  and  that  I  will,  at  all  risks,  stand  forth 
in  support  of  his  person  and  government.  And  I  do  solemnly  disclaim 
and  renounce  that  unlawful  and  iniquitous  confederacy  called  the  Gene- 
ral Continental  Congress,  also  the  claim  set  up  by  them  to  independency, 
and  all  obedience  to  them,  and  all  subordinate  jurisdictions  assumed  by 
or  under  their  authority.  All  this  I  do  sincerely  promise  without  equiv- 
ocation or  mental  reservation  whatever.     So  help  me  God." 

A  week  afterwards  another  proclamation  was  issued,  offering  "  a  re- 
ward of  ten  guineas  for  every  committee  and  assembly  man  taken  within 
the  limits  of  Georgia,"  and  "two  guineas  for  every  lurking  villian  who 
might  be  sent  from  Carolina  to  molest  the  inhabitants."'  Prices  were 
prescribed  for  all  articles  of  merchandise,  country  produce,  and  vegeta- 
bles. A  violation  of  the  rules  of  trade,  thus  established,  was  punished 
by  confiscation  of  the  articles  exposed  to  sale.  Licenses  to  traffic  were 
granted  only  to  those  who  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance ;  and  a  pen- 
alty of  one  hundred  pounds  sterling  was  recoverable  from  every  mer- 

'  See  letter  of  Colonel  Campbell  to  Lord  George  Germain,  dated  Savannah,  January 
16,  1779.     Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1779,  p.  177. 


2SO  History  of  Savannah. 

chant  dealing  with  one  disloyal  to  the  king.  No  produce  of  any  kind 
could  be  exported  without  a  certificate  from  the  superintendent  of  the 
port  that  it  was  not  wanted  for  the  use  of  the  king's  soldiers.  To  the 
families  of  those  who  maintained  their  devotion  to  the  American  cause, 
whether  in  camp  or  on  board  prison  ships,  no  mercy  was  shown.  Stripped 
of  property,  their  homes  rendered  desolate,  often  left  without  food  and 
clothing,  they  were  thrown  upon  the  charity  of  an  impoverished  commu- 
nity. The  entire  coast  region  of  Georgia,  with  the  exception  of  Sun- 
bury,  was  now  open  to  the  enemy  who  overran  and  exacted  a  most 
stringent  tribute.  Never  was  change  more  sudden  or  violent  wrought 
in  the  status  of  any  people.  Writing  from  Purrysburg,  on  the  lOth  of 
January,  1779,  to  Colonel  C.  C.  Pinckney,  General  Moultrie  mentions 
that  thousands  of  poor  women,  children,  and  negroes  were  fleeing  from 
Georgia,  they  knew  not  whither,  "  sad  spectacle  that  moved  the  hearts  of 
his  soldiers."  '■ 

Governor  Wright  returned  to  Savannah  on  the  14th  of  July,  i'779, 
and,  six  days  afterward,  resumed  the  reins  of  government.  ^  From  this 
time  forward,  until  its  evacuation  by  the  king's  forces  on  the  nth  of  July, 
1782,  the  town  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  British.  It  was  known 
as  the  capital  of  loyal  Georgia,  while  the  seat  of  government,  fixed  upon 
by  the  Republicans,  was  Augusta.  There  was  little  that  Sir  James  could 
do,  and  most  limited  was  the  establishment  of  civil  authority  which  he 
found  himself  able  to  accomplish.  The  situation  of  Savannah  during  the 
rest  of  the  war  was  isolated  to  the  last  degree. 

During  the  lull  which  preceded  the  gathering  storm,  the  thunders  of 
which  were  soon  to  shake  the  foundations  of  the  city  of  Oglethorpe,  Gov- 
ernor Wright  at  Savannah,  supported  by  the  King's  army,  was  striving 
to  re-create  the  royal  government,  and  to  lead  back  the  inhabitants  of 
Southern  Georgia  to  a  complete  and  an  orderly  submission  to  British  rule. 
At  Augusta,  on  the  other  hand,  the  members  of  the  Supreme  Executive 
Council — invested  with  unlimited  powers  yet  sadly  deficient  in  all  mate- 
rial appliances — were  endeavoring  to  perpetuate  the  sovereignty  of  a  re- 
publican state  just  born  into  the  sisterhood  of  nations,  and  to  arm,  feed, 

'  Memoirs  of  the  American  Revolution,  etc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  259.     New  York,  1802. 
'  See  his  letter  to  Lord  George  Germain,  under  date  Savannah  in  Georgia  the  31st  of 
July,  1779.     P.  R.  O.  Am,  6^  W.  Ind.,  vol.  237. 


FrSNCH   ASSIStANCE.  25  t 

and  clothe  a  patriot  band, — few  in  numbers  yet  brave  of  heart,- — fighting 
for  home,  property,  and  liberty.  Stern  and  relentless  was  the  conflict 
between  the  republican  oligarchy  and  the  English  monarchy.  For  a 
long  time  the  odds  were  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  latter. 

The  treaties  of  commerce  and  alliance  with  Louis  the  Sixteenth  were, 
by  the  Continental  Congress,  unanimously  ratified  on  the  4th  of  May, 
1778.  Frenchmen  were  welcomed  as  the  best  friends  of  America,  and 
the  king  of  France  was  proclaimed  "  the  protector  of  the  rights  of  man- 
kind." Profound  acknowledgements  were  rendered  to  a  gracious  Provi- 
dence for  raising  up  so  powerful  an  ally.  The  independence  of  the  Uni- 
ted Colonies  was  now  regarded  as  no  longer  in  doubt,  and  there  was  great 
joy  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land. 

Arriving  too  late  to  overtake  the  squadron  and  transports  of  Lord 
Howe  on  their  retreat  from  Philadelphia,  Admiral  the  Count  d'Estaing, 
with  his  twelve  ships  of  the  line  and  the  three  frigates,  followed  his  enemy 
to  the  north  and  for  some  time  anchored  within  Sandy  Hook,  where  he 
intercepted  British  merchantmen  bound  for  New  York.  Subsequently 
baffled  at  Newport  in  his  attempt  to  force  an  action  with  the  English 
fleet,  and  sorely  endamaged  by  a  hurricane,  the  French  admiral  repaired 
to  Boston,  and  thence  sailed  for  the  protection  of  the  French  Windward 
Islands.  In  January,  1779,  so  completely  was  maritime  superiority  in  that 
quarter  transferred  to  England  by  the  arrival  of  strong  reinforcements 
under  Admiral  Byron,  that  for  six  months  D'Estaing  was  forced  to  shel- 
ter his  fleet  within  the  bay  of  Port  Royal. 

Taking  advantage  of  the  absence  of  the  British  admiral  who  was  con- 
voying a  fleet  of  merchant  ships  through  the  passages,  the  French  count, 
in  gallant  style,  reduced  both  St.  Vincent  and  Grenada ;  and  afterwards, 
in  a  running  fight,  so  crippled  the  returned  British  squadron  that  the 
superiority  of  France  was  reestablished  in  those  waters. 

It  was  just  at  this  favorable  moment  that  letters  came  from  M.  Gerard, 
the  French  minister,  General  Lincoln,  and  M.  Plombard,  the  French 
consul  at  Charleston,  entreating  Count  d'Estaing  to  cooperate  with  the 
American  forces  for  the  capture  of  Savannah.  In  this  solicitation  Gov- 
ernor Rutledge  earnestly  joined.  Exulting  in  the  victory  which  he  had 
recently  won  over  Lord  Macartney  at  Grenada,  rejoicing  in  the  restora- 
tion of  French  supremacy  in  the  West  Indies,  anxious  to  retrieve  the 


2^2  History  of  SavanNam. 

military  fortunes  which  had  miscarried  during  bis  demonstrations  on  the 
American  coast  the  previous  year,  and  acting  within  the  general  instruc- 
tions he  had  received  from  his  home  government,  Count  d'Estaing  readily 
yielded  to  this  request  and  entered  heartily  into  the  scheme  for  dislodg- 
ing the  enemy  from  Savannah.  Sailing  from  the  Windward  Islands  he 
reached  the  coast  of  Georgia  on  the  ist  of  September,  1779,  with  a  fleet 
consisting  of  twenty-two  ships  of  the  line,  ten  frigates,  and  one  cutter. 
Several  barges,  transport  schooners,  and  American  vessels  accompanied 
the  expedition.  So  sudden  and  unexpected  was  this  descent  that  several 
English  vessels,  wholly  unconscious  of  impending  danger,  were  captured 
at  and  near  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River. 

The  Viscount  de  Fontanges,  adjutant-general  of  the  army,  was  at  once 
dispatched  by  the  count  in  the  frigate  Amazon,  commanded  by  the  fam- 
ous navigator  La  Perouse,  to  proceed  to  Charlestown  and  arrange  with 
General  Lincoln  and  the  American  authorities  a  suitable  plan  of  opera- 
tions. He  arrived  at  that  city  on  the  4th  of  September,  and  a  concert  of 
action  was  quickly  agreed  upon.  Boats  were  sent  from  Charlestown  to 
assist  in  landing  troops,  ordnance,  and  stores.  Colonel  Cambray,  of  the 
engineers.  Colonel  Thomas  Pinckney,  aid  to  General  Lincoln,  Captain 
Gadsden,  and  a  few  other  intelligent  ofificers  were  detailed  to  return  with 
the  viscount  and  assist  the  admiral  in  consummating  his  landing  upon  the 
Georgia  coast.  At  Ossabaw  Count  d'Estaing  was  to  be  met  by  Colonel 
Joseph  Habersham,  who  proceeded  thither  to  join  the  fleet  and  indicate 
a  proper  place  for  the  debarkation  of  the  troops. 

The  French  fleet,  which  had  been  somewhat  scattered  by  a  rough  sea 
and  high  winds,  was  entirely  united  on  the  4th.  On  the  9th  D'Estaing, 
on  board  the  Chimere,  accompanied  by  three  other  frigates,  forced  a  pas- 
sage across  the  bar  of  the  Savannah  River.  Upon  the  approach  of  these 
war  vessels  the  English  ships  Rose,  Fowey,  Keppel,  and  Germain,  the 
Comet,  a  galley,  and  several  small  craft  which  had  been  lying  in  Tybee 
Roads,  weighed  anchor  and  retired  to  Five- Fathom  Hole.  From  Fort 
Tybee — located  near  the  light-house  on  the  northern  extremity  of  Great 
Tybee  Island,  designed  to  guard  the  entrance  into  Savannah  River,  and 
armed  with  a  twenty-four-pounder  gun  and  an  eight  and-a-half- inch 
howitzer — fire  was  opened  upon  the  French  squadron,  but  it  proved  en- 
tirely innocuous.     A  detachment  of  troops  was  thrown  upon  the  island. 


French  Fleet  at  SavannaIi.  i^^ 

Fort  Tybee  was  immediately  abandoned  by  its  garrison,  which  succeeded 
in  effecting  its  escape.  After  occupying  the  island  during  the  night,  and 
finding  it  entirely  deserted  by  the  enemy,  the  detachment  was  withdrawn 
the  next  morning. 

On  Saturday,  the  nth,  the  fleet  rendezvoused  in  Ossabaw  Sound, 
and  at  nine  o'clock  the  next  evening  twelve  hundred  men,  selected  from 
various  regiments,  were  successfully  landed  at  Beaulieu.i  At  this  point, 
formerly  the  residence  of  Colonel  William  Stephens,  a  small  force  of  the 
enemy,  with  two  field-pieces,  had  been  stationed.  It  was  withdrawn, 
however,  on  the  appearance  of  the  fleet,  and  no  opposition  was  encount- 
ered by  the  boats  conveying  the  troops  from  the  ships.  The  further  de- 
barkation of  the  land  army  was  interrupted  for  several  days  by  high 
winds,  which,  increasing  to  a  gale,  compelled  many  of  the  ships  to  slip 
their  cables  and  seek  the  open  sea.  Several  vessels  were  seriously  in- 
jured, and  the  anchorage  which  they  were  forced  to  abandon  was  not 
fairly  regained  by  all  of  them  until  the  20th.  Wednesday,  the  isth, 
proving  a  calm  day,  the  boats  from  the  vessels  within  convenient  reach 
were  busily  occupied  in  landing  additional  troops.  The  same  day  the 
twelve  hundred  men  first  put  on  shore  advanced  from  Beaulieu  and 
formed  a  new  camp  three  miles  from  Savannah.  This  little  army  was 
composed  of  three  divisions.  The  center  was  commanded  by  D'Estaing, 
the  right  by  Dillon,  and  the  left  by  Noailles.^ 

On  the  nth  the  frigate  Amazon,  of  thirty-six  guns,  commanded  by 
Perouse  had,  after  a  gallant  resistance  offered  on  the  part  of  the  English 
commander,  succeeded  in  capturing  the  Ariel  of  twenty-four  guns. 
Some  two  weeks  afterwards  his  majesty's  ship  Experiment,  which  had 
lost  her  bowsprit  and  masts  in  a  gale  of  wind  encountered  on  her  pas- 

'  Also  spelled  Bewlie. 

''  In  a  MS.  journal  of  the  siege  of  Savannah  in  1779  (now  before  us,  and  purchased 
at  the  Luzarche  sale  in  Paris),  liept  by  an  unknown  French  officer  who  was  evidently 
present  during  all  the  movements  antecedent  to,  involved  in,  and  consequent  upon  that 
memorable  event,  this  first  encampment  of  the  French  army,  three  miles  from  Savan- 
nah, is  thus  identified  :  ''  The  command  of  the  General  in  the  center  towards  Mishow, 
that  of  Dillon  on  the  right  at  Jonshaus,  and  that  of  Noailles  on  the  left,  at  Brisqhauiv." 
These  names  have  so  entirely  faded  from  the  memory  of  the  present  that  the  localities 
which  they  once  designated  cannot  now  be  identified.  Manifestly  the  position  was 
southeast  of  Savannah. 


254  History  of  Savannah. 


sage  from  New  York  to  Savannah,  the  Myrtle,  a  navy  victualer,  and  the 
store-ship  Champion  were  also  captured.  This  encampment  of  the 
French  army  being  established,  reinforcements  were  rapidly  pushed  for- 
ward as  they  were  landed  at  Beaulieu. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Savannah  could  not  then  boast  of  more 
than  four  hundred  and  thirty  houses.  Most  of  them  were  wooden  struc- 
tures. Using  the  present  names  of  the  streets,  the  boundaries  of  the 
town  were  the  Bay  on  the  north,  Lincoln  street  on  the  east.  South 
Broad  street  on  the  south,  and  Jefferson  street  on  the  west.  Outside 
the  limits  indicated  were  some  scattering  abodes,  and  these  appeared 
principally  on  the  east  and  west. 

Count  Pulaski,  who,  after  General  Prevost's  retreat  from  South  Car- 
olina, had  taken  post  on  a  ridge  fifty  miles  northeast  of  Augusta  that  he 
might  the  more  readily  obtain  provisions  for  and  restore  the  health  of 
his  legion,  and  at  the  same  time  be  within  supporting  distance  of  either 
Charlestown  or  Augusta  as  occasion  required,  was  ordered  to  join  Gen- 
eral Lachlan  Mcintosh  at  the  latter  place.  With  this  united  command 
General  Mcintosh  was  directed  to  move  towards  Savannah  in  advance 
of  the  army  under  General  Lincoln  which  was  approaching  from  the  di- 
rection of  Charlestown,  attack  the  British  outposts,  and  establish  com- 
munication with  the  French  troops  on  the  coast.  Pressing  forward. 
Count  Pulaski  cut  off  one  of  the  enemy's  pickets,  killing  and  wounding 
five  men  and  capturing  a  subaltern  and  five  privates.  Skirmishing  with 
the  British  outposts,  he  hastened  onward  toward  Beaulieu  in  the  midst 
of  a  heavy  rain.  There  he  found  Count  d'Estaing.  In  the  language  of 
Captain  Bentalou,  these  officers  "  cordially  embraced  and  expressed  mu- 
tual happiness  at  the  meeting."  Count  Pulaski  was  then  informed  by 
the  French  admiral  that  he  intended,  without  waiting  for  General  Lin- 
coln, to  move  at  once  upon  Savannah,  and  that  "  he  counted  on  his  Leg- 
ion to  form  his  van."  "  In  pursuance  of  this  wish,"  continues  Bentalou, 
"  we  set  out  immediately  and  reached  Savannah  some  time  before  d'Es- 
taing, where  we  engaged  and  cut  off  an  advanced  picket  of  the  enemy's 
infantry."  ^ 

Reaching  the  vicinity  of  Savannah  in  advance  of  the  forces  under 
General  Lincoln,   General   Mcintosh   occupied   a  position  between  the 

'  A  Reply  to  Judge  Johnson's  Remarks,  etc.,  p.  33.     Baltimore.     1836. 


Advance  on  Savannah.  255 

town  and  Great  Ogeechee  ferry,'  and  there  awaited  the  concentration  of 
the  allied  armies. 

During  the  12th  and  the  13th  General  Lincoln  was  engaged  in  cross- 
ing his  command  over  the  Savannah  at  Zubly's  Ferry.  Considerable 
delay  was  experienced  in  consequence  of  the  fact  that  the  enemy  had 
either  secured  or  destroyed  most  of  the  boats  on  the  river.  On  the  af- 
ternoon of  the  13th  General  Mcintosh  formed  a  junction  with  the  ad- 
vance guard  of  Lincoln's  army;  and  on  the  night  of  the  15th  the  two 
commands,  now  wholly  united,  encamped  at  Cherokee  Hill. 

On  the  1 6th  of  September  and  prior  to  the  arrival  of  the  American 
forces  under  General  Lincoln,  Count  "d'Estaing,  accompanied  by  the 
grenadiers  of  A uxerrois  and  the  chasseurs  of  Champagne  and  of  Guade- 
loupe, sent  to  Major-General  Augustine  Prevost,  commanding  the  Brit- 
ish army,  this  summons  requiring  a  surrender  of  Savannah  to  the  king 
of  France: 

"  Count  d'Estaing  summons  his  Excellency  General  Prevost  to  sur- 
render himself  to  the  arms  of  his  Majesty  the  king  of  France.  He  ad- 
monishes him  that  he  will  be  personally  answerable  for  every  event  and 
misfortune  attending  a  defence  demostrated  to  be  absolutely  impossible 
and  useless  from  the  superiority  of  the  force  which  attacks  him  by  land 
and  sea.  He  also  warns  him  that  he  will  be  nominally  and  personally 
answerable  henceforward  for  the  burning,  previous  to  or  at  the  hour  of 
attack,  of  any  ships  or  vessels  of  war  or  merchant  ships  in  the  Savannah 
River,  as  well  as  of  magazines  in  the  town. 

"The  situation  of  the  Morne  de  I'Hopital  in  Grenada,  the  strength  of 
the  three  redoubts  which  defended  it,  the  disproportion  betwixt  the  num- 
ber of  the  French  troops  now  before  Savannah  and  the  inconsiderable 
detachment  which  took  Grenada  by  assault,  should  be  a  lesson  for  the  fu- 
ture. Humanity  requires  that  Count  d'Estaing  should  remind  you  of  it. 
After  this  he  can  have  nothing  with  which  to  reproach  himself 

"  Lord  Macartney  had  the  good  fortune  to  escape  in  person  on  the 
first  onset  of  troops  forcing  a  town  sword  in  hand,  but  having  shut  up  his 
valuable  effects  in  a  fort  deemed  impregnable  by  all  his  officers  and  en- 
gineers, it  was  impossible  for  Count  d'Estaing  to  be  happy  enough  to 
prevent  the  whole  from  being  pillaged." 

'  At  Millen's  plantation. 


256  History  of  Savannah. 

To  this  threatening  and  pompous  demand   Major-General  Prevost 

thus  responded  : 

"  Savannah,  September  i6th,  1779. 

"  Sir, — I  am  just  now  honored  with  your  Excellency's  letter  of  this 
date,  containing  a  summons  for  me  to  surrender  this  town  to  the  arms  of 
his  Majesty  the  King  of  France,  which  I  had  just  delayed  to  answer  till 
I  had  shown  it  to  the  King's  Civil  Governor.^ 

"  I  hope  your  Excellency  will  have  a  better  opinion  of  me  and  of 
British  troops  than  to  think  either  will  surrender  on  general  summons 
without  any  specific  terms. 

"  If  you.  Sir,  have  any  to  propose  that  may  with  honor  be  accepted 
of  by  me,  you  can  mention  them  both  with  regard  to  civil  and  military, 
and  I  will  then  give  my  answer.  In  the  meantime  I  promise  upon  my 
honor  that  nothing  with  my  consent  or  knowledge  shall  be  destroyed  in 
either  this  town  or  river." 

The  following  is  Count  d'Estaing's  reply : 

"Camp  before  Savannah,  September  i6th,  1779. 

"  Sir, — I  have  just  received  your  Excellency's  answer  to  the  letter  I 
had  the  honor  of  writing  to  you  ihis  morning.  You  are  sensible  that  it  is 
the  part  of  the  Besieged  to  propose  such  terms  as  they  may  desire,  and 
you  cannot  doubt  of  the  satisfaction  I  shall  have  in  consenting  to  those 
which  I  can  accept  consistently  with  my  duty. 

"  I  am  informed  that  you  continue  intrenching  yourself.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  very  little  importance  to  me.  However,  for  form's  sake,  I  must 
desire  that  you  will  desist  during  our  conferences. 

"  The  different  columns,  which  I  had  ordered  to  stop,  will  continue 
their  march,  but  without  approaching  your  posts  or  reconnoitering  your 
situation. 

"  P.  S.  I  apprize  your  Excellency  that  I  have  not  been  able  to 
refuse  the  Army  of  the  United  States  uniting  itself  with  that  of  the 
King.  The  junction  will  probably  be  effected  this  day.  If  I  have  not 
an  answer  therefore  immediately,  you  must  confer  in  the  future  with 
General  Lincoln  and  me." 

1  Governor  Sir  James  Wright,  who  counseled  resistance  to  the  last  extremity, 


^>ig'byF_Sms<'ytp^,Mr. 


Siege  of  Savannah.  257 

To  this  General  Prevost  promptly  responded  : 

"Savannah,  Septefnber  16th,  1779. 

"  Sir, — I  am  honored  with  your  Excellency's  letter  in  reply  to  mine 
of  this  day.  The  business  we  have  in  hand  being  of  importance,  there 
being  various  interests  to  discuss,  a  just  time  is  absolutely  necessary  to  de- 
liberate. I  am  therefore  to  propose  that  a  cessation  of  hostilities  shall 
take  place  for  twenty- four  hours  from  this  date:  and  to  request  that  your 
Excellency  will  order  your  columns  to  fall  back  to  a  greater  distance  and 
out  of  sight  of  our  works  or  I  shall  think  m5'-self  under  the  necessity  to 
direct  their  being  fired  upon.  If  they  did  not  reconnoitre  anything  this 
afternoon,  they  were  sure  within  the  distance." 

Without  waiting  to  advise  with  General  Lincoln  in  regard  to  the 
propriety  of  granting  General  Prevost's  request,  Count  d'Estaing  impru- 
dently replied  as  follows : 

"Camp  before  Savannah,  September  16,  1779. 

"  Sir, — I  consent  to  the  truce  you  ask.  It  shall  continue  till  the  sig- 
nal for  retreat  to-morrow  night,  the  17th,  which  will  serve  also  to  an- 
nounce the  recommencement  of  hostilities.  It  is  unnecessary  to  observe 
to  your  Excellency  that  this  suspension  of  arms  is  entirely  in  your  favor, 
since  I  cannot  be  certain  that  you  will  not  make  use  of  it  to  fortify  your- 
self, at  the  same  time  that  the  propositions  you  shall  make  may  be  inad- 
missible. 

"  I  must  observe  to  you  also  how  important  it  is  that  you  should  be 
fully  aware  of  your  own  situation  as  well  as  that  of  the  troops  under  your 
command.  Be  assured  that  I  am  thoroughly  acquainted  with  it.  Your 
knowledge  in  military  affairs  will  not  suffer  you  to  be  ignorant  that  a  due 
examination  of  that  circumstance  always  precedes  the  march  of  the  col- 
umns, and  that  this  preliminary  is  not  carried  into  execution  by  the  mere 
show  of  troops. 

"  I  have  ordered  them  to  withdraw  before  night  comes  on  to  prevent 
any  cause  of  complaint  on  your  part.  I  understand  that  my  civility  in 
this  respect  has  been  the  occasion  that  the  Chevalier  de  Chambis,  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  Navy,  has  been  made  a  prisoner  of  war. 

"I  propose  sending  out  some  small  advanced  posts  to- morrow  morn- 
ing. They  will  place  themselves  in  such  a  situation  as  to  have  in  view 
33 


258  History  of  Savannah. 

the  four  entrances  into  the  wood  in  order  to  prevent  a  similar  mistake  in 
future.  I  do  not  know  whether  two  columns  commanded  by  the  Vis- 
count de  Noailles  and  the  Count  de  Dillon  have  shown  too  much  ardor, 
or  whether  your  cannoniers  have  not  paid  a  proper  respect  to  the  truce 
subsisting  between  us  :  but  this  I  know,  that  what  has  happened  this 
night  is  a  proof  that  matters  will  soon  come  to  a  decision  between  us  one 
way  or  another." 

The  junction  of  General  Lincoln's  forces  with  those  of  Count  d'Estaing 
was  effected  before  the  lines  of  Savannah  on  the  i6th  September,  1779. 
The  Americans  were  in  high  spirits.  With  the- cooperation  of  the  French 
it  was  confidently  believed  that  the  discomfiture  of  the  English  garrison 
and  the  capture  of  Savannah  would  prove  a  certain  and  easy  task.  No 
fears  of  possible  misadventure  were  entertained.  The  French  camp,  which 
at  first  was  pitched  southeast  of  the  town,  was  quickly  changed  and  lo- 
cated almost  directly  south  of  Savannah.  Its  front  was  well-nigh  parallel 
with  the  streets  running  east  and  west.  General  de  Dillon  commanded 
the  right.  Count  d'Estaing  the  center,  and  the  Count  de  Noailles  the  left. 
General  Lincoln's  command  was  posted  to  the  southwest ;  the  front  of 
his  line  looking  nearly  east,  and  his  r^ar  protected  by  the  Springfield 
plantation  swamp.  About  midway  between  these  armies,  and  looking 
directly  north,  was  the  cavalry  camp  of  Count  Pulaski. 

Fatal  was  the  error  committed  by  the  French  admiral  in  consenting 
to  this  suspension  of  hostilities  for  the  space  of  twenty-four  hours. 

When  the  French  fleet  first  appeared  off  the  Georgia  coast  the  Eng- 
hsh  had  but  twenty-three  pieces  of  cannon  mounted  upon  their  works 
around  Savannah.  On  the  morning  of  the  assault  one  hundred  more 
were  in  position.  It  would  seem  that  for  some  months  after  the  capture 
of  Savannah  in  December,  1778,  the  English  did  not  materially  alter  or 
strengthen  the  works  which  the  Americans  had  constructed  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  southern,  eastern,  and  western  exposures  of  the  town.  So  soon, 
however,  as  this  crisis  was  upon  them  the  utmost  activity  was  displayed. 
Lieutehant-Colonel  Cruger,  with  his  detachment,  was  withdrawn  from 
Sunbury.  Troops  were  recalled  from  outlying  posts,  and  Colonel  Mait- 
land  was  ordered  to  move  promptly  for  the  relief  of  Savannah.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  garrison,  between  four  and  five  hundred  negroes  were  put 
to  Work  upon  the  lines.     Thie  war  vessels  in  the  river  were  stripped  ot 


SifeGE  OF  Savannah.  259 

their  batteries  that  they  might  arm  the  earthworks.  So  rapidly  did  the 
labor  progress  that  before  the  French  and  Americans  opened  fire  from 
their  trenches  the  British  had  raised  around  the  town  thirteen  substantial 
redoubts  and  fifteen  gun-batteries  mounting  eighty  pieces  of  cannon. 
These  batteries  were  manned  by  sailors  from  the  Fowey,  the  Rose,  and  the 
Keppel,  and  by  mariners  and  volunteers  from  other  ships  and  transports  in 
the  river.  Besides  these  guns  in  fixed  position  field-pieces  were  distribu- 
ted at  intervals.  Ships  were  sunk  both  above  and  below  the  town  to  oc- 
clude the  channel  and  prevent  the  near  approach  of  the  American  and 
French  vessels  of  war.  Captain  Moncrieff,  the  engineer  officer  in  charge, 
displayed  a  degree  of  pluck,  energy  and  skill,  worthy  of  all  commendation. 

When  summoned  to  the  relief  of  Savannah  Colonel  Maitland  was  at 
Beaufort  with  a  detachment  of  eight  hundred  men.  Arriving  at  Dawfus- 
kie  on  the  evening  of  the  i6th  he  found  the  Savannah  River  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  French,  and  his  further  progress  by  the  customary  water  route 
checked.  While  thus  embarrassed,  chance  threw  in  his  way  some  negro 
fishermen  familiar  with  the  creeks  permeating  the  marshes,  who  informed 
him  of  a  passage  known  as  Wall's  Cut,  through  Scull  Creek,  navigable  by 
small  boats  at  high  water.  A  favoring  tide  and  a  dense  fog  enabled  him 
unperceived  by  the  French,  to  conduct  his  command  successfully  through 
this  unaccustomed  avenue.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  17th  he  reached  Sa- 
vannah. "The  acquisition  of  this  formidable  reinforcement,"  says  Cap- 
tain McCall,  "headed  by  an  experienced  and  brave  officer,  effected  a 
complete  change  in  the  dispirited  garrison.  A  signal  was  made,  and  three 
cheers  were  given,  which  rung  from  one  end  of  the  town  to  the  other."  ^ 

So  soon  as  Colonel  Maitland  was  fairly  within  the  town  General  Pre- 
vost,  who  had  temporized  that  this  most  desirable  acquisition  to  his 
forces  might  be  secured,  responded  thus  : 

"  Savannah,  September  lyth,  1779. 
"  Sir, — In  answer  to  the  letter  of  your  Excellency  which  I  had  the 
honor  to  receive  about  twelve  last  night,  I  am  to  acquaint  you  that  hav- 

1  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  during  the  late  war  between  the  States  this  Wall's  Cut 
afforded  the  United  States  gun-boats  the  means  of  entering  the  Savannah  River  in  rear 
of  Fort  Pulaski  without  encountering  the  fire  of  its  guns,  thereby  completely  isolating 
that  fortification,  and  covering  Federal  working  parties  engaged  in  the  erection  of  in- 
vesting batteries  at  Venus'  Point  and  on  the  north  end  of  Bird's  Island. 


26d  HistoRY  Of  Savannah. 

ing  laid  the  whole  correspondence  before  the  King's  Civil  Governor  and 
the  military  officers  of  rank,  assembled  in  Council  of  War,  the  unanimous 
determination  has  been  that  though  we  cannot  look  upon  our  post  as  ab- 
solutely impregnable,  yet  that  it  may  and  ought  to  be  defended  :  i  there- 
fore the  evening  gun  to  be  fired  this  evening  at  an  hour  before  sr.ndown 
shall  be  the  signal  for  recommencing  hostilities  agreeable  to  your  Excel- 
lency's proposal." 

Grave  was  the  mistake  committed  b}'  Count  d'Estaing  in  not  insist- 
ing upon  an  immediate  reply  to  his  summons  for  surrender.  So  confi- 
dent was  he  of  success  that  he  would  not  await  the  arrival  of  General  Lin- 
coln. Ambitious  for  the  triumph  of  French  arms  without  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  American  forces,  he  sought  to  monopolize  the  prize  he  reck- 
oned within  his  grasp.  So  thoroughly  did  he  regard  the  British  garri- 
son, as  within  the  range  of  facile  capture  that  he  acceded  to  the  request 
for  delay,  little  appreciating  the  disastrous  consequences  which  would 
ensue  from  thus  toying  with  his  enemy.  ,  Intelligent  British  officers  who 
were  present  at  the  siege  admitted,  when  it  was  over,  that  the  French 
army  alone  could  have  carried  Savannah  in  ten  minutes  without  the  aid 
of  artillery,  had  an  assault  been  made  at  the  earliest  moment. 

The  energy  and  skill  displayed  by  the  English  in  strengthening  the* 
old  works,  in  erecting  new  ones,  in  dismantling  the  vessels  of  war  in  the 
river  and  placing  their  guns  in  battery  to  the  south,  east,  and  west  of  Sa- 
vannah, and,  above  all,  the  introductioh  of  Colonel  Maitland's  forces  into 
the  town  at  a  most  opportune  moment,  reflect  great  credit  upon  those 
charged  with  the  defense. 

If,  instead  of  parleying,  D'Estaing  had  insisted  upon  a  prompt  re- 
sponse to  his  summons  for  surrender,  the  probability  is  that  Prevost  would 
have  acceded  to  his  demand.  Had  he  refused  there  is  little  doubt  but 
that  the  investing  army,  if  immediately  put  in  motion,  would  have  swept 
over  the  incomplete  intrenchments  and  restored  the  capital  of  Georgia  to 
the  possession  of  the  Revolutionists.  He  was  outwitted  by  the  English 
commander.     The  accorded  delay  proved  fatal  to  the  enterprise. 

'  This  resolution  to  defend  Savannah,  it  is  claimed  by  the  friends  of  Governor  Wright, 
would  not  have  been  formed  except  for  his  vote  and  determined  persuasion  in  the  coun- 
cil of  war  then  held.  Sabine's  Loyalists  of  the  American  Revolution,  vol.  ii.,  p.  458. 
Boston.     1864. 


Siege  of  Savannah.  261 

Disappointed  in  his  expectation  of  an  immediate  surrender  of  Savan- 
nah, advised  of  the  arrival  of  the  reinforcement  under  Colonel  Maitland, 
and  doubting  the  propriety  of  an  assault,  D'Estaing  resolved  to  resort  to 
the  slower  process  of  a  reduction  by  regular  siege  and  gradual  approaches. 
To  this  end,  and  that  the  town  might  be  absolutely  invested  on  the  south, 
the  French  commander  moved  his  forces  up  to  within  twelve  hundred  yards 
of  the  English  lines.  The  encampment,  thus  formed,  exhibited  a  front  of 
thirty-two  hundred  yards.  The  American  troops  under  Lincoln  formed 
the  left  of  the  line,  resting  upon  the  swamp  which  bordered  the  town  on  the 
west.  Then  came  the  division  of  M.  de  Noailles  composed  of  nine  hun- 
dred men  of  the  regiments^of  Champagne,  Auxerrois,  Foix,  Guadeloupe, 
and  Martinique.  D'Estaing's  division,  comprising  one  thousand  men  of 
the  regiments  of  Cambresis,  Hainault,  the  volunteers  of  Berges,  Agenois, 
Gatinois,  the  Cape,  and  Port  au  Prince,  with  the  artillery,  was  on  the  right 
of  Noailles  and  formed  the  center  of  the  French  army.  Dillon's  division, 
composed  of  nine  hundred  men  of  the  regiments  of  Dillon,  Armagnac,  and 
the  Volunteer  Grenadiers,  was  posted  on  the  right  of  D'Estaing.  To  the 
right  of  Dillon's  division  were  the  powder  magazine,  the  cattle  depot, 
and  a  small  field  hospital.  On  the  right  and  a  Httle  in  advance  of  the 
depot  were  the  quarters  of  the  dragoons  of  Conde  and  of  Belzunce,  num- 
bering fifty  men  and  commanded  by  M.  Dejean.  Upon  the  same  align- 
ment and  to  the  right  of  the  dragoons  was  M.  de  Rouvrai,  with  his  Vol- 
unteer Chasseurs  numbering  seven  hundred  and  fifty  men.  Still  to  the 
right,  and  two  hundred  yards  in  advance  of  M.  de  Rouvrai,  w^s  M.  des 
Framais  commanding  the  Grenadier  Volunteers  and  two  hundred  men  of 
different  regiments.  He  effectually  closed  the  right  of  the  army  and  rested 
upon  the  swamp  which  bounded  the  city  on  the  east. 

It  will  be  perceived  by  these  dispositions,  which  were  concluded  on 
the  22d  of  September,  that  Savannah  was  completely  isolated  on  the 
land  side. 

The  frigate  La  Truite  and  two  galleys  lay  in  the  river  within  cannon 
shot  of  the  town.  That  all  communication  with  the  islands,  formed  by 
the  numerous  river  mouths,  might  be  effectually  cut  off,  the  frigate  La 
Chimere  and  the  armed  store-ship  La  Bricole  were  judiciously  posted. 

A  large  and  beautiful  house  at  Thunderbolt  was  occupied  and  used 
as  a  hospital.     From  this  time  forward  Thunderbolt  was  substituted  in 


±62  History  of  Savannah. 

the  stead  of  Beaulieu  as  a  more  convenient  point  for  holding  converse 
with  the  fleet. 

The  ships  Rose  and  Savannah  and  four  transports,  sunk  by  the  Eng- 
Hsh  in  a  narrow  part  of  the  river  channel  a  few  miles  below  the  town,  pre- 
vented the  French  from  bringing  up  their  heavy-armed  vessels  to  coop- 
erate in  the  siege.  Small  craft  sunk  above  Savannah  and  a  boom 
stretched  across  the  river  did  not  allow  the  near  approach  of  the  galleys 
which,  passing  up  the  North  River  round  Hutchinson's  Island,  purposed 
an  attack  from  that  direction.  Guns  mounted  upon  the  bold  bluff  served 
also  to  protect  the  northern  exposure  of  Savannah  from  a  close  and 
effectual  fire. 

The  American  forces  concentrated  under  the  command  of  General 
Lincoln  numbered  about  twenty-one  hundred  men  of  all  arms. 

After  the  arrival  of  Colonel  Maitland  and  his  command  the  British 
force  within  the  lines  of  Savannah  may  be  safely  estirhated  at  twenty-five 
hundred  men. 

The  siege  had  now  fairly  begun,  and  the  French  were  earnestly  em- 
ployed in  landing  additional  troops  from  the  fleet,  and  in  transporting 
cannon,  mortars,  and  ammunition  for  the  bombardment  of  the  town. 

Guarded  by  deep  and  impracticable  swamps  on  the  east  and  west, 
and  with  a  river  in  front  which  the  enemy  had  occluded  above  and  be- 
low so  as  to  prevent  the  near  approach  of  the  French  war  vessels,  the 
attention  of  General  Prevost  was  directed  to  fortifying  the  southern  ex- 
posure of  Savannah.  Upon  the  deployment  of  the  French  army  before 
the  town  the  British  had  thrown  up  an  intrenchment  and  several  bat- 
teries, the  front  of  which  was  obstructed  by  abatis.  These  works  were 
strengthened  by  three  redoubts  located  triangularly  at  the  western  ex- 
tremity of  the  line,  two  mortar  batteries,  each  mounting  three  or  four 
pieces,  and  two  redoubts  erected  on  the  left  of  the  intrenchments.  Dur- 
ing the  progress  of  the  siege  these  fortifications,  extending  entirely  across 
the  high  ground  south  of  the  town  from  the  low  grounds  on  the  east  to 
the  swamp  on  the  west  and  bending  back  on  either  hand  to  the  river, 
were  vastly  improved.  In  the  river,  at  the  northwestern  extremity  of 
the  town,  were  stationed  a  frigate,  with  a  battery  of  nine-pounder  guns, 
and  two  galleys  armed  with  eighteen-pounders. 

General  Prevost's  first  disposition  of  troops  was  made  in  accordance 
with  the  following  orders  issued  on  the  9th  of  September : 


Siege  of  Savannah.  263 

"  The  regiment  of  Wissenbach  to  take  their  ground  of  encampment ;  ^ 
likewise  the  2nd  battalion  of  General  Delancey's.  ^  In  case  of  an  alarm, 
which  will  be  known  by  the  beating  to  arms  both  at  the  Barracks  and 
main  guard,  the  troops  are  to  repair  to  their  several  posts  without  con- 
fusion or  tumult. 

"  Captain  Stuart  of  the  British  Legion  will  take  post  with  his  men  in 
the  work  on  the  right  near  the  river.  The  main  guard  to  be  relieved  by 
convalescents  from  the  Hessians. 

"  Major  Wright's  corps  to  send  their  convalescents  in  the  old  fort.  ^ 
Twenty-four  men  in  the  small  redoubt,  and  seventy  men  in  the  left  flank 
redoubt  upon  the  road  to  Tattnall's. 

"  The  militia  to  assemble  in  rear  of  the  Barracks. 

"The  Light  Infantry,  the  Dragoons,  and  Carolina  Light  Horse  as  a 
reserve,  two  hundred  yards  behind  the  Barracks. 

"The  King's  Rangers,  commanded  by  Lieutenant- Colonel  Brown,  in 
the  small  redoubt  on  the  right,  with  fifty  men :  the  remainder  extending 
towards  the  larger  redoubt  on  the  right. 

"The  Carolinians  divided  equally  in  the  two  large  redoubts. 

"The  Battalion  men  of  the  60th  Regiment  in  the  right  redoubt. 
The  Grenadiers  on  the  left,  extending  along  the  abatis  towards  the  Bar- 
racks ;  the  Hessians  on  their  left,  so  as  to  fill  up  the  space  to  the  Barracks. 

"On  the  left  of  the  Barracks,  the  3rd  battalion  of  Skinner's,  Gen- 
eral Delancey's,  and  the  New  York  Volunteers  ;  and  on  their  left  the 
7 1st  Regiment  lining  the  abatis  to  the  left  flank  redoubt  on  the  road  to 
Tattnall's. 

"  If  all  orders  are  silently  and  punctually  obeyed,  the  General  makes 
no  doubt  that,  if  the  enemy  should  attempt  to  make  an  attack,  they  will 
be  repulsed  and  the  troops  maintain  their  former  well  acquired  reputa- 
tion ;  nor  will  it  be  the  first  time  that  British  and  Hessian  troops  have 
beat  a  greater  superiority  of  both  French  and  Americans  than  it  is  proba- 
ble they  will  have  to  encounter  on  this  occasion.  The  General  repeats 
his  firm  reliance  on  the  spirit  and  steady  coolness  of  the  troops  he  has 
the  honor  to  command."* 

Upon  the  safe  entry  in  Savannah  of  the  reinforcements  under  the 

'  In  the  center.  '  On  the  extreme  left. 

'  On  the  left  of  the  center.  *  See  original  order  book  of  General  Prevost. 


264  History  of  Savannah. 


command  of  Colonel  Maitland,  and  when  hostilities  were  about  to  be 
commenced  in  earnest,  General  Prevost  published  this  general  order : 

"Camp  before  Savannah,  ijth  September,  1779. 

"Parole,  Maitland.  Countersign,  St.  George.  Field  officers  for  to- 
morrow. Lieutenant- Colonel  Cruger  and  Major  Graham. 

"  The  troops  to  be  under  arms  this  afternoon  at  four  o'clock.  As  the 
enemy  is  now  very  near,  an  attack  may  be  hourly  expected.  The  Gen- 
eral therefore  desires  that  the  whole  may  be  in  instant  readiness.  By  the 
known  steadiness  and  spirit  of  the  troops  he  has  the  most  unlimited  de- 
pendence, doubting  nothing  of  a  glorious  victory  should  the  enemy  try 
their  strength.  What  is  it  that  may  not,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  be  ex- 
pected from  the  united  efforts  of  British  sailors  and  soldiers  and  valiant 
Hessians  against  an  enemy  that  they  have  often  beat  before? 

"In  case  of  a  night  attack,  the  General  earnestly  requests  the  utmost 
silence  to  be  observed,  and  attention  to  the  officers,  who  will  be  careful 
that  the  men  do  not  throw  away  their  fire  at  random,  and  warn  them  ear- 
nestly not  to  fire  until  ordered."  ^ 

Both  armies  now  prepared  for  the  final  struggle.  Guns  from  the 
French  fleet  were  landed  at  Thunderbolt,  whence  they  were  transported 
to  the  lines  before  Savannah  and  placed  in  position  as  rapidly  as  batteries 
and  platforms  could  be  made  ready  for  their  reception.  The  English  were 
delighted  at  the  turn  which  affairs  had  taken,  and  Prevost's  chief  engi- 
neer declared  that  if  the  allied  army  would  only  resort  to  the  spade  and 
the  tedious  operations  incident  to  regular  approaches  and  a  bombard- 
ment he  would  pledge  himself  to  accomplish  a  successful  defense  of  the 
town. 

On  Wednesday,  the  2 2d,  M.  de  Guillaume,  of  Noailles's  division,  at- 
tempted, with  fifty  picked  men,  to  capture  an  advanced  post  of  the  enemy. 
He  was  repulsed  by  a  lively  fire  of  artillery  and  musketry. 

At  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  following  day  a  trench  was 
opened  by  the  besiegers  at  a  distance  of  three  hundred  yards  from  the  en- 
emy's works,  and  a  detail  of  six  companies  made  for  the  protection  of  the 
working  parties.  When  a  thick  fog,  which  prevailed  the  next  morning, 
had  lifted,  the  British,  perceiving  the  newly- constructed  approach,  made 

'  Order  book  of  General  Prevost. 


Siege  of  Savannah.  265 

a  sortie  for  its  capture.  Three  companies  of  light  infantry  under  Major 
Graham  constituted  the  attacking  force.  The  EngHsh  historians  claim 
that  this  was  simply  a  demonstration  for  the  purpose  of  enticing  the 
French  out  of  their  lines  so  that  something  like  an  accurate  estimate 
might  be  formed  of  their  strength.  Major  Graham  retreated  with  a  loss 
of  twenty-one  killed  and  wounded.  He  was  closely  pursued  by  a  heavy 
column  of  French  soldiers  who,  in  their  zeal,  were  drawn  within  range  of 
the  English  batteries,  which  delivered  a  galling  fire. 

At  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  25th,  fire  upon  the  city  was 
opened  from  a  battery  just  erected  under  the  supervision  of  M.  de  Sauce, 
an  artillery  officer,  mounting  two  eighteen-pounder  guns.  Upon  an  in- 
spection of  the  work,  Count  d'Estaing  ordered  this  battery  to  be  re- 
modeled and  armed  with  twelve  eighteen  and  twelve-pounder  guns. 
He  further  directed  that  another  battery,  to  contain  thirteen  eighteen- 
pounder-guns,  should  be  constructed  on  the  right  of  the  trench.  He  also 
located  the  position  for  a  bomb  battery,  of  nine  mortars,  two  hundred 
yards  to  the  left  and  a  little  in  rear  of  the  trench.  By  the  side  of  this  he 
decided  to  erect  a  battery  of  six  sixteen- pounder  guns  to  be  manned  by 
the  Americans.  Until  these  works  should  be  completed  the  count  or- 
dered that  no  firing  should  occur. 

If  we  may  credit  the  statements  made  by  a  naval  officer  in  the  fleet  of 
Count  d'Estaing,  whose  journal  was  published  in  Paris  in  1782,  the  con- 
dition of  affairs  on  shipboard  was  deplorable.  He  says  :  The  navy  is  suf- 
fering everything,  anchored  on  an  open  coast  and  liable  to  be  driven 
ashore  by  the  southeast  winds.  Seven  of  our  ships  have  been  injured  in 
their  rudders,  several  have  lost  their  anchors,  and  most  of  them  have  been 
greatly  endamaged  in  their  rigging.  The  scurvy  rages  with  such  severity 
that  we  throw  daily  into  the  sea  about  thirty- five  men.  We  have  no 
kind  of  refreshments  to  give  the  sick,  not  even  tisanne.  There  was  no 
way  of  alleviating  the  misery  of  our  poor  sailors  who,  wanting  coats,  des- 
titute of  linen,  without  shoes,  and  absolutely  naked,  had  nothing  to 
eat  except  salt  provisions  which  made  them  die  of  thirst.  The  bread 
which  we  possessed,  having  been  two  years  in  store,  was  so  much  de- 
cayed and  worm-eaten,  and  was  so  disagreeable  to  the  taste,  that  even  the 
domestic  animals  on  board  would  not  eat  it.  Even  this  had  to  be  dis- 
tributed in  scanty  rations  for  fear  the  supply  would  utterly  fail.  Behold 
34 


266  History  of  Savannah. 

a  part  of  the  frightful  picture  of  the  cruel  and  miserable  condition  of  our 
crews  during  the  continuance  of  the  siege  of  Savannah  upon  which  the 
Count  d'Estaing  was  so  intent  that  he  appeared  to  have  entirely  forgot- 
ten his  vessels.  The  few  sailors  who  were  in  condition  to  work  the  ships 
were  weak,  of  a  livid  color,  with  the  marks  of  death  portrayed  on  their 
countenances,  and  could  not  be  viewed  without  compassion. 

On  the  night  of  the  27th  a  sortie  was  made  by  Major  Archibald  Mc- 
Arthur,  with  a  detachment  of  the  Seventy-first  Regiment,  to  inter- 
rupt the  allies  in  the  construction  of  their  batteries.  Assaulting  with 
vigor,  he  quickly  retired.  The  French  attempted  to  gain  his  right  flank 
and  the  Americans  his  left.  He  eluded  them  both.  Amid  the  darkness 
the  allies  opened  fire  upon  each  other.  Several  lives  were  lost  before  the 
mistake  was  discovered.  The  French  account  of  this  affair  is  different. 
It  is  therein  stated  that  twice  during  this  night  the  troops  in  the  trenches, 
believing  they  saw  the  enemy  approaching,  delivered  a  heavy  fire  by  mis- 
take upon  the  working  parties,  by  which  some  seventeen  were  killed  and 
wounded.  The  ensuing  day,  the  frigate  La  Truite,  moving  up  and  anch- 
oring in  the  north  channel  of  the  Savannah,  attempted  to  bombard  the 
town.     But  little  damage  was  caused  by  her  projectiles. 

On  the  29th  of  September,  says  Captain  McCall,^  General  Mcintosh 
solicited  General  Lincoln's  permission  to  send  a  flag  with  a  letter  to  Gen- 
eral Prevost  to  obtain  leave  for  Mrs.  Mcintosh  and  his  family,  and  such 
other  females  and  children  as  might  choose,  to  leave  the  town  during  the 
siege  or  until  the  contest  should  be  decided.  Major  John  Jones,  aid  to 
General  Mcintosh,  was  the  bearer  of  the  flag  and  letter,  and  found  Mrs. 
Mcintosh  and  family  in  a  cellar  where  they  had  been  confined  several 
days.  Indeed,  such  damp  apartments  furnished  the  only  safe  retreat 
f  jr  females  and  children.  General  Prevost  refused  to  grant  the  request, 
imagining  that  he  would  thus  restrain  the  besiegers  from  throwing  bombs 
and  carcasses  among  the  houses  to  set  them  on  fire.^ 


^  History  of  Georgia,  \o\.  \\.,\>.  260.     Savannah.     1816. 

'  Writing  from  the  camp  before  Savannah  on  the  7th  of  October,  1779,  Major  John 
Jones  says  :  "  The  poor  women  and  children  have  suffered  beyond  description.  A  num- 
ber of  them  in  Savannah  have  already  been  put  to  death  by  our  bombs  and  cannon.  A 
deserter  has  this  moment  come  out  who  gives  an  account  that  many  of  them  were  killed 
in  their  beds,  and  amongst  others  a  poor  woman,  with  her  infant  in  her  arms,  was  de- 
stroyed by  a  cannon  ball.     They  have  all  got  into  cellars  ;  but  even  there  they  do  not 


Siege  of  Savannah.  267 

During  the  night  of  the  1st  of  October,  Colonel  John  White,  with  Cap- 
tains George  Melvin  and  A.  C.  G.  Elholm,  a  sergeant,  and  three  privates, 
achieved  an  exploit  which  almost  transcends  belief.  Captain  French  with 
one  hundred  and  eleven  regular  troops,  accompanied  by  five  vessels  and 
their  crews, — -four  of  them  being  armed  vessels, — interrupted  in  his  at- 
tempt to  reach  Savannah,  had  taken  refuge  in  the  Great  Ogeechee  River. 
Debarking  his  troops  he  formed  a  fortified  camp  on  the  left  bank  of  that 
stream.  Approaching  this  encampment  at  night,  Colonel  White  caused 
a  number  of  fires  to  be  kindled  in  full  view,  as  though  an  investing  force 
of  considerable  strength  was  present.  He  then,  with  .his  little  party,  ad- 
vanced and  summoned  Captain  French  to  surrender.  With  this  demand  , 
he  complied.  His  entire  command  was  disarmed  and  marched  to  the 
camp  of  the  allied  army. 

On  the  2d  of  October  the  frigate  La  Truite,  from  her  position  in  the 
north  channel,  assisted  by  two  American  galleys,  delivered  a  heavy  fire 
against  the  southeast  end  of  the  town.  This  compelled  the  enemy  to 
throw  up  a  new  battery  and  to  strengthen  the  defensive  works  in  that 
quarter. 

The  batteries  planned  by  Count  d'Estaing  having  been  completed 
and  armed,  the  bombardment  of  Savannah  commenced  at  midnight  on 
the  3d  of  October.  It  ceased,  however,  at  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
the  4th;  it  being  evident  from  the  misdirection  of  the  bombs  that  many  of 
the  cannoneers  were  under  the  influence  of  rum. 

The  record  of  the  first  day's  bombardment  is  thus  perpetuated  in  a 
French  journal  of  the  siege :  "  October  4th,  Monday.  At  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  the  enemy's  beat  of  drum  at  daybreak  furnishes  the  sig- 
nal for  unmasking  our  batteries  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  trench,  and 
that  of  the  Americans  to  the  left  of  the  mortar  battery,  and  we  begin  to 
cannonade  and  bombard  the  town  and  the  enemy's  works  with  more  vi- 
vacity than  precision.  The  cannoneers  being  still  under  the  influence  of 
rum,  their  excitement  did  not  allow  them  to  direct  their  pieces  with 
proper  care.  Besides,  our  projectiles  did  little  damage  to  works  which 
were  low  and  constructed  of  sand.  The  effect  of  this  very  violent  fire 
was  fatal  only  to  the  houses  and  to  some  women  who  occupied  them. 

escape  the  fury  of  our  bombs,  several  having  been  mangled  in  that  supposed  place  of 
security.  I  pity  General  iVIcIntosh  ;  his  situation  is  peculiar.  The  whole  of  his  family  is 
there."     MS.  letter  in  the  possession  of  the  author. 


268  History  of  Savannah. 

"Protected  by  their  entrenchments,  the  enemy  could  not  have  lost 
many  men,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  effect  of  their  fire  upon  our  works 
which  had  been  hastily  constructed  and  with  far  less  skill  and  care  than 
theirs. 

"  All  our  batteries  ceased  firing  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  that 
we  might  repair  our  left  battery  which  had  been  shaken  to  pieces  by  its 
own  fire.  A  dense  fog  favors  our  workmen.  We  open  fire  again  at  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning  and  continue  it  with  little  intermission  until  four 
o'clock  after  midnight." 

Stedman,  in  his  history,  says  the  allied  army  opened  the  bombard- 
ment with  fifty-three  pieces  of  heavy  cannon  and  fourteen  mortars.  Dr. 
Ramsay,  who  is  followed  by  McCall,  states  that  the  besiegers  opened 
with  nine  mortars  and  thirty-seven  cannon  from  the  land  side,  and  six- 
teen cannon  from  the  water. 

The  bombardment  of  the  4th  caused  considerable  damage  to  property 
within  the  town,  and  some  lives  were  lost. 

In  order  to  avoid  the  projectiles  Governor  Sir  James  Wright  and 
Lieutenant-Governor  John  Graham  moved  out  of  Savannah  and  occu- 
pied a  tent  next  to  Colonel  Maitland  on  the  right  of  the  British  lines. 

By  a  shell  from  the  bomb  battery  of  nine  mortars  Ensign  Pollard,  of 
the  second  battalion  of  General  DeLancy's  brigade,  was  killed  in  a  house 
on  the  bay.  A  daughter  of  Mrs.  Thompson  was  slain  in  the  same  local- 
ity by  a  solid  shot. 

In  commenting  ujion  the  effect  of  this  bombardment,  T.  W.  Moore, 
who  was  aid-de-camp  to  General  Prevost  during  the  siege,  says  that  the 
town  was  torn  to  pieces  by  the  shells  and  shot,  and  that  the  shrieks  of 
women  and  children  were  heard  on  every  side.  "Many  poor  creatures," 
he  adds,  "were  killed  in  trying  to  get  in  their  cellars,  or  hide  themselves 
under  the  bluff  of  Savannah  River." 

During  the  progress  of  the  siege  considerable  damage  was  caused  to 
buildings  and  property  by  the  fire  of  the  investing  batteries.  Among 
other  premises,  the  quarters  of  Anthony  Stokes,  chief  justice  of  the  col- 
ony, were  burned  by  a  shell.  His  library  and  manuscripts  were  de- 
stroyed. During  the  bombardment  of  the  5th,  as  we  learn  from  "  Riv- 
ington's  Royal  Gazette,"  a  mulatto  man  and  three  negroes  were  killed  in 
the  lieutenant-governor's  cellar.     In  the  evening,  the  residence  of  Mrs. 


Siege  of  Savannah.  269 


Lloyd,  near  the  church,'  was  burnt  by  a  shell  and  seven  negroes  lost  their 
lives.  At  night  another  shell  fell  through  Mr.  Laurie's  house  on 
Broughton  street  and  killed  two  women  and  children  who  were  under  it. 

On  the  6th,  the  bombardment  was  feebly  sustained  and  at  long  in- 
tervals. The  allied  army  began  to  lose  confidence  when  it  was  per- 
ceived that  the  heavy  firing  which  had  previously  been  maintained  would 
not  render  the  final  assault  less  difficult.  More  than  ever  was  Count 
d'Estaing  persuaded  that  he  should  not  have  resorted  to  the  slow  process 
of  a  siege  which  afforded  the  British  an  opportunity  of  strengthening 
their  old  works  and  of  erecting  new  defenses.  His  regret  was  sincere 
that  he  had  not  attacked  on  the  very  first  day. 

At  eleven  o'clock  a  parley  was  beaten  and  the  following  communica- 
tion, addressed  by  General  Prevost  to  the  commander  of  the  French 
army,  was  delivered : 

"  Camp  Savannah,  6th  October,  1779. 

"Sir, — I  am  persuaded  your  Excellency  will  do  me  the  justice  to  be- 
lieve that  I  conceive  in  defending  this  place  and  the  army  committed  to 
my  charge  I  fulfil  what  is  due  to  Honor  and  Duty  to  my  Prince.  Sen- 
timents of  a  different  kind  occasion  the  liberty  of  now  addressing  myself 
to  your  Excellency.  They  are  those  of  Humanity.  The  houses  of  Sa- 
vannah are  occupied  solely  by  women  and  children.  Several  of  them 
have  applied  to  me  that  I  might  request  the  favour  you  would  allow 
them  to  embark  on  board  a  ship  or  ships  and  go  down  the  river  under 
the  protection  of  yours  until  this  business  is  decided.  If  this  requisition 
you  are  so  good  as  to  grant,  my  Wife  and  Children,  with  a  few  servants, 
shall  be  the  first  to  profit  by  the  indulgence." 

To  this  letter  the  following  response  was  returned  : 

"Camp  before  Savannah,  October  6th,  1779. 

"  Sir, — We  are  persuaded  that  your  Excellency  knows  all  that  your 
duty  prescribes.  Perhaps  your  zeal  has  already  interfered  with  your 
judgment. 

"The  Count  d'  Estaing  in  his  own  name  notified  you  that  you  alone 
would  be  personally  responsible  for  the  consequence  of  your  obstinacy. 
The  time  which  you  informed  him  in  the  commencement  of  the  siege 

'  Christ  Church. 


270  History  of  Savannah. 

would  be  necessary  for  the  arrangement  of  articles,  including  different 
orders  of  men  in  your  town,  had  no  other  object  than  that  of  receiving 
succor.  Such  conduct.  Sir,  is  sufficient  to  forbid  every  intercourse  be- 
tween us  which  might  occasion  the  least  loss  of  time.  Besides,  in  the 
present  application  latent  reasons  might  again  exist.  There  are  military 
ones  which,  in  frequent  instances,  have  prevented  the  indulgence  you  re- 
quest. It  is  with  regret  we  yield  to  the  austerity  of  our  functions,  and 
we  deplore  the  fate  of  those  persons  who  will  be  victims  of  your  conduct, 
and  the  delusion  which  appears  to  prevail  in  your  mind. 
"  We  are  with  respect.  Sir, 

"Your  Excellency's  most  obedient  Servants, 

"  B.  Lincoln. 
"  His  Excellency  "  D'ESTAING. 

"  Major  General  Prevost." 

Remembering  the  advantage  taken  by  the  English  commander  of  the 
truce  accorded  on  the  i6th  of  September,  to  introduce  the  detachment 
under  Colonel  Maitland,  apprehending  that  the  present  was  but  a  pre- 
text for  gaining  some  undisclosed  advantage,  and  mindful  of  the  fact 
that  General  Prevost  had  denied  a  similar  application  preferred  in  behalf 
of  General  Mcintosh  whose  wife  and  children  were  in  Savannah,  General 
Lincoln  and  Count  d'  Estaing  deemed  it  proper  to  refuse  the  permission 
asked. 

"  7th,  Thursday.  A  very  lively  cannonade.  We  bombard  and 
throw  carcasses  into  Savannah,  which  set  the  town  on  fire  for  the  third 
time.'  We  construct  a  new  trench  in  advance  of  our  left  battery  to  per- 
suade the  enemy  that  we  do  not  yet  contemplate  an  assault,  but  that  our 
intention  is  to  push  our  approaches  up  to  his  works. 

"  8th,  Friday.  We  cannonade  and  bombard  feebly.  The  enemy 
does  little  more.  He  seems  to  be  husbanding  his  strength  for  the  antici- 
pated attack.  Informed  of  all  that  transpires  in  our  army,  he  is  cogni- 
zant of  the  trifling  efTect  produced  by  his  fire  upon  us  in  our  trenches. 

'  To-day,  Captain  John  Simpson  of  the  Georgia  Loyalists,  while  walking  in  Major 
Wright's  redoubt,  was  l<illed  by  a  grape-shot.  Many  houses  in  Savannah  were  dam- 
aged by  the  fire  of  the  Allies.  One  shell  fell  in  the  Provost  Marshal's  office  killing  two 
men  and  wounding  nine  others.  Another  burst  in  the  cellar  under  the  office  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Claims,  slaying  a  negro,  and  wounding  another. 


Siege  of  Savannah.  271 

Everything  forces  us  to  the  conclusion  that  we  must,  on  the  morrow, 
make  a  general  assault  upon  the  city.  The  length  of  time  requisite  for 
the  operations  of  a  siege,  the  exhaustion  of  the  supplies  of  the  fleet,  and 
the  pressing  dangers  resulting  from  our  insecure  anchorage,  decide  the 
general  to  take  this  step." 

So  reads  the  journal  of  a  French  officer  in  the  land  army  of  Count  d' 
Estaing. 

The  morning  of  the  8th  was  signalized  by  a  brilliant  attempt  on  the 
part  of  Major  I'Enfant  to  fire  the  abatis  in  front  of  the  enemy's  lines. 
The  dampness  of  the  atmosphere,  however,  prevented  general  ignition. 

The  approaches  of  the  allied  army  had  now  been  pushed  almost 
within  pistol  shot  of  the  English  works.'  In  the  judgment  of  the  engi- 
neers, however,  ten  days  more  would  be  required  to  penetrate  them. 
The  remonstrances  of  his  naval  officers  against  further  delay,  sickness  in 
fleet  and  camp,  anticipated  storms  at  this  tempestuous  season  of  the  year, 
an  apprehension  of  attack  from  the  British  fleet,  and  the  failure  of  his  fire 
to  effect  a  practicable  breach  in  the  hostile  works  united  in  determining 
Count  d'Estaing  to  attempt  their  capture  by  an  early  assault. 

Four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  October,  1779,  was  desig- 
nated as  the  hour  for  the  important  movement,  the  details  of  which  were 
fully  concerted  at  a  general  conference  of  leading  officers.  Unfortunately, 
the  plan  of  attack  was,  by  some  means,  overheard  or  unwittingly  di- 
vulged. Certain  it  is  that  on  the  night  of  the  8th  James  Curry,^  ser- 
geant-major of  the  Charlestown  Grenadiers,  deserted  to  the  enemy  and 
communicated  to  the  English  the  purposes  of  the  allied  army.  Thus  ad- 
vised, Prevost  prepared  to  meet  the  emergency. 

Informed  that  the  principal  assault  was  to  be  directed  against  the 
Spring- Hill  redoubt  and  the  contiguous  batteries,  and  that  the  menace 
on  the  left  under  Huger  was  little  more  than  a  feint,  he  concentrated  his 


'  "We  keep  up  a  most  incessant  cannonade  and  bombardment,"  says  Major  John 
Jones  in  a  letter  dated  "Camp  before  Savannah,  7th  October,  1779,"  "and  this  evening 
we  shall  carry  on  our  approaches  within  pistol-shot  of  the  enemy's  lines.  We  are 
hourly  expecting  that  they  will  strike,  though  many,  with  myself;  are  of  opinion  they  will 
not  until  we  compel  them  by  storm.  Their  investment  is  complete,  and  the  siege  a  reg- 
ular one.''     MS.  letter  in  possession  of  the  author. 

'  This  deserter  was  subsequently  captured  at  the  battle  of  Hobkirk's  Hill,  and  was 
hung  for  his  treachery. 


2/2  History  of  Savannah. 

choicest  troops  about  the  Spring- Hill  and  assigned  his  best  ofificer,  Colo- 
nel Maitland,  to  their  command. 

These  are  the  orders  which  were  issued  by  General  Lincoln  in  antici- 
pation of  the  important  movements  which  were  to  transpire  on  the 
morning  of  the  9th. :  ^ 

"Watchword,  Lewis. 

"The  soldiers  will  be  immediately  supplied  with  forty  rounds  of  cart- 
ridges, a  spare  flint,  and  their  arms  in  good  order. 

"The  infantry  destined  for  the  attack  of  Savannah  will  be  divided  into 
two  bodies  ;  the  first  composing  the  light  troops  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Laurens ;  the  second  of  the  Continental  battalions  and  the  first 
battalion  of  Charlestown  militia,  except  the  grenadiers  whd  are  to  join 
the  light  troops.  The  whole  will  parade  at  one  o'clock  near  the  left  of 
the  line  and  march  by  the  right  by  platoons. 

"  The  guards  of  the  camp  will  be  formed  by  the  invalids  and  be 
charged  to  keep  up  the  fires  as  usual  in  the  camp. 

"  The  cavalry  under  the  command  of  Count  Pulaski  will  parade  at 
the  same  time  with  the  infantry  and  follow  the  left  column  of  the  French 
troops  and  precede  the  column  of  the  American  light  troops.  They  will 
endeavor  to  penetrate  the  enemy's  lines  between  the  battery  on  the  left 
of  the  Spring- Hill  redoubt  and  the  next  toward  the  river.  Having  ef- 
fected this,  they  will  pass  to  the  left  toward  Yamacraw  and  secure  such 
parties  of  the  enemy  as  may  be  lodged  in  that  4uarter. 

"  The  artillery  will  parade  at  the  same  time :  follow  the  French  ar- 
tillery, and  remain  with  the  corps  de  reserve  until  they  receive  further 
orders. 

"  The  whole  will  be  ready  by  the  time  appointed  with  the  utmost 
silence  and  punctuality,  and  be  ready  to  march  the  instant  Count  d'Es- 
taing  and  General  Lincoln  shall  order. 

"  The  Light  troops,  who  are  to  follow  the  cavalry,  will  attempt  to 
enter  the  redoubt  on  the  left  of  the  Spring- Hill  by  escalade  if  possible  : 
if  not,  by  entrance  into  it.  They  are  to  be  supported,  if  necessary,  by 
the  First  South  Carolina  Regiment.  In  the  mean  time  the  column  will 
proceed  with  the  lines  to  the  left  of  the  Spring- Hill  battery. 

"  The  Light  troops  having  succeeded  against  the  redoubt  will  pro- 


Moultrie's  Memoirs  of  the  American  Revolution,  vol.  ii.,  p.  37.     New  York.     1802. 


Siege  of  Savannah.  '  273 

ceed  to  the  left  and  attempt  the  several  works  between  that  and  the 
river. 

"  The  column  will  move  to  the  left  of  the  French  troops,  taking  care 
not  to  interfere  with  them. 

"  The  light  troops  having  carried  the  works  towards  the  river  will 
form  on  the  left  of  the  column. 

"  It  is  expressly  forbid  to  fire  a  single  gun  before  the  redoubts  are 
carried,  or  for  any  soldier  to  quit  his  ranks  to  plunder  without  an  order 
for  that  purpose  ;  any  who  shall  presume  to  transgress  in  either  of  these 
respects  shall  be  reputed  a  disobeyor  of  military  orders,  which  is  punish- 
able with  death. 

"  The  militia  of  the  first  and  second  brigades,  General  Williamson's, 
and  the  first  and  second  battalions  of  Charlestown  militia  will  parade  im- 
mediately under  the  command  of  General  Isaac  Huger.  After  drafting 
five  hundred  of  them,  the  remainder  will  go  into  the  trenches  and  put 
themselves  under  the  command  of  the  commanding  officer  there. 

"  With  the  five  hundred  he  will  march  to  the  left  of  the  enemy's  lines 
and  remain  as  near  them  as  he  possibly  can,  without  being  discovered, 
until  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  which  time  the  troops  in  the 
trenches  will  begin  the  attack  upon  the  enemy.  He  will  then  advance 
and  make  his  attack  as  near  the  river  as  possible.  Though  this  is  only 
meant  as  a  feint,  yet,  should  a  favorable  opportunity  offer,  he  will  im- 
prove it  and  push  into  the  town. 

"  In  case  of  a  repulse,  after  having  taken  the  Spring- Hill  redoubt, 
the  troops  will  retreat  and  rally  in  the  rear  of  the  redoubt.  If  it  cannot 
be  effected  in  that  way,  it  must  be  attempted  by  the  same  route  at  which 
they  entered. 

"The  second  place  of  rallying,  or  the  first,  if  the  redoubt  should  not 
be  carried,  will  be  at  the  Jews'  burying  ground,  where  the  reserve  will 
be  placed.  If  these  two  halts  should  not  be  effectual,  they  will  retire 
toward  camp. 

"The  troops  will  carry  on  their  hats  a  piece  of  white  paper  by  which 
they  will  be  distinguished." 


274  History  of  Savannah. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Siege  of  Savannah  Continued  —  Assault  of  the  9th  of  October,  1779 — Repulse 
of  the  Allied  Army  —  Count  Pulaski  —  Estimate  of  -Forces  Engaged  and  of  Losses  Sus- 
tained—  Names  of  the  Killed  and  Wounded  —  Lieutenant  Lloyd  —  Sergeant  Jasper — 
Siege  Raised  —  Departure  of  the  French  and  Americans  —  War  Vessels  Composing 
the  French  Fleet --General  Lincoln's  Letter  to  Congress  —  Count  d'Estaing  —  Death 
of  Colonel  Maitland  —  Pitiable  Condition  of  the  Sea  coast  of  Georgia. 

THE  French  were  to  form  in  three  columns :  two  for  assault,  and  the 
third  to  act  as  a  reserve  corps  moving  to  any  point  where  its  coope- 
ration seemed  most  requisite.  Of  the  first  column  of  assault  under  M. 
Dillon,  Count  d'Estaing  assumed  personal  command.  The  second  was 
intrusted  to  M.  de  Steding,  colonel  of  infantry.  The  third,  or  column  of 
reserves,  was  led  by  the  Viscount  de  Noailles.  The  Americans  were  di- 
vided into  two  assaulting  columns.  The  first,  composed  of  the  second 
South  Carolina  regiment  and  the  first  battalion  of  Charlestown  militia,  was 
placed  under  the  guidance  of  Colonel  Laurens.  The  second,  consisting  of 
the  first  and  fifth  South  Carolina  regiments  and  some  Georgia  continentals, 
was  commanded  by  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh.  General  Lincoln,  taking 
with  him  some  militia,  united  with  the  Viscount  de  Noailles,  and  assumed, 
by  virtue  of  his  rank,  general  command  of  the  reserves.  The  cavalry, 
under  Count  Pulaski,  was  to  precede  the  American  column,  commanded 
by  Colonel  Laurens,  until  it  approached  the  edge  of  the  wood,  when  it 
was  to  break  off  and  occupy  a  position  whence  it  could  readily  take 
advantage  of  any  breach  which  might  be  effected  in  the  enemy's  works. 
The  weight  of  these  assaulting  columns  was  to  be  directed  against  the 
right  of  the  British  lines.  General  Isaac  Huger,  with  a  force  of  five 
hundred  men,  was  ordered  to  march  to  the  left  of  the  enemy's  works  and 
remain  as  near  them  as  he  could,  without  being  discovered,  until  four  in 
the  morning,  when  he  was  to  advance  and  attack  as  close  the  river  as 
practicable.  Although  this  movement  was  intended  as  a  feint,  he  was  in- 
structed, if  a  favorable  opportunity  presented  itself,  to  improve  the  chance 
and  push  into  the  town.  It  was  further  arranged  that  some  troops  from 
the  trenches  should  demonstrate  forcibly  against  the  British  center  with 
a  view  to  distracting  the  enemy. 


Siege  of  Savannah.  275 


After  wading  half  a  mile  through  the  rice- field  which  bordered  the 
city  on  the  east,  General  Huger  reached  his  point  of  attack  and,  at  the 
designated  hour  and  place,  assaulted.  The  enemy,  already  fully  advised 
of  the  movement,  was  on  the  alert.  He  was  received  with  music  and  a 
heavy  fire  of  cannon  and  musketry,  before  which  he  retreated  with  a  loss 
of  twenty-eight  men.  This  command  took  no  further  part  in  the  action. 
The  attack  from  the  troops  from  the  trenches  upon  the  center  of  the 
English  line  was  feebly  maintained  and  produced  no  impression.  It  was 
easily  repulsed  by  the  soldiers  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Hamilton,  of  the  North  Carolina  regiment  of  loyalists.  These  troops 
from  the  trenches,  supported  by  the  Chasseurs  of  Martinique,  were  com- 
manded by  M.  de  Sabliere. 

The  details  of  the  assault  upon  the  enemy's  right,  as  conducted  by 
the  French  columns  of  attack,  we  translate  from  the  Journal  of  a  French 
officer  who  participated  in  the  tragic  event: 

"  By  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  all  our  dispositions  had  been  per- 
fected. .  .  .  We  commence  marching  by  the  left  to  attack  the  city 
on  its  right  where  its  western  side,  as  we  have  before  intimated,  is  for- 
tified by  three  redoubts  located  triangularly.^  The  columns  marched  by 
divisions  (each  column  had  been  divided  into  three  battalions),  with  easy 
gait  and  leisurely,  that  they  might  arrive  at  the  point  of  attack  at  the 
designated   hour. 

"  At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  three  columns,  which  had  ob- 
served a  similar  order  of  march,  arrived  within  about  eighty  toises  (160 
yards)  of  the  edge  of  the  wood  which  borders  upon  Savannah.  Here 
the  head  of  column  was  halted  and  we  were  ordered  to  form  into  platoons. 
Day  begins  to  dawn  and  we  grow  impatient.  This  movement  is  scarcely 
commenced  when  we  are  directed  to  march  forward,  quick  time,  the  van- 
guard inclining  a  little  to  the  right,  the  column  of  M.  de  Steding  to  the 
left,  and  the  column  of  the  General  (D'Estaing)  moving  straight  to  the 
front.  M.  de  Noailles,  with  his  reserve  corps,  proceeds  to  a  small  emi- 
nence from  which  he  could  observe  all  our  movements  and  repair  to  any 
point  where  the  exigencies  might  demand  his  presence. 

"  At  half  past  five  o'clock  we  hear  on  our  right,  and  on  the  enemy's 
left,  a  very  lively  fire  of  musketry  and  cannon  upon  our  troops  from  the 

1  The  Spring  Hill  and  Ebenezer  batteries. 


276  History  of  Savannah. 


trenches  who  had  commenced  the  false  attack.  A  few  minutes  after- 
wards, we  are  discovered  by  the  enemy's  sentinels,  who  fire  a  few  shots. 
The  General  now  orders  an  advance  at  double  quick,  to  shout  Vive  le 
Roy,  and  to  beat  the  charge.  The  enemy  opens  upon  us  a  very  brisk 
fire  of  artillery  and  musketry,  which,  however,  does  not  prevent  the  van- 
guard from  advancing  upon  the  redoubt,  and  the'right  column  upon  the 
entrenchments.  The  ardor  of  our  troops  and  the  difficulties  offered  by 
the  ground  do  not  permit  us  long  to  preserve  our  ranks.  Disorder 
begins  to  prevail.  The  head  of  the  column  penetrates  within  the  en- 
trenchments, but,  having  marched  too  rapidly,  it  is  not  supported  by  the 
rest  of  the  column  which,  arriving  in  confusion,  is  cut  down  by  discharges 
of  grape  shot  from  the  redoubts  and  batteries  and  by  a  musketry  fire 
from  the  entrenchments.  We  are  violently  repulsed  at  this  point.  Instead 
of  moving  to  the  right,  this  column  and  the  vanguard  fall  back  toward 
the  left.  Count  d'Estaing  receives  a  musket  shot  when  almost  within  the 
redoubt,  and  M.  Betizi  is  here  wounded  several  times. 

"The  column  of  M.  de  Steding,  which  moved  to  the  left,  while 
traversing  a  muddy  swamp  full  of  brambles,  loses  its  formation  and  no 
longer  preserves  any  order.  This  swamp,  upon  which  the  enemy's 
entrenchments  rested,  formed  a  slope  which  served  as  a  glacis  to  them. 
The  firing  is  very  lively ;  and,  although  this  column  is  here  most 
seriously  injured,  it  crosses  the  road  to  Augusta  that  it  may  advance 
to  the  enemy's  right,  which  it  was  ordered  to  attack.  On  this  spot 
nearly  all  the  volunteers  are  killed.  The  Baron  de  Steding  is  here 
wounded. 

"  The  column  of  M.  d'Estaing,  and  the  repulsed  vanguard  which  had 
retreated  to  the  left,  arrived  here  as  soon  as  the  column  of  M.  de  Sted- 
ing, and  threw  it  into  utter  confusion.  At  this  moment  everything  is  in 
such  disorder  that  the  formations  are  no  longer  preserved.  The  road  to 
Augusta  is  choked  up.  It  here,  between  two  impracticable  morasses, 
consists  of  an  artificial  causeway  upon  which  all  our  soldiers,  who  had 
disengaged  themselves  from  the  stamps,  collected.  We  are  crowded 
together  and  badly  pressed.  Two  18- pounder  guns,  upon  field  carriages, 
charged  with  canister  and  placed  at  the  head  of  the  road,  cause  terrible 
slaughter.  The  musketry  fire  from  the  entrenchments  is  concentrated 
upon  this  spot  and   upon  the  swamps.      Two  EngHsh  galleys  and  one 


Repulse  of  the  Allied  Army.  277 

frigate  1  sweep  this  point  with  their  broadsides,  and  the  redoubts  and 
batteries  use  only  grape  shot,  which  they  shower  down  upon  this  local- 
ity. [Another  contemporaneous  French  writer  says  the  English  fired 
from  their  cannon  packets  of  scrap  iron,  the  blades  of  knives  and  scis- 
sors, and  even  chains  five  and  six  feet  long.]  Notwithstanding  all  this 
our  officers  endeavor  to  form  into  columns  this  mass  which  does  not 
retreat,  and  the  soldiers  themselves  strive  to  regain  their  ranks.  Scarcely 
have  they  commenced  to  do  this  when  the  General  orders  the  charge  to 
be  beaten.  Three  times  do  our  troops  advance  en  masse  up  to  the  en- 
trenchments which  cannot  be  carried.  An  attempt  is  made  to  penetrate 
through  the  swamp  on  our  left  to  gain  the  enemy's  right.  More  than 
half  of  those  who  enter  are  either  killed,  or  remain  stuck  fast  in  the 
mud.  .  .  .  Standing  in  the  road  leading  to  Augusta,  and  at  a  most 
exposed  point,  the  General,  with  perfect  self-possession,  surveys  this 
slaughter,  demands  constant  renewals  of  the  assault,  and,  although  sure 
of  the  bravery  of  his  troops,  determines  upon  a  retreat  only  when  he 
sees  that  success  is  impossible. 

"  We  beat  a  retreat,  which  is  mainly  effected  across  the  swamp  lying 
to  the  right  of  the  Augusta  road ;  our  forces  being  entirely,  and  at  short 
range,  exposed  to  the  concentrated  fire  of  the  entrenchments  which  con- 
stantly increases  in  vehemence.  At  this  juncture  the  enemy  show  them- 
selves openly  upon  the  parapets  and  deliver  their  fire  with  their  muskets 
almost  touching  our  troops.     The  General  here  receives  a  second  shot.^ 

"About  four  hundred  men,  more  judiciously  led  by  the  Baron  de 
Steding,  retreated  without  loss  by  following  the  road  to  Augusta  and 
turning  the  swamp  by  a  long  detour.  M.  de  Noailles,  anxious  to  pre- 
serve his  command  for  the  moment  when  it  could  be  used  to  the  best 
advantage,  orders  his  reserve  corps  to  fall  back  rapidly.  Had  he  not 
done  so,  it  would  have  suffered  a  loss  almost  as  severe  as  that  encoun- 
tered by  the  assaulting  columns,  the  effect  of  the  grape  shot  being  more 
dangerous  at  the  remove  where  it  was  posted  than  at  the  foot  of  the  en- 
trenchments. Accompanied  only  by  his  adjutant,  he  ascends  an  eleva- 
tion fifteen  paces  in  advance  of  his  corps  that  he  might  with  certainty 

'  The  armed  brig  Germain. 

'  During  the  conduct  of  the  assault  Count  d'Estaing  was  twice  wounded  by  musket 
balls,  once  in  the  arm  and  again  in  the  thigh. 


2/8  History  of  Savannah. 


observe  all  the  movements  of  the  army.  His  adjutant,  M.  Calignon,  is 
mortally  wounded  by  his  side.  When  the  Viscount  de  Noailles  per- 
ceives the  disorder  reigning  among  the  columns,  he  brings  his  reserve 
corps  up  to  charge  the  enemy  ;  and,  when  he  hears  the  retreat  sounded, 
advances  in  silence,  at  a  slow  step,  and  in  perfect  order,  to  afford  an  op- 
portunity to  the  repulsed  troops  to  reform  themselves  in  his  rear.  He 
makes  a  demonstration  to  penetrate  within  the  entrenchments  in  case 
the  enemy  should  leave  them,  and  prepares  to  cut  them  off  in  that  event. 
Under  these  circumstances  he  encounters  some  loss,  but  the  anticipated 
sortie  would  have  caused  the  total  destruction  of  our  army.  That  the 
enemy  did  not  make  this  apprehended  sortie  is  to  be  attributed  to  this 
excellent  disposition  of  his  forces  and  this  prompt  manoeuvre  on  the  part 
of  the  Viscount  de  Noailles.^ 

"The  fragments  of  the  army  hastily  form  in  single  column  behind  the 
reserve  corps  and  begin  marching  to  our  camp.  M.  de  Noailles  consti- 
tutes the  rear  guard,  and  retires  slowly  and  in  perfect  order.  Towards 
eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  army  was  again  in  camp,  and  a  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities  for  the  purpose  of  burying  the  dead  and  removing  the 
wounded  was  proposed  and  allowed." 

The  American  right  column,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Laurens, 
preceded  by  Count  Pulaski,  assaulted  the  Spring- Hill  redoubt  with  con- 
spicuous valor.  At  one  time  the  ditch  was  passed  and  the  colors  of  the 
second  South  Carolina  Regiment  were  planted  upon  the  exterior  slope. 
The  parapet  being  too  high  for  them  to  scale  in  the  face  of  a  murderous 
fire,  these  brave  assailants  were  driven  out  of  the  ditch.  On  the  retreat, 
this  command  was  thrown  into  great  disorder  by  the  cavalry  and  lancers 
who,  severely  galled  by  the  enemy's  fire,  broke  away  to  the  left  and  passed 
through  the  infantry,  bearing  a  portion  of  it  into  the  swamp. 

The  second  American  column,  led  by  General  Mcintosh,  arrived  near 
the  Spring-Hill  redoubt  at  a  moment  of  supreme  confusion.    Count  d'Es- 

'  This  statement  is  not  entirely  correct.  Major  Glasier,  of  the  Sixtieth  Regiment, 
who,  with  the  grenadiers  and  reserve  marines,  was  supporting  the  points  assailed,  did, 
when  the  order  for  retreat  was  given  by  the  commander  of  the  allied  army,  make  a  sor- 
tie from  the  British  lines.  He  struck  General  Mcintosh's  column  in  the  flank  and  pur- 
sued the  retiring  troops  as  far  as  the  abatis.  See  General  Prevost's  report  of  the  en- 
gagement to  Lord  George  Germain,  dated  Savannah,  November  i,  1779.  Gentle- 
man's Magazine  for  1779,  PP-  633,  636. 


Death  of  Pulaski.  279 


taing  was  then,  his  arm  wounded,  endeavoring  to  rally  his  men.  "  Gen- 
eral Mcintosh,"  says  Major  Thomas  Pinckney,  who  was  present  and  an 
earnest  actor  in  the  bloody  details  of  this  unfortunate  and  ill-considered 
attempt,  "did  not  speak  French,  but  desired  me  to  inform  the  Com- 
mander-in  Chief  that  his  column  was  fresh,  and  that  he  wished  his  direc- 
tions where,  under  present  circumstances,  he  should  make  the  attack. 
The  Count  ordered  that  we  should  move  more  to  the  left,  and  by  no 
means  to  interfere  with  the  troops  he  was  endeavoring  to  rally.  In  pur- 
suing this  direction  we  were  thrown  too  much  to  the  left,  and,  before 
we  could  reach  Spring-Hill  redoubt,  we  had  to  pass  through  Yamacraw 
Swamp,  then  wet  and  boggy,  with  the  galley  at  the  mouth  annoying  our 
left  flank  with  grape  shot.  While  struggling  through  this  morass,  the  fir- 
ing slacked,  and  it  was  reported  that  the  whole  army  had  retired.  I  was 
sent  by  General  Mcintosh  to  look  out  from  the  Spring- Hill,  where  I 
found  not  an  assailant  standing.  On  reporting  this  to  the  General,  he 
ordered  a  retreat  which  was  effected  without  much  loss,  notwithstanding 
the  heavy  fire  of  grape-shot  with  which  we  were  followed." 

While  the  assault  was  raging,  Pulaski,  with  the  approval  of  General 
Lincoln,  attempted,  at  the  head  of  some  two  hundred  cavalrymen,  to  force 
a  passage  between  the  enemy's  works.  His  purpose  was  to  penetrate 
within  the  town,  pass  in  rear  of  the  hostile  lines,  and  carry  confusion  and 
havoc  into  the  British  camp.  In  the  execution  of  this  design,  he  advanced 
at  full  speed  until  arrested  by  the  abatis.  Here  his  command  encoun- 
tered a  heavy  cross-fire  from  the  batteries  which  threw  it  into  confusion. 
The  count  himself  was  unhorsed  by  a  cannister  shot  which,  penetrating 
his  right  thigh,  inflicted  a  mortal  wound. ^     He  was  borne  from  the  bloody 


'  The  last  command  uttered  by  the  gallant  Pole  as  he  fell,  wounded  to  the  death, 
was :  "  Follow  my  Lancers  to  whom  I  have  given  the  order  of  attack."  Major  Rogow- 
ski  thus  describes  Pulaski's  charge  :  "  For  half  an  hour  the  guns  roared  and  blood  flowed 
abundantly.  Seeing  an  opening  between  the  enemy's  works,  Pulaski  resolved,  with  his 
Legion  and  a  small  detachment  of  Georgia  Cavalry,  to  charge  through,  enter  the  city, 
confuse  the  enemy,  and  cheer  the  inhabitants  with  good  tidings.  General  Lincoln  ap- 
proved the  daring  plan.  Imploring  the  help  of  the  Almighty,  Pulaski  shouted  to  his 
men  forward,  and  we,  two  hundred  strong,  rode  at  full  speed  after  him, — the  earth  re- 
sounding under  the  hoofs  of  our  chargers.  For  the  first  two  moments  all  went  well. 
We  sped  like  knights  into  the  peril.  Just,  however,  as  we  passed  the  gap  between  the 
two  batteries,  a  cross-fire,  like  a  pouring  shower,  confused  our  ranks.  I  looked  around. 
Oh  !  sad  moment,  ever  to  be  remembered,  Pulaski  lies  prostrate  on  the  ground  !     I 


28o  History  of  Savannah. 

field,  and,  after  the  conflict  was  over,  was  conveyed  on  board  the  United 
States  brig  Wasp  to  go  round  to  Charlestown.  The  ship,  delayed  by 
head-winds,  remained  several  days  in  Savannah  River  and,  during  this 
period,  he  was  attended  by  the  most  skillful  surgeons  in  the  French  fleet. 
It  was  found  impossible  to  establish  suppuration,  and  gangrene  super- 
vened. As  the  WasJ>  was  leaving  the  river  Pulaski  breathed  his  last.  His 
corpse  became  so  offensive  that  Colonel  Bentalou,  his  officer  in  attend- 
ance, "was  compelled,  though  reluctantly,  to  consign  to  a  watery  grave  all 
that  was  now  left  upon  earth  of  his  beloved  and  honored  commander." 

After  the  retreat  of  the  assaulting  columns  from  the  right  of  the  Brit- 
ish lines,  eighty  men  lay  dead  in  the  ditch  and  on  the  parapet  of  the  re- 
doubt first  attacked,  and  ninety- three  within  the  abatis.  The  ditch,  says 
an  eye-witness,  was  filled  with  dead.  In  front,  for  fifty  yards,  the  field  was 
covered  with  the  slain.  Many  hung  dead  and  wounded  upon  the  abatis, 
and  for  some  hundred  yards  without  the  lines  the  plain  was  strewed 
with  mangled  bodies  killed  by  grape  and  langrage.  The  attacks  upon 
the  Ebenezer  battery,  the  Spring-Hill  redoubt,  and  the  redoubt  in  which 
Colonel  Maitland  had  located  his  headquarters,  were  made  with  the  ut- 
most gallantry  and  impetuosity.  Two  standards  were  planted  by  the  allied 
forces  upon  the  Ebenezer  battery;  one  of  which  was  captured,  and  the 
other  brought  off  by  the  brave  Sergeant  Jasper  who,  at  the  moment,  was 
suffering  from  a  mortal  wound.  Major  John  Jones,  aid  to  General  Mc- 
intosh, was  literally  cut  in  twain  by  a  cannon  shot  while  within  a  few 
paces  of  the  embrasure  from  which  the  piece  was  discharged. 

Of  the  valor  and  heroism  of  the  assault  there  can  be  no  question. 
That  it  was  ill-conceived  and  calamitous  to  the  last  degree  is  equally 
certain. 

The  left  of  the  English  line  rested  upon  a  heavy  work,  mounting  four- 
teen cannon,  located  just  where  the  bluff,  upon  which  the  town  was  situ- 
leaped  towards  him,  thinking  possibly  his  wound  was  not  dangerous,  but  a  cannister  shot 
had  pierced  his  thigh,  and  the  blood  was  also  flowing  from  his  breast,  probably  from  a 
second  wound.  Falling  on  my  knees  I  tried  to  raise  him.  He  said  in  a  faint  voice, 
Jesus  !  Maria  !  Joseph  !  Further  I  knew  not,  for  at  that  moment  a  musket  ball,  graz- 
ing my  scalp,  blinded  me  with  blood  and  I  fell  to  the  ground  in  a  state  of  insensibility." 

Nine  days  before,  Pulaski  had  lost  his  scapulars  which  the  Nuncio  had  blessed  dur- 
ing his  stay  at  Crenstochowe.  He  regarded  it  as  an  evil  omen,  and  advised  Major  Ro- 
gowski  that  he  anticipated  early  death. 


Strength  of  the  Allied  Army.  281 

ated,  yields  to  the  low  grounds  below.  The  line  thence  followed  the  high 
ground,  where  it  looks  to  the  east,  until  about  the  point  where  it  is  now 
intersected  by  Liberty  street.  Then,  bending  to  the  south  and  west,  it 
followed  a  semicircular  course  until  it  reached  the  point  where  the  Au- 
gusta road  descended  into  the  low  grounds  on  the  west.  Thence,  run- 
ning northwards  and  following  the  edge  of  the  high  ground,  its  right  de- 
veloped into  a  two-gun  battery  on  the  Savannah  River.  On  the  east  and 
west  the  approaches  to  this  line  were  rendered  almost  impracticable  by 
swamps  at  that  time  badly  drained.  We  have  already  alluded  to  the  pre- 
cautions adopted  by  Prevost  for  the  protection  of  the  town  where  it  looks 
upon  the  river.  This  line,  at  the  time  it  was  assaulted,  was  strong  and 
bristling  with  more  than  one  hundred  guns  in  fixed  position.  Accurately 
advised  in  advance  of  the  precise  points  of  attack  concerted  by  the  allies, 
Prevost  made  his  dispositions  accordingly.  His  heaviest  concentration 
occurred  on  his  right,  and  to  Lieutenant- Colonel  Maitland  was  the  de- 
fense of  this  post  of  honor  and  of  danger  entrusted. 

While  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the  conflicting  estimates  which  have 
been  handed  down  to  us  of  the  forces  actually  engaged  during  the  siege 
of  Savannah,  we  submit  the  following  as  the  most  accurate  we  have  been 
able  to  prepare  after  a  careful  comparison  of  the  most  reliable  authorities 
at  command : 

Strength  of  the  French  Army,  Commanded  by  Count  D'Estaing. 

Noailles  Division,  composed  of  the  regiments  of  Champagne,  Auxerrois, 

Foix,  Gaudeloupe,  and  Martinique,  .         .         ...  .      900  men. 

The  Division  of  Count  d'Estaing,  composed  of  the  regiments  of  Cam- 
bresis,  Hainault,  the  Volunteers  of  Berges,  Agenois,  Gatinois,  the 
Cape,  and  Port-au-Prince  and  the  artillery, .        1,000  men. 

Dillon's  Division,  composed  of  the  regiments  of  Dillon,  Armagnac,  and 

Volunteer  Grenadiers 9°°  ™en. 

The  Dragoons  of  Condi  and  of  Belzunce,  under  the  command  of  M.  De- 
jean,  ■        50  men. 

The  Volunteer  Chasseurs,  commanded  by  M.  de  Rouvrai 750  men. 

The  Grenadier  Volunteers,  and  men  of  other  regiments,  commanded  by 

M.  des  Framais ■     •  356  men. 

To  these  should  probably  be  added  the  Marines  and  Sailors  fiom  the 

fleet,  detailed  for  special  labor  to  the  number  of 500  men. 

Total, ...  4,456  men. 

36 


282  History  of  Savannah. 


Strength  of  the  American  Army,  Commanded  ey  General  Lincoln. 

Continental  Troops,  including  the  Fifth  Regiment  of  South  Carolina  In- 
fantry, .     .              ■     .     .              .              ......  1,003  men. 

Heyward's  Artillery .     .  65  men. 

Charlestown  Volunteers  and  Militia,    .          .     .          .          .               ...  365  men. 

General  Williamson  s  Brigade,          .          .     .          '    .  212  men. 

Regiments  of  Georgia  Militia,  commanded  by  Colonels  Twiggs  and  Few,  232  men. 

Cavalry,  under  command  of  Brigadier-General  Count  Pulaski,           .     .     .  250  men. 


Total,  .     .         .  2,127  men. 

Recapitulation. 

French        Troops, .  4,456  men. 

American        "         ...  ....  ...  2,127  nien. 

Total  strength  of  the  Allied  Army,       .     .  6,583  men. 

Anthony  Stokes,  chief  justice  of  the  colony  of  Georgia,  who  was 
in  Savannah  during  the  siege,  estimates  the  besieging  army  at  about 
4,500  French  and  2,500  Americans. 

In  the  Paris  Gazette  of  January  7,  1780,  the  besieging  forces  are 
enumerated  as  follows: 

French  Troops. 

I.  Europeans:  Draughted  from  the  regiments  of  Armagnac,  Cham- 
pagne, Auxerrois,  Agenois,  Gatinois,  Cambresis,  Hainault,  Foix,  Dil- 
lon, Walsh,  le  Cap,  la  Guadeloupe,  la  Martinique,  and  Port-au- 
Prince,  a  detachment  of  the  Royal  Corps  of  Infantry  of  the  Marine, 
the  Volunteers  of  Vallelle,  the  Dragoons,  and  1 56  Volunteer  Grena- 
diers, lately  raised  at  Cape  Francois 2,979  men. 

II.  Colored:  Volunteer   Chasseurs,  mulattoes,  and  negroes  newly  raised 

at  Saint  Domingo,  ....  .     .         .     .  545  men. 

American  Troops,    .  .    .  .    .  2,000  men. 

Total 5,524  men. 

In  his  inclosure  to  Lord  George  Germain,  under  date  November  5, 
1779,  Governor  Sir  James  Wright  reports  the  British  forces  within  the 
lines  of  Savannah  during  the  siege,  "including  regulars,  militia,  sailors, 
and  volunteers,"  as  not  exceeding  twenty- three  hundred  and  fifty  men 
fit  for  duty. 

By  the  legend  accompanying  Faden's  "Plan  of  the  Siege  of  Savan- 
nah," printed  at  Charing  Cross  on  the  2d  of  February,  1784,  we  are  in- 


Aggregate  Loss  of  the  Allied  Army,  283 

formed  that  the  total  number  of  English  troops,  "including  soldiers,  sea- 
men and  militia,"  garrisoning  the  forts,  redoubts,  and  epaulements,  and 
fit  for  duty  on  the  9th  of  October,  1779,  was  twenty- three  hundred  and 
sixty.  "The  force  in  Savannah  under  General  Prevost,"  says  that  excel- 
lent historian,  Stedman,^  "  did  not  exceed  two  thousand  five  hundred  of 
all  sorts,  regulars,  provincial  corps,  seamen,  militia,  and  volunteers."  Dr. 
Ramsay 2  states  that  "the  force  of  the  garrison  was  between  two  and  three 
thousand,  of  which  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  were  militia."  General 
Moultrie,  in  his  "Memoirs,"^  substantially  adopts  this  estimate.  Accord- 
ing to  Captain  Hugh  McCall,*  the  British  force  "consisted  of  two  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  fifty  men,  including  one  hundred  and  fifty  mili- 
tia, some  Indians,  and  three  hundred  armed  slaves."  In  Rivington's  "Ga- 
zette" it  is  asserted  that  the  entire  strength  of  the  English  garrison  on 
duty,  including  regulars,  militia,  volunteers,  and  sailors,  did  not  exceed 
two  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  men. 

Upon  an  inspection  of  the  returns,  as  we  are  informed  by  the  French 
journal  from  which  we  have  already  quoted.  Count  d'Estaing  ascertained 
that  the  aUied  army  had  suffered  the  following  loss  in  killed  and  wounded: 

French  soldiers, .     .        760  rnsn. 

French  officers 61  men. 

Americans, 312  men. 

Total 1,133  men. 

The  aggregate  loss  encountered  by  the  combined  French  and  Ameri- 
can forces  during  the  progress  of  the  siege  and  in  the  assault  of  the  9th 
of  October  has  been  variously  estimated  at  from  one  thousand  to  fifteen 
hundred  killed  and  wounded.  Dr.  Ramsay  asserts  that  the  assaulting  col- 
umns under  Count  d'Estaing  and  General  Mcintosh  did  not  stand  the 
enemy's  fire  more  than  fifty-five  minutes,  and  that  during  this  short 
period  the  French  had  six  hundred  and  thirty-seven  men  killed  and 
wounded,  and  the  Americans  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven.  "In  this  un- 
successful attempt,"  says  Marshall,^  "  the  loss  of  the  French  in  killed  and 

^  History  of  the  American  War,  \o\.'\\.,^.  IT],     London.     1794- 

'  History  of  the  Revolution,  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  40.     Trenton,     mdcclxxxv. 

'Vol.  it.,  pp.41,  42. 

*  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  270. 

"■  Life  of  Washington,  vol.  iv.,  p.  102.      Philadelphia.     1805. 


2^4  HistorV  of  Savannah. 

wounded  was  about  seven  hundred  men.  The  continental  troops  lost  two 
hundred  and  thirty-four  men,  and  the  Charleston  militia,  who,  though 
united  with  them  in  danger,  were  more  fortunate,  had  one  captain  killed 
and  six  privates  wounded."  Irving,^  in  a  general  way,  states  that  the 
French  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  upwards  of  six  hundred  men,  and  the 
Americans  about  four  hundred.  "Our  troops,"  says  General  Moultrie,^ 
"remained  before  the  lines  in  this  hot  fire  fifty-five  minutes;  the  Gen- 
erals, seeing  no  prospect  of  success,  were  constrained  to  order  a  retreat, 
after  having  six  hundred  and  thirty-seven  French  and  four  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  Continentals  killed  and  wounded."  General  Lee's  estimate^ 
accords  substantially  with  that  of  Marshall.  When  driven  out  of  the  ditch 
and  compelled  to  retreat,  Stedman  asserts*  that  the  assailants  left  behind 
them,  in  killed  and  wounded,  of  the  French  troops  six  hundred  and 
thirty-seven,  and  of  the  Americans  two  hundred  and  sixty-four. 

General  Prevost  reports  the  allied  loss  at  from  one  thousand  to  twelve 
hundred. 

Thoroughly  protected  by  their  well- constructed  earthworks,  the  Eng- 
lish suffered  but  little.  The  few  casualties  reported  in  the  British  ranks 
and  the  terrible  slaughter  dealt  out  to  the  assaulting  columns  assure  us 
how  admirably  Prevost  had  covered  his  men  by  entrenchments  and  re- 
doubts, and  how  skillfully  and  rapidly  the  besieged  handled  their  muskets 
and  field  and  siege  pieces.  General  Prevost's  return  shows  forty  killed, 
sixty-three  wounded,  four  missing,  and  forty-eight  desertions  during  the 
siege.  In  a  letter  to  his  wife,  dated  Savannah,  November  4,  1779,  Cap- 
tain T.  W.  Moore,  aid  to  General  Prevost,  estimates  the  entire  loss  sus- 
tained by  the  garrison  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  at  one  hundred 
and  sixty- three;  and  Stedman  says  "the  loss  of  the  garrison,  in  the 
whole,  did  not  exceed  one  hundred  and  twenty.''  So  potent  are  military 
skill  and  proper  defenses  for  the  preservation  of  human  Hfe. 

It  is  believed  that  about  one  thousand  shells  and  twenty  carcasses 
were  thrown  into  the  city  during  the  continuance  of  the  siege.  Of  the 
expenditure  of  solid  shots  we  can  find  no  record,  although  we  know  that 
they  were  freely  used. 

'^  Life  of  Washington,  vol.  iii.,  p.  522.     New  York.     1856. 

''Memoirs,  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  41.     New  York.     1802. 

'Memoirs,  vol.  i.,  p.  109.'    Philadelphia.     1812. 

*■  History  of  the  American  IVar,  vol.  ii.  p.  131.     London.     1794. 


List  of  Casualties  Among  French  Officers.  285 

In  the  repulse  of  the  French  and  Americans  on  the  right  of  the  city 
lines,  the  following  English  troops,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Mait- 
land,  were  mainly  engaged  : 

Dismounted  dragoons,    ...  .     .  .  28 

Battalion  men  of  the  60th  Regiment,  .     .  '■  .  ...  .28 

South  Carolina  loyalists.     They  held  the  redoubts  on  the  Ebenezer  road 

where  the  brave  Captain  Tawse,  commanding,  fell,  .  .     54 

Colonel  Hamilton's  North  Carolina  loyalists,     ....  .  -90 

Militia  under  Captains  Wallace,   Tallemach,  and  Polhill.      These  were 

posted  in  the  redoubt  where  Colonel  Maitland  was,     .  .  -75 

Grenadiers  of  the  60th  Regiment,  .  .     74 

Marines.      Ordered  to  support   the   redoubt,  they  bravely  charged  the 

allied  army  when  the  retreat  was  sounded,  37 

Sailors  under  the  command  of  Captains  Manley  and  Stiel,  stationed  in 

the  Spring-Hill  battery  of  six  guns,    .     .  .     .  31 

417 

General  Huger's  attack  upon  the  left  was  frustrated  by  troops  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  Cruger  and  Major  Wright. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  French  officers  killed  and  wounded  on 
the  9th  of  October,  1779: 

Killed:  Brow,  major  of  Dillon's  regiment,  colonel  of  infantry;  Bal- 
heon,  midshipman;  Destinville,  second  lieutenant  of  the  navy;  Molart, 
lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of  Armagnac ;  Stancey,  second  lieutenant  of 
the  Dragoons  of  Conde;  Taf,  lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of  Dillon;  Guil- 
laume,  lieutenant  of  the  Grenadiers  of  Guadeloupe  ;  De  Montaign,  cap- 
tain of  the  Chasseurs ;  Boisneuf,  lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of  Port  au 
Prince;  Du  Perron,  captain  on  staff  duty.     Total,  10. 

Wounded:  Count  d'Estaing,  general;  De  Fontanges,  major-general; 
De  Betizi,  colonel,  and  second  in  command  of  the  regiment  of  Gatinois ; 
De  Steding,  colonel  of  infantry ;  Derneville,  aid-major  of  division,  mor- 
tally wounded;  Chalignon,  aid-major  of  division,  mortally  wounded; 
Boulan,  captain  of  the  Grenadiers  of  Armagnac;  Grillere,  captain  of  the 
regiment  of  Armagnac ;  Barris,  captaini  of  the  regiment  of  Augenois ; 
St.  Sauveur,  lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of  Augenois ;  Chaussepred,  lieu- 
tenant of  the  regiment  of  Augenois;  Morege,  second  lieutenant  of  the  reg- 
iment of  Augenois;  Chamson,  lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of  Cambresis; 
Coleau,  lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of  Cambresis;  Boozel,  lieutenant  of  the 


286  History  op  Savannah. 

regiment  of  Cambresis ;  Oradon,  second  lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of 
Hainault;  Labarre,  lieutenant  of  the  dragoons  of  Conde;  Quelle,  captain 
of  the  regiment  of  Dillon;  Doyon,  lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of  Dillon; 
Deloy,  ofificer  of  the  regiment  of  Dillon  ;  Chr.  de  Termoi,  cadet  of  the 
regiment  of  Dillon;  Dumouries,  lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of  the  Cape; 
Desombrages,  lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of  the  Cape;  Delbos,  second 
lieutenant  of  the  regiment  of  the  Cape;  Desnoyers,  major  of  the  regiment 
of  Gaudeloupe;  Roger,  captain  of  the  regiment  of  Guadeloupe;  Noyelles, 
captain  attached  to  the  staflf  of  the  regiment  of  Guadeloupe  ;  D'Angle- 
mont,  lieutenant  of  the  Chasseurs  of  Guadeloupe ;  De  Rousson,  second 
lieutenant  of  the  Chasseurs  of  Guadeloupe;  Bailly  de  Menager,  lieutenant 
of  the  regiment  of  Port  au  Prince,  prisoner;  Duclos,  lieutenant  of  the  vol- 
unteer Chasseurs.     Total,  31. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  some  of  the  Continental  and  militia 
officers  killed  and  wounded  the  same  day : 

Killed:  Major  John  Jones,  aid  to  General  Mcintosh;  Second  Regi- 
ment, Major  Motte,  and  Lieutenants  Hume,  Wickham,  and  Btish  ;  Third 
Regiment,  Major  Wise  and  Lieutenant  Bailey;  General  Williamson's 
Brigade,  Captain  Beraud  ;  Charlestown-  Regiment,  Captain  Shepherd ; 
South  Carolina  Artillery,  Captain  Donnom,  Charles  Price,  a  volunteer, 
and  Sergeant  William  Jasper. 

Wounded:  Brigadier- General  Count  Pulaski,  mortally;  Major  I'En- 
fant  and  Captains  Bentalou,  Giles,  and  Rogowski ;  Second  Regiment, 
Captain  Roux  and  Lieutenants  Gray  and  Petrie;  Third  Regiment,  Cap- 
tain Farrar  and  Lieutenants  Gaston  and  De  Saussure ;  Sixth  Regiment, 
Captain  Bowie;  Virginia  Levies,  Lieutenants  Parker  and  Walker;  Light 
Infantry,  Captain  Smith,  of  the  Third  ;  Captains  Warren  and  Hogan,  of 
the  Fifth;  Lieutenant  Vleland,  of  the  Second,  and  Lieutenant  Parsons,  of 
the  Fifth  ;  South  Carolina  Militia,  Captains  Davis  and  Trevllle,  and  Lieu- 
tenants Bonneau,  Wilkie,  Wade,  and  Wardel ;  Lieutentant  Edward  Lloyd, 
Mr.  Owen. 

During  the  siege  a  number  of  Georgia  officers  who  had  no  command 
and  some  patriotic  gentlemen  associated  themselves  together  for  active 
duty  under  the  leadership  of  Colonel  Leonard  Marbury.^     Although  only 

'  Charlton's  Life  of  Major-General  James  Jackson,  Part  I.,  p.  16.    Augusta,  Geor- 
gia.    1809. 


Sergeant  Jasper.  287 


thirty  in  all,  four  were  killed  and  seven  wounded.  Of  these  were  Charles 
Price,  of  Sunbury,  a  young  attorney  of  note,  and  Lieutenant  Bailey, 
whose  names  we  have  enumerated  among  the  slain. 

Among  the  incidents  of  the  occasion,  Captain  McCalli  records  the 
following :  While  a  surgeon  was  dressing  the  stump  from  which  the  arm 
of  Lieutenant  Edward  Lloyd  had  been  torn  by  a  cannon  ball,  Major 
James  Jackson  observed  to  that  excellent  young  officer  that  his  prospects 
in  Hfe  were  rendered  unpromising  by  this  heavy  burden  which  a  cruel 
fate  had  imposed  upon  him.  Lloyd  replied  that,  grevious  as  the  affliction 
was,  he  would  not  exchange  situations  with  Lieutenant  Stedman  who  had 
fled  at  the  commencement  of  the  assault. 

The  death  of  Sergeant  Jasper  was  the  logical  sequence  of  the  heroic 
impulses  and  intrepid  daring  which  always  characterized  him.  During 
the  assault  the  colors  of  the  Second  South  Carolina  Regiment,  which  had 
been  presented  by  Mrs.  Elliott  just  after  the  battle  of  Fort  Moultrie,  were 
borne,  one  by  Lieutenant  Bush,  supported  by  Jasper,  and  the  other  by 
Lieutenant  Gray,  supported  by  Sergeant  McDonald.  Under  the  inspir- 
ing leadership  of  Colonel  Laurens  they  were  both  planted  upon  the  slope 
of  the  Spring- Hill  redoubt.  So  terrific,  however,  was  the  enemy's  fire 
that  the  brave  assailants  melted  before  it.  Lietenant  Gray  was  mortally 
wounded  just  by  his  colors,  and  Lieutenant  Bush  lost  his  life  under  simi- 
lar circumstances. 

When  the  retreat  was  sounded.  Sergeant  McDonald  plucked  his 
standard  from  the  redoubt  where  it  had  been  floating  on  the  furthest 
verge  of  the  crimson  tide  and  retired  with  it  in  safety.  Jasper,  already 
sore  wounded,  was,  at  the  moment,  endeavoring  to  replace  upon  the  par- 
apet the  colors  which  had  been  struck  down  upon  the  fall  of  Lieutenant 
Bush,  when  he  encountred  a  second  and  a  mortal  hurt.  Recollecting, 
however,  even  in  this  moment  of  supreme  agony,  the  pledges  given  when 
from  fair  hands  this  emblem  of  hope  and  confidence  had  been  received, 
and,  summoning  his  expiring  energies  for  the  final  effort,  he  snatched 
those  colors  from  the  grasp  of  the  triumphant  enemy  and  bore  them  from 
the  bloody  field. 

Hearing  that  he  was  fatally  wounded.  Major  Horry,  when  the  battle 

'  Quoting  from  Charlton's  Life  of  Major-General  James  Jackson,  Part  I.j  p.  17. 
Augusta,  Georgia.     1809. 


288  History  of  Savannah. 

was  over,  hastened  to  the  rude  couch  of  the  bleeding  sergeant  and  thus 
details  the  conversation  which  ensued.  "  I  have  got  my  furlough,"  said 
he;  and,  pointing  to  his  sword,  coutinued  :  "That  sword  was  presented 
to  me  by  Governor  Rutledge  for  my  services  in  the  defense  of  Fort  Moul- 
trie. Give  it  to  my  father,  and  tell  him  I  have  worn  it  with  honor.  If 
he  should  weep,  say  to  him  his  son  died  in  the  hope  of  a  better  life. 
Tell  Mrs.  Elliott  that  I  lost  my  life  supporting  the  colors  which  she  pre- 
sented to  our  regiment."  Then  from  out  the  bright  visions  of  his  former 
achievements  as  they  floated  for  the  last  time  before  his  dying  memory, 
selecting  his  success  at  the  Spring,  and  repeating  the  names  of  those 
whom  he  there  rescued,  he  added  :  "  Should  you  ever  see  them,  tell  them 
that  Jasper  is  gone,  but  that  the  remembrance  of  the  battle  he  fought  for 
them  brought  a  secret  joy  to  his  heart  when  it  was  about  to  stop  its 
motion  forever." 

Thus  thinking  and  thus  speaking,  the  gallant  sergeant  and  the  true 
patriot  closed  his  eyes  upon  the  Revolution  and  entered  into  peace. 
The  place  of  his  sepulture  is  unmarked.  He  sleeps  with  the  brave  dead 
of  the  siege  who  lie  beneath  the  soil  of  Savannah.  Although  no  monu- 
mental shaft  designates  his  grave,  his  heroic  memory  is  perpetuated  in 
the  gentle  murmurs  of  that  perennial  spring  at  which  one  of  his  most 
generous  and  daring  deeds  was  wrought.  His  name  is  day  by  day  re- 
peated in  a  ward  of  the  beautiful  city  of  Oglethorpe  whose  liberation  he 
died  to  achieve,  is  inscribed  upon  the  flag  of  one  of  the  volunteer  com- 
panies, and  dignifies  a  county  of  Georgia  whose  independence  he  gave 
his  life  to  maintain. 

Invoking  the  aid  of  an  eminent  sculptor  to  embody  their  gratitude 
and  respect  in  a  permanent,  artistic  memorial,  the  citizens  of  Savannah, 
with  imposing  ceremonies,  dedicated  in  Monterey  Square  to  the  memory 
of  Count  Pulaski  a  monument  which,  in  purity  of  conception,  symmetry 
of  form,  and  varied  attractions,  stands  at  once  a  gem  of  art  and  a  noble 
expression  of  a  people's  gratitude. 

In  another  of  the  high  places  of  this  city,  rises  a  shaft  testifying  the 
admiration  of  the  present  and  the  coming  generations  for  the  distin- 
guished services,  unselfish  devotion,  and  heroic  death  of  Sergeant  Will- 
iam Jasper. 

Upon  the  withdrawal  of  the  French  and  American  forces  from  the 


Siege  of  Savannah  Raised.  389 

field,  a  truce  of  four  hours  was  requested  and  allowed  for  burying  the 
dead  and  collecting  the  wounded.  To  the  allied  army  was  accorded  the 
melancholy  privilege  of  interring  only  such  of  the  slain  as  lay  beyond  the 
abatis.  The  bodies  of  such  as  were  killed  within  the  abatis  were  buried 
by  the  British  ;  and  there  they  remain  to  this  day  without  mound  or  col- 
umn to  designate  their  last  resting-places. 

It  is  stated  by  Captain  McCall  that  two  hundred  and  thirty  of  the 
slain,  and  one  hundred  and  sixteen  wounded  were  delivered  up  by  the 
English,  with  the  understanding  that  the  latter  should  be  accounted  for 
as  prisoners  of  war. 

Although  urged  by  General  Lincoln  not  to  abandon  the  siege,  ^  the 
grevious  loss  sustained  during  the  assault,  the  prevalence  of  sickness  in 
camp,  frequent  desertions,  the  exposed  and  impoverished  condition  of  his 
fleet,  and  the  apprehension  of  the  appearance  of  a  British  naval  force  off 
the  coast  induced  Count  d'Estaing  to  hasten  his  departure.  Accordingly, 
he  resolved  at  once  to  raise  the  siege,  and,  on  the  morning  of  the  loth, 

'  It  would  appear  that  the  Americans  at  first  were  not  inclined  to  regard  this  repulse 
as  decisive  of  the  contest,  but  that  they  still  cherished  the  hope  of  capturing  Savannah. 
In  proof  of  this,  we  refer  to  a  letter  addressed  by  General  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney 
[then  Colonel  Commanding  the  First  South  Carolina  Regiment]  to  his  mother  [the  origi- 
nal of  which  lies  before  us]  from  which  we  make  the  following  extract : 

"  Camp  bkfore  Savannah, 
October  9,  1779. 

■'  HoNd  Madam  :  I  acquainted  my  dear  Sally  this  morning  that  about  daybreak  we 
had  made  an  assault  on  the  Enemy's  Lines  and  were  repulsed,  owing  chiefly  to  those 
who  said  they  knew  the  way  for  the  different  Columns  to  take  &  who  were  to  be  our 
guides  not  being  such  masters  of  the  ground  as  they  ought  to  have  been.  My  Brother, 
Mr,  Horry,  Hugh  Rutledge,  Major  Butler,  Mr.  R.  Smith,  Ladson,  Gadsden,  my  Cousins, 
and  most  of  our  Friends  are  well.  Major  Wise  &  Major  Motte  are  killed  :  Count  De'Es- 
taing  wounded,  not  dangerously  :  Count  Pulaski  also  wounded,  I  am  afraid  mortally : 
Jack  Jones  [Major  John  Jones,  aid  to  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh],  a  nephew  of  my 
Cousin  Charles  [the  father  of  the  Honorable  Charles  Pinckney,  governor  of  South  Car- 
olina, etc.],  is  killed. 

'■  The  Repulse  seems  not  to  dispirit  our  men,  as  they  are  convinced  it  was  only  owing 
to  a  mistake  of  the  ground,  &  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  but  that  we  shall  soon  be  in 
possession  of  Savannah. 

"  My  regiment  and  the  Sixth  preserved  their  order  inviolable,  &  gave  me  great  satis- 
faction ;  the  Charlestown  Militia,  particularly  the  Volunteer  Company,  behaved  exceed- 
ingly well." 

37 


290  History  of  Savannah. 

gave  orders  for  dismantling  the  batteries  and  returning  the  guns  on  ship- 
board. Causton's  Bluff  was  selected  as  the  point  for  embarkation.  With 
a  view  to  protecting  this  avenue  of  retreat,  two  hundred  and  ninety-two 
men  were  detailed  from  the  regiments  of  Armagnac  and  Auxerrois  and 
from  the  marines,  and  posted  at  three  points  to  the  east  of  Savannah. 

On  the  iSth,  M.  de  Bretigny  arrived  from  Charlestown  and  requested 
Count  d'Estaing  to  send  nine  hundred  French  troops  for  the  protection 
of  that  city.  The  requisition  was  refused.  Desertions  from  the  ranks  of 
the  allied  army  multiplied  daily.  During  the  removal  of  their  guns, 
munitions,  and  camp  equipage,  the  French  were  not  interrupted  by  the 
English. 

The  Virginia,  Carolina,  and  Georgia  militia  withdrew  by  land  on  the 
15th,  and  there  remained  with  the  French  troops  only  the  regulars  and 
Pulaski's  command. 

At  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  i8th  the  tents  and  camp  uten- 
sils were  placed  in  wagons,  and  the  same  day  were  transported  to  the 
point  of  embarkation.  At  eleven  o'clock  at  night  the  Americans  moved 
to  the  left  and  the  French  to  the  right,  and  thus  the  camp  before  Savan- 
nah was  broken  up.  General  Lincoln  then  marched  for  Zubly's  ferry, 
en  route  for  Charlestown.  The  French  proceeded  only  about  two  miles 
in  the  direction  of  Causton's  Bluff  where  they  halted  for  the  night  and 
remained  until  the  ensuing  day  that  they  might  be  near  enough  to  assist 
General  Lincoln  in  the  event  that  the  English  attempted  on  this  side  of 
the  river  to  interrupt  his  retreat. 

Causton's  Bluff  was  reached  at  five  o'clock  on  Tuesday  morning,  the 
19th  of  October,  and  the  work  of  embarkation  commenced.  It  was  com- 
pleted by  the  21st,  when,  in  the  language  of  the  French  journal,  "Caus- 
ton's Creek  and  all  Georgia  are  evacuated." 

The  following  English  vessels  were  captured  by  the  French  fleet 
while  upon  the  Georgia  coast :  the  ship  Experiment,  of  fifty  guns,  having 
on  board  Major- General  Garth,  thirty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  and  a 
large  quantity  of  army  stores ;  the  ship  Ariel,  of  twenty  guns ;  the  Myr- 
tle, a  victualer:  the  Champion,  a  store-ship;  the  ship  Fame;  the  ship 
Victory,  richly  freighted,  and  several  small  sloops,  schooners,  and  coast- 
ing vessels  laden  with  rice  and  flour.  Two  privateer  sloops,  of  ten  guns 
each,  and  three  schooners  were  taken  in  Great  Ogeechee  River  by  Colo- 


List  of  French  FlEet. 


igt 


nel  White.  In  addition,  the  British  were  forced  to  sink  the  ships  Rose 
and  Savannah  and  four  transports  in  a  narrow  part  of  the  Savannah 
River,  below  the  town,  to  prevent  the  ascent  of  the  French  men  of- war. 
Several  vessels  were  also  sunk  above  Savannah  to  preclude  the  near  ap- 
proach of  the  French  and  Ameiican  galleys,  which,  passing  up  the  North 
River  and  rounding  Hutchinson's  Island,  threatened  an  attack  from  that 
direction. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  French  vessels  of  war  under  the  com- 
mand of  Admiral  the  Count  d'Estaing,  concentrated  on  the  Georgia  coast 
during  the  operations  against  Savannah  : 

First  Division:    Commanded  by  Bougainville. 


Le  Gu,errier,  74  guns. 
Le  Magnifique,  74  guns. 
Le  Caesar,  74  guns, 
Le  Vengeur,  74  guns. 

Second  Division 

Le  Languedoc,  74  guns. 
Le  Robuste,  74  guns. 
Le  Zele,  74  guns. 
L'Annibal,  74  guns. 


Le  Provence,  64  guns. 
Le  Marseilles,  64  guns. 
Le  Fantasque,  64  guns. 


Commanded  by  Count  d'Estaing. 

Le  Valliant,  74  guns. 
L'Artesien,  64  guns. 
Le  Sagittaire,  54  guns. 


Third  Division  :  Commanded  by  M.  de  Vaudreuil. 

Le  Fendant,  74  guns. 
Le  Refleche,  64  guns. 
Le  Sphynx,  64  guns. 
Le  Roderique,  store-ship. 


Le  Tenant,  80  guns. 

Le  Diademe,  74  guns. 

Le  Hector,  74  guns. 

Le  Dauphin  Royal,  70  g^ns. 

Le  Royal,  70  guns. 


Frigates. 


Le  Fortune,  38  guns. 
L' Amazon,  36  guns. 
L'Iphigenie,  36  guns. 
La  Blanche,  36  guns. 
La  Chimera,  36  guns. 


La  Boudeuse,  36  guns. 

La  Bricole,  36  guns,  armed  store-ship. 

La  Lys,  18  guns. 

La  Truite. 


After  the  lapse  of  a  century  we  are  not  inclined  to  dwell  upon  the 
mistakes  committed  during  the  conduct  of  this  memorable  siege.  The 
overweening  confidence  of  Count  d'Estaing  in  the  superiority  of  his  arms; 
his  eagerness,  at  the  outset,  to  pluck  the  laurel  of  victory  and  entwine  it 


292  History  of  Savannah. 

around  his  individual  brow;  his  manifest  error  in  not  insisting  upon  an 
immediate  response  to  his  summons  for  surrender ;  his  delay  in  not  as- 
saulting at  the  earliest  moment  when  the  English  defensive  lines  were  in- 
complete and  poorly  armed,  and  when  Colonel  Maitland  and  his  splendid 
command  formed  no  part  of  the  garrison  ;  the  injudicious  selection  of  a 
point  for  attack;  and  the  confusion  and  lack  of  concert  which  prevailed 
in  conducting  the  columns  of  assault  against  the  enemy's  works;  may 
fairly  be  criticised.  But  we  forbear.  We  prefer  to  recall  only  the  gener- 
osity which  prompted  the  alliance,  the  valor  which  characterized  the 
troops,  and  the  heroic  action  which  has  given  to  the  history  of  Savannah 
and  the  State  of  Georgia  a  chapter  than  which  none  is  bloodier,  braver, 
or  more  noteworthy. 

Errors  of  judgment  belong  to  the  past,  while  the  fraternity  evolved, 
the  patriotism  displayed,  and  the  examples  of  courage,  patient  endurance, 
and  glorious  death  born  of  the  event  constitute  now  and  will  continue  to 
form  subjects  of  special  boast. 

Bitter  was  the  disappointment  experienced  by  the  Americans  at  this 
disastrous  result.  From  the  cooperation  of  the  French  the  most  decided 
and  fortunate  issue  had  been  anticipated.  Generously  couched  was  Gen- 
eral Lincoln's  letter  to  Congress  :  "  Count  d'Estaing  has  undoubtedly  the 
interest  of  America  at  heart.  This  he  has  evidenced  by  coming  over  to 
our  assistance,  by  his  constant  attention  during  the  siege,  his  undertak- 
ing to  reduce  the  enemy  by  assault  when  he  despaired  of  effecting  it 
otherwise,  and  by  bravely  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  his  troops  and 
leading  them  to  the  attack.  In  our  service  he  has  freely  bled.  I  feel 
much  for  him ;  for  while  he  is  suffering  the  distresses  of  painful  wounds 
on  a  boisterous  ocean,  he  has  to  combat  chagrin.  I  hope  he  will  be  con- 
soled by  an  assurance  that  although  he  has  not  succeeded  according  to 
his  wishes  and  those  of  America,  we  regard  with  high  approbation  his 
intentions  to  serve  us,  and  that  his  want  of  success  will  not  lessen  our 
ideas  of  his  merit." 

We  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  introduce  here  the  following  esti- 
mate of  the  character  of  Count  d'Estaing  expressed  by  one  of  his.  naval 
officers  when  commenting  upon  the  failure  of  the  effort  to  capture  Savan- 
nah. Our  translation  is  literal.  "  Covetous  of  glory,  excited  by  his 
successes,  and  easily  seduced  by  an  invitation  from  the  Sieur  de  Bretigny 


Count  D'Estaing.  293 


who  made  him  believe  that  the  conquest  of  Savannah  was  an  easy  matter, 
Count  d'Estaing  was  unable  to  resist  a  desire,  rising  superior  to  the  haz- 
ard, to  attempt  to  add  new  triumphs  to  those  which  he  had  already- 
achieved. 

"If  zeal,  activity,  eagerness,  and  ambition  to  accomplish  great  deeds 
are  worthy  of  recompense,  never  will  France  be  able  sufficiently  to  ac- 
knowledge her  obligations  to  Count  d'Estaing.  With  much  intelligence, 
he  possesses  the  enthusiasm  and  the  fire  of  a  man  twenty  years  of  age. 
Enterprising,  bold  even  to  temerity,  all  things  appear  possible  to  him. 
He  fancies  no  representations  which  bring  home  to  him  a  knowledge  of 
difficulties.  Whoever  dares  to  describe  them  as  formidable,  is  illy  re- 
ceived. He  wishes  every  one  to  view  and  to  think  of  his  plans  as  he 
does.  The  sailors  believe  him  inhuman.  Many  died  upbraiding  him 
with  their  misery  and  unwilling  to  pardon  him ;  but  this  is  a  reproach 
incident  to  his  austere  mode  of  life,  because  he  is  cruel  to  himself  We 
have  seen  him,  sick  and  attacked  with  scurvy,  never  desiring  to  make 
use  of  any  remedies,  working  day  and  night,  sleeping  only  an  hour  after 
dinner,  his  head  resting  upon  his  hands,  sometimes  lying  down,  but  with- 
out undressing. 

"Thus  have  we  observed  Count  d'Estaing  during  this  campaign. 
There  is  not  a  man  in  his- fleet  who  would  believe  that  he  has  endured  all 
the  fatigue  which  he  has  undergone.  When  I  am  now  asked  if  he  is  a  good 
general,  it  is  difficult  for  me  to  respond  to  this  inquiry.  He  committed 
much  to  chance  and  played  largely  the  game  of  hazard.  But  that  he  was 
energetic,  adventurous  almost  to  rashness,  indefatigable  in  his  enter- 
prises which  he  conducted  with  an  ardor  of  which,  had  we  not  followed 
him,  we  could  have  formed  no  conception,  and  that  to  all  this  he  added 
much  intellect,  and  a  temper  which  imparted  great  austerity  to  his  char- 
acter, we  are  forced  to  admit." 

In  appreciation  of  his  meritorious  services  the  General  Assembly  of 
Georgia  granted  twenty  thousand  acres  of  land  to  Count  d'Estaing,  and 
admitted  him  to  all  the  privileges,  liberties,  and  immunities  of  a  free  citi- 
zen of  the  State. 

The  exultation  of  the  English  garrison  was,  on  the  25th  of  October, 
mingled  with  grief  at  the  sudden  death  of  Colonel  Maitland.  Some  say 
he  was  carried  off  by  a  fever  contracted  at  Beaufort.     Others  affirm  that 


294  "  History  of  SaVannaM. 

he  fell  a  victim  to  strong  drink.     He  was  a  brilliant  officer  and  an  ac- 
complished gentleman. 

After  the  departure  of  Count  d'Estaing  and  the  retreat  of  General 
Lincoln,  the  condition  of  Savannah  and  the  seacoast  of  Georgia  became 
more  pitiable  than  ever.  Exasperated  by  the  formidable  demonstration 
which,  at  the  outset,  seriously  threatened  the  overthrow  of  British  do- 
minion in  Georgia,  and  rendered  more  arrogant  and  exacting,  the  loy 
alists  set  out  in  every  direction  upon  missions  of  insult,  pillage,  and  inhu- 
manity. Plundering  banditti  roved  about  unrestrained,  seizing  negroes, 
stock,  furniture,  wearing  apparel,  plate,  jewels,  and  anything  they  coveted. 
Children  were  severely  beaten  to  compel  a  revelation  of  the  places  where 
their  parents  had  concealed,  or  were  supposed  to  have  hidden  valuable 
personal  property  or  money.  Confiscation  of  estates  and  incarceration 
or  expatriation  were  the  only  alternatives  presented  to  those  who  clave  to 
the  cause  of  the  revolutionists.  So  poor  were  many  of  the  inhabitants 
that  they  could  not  command  the  means  requisite  to  venture  upon  a  re- 
moval. Even  under  such  circumstances  not  a  few,  on  foot,  sought  an 
asylum  in  South  Carolina.  Among  the  principal  sufferers  may  be  men- 
tioned the  families  of  General  Mcintosh,  Colonel  John  Twiggs,  Colonel 
Elijah  Clarke,  Colonel  John  Baker,  the  brothers  Habersham,  and  Major 
John  Jones. 

Southern  Georgia  was  emphatically  under  the  yoke;  and  she  was  forced 
to  pay  the  penalty  of  unsuccessful  rebellion  rendered  ten-fold  more  griev- 
ous because  of  this  recent  attempt  to  expel  from  her  borders  the  civil  and 
military  servants  of  the  king.  The  ribald  language  and  licentious  con- 
duct of  the  soldiery,  coupled  with  the  filthy  demeanor  and  lawless  acts  of 
fugitive  negroes,  rendered  a  residence  in  Savannah — especially  to  those 
not  in  sympathy  with  the  Crown,  and  to  the  weaker  sex, — almost  unen- 
durable. Far  and  near  the  region  was  experiencing  the  direst  desolations 
of  war.  "  The  rage  between  Whig  and  Tory  ran  so  high,"  says  General 
Moultrie,  "  that  what  was  called  a  Georgia  parole,  and  to  be  shot  down, 
were  synonymous."  So  stringent  too  were  the  restrictions  upon  trade, 
such  was  the  depreciation  of  the  paper  currency,  and  so  sadly  interrupted 
were  all  agricultural  and  commercial  adventures,  that  poverty  and  distress 
were  the  common  heritage.  At  this  time  sixteen  hundred  and  eighteen 
dollars,  paper  money,  were  the  equivalent  of  one  dollar  in  gold. 


Deplorable  Plight  of  Citizens.  '295 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Deplorable  Plight  of  the  Rebel  Inhabitants  of  Savannah — Damaged  Condition  of 
the  Town — Proclamation  of  Governor  Wright — Legislation  by  the  Royalist  Assembly — 
Governor  Wright's  Representation  with  Regard  to  Savannah,  and  its  Fortifications — 
Fall  of  Augusta — Colonels  Twiggs  and  Jackson  Move  Forward  for  the  Investment  of 
Savannah — General  Anthony  Wayne  Detached  by  General  Greene  to  Reinstate  the 
Authority  of  the  Union  Within  the  Limits  of  Georgia — Retaliatory  IVIeasures  of  General 
Alured  Clarke — Military  Operations  of  Colonel  Jackson  and  General  Wayne — Negotia- 
tions for  the  Surrender  of  Savannah  —The  Town  Evacuated  by  the  King's  Servants — 
Savannah  Again  in  the  Possession  of  the  Revolutionists — Legislative  Proceedings  in 
Savannah — Colonel  Jackson  and  Generals  Wayne  and  Greene  Complimented — Losses 
Sustained  by  Georgia  During  the  Revolutionary  War. 

SO  thoroughly  were  the  republican  inhabitants  of  Savannah  and  of 
Southern  Georgia  overwhelmed  by  the  disappointment  consequent 
upon  the  disastrous  failure  of  the  allied  army  to  retake  the  commercial 
metropolis  of  the  young  commonwealth — so  entirely  were  they  enfeebled 
and  deserted  upon  the  withdrawal  of  the  American  and  French  forces, — 
and  so  completely  did  they  find  themselves  in  the  pov/er  of  the  king's 
troops  that  they  were  brought  to  the  verge  of  despair.  Organized  re- 
sistance was  out  of  the  question,  and  their  lamentable  condition  was  ren- 
dered even  more  deplorable  by  the  enforcement  of  orders  promulgated 
by  Governor  Wright. 

,  To  "  check  the  spirit  of  rebellion,"  he  compelled  all  who  could  have 
joined  in  the  defense  of  Savannah,  but  who  did  not  do  so,  "to  give  a  very 
circumstantial  account  of  their  conduct  during  the  siege."  Those  of  the 
lower  class  whom  he  did  not  deem  "materially  culpable"  he  constrained 
to  furnish  security  for  their  good  behavior  for  twelve  months.  Bonds 
were  exacted  of  each  of  them  to  the  amount  of  ;^iOO  sterling,  with  two 
sureties,  each  justifying  in  the  sum  of  £S'^-  They  were  also  required  to 
swear  allegiance  to  the  Crown,  and  to  subscribe  a  special  test  oath.  Such 
as  appeared  to  have  "  offended  capitally"  he  caused  to  be  committed  and 
to  be  prosecuted  for  high  treason. 

A  proclamation  was  issued  appointing  the  29th  of  October,  1779,  as 
a  day  of  public  thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God  for  "  His  divine  interpo- 


296  History  of  Savannah. 

sition  "  and  "  signal  protection  "  displayed  in  the  "  late  deliverance  from 
the  united  efforts  of  rebellion  and  our  natural  enemies."  Other  procla- 
mations, both  by  Governor  Wright  and  the  military  authorities,  promised 
protection  to  all  Georgians  who  would  lay  down  their  arms  and  submit 
peacefully  to  the  restoration  of  English  rule.  Believing  that  all  was  lost, 
and  beguiled  by  these  offers  of  quiet  and  life,  not  a  few  of  the  inhabitants 
returned  to  their  former  allegiance  to  the  realm. 

So  seriously  had  Savannah  been  endamaged  by  the  cannon  and  mor- 
tars of  the  allied  army  ;  so  sadly  had  its  churches  and  public  buildings 
been  impaired  by  conversion  into  hospitals,  storehouses,  and  barracks ; 
and  so  polluted  were  many  private  structures  by  the  presence  of  wanton 
soldiers  and  filthy  negroes,  that  the  early  and  thorough  restoration  of  the 
town  to  order  and  cleanliness  demanded  and  received  the  earnest  atten- 
tion of  Sir  James  Wright.  The  wretched  condition  of  affairs  was  ren- 
dered even  more  frightful  by  the  appearance  of  that  loathsome  pest,  the 
smallpox,  and  by  the  insubordination  of  the  slave  population  which, 
having  been  armed  and  put  to  work  in  the  trenches  during  the  continu- 
ance of  the  siege,  now  that  the  danger  was  overpast,  refused  in  many  in- 
stances to  return  to  obedience  and  former  servitude.  Inoculation  and 
severe  measures,  however,  succeeded  in  restoring  health  and  comparative 
security  to  this  unhappy  community. 

Desiring  to  convoke  a  legislative  assembly,  and  yet  apprehending,  in 
the  distracted  state  of  the  country,  that  only  a  partial  representation 
could  be  secured  from  the  parishes  constituting  the  province  as  recog- 
nized by  the  royal  government,  the  governor  having  taken  the  advice  of 
the  chief  justice  and  the  attorney-general,  caused  writs  of  election  to  be  is- 
sued returnable  on  the  5th  of  May,  1780.  Of  the  twenty-six  members  re- 
turned, only  fifteen  appeared  at  Savannah  and  qualified.  Prior  assem- 
blies having  fixed  the  constitutional  quorum  at  eighteen,  including  the 
speaker,  Governor  Wright  was  undecided  as  to  the  propriety  of  permit- 
ting the  Commons  House  of  Assembly  to  perfect  its  organization  and  pro- 
ceed to  business.  Having  conferred  with  his  council  it  was  resolved,  in 
view  of  the  necessities  of  the  case  and  the  division  of  sentiment  eJcisting 
in  the  province,  that  the  members  assembled  should  be  recognized  as 
sufficient  in  number  and  that  they  should  be  empowered  to  organize. 

Thereupon  the  members  present  elected  a  speaker  and  proceeded  to 
the  transaction  of  business. 


The  Royalist  Assembly.  297 

By  the  royalist  assembly,  thus  lamely  constituted,  were  two  acts,  re- 
taliatory in  their  characteE  and  designed  to  offset  the  republican  legisla- 
tion of  the  1st  of  March,  1778,  passed;  one  attainting  of  high  treason 
various  republicans,  therein  named,  who  were  either  absent  from  Georgia 
or  in  that  portion  of  the  province  which  was  still  in  a  state  of  rebellion 
against  his  majesty,  and  vesting  their  real  and  personal  estate  in  the 
Crown  ;  the  other  disqualifying  the  parties  indicated,  and  rendering  them 
ever  afterwards  incapable,  of  holding  or  exercising  any  office  of  trust, 
honor,  or  profit  within  the  limits  of  Georgia. 

Behold  the  fearful  condition  of  affairs  in  Georgia !  Royalists  and  re- 
publicans contending  for  the  mastery  not  only  with  arms,  but  each,  by 
solemn  legislation,  denouncing  the  other  as  traitors,  and  declaring  private 
property  a  spoil  to  that  government  which  could  first  lay  hands  upon  it. 
Surely  no  darker  picture  was  ever  painted  in  the  history  of  civil  wars, 
the  most  bloody  and  unrelenting  of  all  strifes.  The  devastating  tread  of 
contending  armies,  pushed  backwards  and  forwards  over  the  face  of  a 
smitten  country,  crushing  the  life  out  of  habitations  and  filling  the  land 
with  marks  of  desolation  and  the  scars  of  battle,  is  terrible  ;  but  far  more 
severe  is  that  fratricidal  conflict  which  disrupts  the  ties  of  blood,  unseats 
mercy,  dethrones  humanity,  abolishes  the  right  to  private  property,  and 
gives  the  region  to  general  confiscation,  plunder,  and  murder.  Other 
States  there  were  within  whose  borders  were  heard,  during  the  progress 
of  the  Revolution,  the  sounds  of  broader  battles,  but  truly  none  can  be 
named  in  which  the  calamities  of  a  divided  government  and  the  horrors 
of  internecine  dissensions  were  more  pronounced. 

With  the  exception  of  the  two  acts  to  which  we  have  alluded,  and 
certain  others  providing  for  the  impressment  of  slaves  and  animals  to 
work  upon  the  public  defenses,  the  legislation  of  the  general  assembly 
convened  in  Savannah  during  the  progress  of  the  war  possesses  little  sig- 
nificance. 

The  hope  of  returning  Georgia  to  practical  allegiance  to  the  Crown, 
inspired  by  the  capture  of  Savannah  in  December,  1778,  and  revived  by 
the  defeat  of  the  allied  armies  in  October,  1779,  was  always  fluctuating. 
Although  Governor  Wright  retained  his  seat  in  Savannah  and  exercised 
some  of  the  functions  of  his  office,  his  communications  give  manifest  token 
of  the  fact  that  he  was  oppressed  by  a  sense  of  insecurity.  Time  and 
38 


298  History  of  Savannah. 

again  did  the  republican  forces,  under  partisan  leaders,  approach  so 
closely  that  it  was  deemed  dangerous  lor  the. king's  servants  to  venture 
beyond  the  lines  which  environed  Savannah.  Now  and  then  was  for- 
warded a  loyal  address  from  the  province  assuring  his  majesty  that  his 
sorely  tried  yet  faithful  servants  would  "  use  their  utmost  endeavors  to 
promote  an  attachment  to  his  person  and  government  and  the  welfare  of 
the  British  Empire  ;"  that  they  "  would  not  fail  to  put  up  their  prayers 
to  Almighty  God  that  He  would  pour  down  His  blessings  upon  his  maj- 
esty, his  royal  consort,  and  his  numerous  offspring,  and  that  He  would 
give  him  a  long  and  happy  reign,  and  that  his  posterity  might  sway  the 
sceptre  of  the  British  Empire  till  time  should  be  no  more." 

And  this  would  be  quickly  followed  by  a  pitiable  representation  of 
the  defenseless  condition  of  the  province,  by  a  requisition  for  war- vessels 
to  guard  the  coast,  and  by  an  application  for  a  force  of  five  hundred 
mounted  men  with  which  to  scour  the  country  and  repel  the  rebel  cav- 
alry who  were  plundering  the  governor's  plantations  on  the  Ogeechee 
River  and  thundering  at  the  very  gates  of  Savannah. 

In  August,  1780,  the  governor  reports  that  there  were  in  that  town 
not  more  than  five  hundred  soldiers,  and  that  they  were  quartered  in  the 
houses  which  had  been  vacated  by  their  republican  owners.  "  I  find," 
he  adds,  "  we  have  only  15  nine  pounders,  4  six  pounders,  and  i  four 
pounder,  all  mounted  on  ship  carriages,  late  the  guns  of  his  majesty's 
ship  Rose — 2  pieces  of  brass  six  pound  ordnance,  5  four  pounders,  and  2 
three  pounders — two  of  which  only  are  fit  to  take  the  field — and  3  twenty- 
four  pounders  not  mounted." 

Nevertheless,  with  a  pertinacity  worthy  of  all  praise,  we  see  him  la- 
boring to  fortify  Savannah  and  to  confirm  it  as  the  capital  of  the  pro- 
vince. Acting  under  the  provisions  of  a  bill,  which  received  his  assent 
on  the  30th  of  October,  1780,  he  ordered  out  over  four  hundred  negro 
slaves  and  put  them  to  work  upon  the  public  defenses  of  the  town.  "  We 
are  making,"  so  he  writes  to  Lord  George  Germain  on  the  1st  of  Decem- 
ber,' "  five  Redoubts  &  Batterys,  &  there  is  to  be  a  Parapet  made  of 
Fascines  &  Earth  from  the  River  at  each  end,  &  on  the  back  of  the  town. 
This  Parapet  is  10  foot  wide  &  7  foot  high,  with  a  Ditch  on  the  outside 
15  foot  wide  at  top,  10  foot  deep,  and  sloping  to  the  bottom  3  foot.     I 

I  P.  R.  O.  Am.  &=  W,  Ind„  vol.  ccxcviii. 


Pall  ot  AutiustA.  ^99 


think  the  Redoubts  will  be  finished  &  each  Parapet  about  half  done,  or 
say  the  whole  4  foot  high  by  Christmas,  &  I  expect  the  works  will  be 
entirely  finish'd  in  all  January.  This,  my  Lord,  is  a  most  ihconvenient 
thing  &  a  heavy  Tax  on  the  People,  being  one  fourth  part  of  all  theif 

Male  Slaves  for  near  or  quite  3  months The  late  Law  also 

enables  me  to  call  out  and  arm  Negroes  in  defence  of  the  Province,  & 
to  exercise  further  power  over  the  militia,  but  this  only  in  time  of  alarms 
actually  fired,  and  there  are  several  things  provided  for  which  we  thought 
necessary  in  these  yet  very  perilous  times." 

When  it  is  asked  why  the  republicans,  under  the  circumstances,  hes- 
itated to  undertake  the  recaption  of  Savannah,  it  may  be  fairly  answered 
that  they  too  were  weak  in  numbers  and  enfeebled  by  the  fortunes  of 
war;  that  not  a  few  were  pining  in  captivity;  that  many,  contending 
with  hunger,  were  striving  to  replenish  their  barns  and  acquire  food  for 
their  families;  while  others,  instant  day  and  night  in  the  saddle,  were 
defending  the  frontiers  against  the  torch  and  the  scalping  knife  of  the 
savage,  and  the  not  less  inhuman  depredations  and  outrages  of  the  loy- 
aUsts.  Others  still  were  following  the  flag  of  the  Confederation  in  the 
Continental  armies,  doing  battle  within  the  confines  of  sister  States. 

With  the  capture  of  Augusta,  in  June,  1781,  the  control  of  Upper 
Georgia  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Revolutionists.  In  the  capitulation 
of  this  important  place  Governor  Wright  recognized  the  beginning  of 
the  end.  In  a  letter  to  Colonel  Balfour,  dated  Savannah  June  11,  178 1, 
he  observes  :  "  If  this  Province  is  not  recovered  from  the  Rebels  without 
the  least  delay,  I  conceive  it  may  be  too  late  to  prevent  the  whole  from 
being  laid  waste  and  totally  destroyed,  and  the  people  ruined.  We  are 
now  in  a  most  wretched  situation."  The  spirits  of  the  republicans  rose 
to  a  high  pitch  of  exultation,  and  Colonel  Twiggs  directed  his  attention 
to  the  repossession  of  the  middle  and  southern  divisions  of  the  State. 
To  that  end  he  ordered  Lieutenant-Colonel  James  Jackson  with  his  le- 
gion, consisting  of  three  companies  of  cavalry  and  two  of  infantry,  to 
move  in  the  direction  of  Savannah  and  to  occupy  positions  as  near  the 
enemy  as  becoming  caution  would  suggest.  His  general  instructions  to 
this  dashing  officer  were  to  annoy  the  outposts  and  detachments  of  his 
antagonist  as  fully  as  the  means  at  command  would  allow,  and  to  retreat 
or  advance  as  circumstances  might  justify.^    This  service  was  most  ener- 


3O0  History  of  Savannah. 

getically  and  effectually  performed  by  Colonel  Jackson.  Meanwhile 
Colonel  Twiggs,  having  dispersed  a  body  of  loyalists  and  Indians  near 
the  Oconee  River,  moved  forward  with  his  command  for  the  support, of 
his  capable  subaltern.  Although  too  weak  to  hazard  an  assault  upon  the 
British  lines  around  Savannah,  they  hovered  in  the  vicinity,  driving  back 
the  foraging  parties  of  the  enemy,  threatening  and  sometimes  capturing 
the  royal  outposts,  interrupting  communication  with  the  Indians,  pro- 
tecting the  persons  and  property  of  such  of  the  patriots  as  tarried  in  the 
region,  and  eagerly  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  reinforcements  which  Gen- 
eral Greene  had  promised  to  send  so  soon  as  they  could  be  spared. 

The  potent  effect  of  the  capitulation  of  Yorktown  upon  the  minds  of 
the  British  soldiery  in  America,  the  junction  of  the  auxiliary  force  under 
General  St.  Clair,  and  the  recent  successes  of  General  Greene  in  South 
Carolina  enabled  that  officer,  in  January,  1782,  to  redeem  his  promise 
and  turn  his  attention  to  the  relief  of  Georgia.  For  this  important  ser- 
vice General  Anthony  Wayne  was  detached.  "To  reinstate  as  far  as  might 
be  possible,  the  authority  of  the  Union  within  the  limits  of  Georgia"  was 
the  general  mission  of  the  hero  of  Stony  Point.  He  was  accompanied  by 
one  hundred  of  Colonel  Moylan's  dragoons,  commanded  by  Colonel  An- 
thony Walton  White,  and  a  detachment  of  field  artillery.  On  the  12th 
of  January  he  crossed  the  Savannah  River  in  small  boats,  the  cavalry 
horses  swimming  by  their  sides.  His  artillery  was  left  behind  until  suit- 
able transportation  could  be  secured.  He  was  soon  joined  by  Colonel 
Hampton,  with  three  hundred  mounted  men  from  General  Sumter's  bri- 
gade. The  infantry  and  cavalry  of  Jackson's  legion  then  numbered  only 
ninety  men,  and  McCoy's  volunteer  corps  did  not  exceed  eighty,  all 
told.  To  these  Governor  Martin  hoped  to  add  three  hundred  Georgia 
militia. 

The  duty  assigned  to  General  Wayne  of  keeping  a  close  watch  upon 
the  enemy  and,  if  the  occasion  presented,  of  attempting  the  capture  of 
Savannah  by  a  nocturnal  assault,  was  so  efficiently  discharged  that  pred- 
atory bands  of  soldiers  and  loyalists  were  seldom  seen  beyond  the  lines 
of  that  town.  The  customary  intercourse  of  the  Indians  with  the  garri- 
son was  largely  restrained.  That  garrison,  including  the  reinforcement 
recently  sent  by  Lord  Rawdon  and  a  corps  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  ne- 
groes armed  and  enrolled  as  infantry  and  commanded  by  the  notorious 


General  Wayne  Before  SaVannah.  301 

Brown,  consisted  of  thirteen  hundred  regular  troops  and  about  five  hun- 
dred loyal  militia.  The  town  itself  was  strongly  fortified.  Its  land  ap- 
proaches were  suitably  defended  by  field  and  siege  guns  judiciously 
posted.  Armed  row-galleys  and  brigs  covered  the  water  front.  So 
closely  were  these  lines  watched,  and  so  strictly  were  the  British  forces 
confined  to  their  defenses,  that  the  gallant  Jackson  on  more  than  one 
occasion  demonstrated  almost  up  to  the  town  gates  and  picked  off  men 
and  horses  from  the  common. 

As  soon  as  the  advance  of  the  American  forces  under  General  Wayne 
was  known  in  Savannah,  Brigadier- General  Alured  Clarke,  who  com- 
manded the  royal  troops  in  Georgia,  "  directed  his  officers,  charged  with 
his  outposts,  to  lay  waste  the  country  with  fire  and  to  retire  with  their 
troops  and  all  the  provisions  they  could  collect  into  Savannah."  This 
order  was  rigidly  executed,  and  the  circumjacent  district  was  devastated. 
"  In  consequence  whereof,  Wayne  found  it  necessary  to  draw  his  sub- 
sistence from  South  Carolina,  which  added  to  the  difficulties  daily  expe- 
rienced in  providing  for  the  main  army."  General  Henry  Lee,  in  his 
"  Memoirs,"  compliments  in  high  terms  General  Wayne's  conduct  during 
this  period.  "  While  in  command  before  Savannah,"  so  he  writes,  "his 
orders,  his  plans,  his  motions,  all  bespoke  foresight  and  vigilance;  and 
although  he  played  a  hazardous  game,  he  not  only  avoided  detriment  or 
affront,  but  added  to  the  honor  of  our  arms." 

Anxious  to  enlarge  the  limits  of  the  civil  authority.  Governor  Mar- 
tin, so  soon  as  General  Wayne  had  permanently  established  his  head- 
quarters at  Ebenezer,  removed  the  seat  of  government  to  that  town. 

During  this  period  of  the  practical  investment  of  Savannah,  the  en- 
terprise, watchfulness,  and  intrepidity  of  Colonel  Jackson  were  beyond 
all  praise. 

After  various  skirmishes  with  the  loyalists  and  Indians,  and  having 
signally  defeated  the  valorous  chief  Guristersigo,  who,  with  three  hun- 
dred followers,  was  moving  for  the  relief  of  General  Alured  Clarke  in 
Savannah,  General  Wayne  drew  his  military  meshes  closer  and  closer 
around  that  town  to  the  evident  dismay  of  Governor  Wright  and  its  gar- 
rison. Having  been  officially  notified  of  the  proceedings  of  Parliament 
contemplating  an  adjustment  of  the  existing  difficulties  between  England 
and  America  and  foreshadowing  an  early  acknowledgment  of  the  inde- 


idi  History  op  Savannah. 

pendence  of  the  United  colonies,  his  excellency,  Sir  James,  promptly 
communicated  this  intelligence  to  General  Wa)'ne,  and  accompanied  his 
dispatch  with  a  proposal  that  there  should  be  a  cessation  of  hostilities. 
Pending  a  reference  of  this  request  to  General  Greene  who,  in  turn,  took 
counsel  of  the  Continental  Congress,  matters  reached  a  crisis  in  the  royal 
camp  upon  the  arrival  of  a  communication  from  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  dated 
New  York,  May  23,  1782,  ordering  the  evacuation  both  of  Savannah  and 
of  the  province  of  Georgia,  and  notifying  the  authorities  that  transports 
might  be  expected  to  bring  away  not  only  the  troops  and  military  and 
public  stores,  but  also  Governor  Wright  and  all  loyalists  who  desired  to 
depart.  Although  anticipated,  this  intelligence  created  a  profound  im- 
pression among  soldiers  and  civilians.  The  latter  were  most  anxious  to 
ascertain  what  their  status  would  be  under  the  changed  condition  of  af- 
fairs, and  to  secure  pledges  that  they  would  be  unmolested  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  personal  liberty  and  private  property.  Negotiations  were  at 
once  opened  between  Governors  Wright  and  Martin,  and  between  the 
British  merchants,  represented  by  Major  Hale,  and  General  Wayne. 

Early  in  July  that  officer  was  waited  upon  by  a  deputation  of  mer- 
chants and  citizens  bearing  a  flag.  As  British  subjects,  they  desired  to 
know  upon  what  terms  they  would  be  permitted  to  remain  in  Savannah 
after  the  withdrawal  of  the  king's  troops.  They  requested  also  to  be  in- 
formed whether  their  rights  of  property  would  be  respected. 

Upon  conference  with  Governor  Martin  it  was  concluded  "  to  offer 
assurances  of  safety  for  the  persons  and  property  of  such  inhabitants  as 
chose  to  remain  in  Savannah  after  it  should  be  evacuated  by  the  British 
troops,  and  that  a  reasonable  time  would  be  allowed  them  to  dispose  of 
their  property  and  settle  their  pecuniary  concerns  in  the  State."  It  was 
emphatically  declared  that  persons  who  had  been  guilty  of  murder  or 
atrocious  crimes  were  liable  to  trial  and  punishment  according  to  the  laws 
of  Georgia.  For  the  safety  of  such  culprits  the  governor  declined  to 
stipulate,  alleging  very  properly  that  the  executive  could  not  rightfully 
exercise  control  in  matters  which,  by  the  constitution  of  Georgia,  were 
cognizable  by  the  courts.  In  the  case  of  merchants,  ample  opportunity 
would  be  afforded  for  them  to  sell  their  goods  and  adjust  their  accounts. 
At  the  expiration  of  a  reasonable  period  a  flag  would  be  granted  to  con- 
vey them  and  their  property  to  any  convenient  British  port  they  might 
select. 


Terms  of  Surrender.  303 

With  regard  to  those  inhabitants  who,  having  served  in  the  king's  mil- 
itia, were  now  willing  to  enlist  in  the  Georgia  regiment  of  infantry  for  two 
years  or  the  war,  assurance  was  given  that  every  effort  would  be  expended 
in  procuring  the  passage  of  an  act  granting  oblivion  of  all  offenses  which 
they  might  have  committed,  except  murder. 

"  In  offering  these  terms,"  said  General  Wayne,  "  I  had  in  view  not 
only  the  interest  of  the  United  States  but  also  that  of  Georgia :  by  re- 
taining as  many  inhabitants  and  merchants  as  circumstances  would  ad- 
mit, and  with  them  a  considerable  quantity  of  goods  much  wanted  for 
public  and  private  use ;  but  (what  was  yet  of  greater  consequence)  to 
complete  your  quota  of  troops  without  any  expense  to  the  public,  and 
thus  reclaim  a  number  of  men  who,  at  another  day,  will  become  valuable 
members  of  society.  This  also  appeared  to  me  an  act  of  justice  tempered 
with  mercy  :  justice  to  oblige  those  who  have  joined  or  remained  with 
the  enemy  to  expiate  their  crime, by  military  service  ;  and  mercy,  to  ad- 
mit the  repentant  sinner  to  citizenship  after  a  reasonable  quarantine.  By 
these  means  those  worthy  citizens  [the  Whigs],  who  have  so  long  en- 
dured every  vicissitude  of  fortune  with  more  than  Roman  virtue,  will  be 
relieved  from  that  duty." 

These  terms  having  been  reported  in  Savannah,  another  deputation 
was  appointed  to  enter  into  definite  stipulations.  That  they  might  be 
well  understood,  it  was  requested  that  they  should  be  reduced  to  writing. 
This  was  accordingly  done.  To  Major  John  Habersham,  an  officer  of  the 
Georgia  line,  a  native  of  Savannah,  a  gentleman  whose  personal  charac- 
ter inspired  confidence,  and  whose  correct  conduct  and  polished  address 
commanded  the  utmost  respect  even  from  those  who  were  inimical  to  the 
cause  which  he  espoused,  was  this  negotiation  chiefly  confided  on  the 
part  of  the  patriots. 

"Satisfied  with  the  assurances  of  protection  which  were  given,"  writes 
Captain  McCall,  "  many  of  the  British  subjects  who  resided  with  their 
families  in  Savannah  discontinued  the  preparations  which  they  had  com- 
menced for  removal,  and  became  citizens  of  the  United  States.  Such  of 
the  loyalists  as  were  unwilling  to  subscribe  to  the  conditions  proposed 
removed  with  their  famflies  and  the  property  they  had  in  possession  to 
Cockspur  and  Tybee  islands,  where  they  encamped  until  .the  transports 
were  ready  to  sail.     Among  this  number  there  were  many  whose  atro- 


304  History  of  Savannah. 

cious  conduct  during  the  war  would  have  placed  their  lives  at  great  haz- 
ard if  they  had  been  tried  by  the  civil  authorities  of  the  State.  Others 
had  in  possession  large  fortunes  ia  negroes  and  other  property  which  had 
been  plundered  from  their  republican  countrymen." 

In  anticipation  of  the  early  departure  of  the  British  forces  General 
Wayne  published  the  following  order: 

"Head  Quarters,  Camp  at  Gibbons',  July  lotk,  1782. 
"As  the  enemy  may  be  expected  daily  to  evacuate  the  town,  the 
troops  win  take  care  to  be  provided  with  a  clean  shift  of  linnen,  and  to 
make  themselves  as  respectable  as  possible  for  the  occasion.  The  offi- 
cers are  particularly  called  upon  to  attend  to  this  order  and  see  it  exe- 
cuted in  their  respective  corps.  No  followers  of  the  army  are  to  be  per- 
mitted to  enter  the  town  until  the  main  body  has  marched  in.  Lieut: 
Col :  Jackson,  in  consideration  of  his  severe  and  fatiguing  service  in  the 
advance,  is  to  receive  the  keys  of  Savannah,  and  is  allowed  to  enter  at  the 
western  gate,  keeping  a  patrole  in  town  to  apprend  stragglers  who  may 
steal  in  with  the  hopes  of  plunder.  Marauders  may  assure  themselves 
of  the  most  severe  and  exemplary  punishment."^ 

The  very  next  day  (July  11,  1782)  the  British  troops  evacuated  Sa- 
vannah, and,  in  the  afternoon  General  Wayne  entered  with  his  forces  and 
took  possession  of  the  town.  This  done,  the  following  order  was  forth- 
with promulgated  : 

"  Head  Quarters,  Savannah,  nth  July,  1782. 

"  The  light  infantry  company  under  Captain  Parker  to  take  post  in  the 
centre  work  in  front  of  the  town,  placing  sentries  at  the  respective  gate- 
ways and  sally  ports  to  prevent  any  person  or  persons  going  from  or  en- 
tering the  lines  without  written  permits  until  further  orders. 

"  No  insults  or  depredations  to  be  committed  upon  the  persons  or 
property  of  the  inhabitants  on  any  pretext  whatever.  The  civil  authority 
only  will  take  cognizance  of  the  criminals  or  defaulters  belonging  to  the 
State,  if  any  there  be.  The  merchants  and  traders  are  immediately  to 
make  out  an  exact  and  true  invoice  of  all  goods,  wares,  or  merchandise 
of  every  species,  dry,  wet,  or  hard,  respectively  belonging  to  them  or  in 
their  possession,  with  the  original  invoices,  to  the  Commissary,  who  will 

'  Charlton's  Life  of  Jackson,  Part  I.,  p.  43.     Augusta.     1809. 


Formal  Surrender  of  SavannaiI.  305 


select  such  articles  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  army  and  for  the  public 
uses  of  the  State,  for  which  a  reasonable  profit  will  be  allowed.  No  goods 
or  merchandise  of  any  kind  whatever  are  to  be  removed,  secreted,  sold,, 
or  disposed  of,  until  the  pubhc  and  army  are  first  served,  which  will  be  as 
soon  as  possible  after  the  receipt  of  the  invoices,  &c. 

"  N.  B.  Orders  will  be  left  with  Captain  Parker  for  the  immediate 
admission  of  the  Honorable  the  Executive  Council,  and  the  Honorable 
the  Members  of  the  Legislature,  with  their  officers  and  attendants." 

To  Colonel  Jackson  were  the  keys  of  the  town  delivered,  at  its  prin- 
cipal gate,  in  token  of  formal  surrender ;  and  he  enjoyed  the  profound 
pleasure  and  distinguished  honor  of  being  the  first  to  enter  Savannah 
from  which  the  patriots  had  bem  forcibly  expelled  in  December,  1778.^ 
This  compliment  was  well  merited  and  handsomely  bestowed.  It  was  a 
just  recognition  of  the  patriotism  and  gallantry  which  characterized  him 
during  the  war,  and  of  the  activity  displayed  by  him  as  the  leader  of  the 
vanguard  of  the  army  of  occupation. 

Thus,  after  the  lapse  of  three  years  and  a  half,  was  the  capital  of 
Georgia  wrested  from  the  dominion  of  the  royal  forces  and  restored  to 
the  possession  of  the  sons  of  liberty.  With  the  departure  of  the  British 
garrison  there  lingered  not  a  single  servant  of  the  king  on  Georgia  soil. 
Although  no  treaty  of  peace  had  yet  been  consummated  between  England 
and  America,  this  surrender  of  Georgia  into  the  hands  of  the  republic- 
ans was  hailed  as  a  practical  abandonment  of  the  war  on  the  part  of  the 
realm,  and  was  regarded  as  an  earnest  of  a  speedy  recognition  of  the  in- 
dependence of  the  United  States.      And  so  it  proved. 

If  we  may  credit  the  contemporaneous  accounts,  between  the  I2th 
and  25th  of  July,  1782,  in  addition  to  the  garrison,  from  Savannah  and  its 
vicinity  were  transported  five  hundred  women  and  children,  three  hun- 
dred Indians,  and  several  thousand  negroes.  Governor  Wright,  accom- 
panied by  some  of  the  civil  and  military  officers,  was  conveyed  to  Charles- 
town,  S.  C,  in  the  Princess  Caroline.  General  Alured  Clarke,  with  a 
portion  of  the  British  regulars,  sailed  for  New  York.  Colonel  Brown  with 
his  rangers  and  some  Indians  repaired  to  St.  Augustine.  Others,  includ- 
ing the  negroes,  were  carried  to  the  West  India  Islands  under  convoy  of 

1  See  Charlton's  Life  of  Jackson,  Part  I.,  p.  44.     Augusta.     1809. 
39 


3o6  History  of  Savannah. 

the  frigate  Zedra,  the  sloop  of  war  Vulture,  and  other  armed  vessels  which 
had  been  ordered  to  the  Georgia  coast  for  that  purpose.^ 

By  these  departing  loyalists,  many  of  whom  had  been  guilty  of  enor- 
niities  the  most  revolting,  was  Georgia  grossly  despoiled.  Gathering 
about  them  slaves  and  personal  property  plundered  during  a  series  of 
years  from  republican  owners  intent  upon  an  assertion  of  their  claims  to 
liberty,  they  effected  an  escape  to  distant  parts  where,  avoiding  punish- 
ment for  past  offenses,,  they  enjoyed  their  gains  ill-gotten  in  an  unholy 
strife.  So  far  as  the  record  stands,  no  return  was  ever  made  of  this 
stolen  property,  no  compensation  offered  to  the  impoverished  repub- 
licans who,  amid  the  general  wreck  of  desolated  homes  and  vanished 
possessions,  sought  a  modicum  of  comfort  and  subsistence. 

Leaving  Colonel  Jackson  with  his  legion  and  Major  John  Habersham's 
corps  of  new  recruits  in  charge  of  Savannah,  General  Wayne  marched 
with  his  forces  to  South  Carolina  where  he  joined  General  Greene.  "  I 
wish  you  to  be  persuaded,''  wrote  that  great  and  generous  officer  to  his 
subaltern,  "  that  I  shall  do  you  ample  justice  in  my  public  accounts  to 
Congress  and  the  Commander-in-Chief  I  think  you  have  conducted 
your  command  with  great  prudence  and  with  astonishing  perseverance  ; 
and  in  so  doing  you  fully  answered  the  high  expectations  I  ever  enter- 
tained of  your  military  abilities  from  our  earliest  acquaintance." 

Following  close  upon  the  heels  of  the  military  came  members  of  the 
executive  council,  who  established  themselves  in  Savannah  on  the  14th 
of  July.  There  being  many  lawless,  profligate,  idle,  and  runaway  ne- 
groes in  the  town  and  its  vicinity,  one  of  the  first  acts  performed  by  .this 
body  was  the  appointment  of  Joseph  Clay,  James  Habersham,  John 
Houston,  William  LeConte,  John  Wereat,  William  O'Bryan,  John  Kean, 
Peter  Deveaux,  Thomas  Stone,  Peter  Taarling,  and  Joseph  Woodruff  as 
a  special  committee  to  take  into  immediate  custody  all  negro  slaves  ab- 
sent from  their  masters,  and  all  suspected  property.  This  done,  public 
notice  was  given  so  that  owners  might  prove  property  aud  reacquire  pos- 
session. 

The  Legislature  quickly  convened  and  approved  the  agreement  made 
between  Governor  Martin  and  General  Wayne  and  the  British  merchants 
in  Savannah,  rendering  it  obligatory  upon  the  latter  to  expose  their  goods 

'  See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  420.     Savannah.     1816. 


Deplorable  Condition.  307 

or  sale  at  fair  profit  and  to  abstain  from  anything  savoring  of  extortion. 

Bills  were  passed  forbidding  the  exportation  of  salt,  provisions,  and 
other  necessaries  of  life ;  placing  the  Georgia  battalion  upon  an  equal 
footing  with  the  continental  troops  as  to  pay,  clothing,  and  rations  ;  re- 
opening the  courts  of  justice  ;  encouraging  churches  and  schools  ;  and 
prescribing  terms  upon  which  the  disaffected  might  again  be  admitted  to 
the  privileges  enjoyed  by  citizens  of  Georgia. 

Arrangements  were  made  for  refunding  the  supplies  and  moneys  ad- 
vanced to  soldiers  in  the  field  by  officers  and  citizens  during  the  progress 
of  the  Revolution.  Bounties  were  offered  to  seamen  who  would  man  the 
two  galleys  ordered  to  be  built  for  harbor  defense.  Questions  touching 
the  creation  of  a  suitable  navy,  the  adjustment  of  the  public  accounts,  the 
equipment  of  troops,  the  sale  of  confiscated  estates,  and  other  matters  of 
consequence  were  carefully  discussed. 

In  acknowledgment  of  his  "  great  and  useful  services  to  his  Country, 
for  which  he  is  entitled  to  the  notice  and  attachment  of  the  Legislature," 
it  was  resolved  by  that  body  that  the  "House  which  heretofore  belonged 
to  Mr.  Tattnall  in  Savannah  be  granted  to  Colonel  Jackson."  Governor 
Martin  was  instructed  to  issue  a  proclamation  calling  upon  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Savannah  to  assemble  at  a  given  time  and  place  to  inquire  into 
the  character  of  all  persons  deemed  suspicious,  and  to  tender  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  such  as  might  be  found  worthy  the  privileges  of  citizenship. 

On  the  31st  of  July  the  committees,  previously  appointed  for  that  pur- 
pose, reported  that  they  had,  upon  the  sales  of  confiscated  estates,  pur- 
chased for  General  Anthony  Wayne,  at  a  cost  of  ;^3,900  the  plantation 
late  the  property  ot  Alexander  Wright,  containing  eight  hundred  and 
forty  acres ;  and  for  General  Nathanael  Greene  the  plantation  recently 
owned  by  Lieutenant-Governor  John  Grahame,  containing  two  thousand 
one  hundred  and  seventy- one  acres,  for  the  sum  of  £7,ogy  igs. 

The  Legislature  was  busily  engaged  in  the  passage  of  measures 
which  would  conduce  to  the  rehabilitation  of  the  State. 

Deplorable  was  the  condition  of  Georgia.  For  forty-two  long  months 
had  she  been  a  prey  to  rapine,  oppression,  fratricidal  strife,  and  poverty. 
Fear,  unrest,  the  brand,  the  sword,  the  tomahawk,  had  been  her  portion. 
In  the  abstraction  of  negro  slaves,  by  the  burning  of  dwellings,  in  the 
obliteration  of  plantations,  by  the  destruction  of  agricultural  implements, 


3o8  History  of  Savannah. 


and  by  theft  of  domestic  animals  and  personal  effects,  it  is  estimated  that 
at  least  one-half  of  the  available  property  of  the  inhabitants  had,  during 
this  period,  been  completely  swept  away.  Real  estate  had  depreciated 
in  value.  Agriculture  was  at  a  standstill,  and  there  was  no  money  with 
which  to  repair  these  losses  and  inaugurate  a  new  era  of  prosperity. 
The  lamentations  of  widows  and  orphans,  too,  were  heard  in  the  land. 
These  not  only  bemoaned  their  dead,  but  cried  aloud  for  food.  Amid 
the  general  depression  there  was,  nevertheless,  a  deal  of  gladness  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  a  radiant  joy,  an  inspiring  hope.  Independence 
had  been  won  at  great  cost.  It  was  prized  all  the  more,  and  the  suffer- 
ings endured  in  its  acquisition  were  remembered  only  with  pride.  In 
the  near  future  it  was  believed  that  all  sorrows  would  be  speedily  forgot- 
ten, all  losses  rapidly  repaired.  Therefore  there  was  no  repining,  and 
each,  sharing  the  burthen  of  his  neighbor,  set  about,  and  that  right  man- 
fully, providing  for  the  present  and  laying  the  foundations  for  prosperous 
and  happy  days. 

The  population  of  Georgia,  as  reported  by  Governor  Wright  ^  to  the 
Earl  of  Dartmouth  on  the  20th  of  December,  1773,  consisted  of  upwards 
of  eighteen  thousand  whites  and  fifteen  thousand  blacks.  If  it  be  true, 
as  Dr.  Ramsay  ^  suggests,  that  the  State  lost  during  the  progress  of  the 
Revolution  one  thousand  of  her  inhabitants  and  four  thousand  slaves,  it 
appears  scarcely  probable,  allowing  a  reasonable  rate  of  increase  and  at 
the  same  time  paying  due  regard  to  the  retarding  influences  of  the  strug- 
gle, that  Georgia,  upon  the  conclusion,  could  claim  many  more  inhabit- 
ants than  she  numbered  at  the  inception  of  the  war.  We  question 
whether  her  population  aggregated  more  than  thirty-five  thousand.  Un- 
fortunately we  find  no  data  upon  which  to  predicate  a  definite  estimate. 

By  the  General  Assembly  which  convened  in  Savannah  in  January, 
1783,  that  sterling  patriot  and  worthy  gentleman,  Dr.  Lyman  Hall,  was 
elected  governor  of  Georgia.  On  the  31st  of  that  month  George  Wal- 
ton was  selected  to  fill  the  position  of  chief  justice  ;  Samuel  Stirk  was  ap- 
pointed attorney  general ;  John  Martin,  treasurer  ;  John  Milton,  secre- 
tary of  State  ;  Richard  Call,  surveyor- general  ;  Joseph  Woodruff,  col- 
lector of  the  port  of  Savannah;  and  John  Lawson,  jr.,  collector  for  the 

I  P.  R.  0.,  Am.  &  W.  Ind.,  No.  235. 

"  History  of  the  Revolution  of  South  Carolina,  volume  ii.,  page  370.     Trenton. 

MDCCLXXXV. 


Early  Legislation.  309 


town  and  port  of  Sunbury.  Registers  of  probate  and  assistant  justices 
were  named  for  the  respective  counties.  Land  offices  were  established 
and  commissioners  were  designated  to  superintend  the  sales  of  confis- 
cated property.  The  payment  of  the  public  debt  was  receiving  due  con- 
sideration. Officers  and  soldiers  were  rewarded  with  bounty  warrants 
for  military  services  rendered.  William  Mcintosh,  Samuel  Stirk,  and 
John  Wereat,  as  commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  State,  were  negotiat- 
ing with  Governor  Patrick  Tonyn,  of  East  Florida,  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  all  differences  and  the  prevention  of  disturbances  along  the  line 
of  the  St.  Mary's  River.  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh,  John  Houstoiin, 
and  Edward  Telfair  were  designated  as  proper  parties  to  "settle  and  ad- 
just the  northern  boundaries  of  Georgia,"  and  to  treat  with  such  com- 
missioners as  might  be  selected  by  the  State  of  South  Carolina  for  that 
purpose.  It  was  proposed  to  organize  a  "  Court  of  Claims  to  determine 
the  rights  of  contested  property."  Temples  of  justice  and  of  religion 
were  now  open  in  the  land.  Provision  was  made  for  public  education. 
The  entire  machinery  of  State  government  was  in  motion.  Peace  and 
independence  had  been  formally  conceded  to  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Early  Legislation  Affecting  Savannah — The  Town  Divided  into  Wards — Incorpor- 
ated into  a  City— Condition  of  the  Place  in  1782 — Longevity  of  the  Inhabitants— Form- 
ation of  the  Chatham  Artillery— Ceremonies  Observed  upon  the  Sepulture  of  General 
Nathanael  Greene— Death  and  Burial  of  General  Samuel  Elbert— Demise  of  the  Hon. 
Jonathan  Bryan — Cultivation  of  Cotton  and  Rice — Health  of  Savannah. 

WHILE  a  ward  of  the  trustees,  Georgia  was  obedient  to  such  rules 
and  regulations  as  they  saw  fit  to  prescribe.  Savannah  being  the 
chief  town  and  the  capital  of  the  Province,  was  governed  by  them  through 
the  intervention  of  an  agent  or  president,  aided  by  designated  assistants. 
Bailiffs  were  named  to  preserve  order,  while  magistrate's  courts  sufficed, 
in  the  main,  to  decide  all  matters  in  controversy  between  the  inhabitants. 
When  the  trustees  surrendered  their  charter,  and  Georgia,  as  a  royal 


3IO  History  of  Savannah. 

province,  passed  under  the  immediate  control  of  the  crown,  Savannah 
continued  to  be  the  capital  of  the  plantation.  The  governor  and  a  ma- 
jority of  the  members  of  council  there  resided,  and  the  affairs  of  the  town 
were  administered  by  the  provincial  general  assembly  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  governor  and  council.  The  legislation  of  this  period  had 
respect  chiefly  to  the  establishment  and  conduct  of  the  market  and  of  the 
watch, — to  the  conservation  of  the  common  appurtenant  to  the  town, — 
to  the  construction  and  repair  of  public  buildings  and  defenses, —  to  the 
organization  of  a  workhouse, — to  the  control  of  slaves  and  porters, — to 
the  care  of  churches  and  cemeteries, — to  the  maintenance  of  courts  of 
justice, — to  prescribing  regulations  for  the  control  of  sailors,  pilots,  pow- 
der receivers,  lighthouse  keepers,  and  retailers  of  spirituous  liquors, — and 
to  the  cleanliness  of  the  streets  and  squares.  Subject  to  the  sanction  of 
the  governor  and  council,  the  government  of  this  little  ^aa.r/ municipality 
was  assumed  by  the  general  assembly. 

Disputes  having  arisen  touching  the  plan  of  the  town  and  the  "com- 
mon thereto  belonging,"  as  ascertained  by  the  act  of  the  9th  of  June 
1761,  the  general  assembly,  by  an  act  assented  to  on  the  lOth  of  May 
1770,  determined  "the  true  plan  of  the  town  and  common  of  Savannah, 
including  the  several  wharf  lots  under  the  bank  or  bluff." 

On  the  19th  of  Februar)^,  1787,^  the  town  of  Savannah  and  the  ham- 
lets thereof  were,  "  by  the  freemen  of  the  State  of  Georgia  in  general 
assembly  met,"  divided  into  seven  wards:  "the  town  as  usual  to  consist 
of  six :  viz. :  Percival,  Derby,  Anson,  Reynolds,  Heathcote,  and  Decker 
wards,  and  the  hamlets  of  Ewensburgh  and  Yamacraw  shall  constitute 
the  seventh,  and  be  known  by  the  name  of  Oglethorpe's  ward."  On  the 
the  first  Monday  in  March  annually,  the  proprietors  of  lots  or  houses 
within  the  said  wards,  being  of  full  age,  were  directed  to  meet  at  the 
court-house  in  Savannah  and,  under  the  direction  of  two  or  more  magis- 
trates, proceed  to  elect  a  warden  for  each  ward,  "  who  shall  also  be  a 
proprietor  of  a  house  or  lot  within  the  limits  of  the  town  or  hamlets." 
On  the  ensuing  Monday  the  wardens,  so  chosen,  were  directed  to  meet 
and,  from  their  number,  elect  by  ballot  one  to  act  as  president  of  the 
board.2     They  were  also  empowered  to  elect  a  clerk  and  such  other  offi- 

'  Watkins's  Digest,  p.  354. 

'  Under  the  provisions  of  this  act  William  Stephens  was  elected  president  in  1787, 
and  Samuel  Stirk  in  1788  and  1789. 


Early  Legislation.  311 


cers  as  they  might  deem  necessary,  make  by-laws  and  regulations,  and 
impose  such  "  pains,  penalties,  and  forfeitures  "  as  should  be  "  conducive 
to  the  good  order  and  government  of  the  town  and  hamlets."  Powers 
of  assessment  and  taxation,  of  lease,  rent,  and  sale,  of  recovery  by  war- 
rant of  distress,  of  regulating  public  docks,  and  of  performing  other 
functions  incident  to  the  efficient  administration  of  the  municipal  govern- 
ment confided  to  them  were  also  delegated.  For  the  information  of  the 
inhabitants  the  president  and  wardens,  through  their  clerk,  were  required 
to  publish  in  the  Georgia  Gazette  monihly  statements  of  all  moneys  re- 
ceived and  expended.  The  wardens  elected  under  the  provisions  of  this 
act  were  "  vested  with  the  powers  and  authority  of  justices  of  the  peace 
within  the  town  and  hamlets  thereof." 

By  an  act  of  the  general  assembly,  assented  to  on  the  23d  of  Decem- 
ber, 1789,^  it  was  provided:  "That  the  said  town  of  Savannah  shall  be 
hereafter  known  and  called  by  the  style  and  name  of  the  CiTY  OF  SaV- 
NAH ;  and  that  on  the  first  Monday  in  March,  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  ninety,  and  thereafter  annually  the  owners  or  occupiers  of  any 
lot  or  house  in  the  said  city  or  hamlets  shall,  under  the  direction  of  any 
two  or  more  justices  in  the  said  city,  elect  an  alderman  for  each  ward 
.  .  .  .  from  among  the  said  citizens  generally,  who  shall,  on  the 
Monday  following  after  the  election  of  such  aldermen,  choose  from  their 
own  body  a  mayor;  2  and  that  from  and  after  the  election  of  such  alder- 
men and  mayor,  their  style  shall  be  the  MAYOR  AND  ALDERMEN  OF 
THE  City  of  Savannah,  and  the  Hamlets  Thereof  : 
and  they  are  hereby  empowered  to  carry  into  execution  the  powers  in- 
tended, ....  and  shall  be  a  body  politic  and  corporate,  to  have 
and  to  use  a  common  seal,  with  power  to  sue  and  be  sued,  plead  or  be 
impleaded,  and  may  acquire,  have,  hold,  and  enjoy  real  or  personal 
property  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  said  city  and  hamlets." 

'  Watkins's  Digest,  p.  416. 

'  Under  the  provisions  of  this  act  the  following  mayors  were  elected  during  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  viz. :  John  Houstoun  in  1790,  Thomas  Gibbons  in  1791,  Joseph  Haber- 
sham in  1792,  William  Stephens  in  1793,  Thomas  Gibbons  in  1794.  William  Stephens 
in  1795,  John  Y.  Noel  in  1796,  John  Glenn  in  1797,  Matthew  McAllister  in  1798,  Mat- 
thew McAllister  in  1799,  and  Thomas  Gibbons  in  1800.  For  this  Ust  of  mayors  I  am 
indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  the  Hon.  Rufus  E.  Lester,  mayor,  and  Mr.  Frank  E.  Rebarer, 
clerk  of  council. 


312  History  of  Savannah. 


By  the  Xllth  section  of  this  act  provision  was  made  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  health  officer  for  the  port  of  Savannah,  whose  duty  it  should 
be,  in  order  to  prevent  the  spread  of  "  disorders  or  contagious  distem- 
pers,'' to  "  go  on  board  every  vessel  arriving  from  a  foreign  port,  and 
before  her  arrival  at  Five  Fathom  Hole,  and  there  examine  as  to  the 
health  of  the  crew  and  passengers  on  board,  and  certify  the  same  to  the 
captain  or  commander  of  such  vessel ;  for  which  certificate  such  physician 
shall  be  entitled  to  receive,  and  the  captain  of  such  vessel  shall  pay  three 
dollars,  after  which  being  granted,  the  said  crew  and  passengers  shall  be 
permitted  to  pass  Fort  Wayne,  and  not  otherwise."  i 

On  the  1 8th  of  February  1796,  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city 
of  Savannah  and  the  hamlets  thereof  were  empowered  to  hold  monthly 
courts  for  the  determination  of  civil  causes,  not  involving  the  right  or 
title  to  land,  "  arising  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  corporation,"  where 
"  the  demand  in  such  suit  or  action  did  not  exceed  fifty  dollars,"  and  lo 
"  give  judgment  and  award  execution  therein  according  to  law."  ^ 

On  the  29th  of  December,  1794,  the  general  assembly  of  Georgia,^ 
in  consideration  of  the  fact  that  the  citizens  of  Savannah  had  provided 
two  fire  engines  for  the  use  of  the  city,  declared  it  lawful  for  "  any  num- 
ber of  persons,  not  exceeding  thirty,  who  shall  be  citizens  of  this  State, 
and  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Savannah,  to  form  and  associate  themselves' 
together  as  a  fire  company,  under  the  style  and  denomination  of  the  FiRE- 
Company  of  the  City  of  Savannah."  They  were  authorized  to  elect" 
from  their  number  "  in  like  manner  as  provided  in  the  militia  law,  officers 
to  command  them,  not  exceeding  four,  who  shall  be  commissioned  by 
his  excellency  the  governor." 

Except  in  times  of  actual  invasion,  insurrection,  or  alarm,  the  officers 
and  men  of  this  fire  company  were  to  be  exempt  from  the  performance 
of  militia  duty. 

On  the  6th  of  February;  1796,  upon  proper  petition  exhibited,  Will- 
iam Stephens,  grand  master,  James  Jackson,  past  grand  master,  William 
Stith,  deputy  grand  master,  James  Box  Young,  senior  grand  warden, 
Edward  Lloyd  and  Belthazer  Shaffer,  past  grand  wardens,  Ulrich  Tobler, 

'  This  act  was  amended  by  the  acts  of  January  7,  1795,  and  of  February  13,  1797. 
See  Watkins's  Digest,  pp.  556,  663. 
"  Watkins's  Digest,  p.  589. 
'  Walkins's  Digest,  p.  553. 


Masonic  Grand  Lodge  tNCORPORAtEb.  513 

junior .  grand  warden,  George  Jones,  past  grand  treasurer,  James  Rob- 
ertson, grand  treasurer,  David  B.  Mitchell,  past  grand  secretary,  and 
John  Blackstock,  grand  secretary  of  the  grand  lodge  of  free  masons  in 
Georgia,  and  others  who  might  become  members  of  the  grand  lodge,  and 
their  successors  were,  by  act^  of  the  general  assembly,  created  a  body 
corporate  in  the  city  of  Savannah  under  the  style  of  "  The  Grand  Lodge 
of  Georgia." 

By  two  acts-  of  the  General  Assembly,  approved  on  the  13th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1797,  the  tax  on  all  lots  in  the  city  of  Savannah,  the  improve- 
ments upon  which  had  been  destroyed  by  the  disastrous  fire  of  the  pre- 
vious year,  was  remitted  for  the  years  1796  and  1797  ;  and  one-third  of 
the  revenue  or  income  which  the  State  should  derive  during  the  year 
1797  from  the  tax  imposed  on  negroes  brought  into  Georgia  for  sale,  was 
appropriated  for  the  benefit  and  relief  of  the  unfortunate  sufferers  by  that 
severe  calamity. 

Such  are  the  provisions  of  some  of  the  leading  acts,  passed  by  the 
General  Assemblies  of  Georgia,  affecting  Savannah  during  the  eighteenth 
century. 

That  town  continued  to  be  the  capital  of  the  province  and  of  the  nas- 
cent State  until  its  capture  by  Colonel  Campbell  in  December,  1778. 
The  seat  of  government  was  thereupon  transferred  to  Augusta.  For  a 
little  while  after  its  evacuation  by  the  British  forces  in  1782,  the  Legisla- 
ture assembled  at  and  held  its  sessions  in  Savannah.  At  that  time  the 
population  oi  the  town  consisted  of  less  than  eight  hundred  whites,  most 
of  them  in  impoverished  circumstances.  Their  private  dwellings  did  not 
exceed  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  and  not  a  few  of  them  had  been 
sadly  marred  by  the  fortunes  of  war.  Negro  slaves  were  unruly.  The 
public  buildings  were  in  a  neglected  and  filthy  condition.  Commerce 
was  at  a  standstill,  and  poverty  was  the  common  heritage.  In  1787 
there  had  occurred  no  material  increase  in  the  population  of  Savannah, 
but  soon  afterwards  the  inhabitants  began-  to  multiply.  •'     In    1794  the 


iWalkins's  Digest,  pp.  571,  572. 

'Watkins's  Digest,  pp.  661,  677. 

"In  the  Georgia  Gazeiie  of  Thursday,  June  14,  1787,  we  find  the  following  commu- 
nication addressed  to  the  printer  :  "  Mr.  Johnston  :  The  general  although  ill-founded 
prejudice  against  the  healthiness  of  the  lower  part  of  the  State  of  Georgia  induced  a  cit- 
izen of  Savannah  to  take  the  following  account  of  the  inhabitants  now  living  in  the  town, 


3t4  History  OF  Savannah. 


residents  within  the  corporate  limits  were  reckoned  at  twenty- five  hun- 
dred ;  and,  six  years  afterwards,  the  town  claimed  a  population  of  over 
six  thousand.  The  clouds  which  had  so  long  overshadowed  the  land  had 
all  disappeared.  Negro  labor,  sadly  unsettled  by  the  protracted  and  vio- 
lent contest  between  loyalist  and  republican,  was  again  subjected  to  re- 
munerative employment.  Agricultural  operations  had  been  successfully 
resumed.  Gotten  and  rice  fields  were  yielding  generous  harvests.  Trad- 
ers were  busy  in  their  shops,  and  merchants  in  their  counting-houses. 
White- winged  messengers  of  thrift  and  peace  were  again  hovering  near 
the  wharves  of  Savannah.  Schools  and  churches  welcomed  young  and 
old  to  the  benches  of  learning  and  religion,  and  manifest  signs  of  com- 
fort, contentment,  and  prosperity  were  abroad  in  the  little  city  of  Ogle- 
thorpe. 

Moved  by  patriotic  considerations,  and  influenced  by  impulses  of  the 
noblest  character,  some  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Savannah  on  the  first 
of  May,  1786,  united  in  the  formation  of  an  Artillery  Company  ^  which 
has  ever  since  been  held  in  the  highest  esteem  in  the  community. 
Scarcely  was  the  association  formed  when  its  members  were  summoned 
to  assist  in  the  reduction  of  a  fortified  camp  of  negro  marauders  located 
on  Bear  Creek  in  Effingham  county. 

On  the  20th  of  June,  1786,  General  Nathanael  Greene  was  interred, 
with  all  the  pomp  and  circumstances  at  command,  in  the  old  cemetery 
on  South  Broad  street  in  Savannah.  After  a  short  and  violent  illness  he 
had  died  at  his  plantation  on  the  Savannah  River,  a  few  miles  above  Sa- 
vannah, and  his  body  was  transported  by  water  to  that  city  for  sepul- 
ture. As  the  boat  conveying  his  remains  neared  the  wharf,  and  until 
his  coffin  was  deposited  in  the  tomb,  minute-guns  were  discharged  from 
Fort  Wayne.  The  ships  in  port  displayed  their  colors  at  half-mast.  All 
the  shops  were  closed,  and  the  inhabitants,  suspending  their  customary 

and  within  ten  miles  tliereof,  being  the  first  settlement  of  Georgia  fifty-four  years  ago, 
wherein  there  is  perhaps  as  great  a  proportion  of  aged  persons  as  in  any  other  country. 
There  are  now  living  10  persons  between  80  and  90,  33  between  70  and  80,  69  between 
60  and  70,  80  between  50  and  60;  and,  from  the  best  information  that  can  be  had,  the 
whole  number  of  residents  in  the  above  district  amounts  to  2,290.  It  is  well  known  that 
within  the  last  two  years  several  persons  have  died  in  Georgia  from  90  to  100  years  of 
age." 

1  The  Chatham  Artillery. 


Burial  of  General  Greene.  315 

avocations,  united  in  testifying  universal  sorrow  at  the  death  of  one  who, 
among  the  generals  of  the  Revolution,  occupied  in  the  public  esteem  a 
place  second  only  to  that  conceded  to  Washington.  The  procession, 
when  formed,  consisted  of 

The  Chatham  Artillery  : 

The  Light  Infantry : 

The  Militia  of  Chatham  County : 

Clergymen  and  Physicians  : 

A  Band  of  Music  : 

The  corpse  and  pall-bearers,  escorted  on  each  side  by  a  company  of 
dragoons: 

The  chief  mourners  : 

The  members  of  the  Order  of  Cincinnatus  : 

The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly  and  other  civil  officers  of  the 
State ;  and  lastly,  of  citizens  and  strangers. 

Meeting  the  corpse  with  its  immediate  attendants  at  the  landing,  the 
funeral  cortege,  about  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  took  up  the  line  of 
march  for  the  cemetery, — the  band  playing  the  Dead  March  in  Saul, 
and  the  artillery  firing  minute-guns  as  it  advanced.  When  the  grave- 
yard was  reached  the  military  formed  on  the  right  and  left,  and  rested 
on  reversed  arms.  In  the  absence  of  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  the  fu- 
neral service  of  the  Church  of  England  was  read  by  the  Hon.  William 
Stephens,  and  the  corpse  deposited  in  a  vault.  The  ceremony  was  ter- 
minated by  a  salute  of  thirteen  guns  from  the  artillery,  and  three  volleys 
from  the  infantry.  In  the  language  of  an  eye-witness  of  this  impressive 
rite,  "  the  whole  was  conducted  with  a  solemnity  suitable  to  the  occa- 
sion." 

Contemporaneous  accounts  do  not  specify  the  precise  vault  in  which 
the  coffin  of  General  Greene  was  lodged. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  consideration  of  his  distinguished  ser- 
vices during  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  as  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
gratitude  entertained  by  the  people  of  Georgia  for  his  conduct  while  in 
command  of  the  Southern  Department,  and  especially  for  his  good  offices 
in  detaching  General  AVayne  to  expel  the  King's  forces  from  the  limits 
of  the  State,  the  General  Assembly  adopted  the  following  preamble  and 
resolutions : 


3i6  History  of  Savannah. 

"  Whereas,  the  Honorable  Major  General  Greene  hath,  since  his 
taking  the  command  of  the  Southern  Army,  rendered  high  and  impor- 
tant services  to  the  Southern  States,  by  wresting  them  from  the  hand  of 
British  oppression,  and  establishing  the  foundation  of  their  independence 
and  prosperity: 

"  And,  whereas,  services  so  glorious  and  honorable  to  the  United 
States  in  general,  and  this  State  in  particular, — services  which  at  once 
characterize  the  able  and  judicious  General  as  well  as  the  intrepid  as- 
serter  of  American  freedom, — call  for  the  distinguished  approbation  of 
the  Legislature  of  this  state  ; 

"  Be  it  therefore  resolved:  That  the  sum  of  five  thousand  guineas  be 
granted  to  three  commissioners,  to  be  appointed  by  the  House,  for  the 
purpose  of  purchasing  an  estate  for  Major- General  Nathanael  Greene  in 
such  part  or  parts  of  the  State  as  he  shall  appoint ; 

"  Resolved,  That  the  said  commissioners  be  empowered  and  author- 
ized to  draw  on,  and  receive  the- said  sum  of  five  thousand  guineas  from 
the  public  treasury  of  the  State." 

These  resolutions  were  carried  into  effect  by  the  commissioners  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose,  who  in  due  course  reported  that  they  had  upon 
the  sale  of  confiscated  estates,  purchased  for  General  Greene,  at  a  cost 
of  £7,og7  igs.,  Mulberry  Grove  plantation,  containing  two  thousand  one 
hundred  and  seventy- one  acres,  late  the  property  of  John  Grahame, 
royal  lieutenant-governor  of  the  Province  of  Georgia. 

So  soon  as  his  public  duties  permitted,  and  his  family  could  be  con- 
veniently removed  from  Rhode  Island,  General  Greene  here  fixed  his 
home,  and  gave  to  the  cultivation  of  these  lands  his  earnest  and  intelli- 
gent attention.  In  happy  mood  did  he,  at  this  time,  write  to  his  friends 
of  the  interest  he  took  in  his  agricultural  operations,  of  the  attractions  of 
his  new  abode,  of  its  gardens,  its  flowers  and  forests,  of  the  mocking 
birds  from  morning  until  evening  filling  the  air  with  sweetest  melody,  of 
the  balmy  atmosphere,  and  of  the  hospitable  attentions  of  his  neighbors. 

Lieutenant-Governor  Grahame  had  builded  a  family  vault  in  the  Sa- 
vannah cemetery,  and  by  many  this  possession  was  regarded  as  appur- 
tenant to  Mulberry  Grove  plantation. 

While  the  proof  is  not  conclusive,  the  tradition  lives  and  is  generally 
accepted  that  upon  the  conclusion  of  the  funeral  services  of  the  20th  of 


Monuments  Erected  to  Genera'l  Greene.  317 


April,  1786,  the  coffiaof  General  Greene  was  deposited  in  the  Grahame 
vault,  which  was  substantially  constructed  of  brick.  That  coffin,  of 
wood.  Strongly  made,  was  surmounted  by  a  metal  plate  whereon  were 
engraven  the  name,  rank,  date  of  birth,  and  time  of  death  of  that  Revo- 
lutionary hero.  Here  all  that  was  mortal  of  this  friend  of  Washington 
was  supposed  to  be  resting  in  undisturbed  repose. 

Anxious  to  testify  by  an  enduring  monument  their  respect  for  the 
memory  alike  of  General  Greene  and  of  Count  Pulaski,  the  citizens  of 
Savannah,  early  in  the  present  century,  endeavored  to  raise  a  fund  suf- 
ficient for  that  purpose.  In  1820  a  committee  was  empowered  by  the 
mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  town  to  search  for  and  locate  the  remains  of 
General  Greene,  with  a  view  to  placing  them  beneath  that  monument 
when  the  necessary  arrangements  for  its  erection  should  have  been  com- 
pleted. That  committee  failed  to  find  any  trace  of  the  coffin  of  that  fa- 
mous General.  All  inquiries  instituted  by  its  members  in  explanation  of 
the  cause  of  its  disappearance  remained  unsatisfied. 

Deeming  the  visit  of  General  Lafayette  most  opportune  for  consum- 
mating a  purpose  long  delayed,  the  citizens  of  Savannah  invoked  his  ser- 
vices in  laying  the  corner-stones  of  two  monuments,  one  in  memory  of 
General  Greene  and  the  other  in  honor  of  Count  Pulaski.  On  the  2 1st 
of  March,  1825,  with  appropriate  ceremonies  and  patriotic  addresses,  the 
Marquis  laid,  in  Johnson  square,  the  corner-stone  of  a  monument  to  be 
erected  in  perpetuation  of  the  memory  of  General  Greene,  and  another 
in  Chippewa  square  to  designate  the  spot  upon  which  a  shaft  should  lift 
its  enduring  head  in  honor  of  Count  Pulaski.  The  former  bore  this  in- 
scription: "This  corner-stone  of  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Maj. 
Gen.  Nathanael  Greene  was  laid  by  General  Lafayette,  at  the  request  of 
the  citizens  of  Savannah,  on  the  21st  of  March,  A.  D.  1825."  The  latter 
was  inscribed  as  follows:  "On  the  21st  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1825,  was 
laid  by  General  Lafayette,  at  the  request  of  the  citizens  of  Savannah,  this 
Foundation  Stone  of  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Brigadier  Count 
Pulaski." 

The  effort  to  collect  funds  for  the  erection  of  mortuary  shafts  is  often 
accompanied  by  perplexing  delays  and  disappointments.  To  facilitate  the 
matter  in  the  present  instance,  the  General  Assembly  of  Georgia,  on  the 
30th  of  November,    1826,  passed  an  act  empowering  certain  commis- 


3i8  History  of  Savannah. 


sioners  to  raise  by  lottery  the  sum  of  thirty- five  thousand  dollars  "  for  the 
purpose  of  aiding  the  erection  of  monuments  to  the  memory  of  General 
Greene  and  of  Count  Pulaski  in  the  city  of  Savannah,^the  place  already 
consecrated  by  the  blood  of  the  one  and  the  ashes  of  the  other." 

About  twelve  years  after  the  laying  of  the  corner-stones  by  General 
Lafayette,  sufficient  moneys  having  been  realized  to  defray  the  cost  of 
its  construction,  the  monument  now  standing  in  Johnson  square  was 
builded  in  honor  both  of  General  Greene  and  of  Count  Pulaski,  and  con- 
tinued to  be  known  as  the  Greene  and  Pulaski  monument  until,  in  1853, 
the  corner-stone  was  laid  in  Monterey  square  of  a  monument  in  honor  of 
Count  Pulaski.  From  that  time  to  the  present  day  the  simple  structure 
in  Johnson  square  has  remained  consecrate  to  the  memory  of  General 
Greene  alone. 

The  corner-stone  laid  by  General  Lafayette  in  1825,  in  Chippewa 
square,  of  the  monument  intended  to  commemorate  on  that  spot  the  vir- 
tues and  the  devotion  of  the  gallant  Pole,  was  removed  and  united  to  the 
Greene  corner-stone  in  Johnson  square  when  the  present  shaft  was  there 
constructed  in  joint  memory  of  Greene  and  Pulaski.  In  1853,  however, 
this  Pulaski  corner-stone  was  detached  from  the  Greene  and  Pulaski 
monument  in  Johnson  square,  and  was  placed,  with  imposing  ceremonies, 
in  association  with  another  corner-stone  beneath  the  beautiful  mortuary 
structure  which  now,  in  Monterey  square,  by  its  presence  embodies  the 
gratitude  of  succeeding  generations  and  enkindles  a  generous  emulation 
of  that  disinterested  devotion  to,  and  love  of,  freedom  and  right  which 
^glowed  in  the  breast  and  marked  the  career  of  Pulaski. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  search  for  the  remains  of  General 
Greene,  instituted  by  the  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose,  was  not 
thorough.  Judge  Johnson,  when  writing  in  1820,  intimated  that  a  more 
careful  inquiry  might  have  accomplished  more  satisfactory  results,  and 
hinted  that  the  coffin  might  have  been  removed  from  the  Grahame  vault 
to  that  of  the  Jones  family. 

There  is  another  explanation  of  the  disappearance  of  the  remains  of 
General  Greene.  It  rests  upon  tradition  and  is  not  devoid  of  probability. 
The  Grahames,  who  adhered  to  the  cause  of  their  king,  and  who  de- 
parted from  Georgia  when  the  British  troops  were  withdrawn,  were  nec- 
essarily incensed  at  the  loss  of  their  estates,  and  the  confiscation  of  their 


Death  of  Hon.  Samuel  Elbert.  319 

property  by  the  successful  Revolutionists.  Their  personal  misfortunes 
intensified  the  hatred  which,  as  loyal  subjects,  they  entertained  towards 
those  who  had  been  instrumental  in  compassing  the  overthrow  of  kingly 
rule  in  Georgia.  The  thought  that  a  rebel  major-general  should  lie  en- 
tombed in  their  vault  was  revolting  and  harrowing  to  their  feelings.  It 
is  beheved  that  some  member  of  that  family  caused  a  secret  removal  ol 
the  remains  of  General  Greene  from  that  vault,  and  their  reinterment  in 
an  unmarked  grave.  After  the  lapse  of  so  many  years  it  is  entirely 
probable  that  their  present  resting  place  will  never  be  discovered. 

Two  years  afterwards'  Savannah  mourned  the  demise  of  one  her  most 
illustrious  citizens  After  a  lingering  illness,  and  at  the  early  age  of 
forty-eight  years,  the  Hon.  Samuel  Elbert,  "  with  a  fixed  hope  of  future 
happiness,"  fell  on  sleep.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  major-general 
of  the  militia  of  Georgia,  vice"- president  of  the  Society  of  Cincinnati,  and 
sheriff  of  the  county  of  Chatham.  He  was  one  of  the  two  brigadier- gen- 
erals whom  Georgia  gave  to  the  continental  army;  and  in  1785,  by  an  al- 
most unanimous  vote,  had  been  elected  governor  of  this  commonwealth. 
As  a  soldier  his  record  was  brilliant.  In  the  discharge  of  the  duties  ap- 
pertaining to  the  gubernatorial  office  he  manifested  the  ability,  energy, 
diligence,  dignity;  good  judgment,  decision  of  character,  and  exalted 
manhood  which  distinguished  him  in  other  positions.  Every  funeral 
honor  which  S.avannah  could  accord  was  extended  to  him.  Minute-guns 
were  fired  from  Fort  Wayne.  The  colors  of  that  fort  and  of  the  ships  in 
the  harbor  were  displayed  at  half  mast ;  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lindsay  delivered 
an  appropriate  discourse  ;  and  an  imposing  procession — formed  of  the 
artillery,  of  the  militia  companies,  and  of  the  citizens  —  accompanied 
the  remains  which  were  deposited  at  the  family  burial  place  on  the  mount 
at  Rae's  Hall.2 

The  Indian  grave-mound  near  the  confluence  of  Pipe  Maker's  Creek 
and  the  Savannah  River,  which  a  later  generation  appropriated  as  a  con- 
venient place  for  modern  sepulture,  still  stands  marking  the  spot  where,  a 
century  agone,  the  dust  of  a  general  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  of  an 
honored  citizen,  and  of  a  governor  of  this  commonwealth  mingled  with 
the  ashes  of  the  ancestors  of  the  venerable  Tomo-chi-chi.      Although 

'  November  i,  1788. 

'  See  the  Georgia  Gazette^  No.  302,  November  6,  1788. 


320  History  of  Savannah. 


Rae's  Hall  has  passed  into  the  ownership  of  strangers — although  his 
memorial  stone  has  fallen, — although  soulless  brambles  and  envious  forest 
trees  have  obliterated  all  traces  of  the  inhumation — the  name  of  Sam- 
uel Elbert  is  enshrined  in  the  annals  of  Georgia,  and  his  memory  will  be 
cherished  by  all  who  are  not  unmindful  of  the  lessons  inculcated  by  a 
life  of  virtue,  of  valor,  of  probity,  of  benevolence,  of  patriotism,  and  of 
fidelity  to  trust  reposed. 

Only  a  few  months  hefore  a  venerable  patriot  had  been  gathered  to 
his  fathers.  Of  his  demise  we  find  this  notice  in  the  Georgia  Gazette  of 
Thursday  March  13,  1788.  "  On  Sunday  last  died  at  his  plantation  near 
Savannah,  in  the  8oth  year  of  his  age,  the  Hon.  Jonathan  Bryan,  Esq., 
who  had  been  for  near  50  years  an  inhabitant  of  this  State,  during  which 
time,  both  under  the  former  and  present  governments,  he  filled  several 
very  important  stations.  The  many  virtues  which  this  gentleman  pos- 
sessed, both  of  a  social  and  private  nature,  will  not  readily  be  forgotten. 
Having  at  an  early  day  removed  into  this  State,  he  acquired  an  accurate 
and  thorough  knowledge  of  the  country.  This  enabled  him,  and  his  be- 
nevolent heart  always  inclined  him  to  render  that  aid  to  new  settlers  that 
he  may  justly  be  styled  one  of  the  principal  Founders  and  Fathers  of  Geor- 
gia. Zealous  in  the  cause  of  Christianity,  he  considered  modes  of  wor- 
ship but  as  secondary,  whilst  a  great  first  principle  with  him  in  all  true 
religion  was  universal  charity.  Being  in  the  late  war  taken  prisoner,  he 
was  made  to  undergo  a  series  of  persecution  and  hardship  scarcely  to 
be  paralleled,  and  never  to  be  justified  ;  but  the  strength  of  his  constitu- 
tion and  the  unshaken  firmness  of  his  mind,  even  at  the  advanced  period 
of  70  years,  rose  superior  to  all  difficulties  and  at  length  brought  him  to 
die  in  the  arms  of  peace." 

In  1788  small  shipments  of  cotton  began  to  be  made  from  the  port  of 
Savannah.  Indigo  and  rice  enlisted  the  principal  attention,  of  the  plant- 
ers, and  the  cotton  plant  was  then  cultivated  only  in  limited  quantities. 
Its  yield  was  chiefly  utilized  at  home  in  the  manufacture  of  coarse  thread, 
hose,  and  cloth.  The  spinning  wheel  and  the  hand-loom  were  to  be 
found  in  the  dwellings  of  the  poorer  classes.  Although,  the  cultivation 
of  the  cotton  plant  was  increasing,  the  cotton-gin  had  not  then  imparted 
an  impulse  to  this  industry ;  and,  in  its  absence,  the  process  of  separat- 
ing the  seeds  from  the  lint  was  tedious  to  the  last  degree.     Rice  was  the 


'^'^^■3%TGKt^-mmli  CV-'i- 


Visit  of  General  Washington.  321 

staple  commodity  of  the  inhabitants  of  Southern  Georgia,  and  vast  labor 
was  expended  by  them  in  converting  the  swamps  of  this  marish  region 
into  remunerative  fields. 

As  early  as  the  28th  of  November,  1789,  a  number  of  intelligent 
planters  met  in  the  the  Coffee  House  in  Savannah  and  formed  a  society 
for  the  "  promotion  and  improvement  of  agriculture  and  other  rural  con- 
cerns." This  association  was  long  maintained,  and  proved  of  decided 
interest  and  benefit  to  the  community.  Residing  upon  their  rice  plan- 
tations in  winter,  the  planters  resorted  to  Savannah  during  the  summer 
and  autumnal  months  to  escape  the  malarial  influences  of  the  cultivated 
fields.  Despite  its  location  in  a  miasmatic  delta,  the  health  of  Savannah, 
when  exempt  from  epidemics  of  yellow  fever,  was  regarded  as  good.  In 
promoting  this,  the  sandy  soil  of  the  plain  upon  which  the  town  is  builded, 
and  the  presence  of  sea  breezes,  had  much  to  do.  Near  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  Pride  of  China  was  planted  in  the  streets  and 
squares ;  and  for  many  years,  by  its  grateful  shade,  contributed  to  the, 
comfort  of  the  inhabitants.  Under  the  operation  of  the  dry-culture  sys- 
tem,—  supplemented  by  proper  drainage, —  the  health  of  Savannah  has 
materially  improved. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

General  Washington's  Visit  to  Sa^fannah,  and  the  Ceremonies  Observed  on  that  Oc- 
casion— Georgia  Society  of  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati — Severe  Fire  of  1796 — Fourth 
of  July  Celebrations — Death  of  Major  John  Habersham — Concluding  Observations. 

IN  May,  1791,  Savannah  was  complimented  by  a  visit  from  General 
George  Washington,  president  of  the  United  States.  On  Thursday 
morning,  the  I2th,  he  reached  Purrysburgh  on  the  Savannah  River. 
To  that  point,  which  marked  the  western  limit  of  South  Carolina,  he  had 
been  escorted  by  General  William  Moultrie,  and  a  delegation  from  Char- 
les-Town. There  he  was  met  by  a  committee  from  the  citizens  of  Sav- 
annah. Boats  were  at  hand  for  the  conveyance  of  the  illustrious  guest 
and  suite,  and  the  members  of  the  committee  to  that  city.     Between  ten 

40 


322  History  of  Savannah. 

and  eleven  o'clock  they  all  embarked  from  Purrysburgh.  The  boat  con- 
veying the  president  was  rowed  by  nine  American  captains — Putnam, 
Courter,  Rice,  Fisher,  Huntingdon,  Kershaw,  Swain,  Mclntire,  and  Mor- 
rison— all  dressed  in  light  blue  silk  jackets,  black  satin  breeches,  and 
white  silk  stockings.  They  wore  round  hats,  encircled  with  black  rib- 
bons upon  which  were  traced,  in  letters  of  gold,  the  words  LoNG  LlVE 
THE  President.  When  within  ten  miles  of  the  city,  the  procession  was 
met  by  a  number  of  gentlemen  in  boats,  accompanied  by  a  band  of  music. 
As  the  president  passed  on,  and  these  boats  fell  into  line,  the  band  played 
He  comes,  the  Hero  comes,  many  voices  uniting  in  the  musical  welcome. 
"  On  his  approach  to  the  city,  the  concourse  on  the  bluff,  and  the  crowds 
which  had  pressed  into  the  vessels,  evinced  the  general  joy  which  had 
been  inspired  by  the  visit  of  this  most  beloved  of  men,  and  the  ardent 
desire  of  all  ranks  and  conditions  of  people  to  be  gratified  by  his  pres- 
ence. Upon  arriving  at  the  upper  part  of  the  harbor  he  was  saluted 
from  the  wharves,  and  by  the  shipping,  and  particularly  by  the  ship 
Thomas  PF«75(7«, '  Captain  White,  which  was  beautifully  decorated  with 
the  colors  of  various  nations.  At  the  foot  of  the  stairs  where  the  presi- 
dent landed,  he  was  received  by  Colonel  Gunn  and  General  Jackson, 
who  introduced  him  to  the  mayor^  and  aldermen  of  the  city.  The  ar- 
tillery company  2  saluted  him  with  twenty- six  discharges  from  their  field 
pieces,  and  he  was  then  conducted  to  a  house  prepared  by  the  corpora- 
tion for  his  accommodation,  in  St.  James'  Square,  in  the  following  order 
of  procession  : 

"  Light  Infantry  Company. 

"  Field  Officei-s  and  other  Officers  of  the  Militia. 

"  Marshal  of  the  City. 

"Treasurer,  Clerk,  and  Recorder. 

"  Aldermen,  the  Mayor. 

"  President  and  Suite. 

"  Committee  of  Citizens. 

"  Members  of  the  Cincinnati. 

"  Citizens,  two  and  two.  , 

"  Artillery  Company." 

The  president  and  suite  dined  with  the  corporation  at  six  o'clock  the 
same  day,  arid  were  conducted  to  Brown's  Coffee  House  by  the  mayor  of 

1  Mr.  Gibbons.  '^  The  Chatham  Artillery. 


Visit  of  General  Washington.  323 

the  city  and  the  president  of  the  Cincinnati.  ^  Many  distinguished  gen- 
tlemen, by  invitation,  partook  of  the  entertainment  prepared.  Sundry 
patriotic  toasts  were  drank,  each  succeeded  by  discharges  from  the  field- 
pieces  of  the  artillery.  In  the  evening  the  city  was  beautifully  illumin- 
ated. 

The  next  day  the  president  dined  with  the  Georgia  Society  of  the 
Order  of  Cincinnati  at  Brown's  Coffee  House.  All  toasts  were  responded 
to  by  salvos  from  the  artillery. 

In  the  evening  a  ball  was  given  in  honor  of  the  president  at  the  long 
room  in  the  filature.  At  half  past  eight  he  honored  the  company  by  his 
presence;  and,  by  one  of  the  managers,  was  introduced  to  ninety- six 
elegantly  dressed  ladies,  "  some  of  whom  displayed  infinite  taste  in  the 
emblems  and  devices  on  their  sashes  and  headdresses  out  of  respect  to 
the  happy  occasion." 

"The  room,  which  had  been  lately  handsomly  fitted  up  and  was  well 
lighted,"  so  says  a  writer  in  the  Georgia  Gazette,  "  afforded  the  presi- 
dent an  excellent  opportunity  of  viewing  the  Fair  Sex  of  our  City  and  vi- 
cinity, and  the  Ladies  the  gratification  of  paying  their  respects  to  our 
Federal  Chief  After  a  few  Minuets  were  moved,  and  one  Country 
Dance  led  down,  the  President  and  his  Suit  retired  about  1 1  o'clock.  At 
12  o'clock  the  supper- room  was  opened,  and  the  ladies  partook  of  a  re- 
past, after  which  dances  continued  until  3  o'clock.  The  company  re- 
tired with  the  happy  satisfaction  of  having  generally  contributed  towards 
the  hilarity  and  gaiety  of  the  evening." 

Attended  by  General  Mcintosh  and  several  gentlemen,  General  Wash- 
ington, on  Saturday  morning,  inspected  the  lines  constructed  in  1779  by 
the  British  for  the  defense  of  Savannah,  and  the  approaches  and  batteries 
made  by  the  allied  army.  Having  himself  participated  in  the  siege  and 
in  the  assault  of  the  9th  of  October,  General  Mcintosh  was  able  to  con- 
vey to  the  president  full  information  touching  the  whole  affair.  The 
earth-mounds  covering  the  slain,  the  lines  of  circumvallation,  the  ap- 
proaches, the  sand-batteries  and  gun-chambers  had  not  then  yielded  to 
the  obliterating  influences  of  time  and  an  encroaching  population.  The 
scars  of  the  siege  were  still  upon  the  bosom  of  the  plain,  and  some  of  the 
houses  within  the  limits  of  the  city  bore  the  marks  of  the  deadly  mis- 

'  General  Anthony  Wayne. 


324  HISTORY  OF  Savannah. 

siles  whicli  were  then  hurled.  About  him  stood  those  who  had  passed 
through  that  baptism  of  fire.  The  president  exhibited  a  deep  interest  in 
all  he  then  saw  and  heard. 

"  In  the  afternoon  the  President  honored  the  Citizens  with  his  com- 
pany at  a  dinner  prepared  for  him  under  a  beautiful  arbor  supported  by 
three  rows  of  pillars  entirely  covered  with  laurel  and  bay  leaves  so  as  to 
exhibit  uniform  green  columns.  The  pillars  were  higher  than  the  arbor, 
and  ornamented  above  it  by  festoons,  and  connected  below  by  arches 
covered  in  the  same  manner.  The  place  on  which  it  stood  was  judi- 
ciously chosen,  presenting  at  once  a  view  of  the  city  and  of  the  shipping 
in  the  harbor,  with  an  extensive  prospect  of  the  river  and  rice  lands  both 
above  and  below  the  town.  But  the  principal  advantage  which  resulted 
from  its  situation  and  structure  was  the  opportunity  which  it  afforded  to 
a  great  body  of  people  to  have  a  distinct  and  uninterrupted  view  of  that 
object  to  which  all  eyes  and  hearts  appeared  to  be  attracted. 

"  A  company  of  nearly  200  citizens  and  strangers  dined  under  it,  and 
the  satisfaction  which  each  one  enjoyed  in  paying  this  personal  tribute 
to  the  merit  of  a  man  who  is,  if  possible,  more  beloved  for  his  goodness 
than  admired  for  his  greatness,  produced  a  degree  of  convivial  and  har- 
monious mirth  rarely  experienced.  Every  one  beheld  with  delight,  in 
the  person  of  our  President,  the  able  General,  the  virtuous  Patriot,  the 
profound  Politician — in  a  word,  one  of  the  most  shining  ornaments  that 
ever  dignified  human  nature. 

"  The  Artillery  Company  dined  under  another  arbor,  erected  at  a 
small  distance,  and  received  merited  applause  for  the  great  dexterity 
which  they  displayed  in  firing  at  each  toast.  Their  fires  were  returned 
by  Fort  Wayne,  and  the  ship  Thomas  Wilson  which  was  moored  appo- 
site the  arbor.  Her  decorations  through  the  day,  and  illuminations  at 
night,  had  a  fine  effect. 

"The  following  toasts  were  given: 

"  The  United  States  of  America. 

"  Prosperity  to  the  Citizens  of  Savannah  and  its  vicinity.  [By  the 
President] 

"  The  Fair  of  America. 

"  The  Vice-president  of  the  United  States. 

"  The  Memorable  Era  of  Independence. 


Visit  of  General  Washington.  325 

"The  Count  d'Estaing. 

"The  Memory  of  General  Greene. 

"  The  Arts  and  Sciences. 

"The  Memory  of  those  Brave  Men  who  fell  before  the  Lines  of  Sa- 
vannah on  the  9th  of  October,  1779. 

"The  Friends  to  Free  and  Equal  Government  thrgughout  the  Globe. 

"  All  foreign  Powers  in  Friendship  with  the  United  States. 

"  May  Religion  and  Philosophy  always  triumph  over  Superstition 
and  Prejudice  in  America. 

"  The  present  dexterous  Corps  of  Artillery.    [The  President's  toast.] 

"  [After  the  President  retired.]  The  President  of  the  United  States. 

"  The  construction  of  the  arbor  and  the  manner  in  which  the  enter- 
tainment was  provided  and  conducted  did  great  honor  to  the  gentlemen 
to  whose  direction  the  whole  was  committed. 

"  In  the  evening  there  was  a  handsome  exhibition  of  fireworks,  and  the 
amusements  of  this  day  of  joy  and  festivity  were  concluded  by  a  concert. 

"  On  Sunday  morning  the  President  attended  Divine  Service  in  Christ 
Church,  and  soon  after  set  out  on  his  way  to  Augusta.  On  taking  his 
leave  of  the  mayor  and  cpmmittee  of  the  citizens  he  politely  expressed 
his  sense  of  the  attention  shown  him  by  the  Corporation  and  every  de- 
nomination of  people  during  his  stay  in  Savannah.  He  was  attended 
out  of  the  city  by  a  number  of  gentlemen,  and  escorted  by  a  detachment 
of  Augusta  dragoons  commanded  by  Major  Ambrose  Gordon.  At  the 
Spring  Hill  the  President  was  received  by  General  Jackson,  where  the 
Artillery  and  Light  Infantry  Companies  were  drawn  up,  and  was  there 
saluted  by  39  discharges  from  the  field  pieces,  and  1 3  vollies  of  platoons. 
After  which  he  proceeded  to  Mulberry  Grove,  the  seat  of  the  late  Maj. 
Gen.  Greene,  where  he  dined,  and  then  resumed  his  tour." 

Shortly  after  his  return  to  the  seat  of  government  President  Wash- 
ington, in  acknowledgment  of  the  special  honors  paid  by,  and  in  token 
of  his  appreciation  ot  the  drill  and  proficiency  of  the  company,  compli- 
mented the  Chatham  Artillery  with  two  bronze  field-pieces  which  had 
been  captured  at  Yorktown.  These  guns  still  remain  in  the  possession 
of  that  corps,  and  are  held  by  its  members  in  the  highest  esteem  and  ven- 
eration. 

The  committee  which   met  General  Washington  at  Purrysburgh  em- 


326  History  of  Savannah. 

braced  within  its  membership  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh,  and  the  Hons. 
Noble  Wymberley  Jones,  Joseph  Habersham,  John  Houstoun,  and  Joseph 
Clay.  By  them  was  the  president  saluted  with  an  address  of  welcome. 
During  his  sojourn  in  Savannah  addresses  were  presented  on  behalf  of  the 
city  and  its  authorities  by  Thomas  Gibbons,  mayor,  on  behalf  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity  by  George  Houstoun,  grand  master  of  the  State,  and  on  be- 
half of  the  Georgia  Society  of  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati  by  its  president, 
General  Anthony  Wayne.'  To  all  the  president  responded  most  appositely. 

At  the  time  of  this  visit  the  southern  boundary  of  Savannah  was  South 
Broad  street.  Lincoln  street  bounded  it  on  the  east,  and  Jefferson  street 
on  the  west.     Outside  these  limits  the  houses  were  comparatively  few. 

On  the  26th  of  November,  1796,  the  city  was  visited  by  a  destructive 
conflagration  which  seriously  impaired  its  integrity  and  entailed  great 
loss.  Originating  in  a  baker's  shop,  it  spread  in  every  direction,  render- 
ing homeless  many  families  and  reducing  not  a  few  of  the  inhabitants  to 
absolute  penury.  So  severe  was  the  catastrophe  that  the  General  As- 
sembly intervened  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers,  and  this  timely  aid  was 
supplemented  by  private  benefactions  of  a  liberal  character. 

For  many  years  after  the  independence  of  the  United  States  had  been 
acknowledged,  the  leading  citizens  of  Savannah  were  accustomed  to  as- 
semble annually  on  the  4th  of  July,  listen  to  a  patriotic  address,  dine  to- 
gether, and  drink  toasts.  Of  the  nature  of  the  sentiments  proposed  and 
drank.on  such  occasions,  let  the  following,  which  appears  in  the  Georgia 
Gazette  of  July  5,  1787,  be  accepted  as  illustrative. 

1.  "The  Day  and  its  everlasting  remembrance. 

2.  "Liberty  without  licentiousness,  and  Republicanism  without  alloy. 

3.  "Energy  to  Government  and  a  Federal  Head. 

4.  "  May  the  Eagle  of  America  never  be  the  sport  of  her  own  arrows. 

5.  "The  illustrious  President  of  the  National  Convention. 

6.  "The  Governor  and  State  of  Georgia. 
7    "  Louis  the  XVIth. 

'  The  officers  of  the  Georgia  Society  of  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati  were,  at  that  time, 
Major-General  Anthony  Wayne,  president ;  Major  WiUiam  Pierce,  vice-president ;  Major 
John  Habersham,  secretary;  Colonel  Richard  Wylly,  treasurer;  John  Peter  Ward,  esq., 
assistant  secretary,  and  Edward  Lloyd,  esq.,  assistant  treasurer.  It  was  the  custom  of 
that  society  to  hold  its  annual  meeting  in  the  city  of  Savannah  on  the  4th  of  July  in  each 
year.     The  members  dined  together  and  patriotic  toasts  were  offered. 


Death  of  Major  John  Habersham.  327 

8.  "  May  the  State  of  Georgia  ever  respect  the  Union  as  the  only 
method  to  preserve  herself. 

9.  "  May  our  sister  State,  Rhode  Island,  be  convinced  of  her  error 
without  the  necessity  of  coercion. 

10.  "The  Merrory  of  the  departed  Heroes  of  the  Revolution. 

11.  "A  truce  with  Land  Speculation  and  Indian  Wars. 

12.  "  Universal  Freedom. 

13.  "The  American  Mothers." 

This  custom  was  perpetuated  to  a  period  within  the  memory  of  the 
living;  and  not  a  few  there  are  who  still  recollect  with  pleasure  the 
Fourth  of  July  orations,  the  military  contests,  and  the  patriotic  dinners 
which  rendered  memorable  the  annual  observance  of  the  anniversary  of 
the  day  upon  which  the  Declaration  of  the  Independence  of  the  United 
Colonies  was  proclaimed. 

While  General  Washington  was  lying  a  corpse  at  Mount  Vernon,  and 
the  nation  was  mourning  the  departure  of  him  who,  in  the  language  of  the 
gallant  Light  Horse  Harry  Lee,  was  "  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first 
in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,"  Savannah  was  called  upon  to  encoun- 
ter a  special  sorrow  in  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Major  John  Habersham. 
He  was  the  third  son  of  the  Hon.  James  Habersham — at  one  time  gov- 
ernor of  Georgia — a  gentleman  whose  pure  character,  noble  impulses, 
useful  acts,  commercial  and  agricultural  enterprise,  charitable  aims,  polit- 
ical services,  and  virtuous  life  were  ever  conspicuous  and  will  alway.s, chal- 
lenge admiration.  His  elder  brother,  the  Hon.  Joseph  Habersham,  was 
a  brave  officer  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  was  postmaster- 
general  during  President  Washington's  administration.  Inheriting  the 
virtues  of  his  father.  Major  John  Habersham  was,  in  all  respects,  an  esti- 
mable man,  fearless,  honest,  patriotic,  public-spirited,  and,  in  his  domestic 
relations,  tender  and  true.  In  the  execution  of  the  responsible  trusts 
committed  to  him  he  was  upright  and  efficient.  As  an  officer  of  the  Con- 
tinental Army  he  was  prompt,  courageous,  and  self-sacrificing.  To  the 
cause  of  the  Revolutionists,  even  in  its  infancy,  was  his  fullest  allegiance 
accorded,  and  he  never  swerved  from  its  support  until  the  independence 
of  the  United  Colonies  was  fully  established.  The  old  cemetery  on 
South  Broad  street,  wherein  sleep  so  many  who  were  famous  and  loved 
in  the  early  days  of  the  colony  and  commonwealth,  guards  the  dust  of 


328  History  of  Savannah. 

this  distinguished  Georgian;  and  a  beautiful  county  in  the  upper  portion 
of  the  State  perpetuates  a  family  name  which,  for  a  century  and  a  half 
has  been  here  saluted  with  gratitude  and  honor. 


With  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  our  connection  with  the 
preparation  of  this  memorial  volume  ends.  During  the  sixty-seven 
years  which  have  intervened  since  that  memorable  evening  when  Ogle- 
thorpe, having  posted  his  sentinels,  sought  the  friendly  shelter  of  the 
pines  upon  Yamacraw  Bluff,  scarcely  an  incident  of  moment  appertain- 
ing to  Georgia  as  a  colony,  in  revolution,  or  as  a  State,  can  be  men- 
tioned with  which  the  history  of  Savannah  is  not  either  directly  or  re- 
motely associated.  Here  was  the  source  from  which  the  streams  of  pop- 
ulation flowed  in  all  directions.  Here  was  located  the  depot  of  supplies. 
Hither  did  all  look  for  support,  for  protection,  for  the  enforcement  of  law, 
and  for  the  dissemination  of  all  things  needful.  In  this  little  metropoli- 
tan town  and  provincial  capital  dwelt  the  trustees'  agents,  the  royal  gov- 
ernors, and  the  early  presidents  of  the  youthful  commonwealth.  Here 
were  regularly  convened  the  Upper  and  Lower  Houses  of  Assembly,  the 
Colonial  Legislatures,  the  Revolutionary  Conventions,  and  the  delibera- 
tive bodies  which  gave  to  Georgia  her  primal  constitutions  and  laws  un- 
der a  republican  form  of  government.  Here  were  the  first  treaties  of 
amity  and  commerce  solemnized  with  the  Indians,  and  here  were  import- 
ant agreements  consummated  for  the  extinguishment  of  the  title  of  the 
Aborigines  to  the  granted  lands.  Here  were  measures  inaugurated  con- 
templating and  compassing  a  separation  of  Georgia  from  the  mother 
country  and  the  erection  of  the  province  into  the  dignity  of  an  independ- 
ent State.  Here  occurred  the  first  passage  at  arms  with  the  king's  forces, 
and  before  the  fortifications  which  environed  the  town  was  bloodiest  bat- 
tle delivered. 

Famous  in  arms,  in  politics,  in  religion,  in  commerce,  and  in  the  lib- 
<eral  professions  are  many  who  here  dwelt,  and  devoted  their  best  ener- 
gies to  the  development  and  salvation  of  Georgia.  First  on  the  roll  of 
honor  we  salute  the  founder  of  the  colony — renowned  alike  in  the  field, 
in  the  council  chamber,  and  in  legislative  halls, — the  embodiment  of  loy- 
alty and  valor, — the  model  of  manly  grace  and  courtesy, — giving  tone 
and  character  to  his  people  and  age.      And  near  him  stand  the  aged  Col- 


REtROSPECTlVE.  329 


onel  William  Stephens, — faithful  to  king  and  trust, — the  eloquent  White- 
field — the  Brothers  Wesley — the  elder  Habersham — the  venerable  Tomo- 
chi-chi, — the  saintly  Bolzius, — the  self-sacrificing  Zouberbuhler,  and  the 
gifted  but  unstable  Zubly.  Then  pass  in  succession  the  royal  governors, 
— the  dictatorial  Reynolds, — the  gentle  and  learned  Ellis,  and  the  capa- 
ble Wright — loyal  to  Crown  and  province,  attended  by  the  members  of 
their  respective  councils,  generally  the  best  representatives  of  the  citizen- 
ship of  Savannah.  The  scene  shifts,  and  amid  the  storms  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary period  we  behold  the  manly  forms,  hear  the  courageous  voices, 
and  admire  the  heroism  of  Noble  Wimberley  Jones,  Archibald  Bulloch, 
John  Houstoun,  Edward  Telfair,  the  Brothers  Habersham,  Samuel  El- 
bert, Lachlan  Mcintosh,  Button  Gwinnett,  Lyman  Hall,  George  Walton, 
William  Ewen,  John  Wereat,  Jonathan  Bryan,  William  Gibbons,  Joseph 
Clay,  Richard  Howley,  Nathan  Brownson,  John  Adam  Treutlen,  John 
Glen,  John  Milledge,  James  Jackson,  James  Screven,  John  Martin  and 
their  companions, — patriots  all, — who  have  bequeathed  memories  of  de- 
votion, of  valor,  and  of  self-sacrifice  of  which  any  people  might  be  proud. 
In  that  struggle  there  were  friends,  such  as  Howe,  Pinckney,  Lincoln, 
D'Estaing,  Dillon,  Noailles,  Jasper,  Pulaski,  Wayne,  White,  Huger,  and 
others  scarcely  less  distinguished,  who  contributed  freely  of  their  blood 
and  services  to  the  heroic  memories  of  place  and  period. 

The  war  ended,  there  ensued  in  the  city  of  Oglethorpe  an  era  of  ex- 
panding prosperity,  of  increasing  civilization,  of  refinement,  of  hospital- 
ity, of  augmenting  wealth,  of  religious  and  educational  progress,  of  indi- 
vidual manhood  and  municipal  integrity  which,  as  the  curtain  descended 
upon  the  eighteenth  century,  gave  ample  promise  of  peace,  stability, 
honor,  confidence,  reputation,  and  good  fortune  in  the  years  to  come. 

i2 


330  History  of  Savannah. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

MUNICIPAL  HISTORY. 

Visit  of  Aaron  Burr — Severe  Storm  in  1804 — First  City  Seal — War  of  1812 — Plans 
for  Defending  the  City — Rejoicing  over  Naval  Victories — Reception  to  President  Mon- 
roe— Yellow  Fever  Epidemic  of  1820 — Tour  of  General  Lafayette — His  Reception  in 
Savannah — Building  of  Fort  Pulaski  —Death  of  ex-President  Jackson — Mexican  War 
— Death  of  Colonel  Mcintosh — Visit  of  ex-President  Polk — Death  of  President  Taylor 
— Reception  to  ex-President  Fillmore — Yellow  Fever  Epidemic — Destructive  Gale  in 
September,  1854. 

THE  history'  of  Savannah  from  the  time  its  site  was  selected  as  the 
home  of  the  English  colonists  in  1733  to  the  close  of  the  preced- 
ing century  with  all  its  wealth  of  stirring  events,  its  trials,  triumphs,  and 
progress  has  been  unfolded  in  the  preceding  chapters.  It  possesses 
peculiar  interest  to  the  student  of  history  as  the  colonial  starting 
point  of  a  State  that  has  given  dignity  and  fame  to  American  civiliza- 
tion, and  new  elements  of  truth  and  power  to  augment  the  wealth  of  the 
world's  history.  Through  many  changes  has  been  recorded  the  march  of 
the  community  from  the  first  rude  and  crude  settlement  to  the  hamlet, 
the  village,  the  town,  the  city.  In  the  simple  and  homely  phases  of  life 
which  have  been  depicted  there  is  a  pathos  and  a  glamour  of  tenderness, 
but  under  all  circumstances  illumined  by  the  loftiest  patriotism  and  the 
most  exalted  manhood  which  makes  the  earliest  past  of  Savannah  a  proud 
heritage  worthy  to  be  studied  for  inspiration  even  by  a  generation  to 
whom  electricity  is  the  supreme  agency. 

The  first  eleven  years  of  Savannah's  history  as  an  incorporated  city 
has  been  traced  in  preceding  pages.  It  was  a  period  of  quiet  city  life, 
made  memorable  by  the  visit  of  the  first  president  of  the  United  States 
and  the  destructive  fire  of  November,  1796.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century  the  city  contained  probably  6,500  inhabitants,  as  the  cen- 
sus taken  two  years  previous  gave  the  city  a  population  of  6,226,  of 
which  only  237  were  negroes.  The  financial  losses  the  city  had  experi- 
enced in  1796  by  the  fire  had  well  nigh  been  recovered  when  the  present 


Visit  of  Aaron  Burr.  331 

century  began,  and  from  this  time  forward  although  no  great  advance 
was  made  either  in  wealth  or  population,  the  people  for  several  years  en- 
joyed a  period  of  reasonable  prosperity ;  the  city  had  emerged  from  the 
effects  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle  and  was  beginning  to  assume  com- 
mercial importance. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  city  council  held  on  July  13,  1801,  the  yearly 
salaries  of  the  city  officials  were  fixed  as  follows :  Recorder,  usual  fees ; 
treasurer,  $400  and  fees;  clerk  of  council,  $350  and  usual  fees;  clerk  of 
the  mayor's  court,  usual  fees;  marshal,  $350  and  usual  fees;  sheriff, 
clerk  of  market,  and  surveyor,  usual  fees;  messenger,  $150  and  usual 
fees. 

Vice-President  Aaron  Burr  visited  the  city  on  the  20th  of  May,  1802, 
coming  from  Augusta.  He  was  received  on  his  way  to  the  city  by  mili- 
tary and  civil  officials  and  companies  of  volunteer  soldiers.  Charles  Har- 
ris, Edward  Harden,  and  Richard  Dennis  welcomed  him  on  behalf  of  the 
corporation,  and  B.  Bullock,  James  Houstoun,  and  George  W.  Troup  on 
behalf  of  the  citizens  of  Savannah.  On  the  Monday  following  his  arrival  a 
festival  was  given  in  his  honor,  which,  said  the  Columbian  Museum  and 
Advertiser,  was  never  equaled  on  any  former  occasion  for  brilliancy  of  en- 
tertainment, the  number  and  respectability  of  the  company,  and  the  har- 
mony which  prevailed.  Two  medals  were  presented  to  the  corporation 
by  the  vice-president,  one  descriptive  of  the  arms  of  the  United  States 
on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  the  bust  of  President  Jefferson.  The  other 
medal  commemorated  the  capture  of  General  Burgoyne  by  General  Gates 
on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  the  bust  of  the  capturing  general.  The 
vice-president  remained  three  or  four  days,  and  during  his  stay  his  head- 
quarters were  on  South  Broad  street,  between  Whitaker  and  Barnard 
streets,  the  home  of  his  neice  Mrs.  Montmollin.  It  has  been  said  the 
purpose  of  his  visit  was  of  a  private  nature  and  related  to  the  settlement 
of  an  unfortunate  family  quarrel. 

From  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  ten  at  night  on  the  8th  of 
September,  1804,  Savannah  was  visited  by  a  storm  which  raged  with 
destructive  fury,  causing  widespread  ruin  and  devastation.  The  inhabi- 
tants dared  not  venture  out  of  their  dwellings,  but  in  many  cases  they 
were  forced  to  flee  to  avoid  being  crushed  in  the  ruins  of  their  own 
houses.     Hutchinson  plantation  and  the  rice  plantations  around  the  city 


332  History  of  Savannah. 

were  inundated,  causing  over  one  hundred  negroes  to  be  drowned. 
Trees  in  every  part  of  the  city  were  blown  down,  and  also  several  houses. 
The  wharves  were  all  torn  up  and  many  of  the  storehouses  erected  at 
the  foot  of  the  bluff  were  either  totally  destroyed  or  so  much  damaged  as 
to  render  valueless  everything  within  them.  Eighteen  vessels  in  the  har- 
bor were  thrown  upon  the  wharves  and  several  were  totally  destroyed. 
Several  persons  were  injured  by  the  falling  houses  or  chimneys  and  three 
died  of  the  injuries  received.  The  exchange,  the  filature,  jail  and  court- 
house on  the  bluff,  with  twenty-six  business  houses  under  the  bluff  were 
injured  and  their  stock  of  goods  swept  away.  The  steeple  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Whitaker  and  President 
streets,  fell  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  crushing  in  a  house  and  cutting 
off  a  portion  of  a  bed  on  which  lay  a  sick  man,  but  fortunately  he  was 
not  injured.  Strange  to  say  the  bell  in  the  steeple  was  found  unbroken 
and  afterwards  hung  in  the  steeple  of  the  Independent  Presbyterian 
Church,  where  it  remained  until  1824,  when  a  larger  bell  was  presented 
to  the  congregation. 

The  first  seal  used  by  the  city  of  Savannah  was  presented  by  Alder- 
man Samuel  Stirke,  and  it  is  unfortunate  that  no  trace  or  imprint  of  it 
can  be  found.  It  was  probably  used  for  several  years,  as  we  find  no 
record  of  a  new  one  being  provided  until  January  14,  1805,  when  a  res- 
olution was  adopted  by  the  council  instructing  the  clerk  to  "  procure  a 
screw-press  for  the  city  seal  the  expense  of  which  will  be  defrayed  by 
the  council."  Little  use  seems  to  have  been  made  of  the  seal,  however, 
as  no  impress  of  it  has  been  found. 

Little  of  historic  note  occurred  in  Savannah  in  the  opening  years  of 
the  present  century.  The  city  made  little  progress  in  population  or 
wealth,  and  the  quiet  town  life  of  the  people  was  barren  of  matters  of 
great  importance,  with  the  exception  of  the  movement  to  advance  the 
educational  interest  of  the  city,  and  this  feature  of  Savannah's  history  is 
fully  treated  in  another  portion  of  this  volume. 

The  period  of  the  War  of  18 12  was  one  of  turmoil  and  excitement 
in  the  history  of  Savannah. ,  The  city's  proximity  to  the  sea  made  it 
liable  to  assault  at  any  hour,  and  although  it  was  not  attacked,  the  people 
were  kept  constantly  on  the  alert.  The  events  which  culminated  in  hos- 
tilities between  the  United  States  and  England  were  clearly  understood 


War  of  1812.  333 


and  closely  watched,  and  when  human  agency  seemed  unavailing  to  avert 
the  coming  conflict  a  notice  appeared  in  the  Savannah  Republican  of 
January  28,  18 12,  asking  the  people  on  Thursday  next  to  meet  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  "to  beseech  the  Father  of  Mercies  to  avert  from 
this  nation  the  calamities  which  threaten  it.''  From  this  time  forward 
meetings  were  often  held  by  the  citizens  to  discuss  the  means  for  pro- 
tecting the  city.  The  military  companies  of  the  city  were  in  fine  condi- 
tion, and  composed  of  the  best  young  men  of  Savannah,  who  were  some- 
what anxious  to  engage  in  practical  warfare.  Interest  in  the  approach- 
ing struggle  was  intensified  by  the  arrival  in  the  city  of  Major- General 
Thomas  Pinckney  of  the  Southern  Division  of  the  army.  He  arrived  on 
Monday  June  22,  1812,  accompanied  by  Colonel  Morris,  his  aid-de-camp. 
He  was  greeted  by  the  Chatham  Artillery  and  the  Rangers  who  repaired 
to  his  lodgings  and  fired  a  salute  of  welcome.  On  the  day  following  his 
arrival,  the  general,  in  company  with  several  other  gentlemen,  took  a  view 
of  the  city  boundaries  for  the  purpose  of  advising  the  best  means  for  de- 
fending the  city.  According  to  his  suggestions  the  committee  of  super- 
intendence of  fortifications,  appointed  by  the  city  council,  composed  of 
Aldermen  Proctor,  Charlton,  and  Duke,  determined  upon  a  plan  of  forti- 
fication for  Fort  Wayne  and  called  the  citizens  to  send  laborers  to  prose- 
cute the  work. 

In  the  summer  of  181 2  war  was  declared,  and  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
June  the  news  was  brought  to  Savannah.  General  Pinckney  immedi- 
ately thereafter  left  the  city  and  work  was  soon  after  begun  upon  plans 
he  suggested  for  the  fortification  of  Savannah,  the  committee  of  superin- 
tendence, composed  of  Aldermen  J.  B.  Reed,  G.  V.  Proctor,  and  T.  U.  P. 
Charlton,  causing  the  following  advertisement  to  appear  in  the  city  paper: 
"  Whereas,  Major  General  Thomas  Pinckney  has  determined  to  cause  to 
be  built  immediately  on  the  Scite  of  Fort  Wayne  such  works  as  are 
deemed  advisable,  and  will  adopt  such  other  measures  recommendatory 
of  its  enlargement,  as  in  his  judgment  may  seem  proper.  And  whereas 
the  Major-General  has  recommended  to  the  City  Council,  to  direct  their 
attention  to  the  erection  of  such  works  on  the  south  common  agreeably 
to  a  plan  pointed  out  and  explained  as  of  great  importance  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  City. 

"  Resolved  that  the  Committee  of  Council  appointed  for  the  purpose 


334  History  of  Savannah. 

of  superintending  the  works  intended  to  be  erected  in  this  city  by  the 
corporation  and  the  citizens  of  Savannah,  Thereby  adopt  the  General's 
recommendation  and  now  call  upon  the  citizens  to  contribute  their  aid 
and  furnish  the  laborers  subscribed  by  them,  to  commence  the  works  to 
be  erected  on  the  south  common,  which  will  be  under  the  direction  of 
Captain  McRae  as  engineer." 

In  carrying  out  the  plan  suggested  by  General  Pinckney  a  line  of  de- 
fenses was  thrown  up  extending  from  the  marsh  on  the  east,  at  the  foot 
of  Broughton  street,  to  the  west  side  of  Lafayette  square,  thence  diverg- 
ing to  Liberty  street  lane,  thence  crossing  Bull  street  to  Spring  Hill, 
thence  along  the  high  ground  east  of  Ogeechee  Canal  and  terminating 
at  the  foot  of  Fahm  street.  The  line  was  very  irregular  and  unusually 
full  of  salients  and  re-entering  angles. 

The  Savannah  volunteer  companies,  Chatham  Artillery,  Savannah 
Volunteer  Guards,  Republican  Blues,  and  Georgia  Hussars,  and  other 
companies  which  organized  for  the  war  were  constantly  on  duty.  The 
Savannah  Guards,  Republican  Blues  and  other  Savannah  volunteer  com- 
panies comprising  the  first  regiment  of  Georgia  militia,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant-Colonel  James  Johnson,  were  mustered  into  the  ser- 
vice of  the  United  States  for  local  defense.  The  enemy  not  approaching 
Savannah,  however,  this  service  continued  only  one  month.  Early  in 
the  war  half  of  the  Savannah  Guards  and  Republican  Blues  were  sent  on 
an  expedition  against  St.  Augustine,  Fla.,  but  before  arrangements  for 
the  assault  were  made  Florida  was  purchased  by  the  United  States. 

Every  victory  of  the  American  arms  in  Northern  waters  was  hailed 
with  joy  in  Savannah.  The  victories  of  Captain  Isaac  Hull  in  the  cap- 
ture of  the  British  frigate  Guerriere,  of  Captain  John  James  Jones  in  the 
capture  of  the  sloop-of-war  Frolic,  and  of  Commodore  Decatur  in  the 
capture  of  the  British  frigate  Macedonian,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year 
1812,  caused  the  city  council  to  designate  the  1st  of  January,  181 3,  as  a 
day  to  be  set  apart  for  the  citizens  of  Savannah  to  give  "expression  of 
their  gratitude  to  the  Supreme  Being  for  the  aforesaid  signal  victories 
and  the  high  sense  they  entertain  of  the  gallant  conduct  of  the  said  naval 
commanders,  their  officers  and  crews,  and  also  for  the  general  joy  which 
these  naval  victories  have  produced  upon  our  citizens." 

A  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Savannah  was  held  in  the  Exchange  on 


War  of  1812.  335 


June  2,  1 81 3,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  funds  to  be  appropriated  to  the 
defense  of  the  city.  Hon.  William  Stephens  was  made  chairman  of  the 
meeting,  and  James  M.  Wayne,  secretary.  Four  thousand  dollars  was 
the  amount  deemed  necessary  to  effectually  defend  the  city  from  the  at- 
tack of  the  enemy.  John  Bolton,  James  Johnston,  John  Gumming,  James 
Bilbo,  Frederick  Herb  and  John  Eppinger,  jr.,  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  co-operate  with  a  committee  of  the  city  council  to  raise  this 
sum, 

A  "committee  of  vigilance"  was  appointed  by  the  council  on  July  20, 
18 13,  to  consist  of  an  alderman  and  two  or  more  respectable  citizens 
from  the  different  wards  of  the  city,  to  carry  into  effect  the  act  of  the  As- 
sembly against  idle  or  disorderly  persons  having  no  visible  estate  or  law- 
ful employment  in  the  city  or  who  may  hereafter  come  here." 

The  British  brig  of  war,  Epervior,  carrying  eighteen  guns  was 
brought  into  the  Savannah  River  by  the  United  States  sloop-of-war,  Pea- 
cock, Lewis  Warrington,  commander,  in  May,  18 14.  When  captured  the 
Epervior  had  on  board  $110,000,  which  was  confiscated  and  distributed 
according  to  law.  In  commemoration  of  the  event  the  council  passed  the 
following  resolution  : 

"Whereas,  another  victory  has  added  to  the  glory,  the  lustre,  and  re- 
nown of  the  American  Navy,  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  the  city  of  Sa- 
vannah are  anxious  on  this,  as  they  have  been  on  other  occasions  of  sim- 
ilar triumphs  to  pay  the  tribute  of  respect  to  unparalleled  skill  and  valor 
of  the  heroes  of  the  ocean.  Be  it  therefore  unanimously  resolved,  that 
the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  of  Savannah  do  feel  sincere  gratitude 
and  respect  for  the  distinguished  conduct  and  noble  services  of  Captain 
Warrington,  the  gallant  officers  and  crew  in  the  late  victory  over  the 
Bntish.  sloop  of  wa-r  Epervior." 

The  victory  of  Captain  Porter,  commander  of  the  Essex,  over  the 
British  frigate  Phoebe  and  the  sloop-of-war  Cherub,  was  another  occasion 
in  commemoration  of  which,  on  the  22d  of  July,  1814,  the  city  council 
gave  expression  to  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions: 

"Whereas,  another  great  and  brilliant  exploit  has  bestowed  on  the 
skill,  courage,  Self  Devotion  and  Patriotism  of  the  hero  Porter,  his  officers 
and  crew,  a  splendour  and  glory  never  before  acquired  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances and  given  a  reputation  to  the  American  Navy  which  neither 


336  History  of  Savannah. 

vaunts  nor  misrepresentations  of  the  enemy  can  prevent  carrying  fear 
and  terror  to  his  thousand  ships,  and  whereas  this  glorious  achievement 
united  to  the  noble  efforts  of  the  illustrious  Porter,  his  officers  and  crew, 
to  promote  the  fame  and  the  interest  of  their  Country  in  their  long,  per- 
ilous and  unexampled  cruise  demand  not  only  heartfelt  gratitude  of  every 
citizen  of  the  Republic,  but  particularly  of  every  public  body  and  de- 
partment of  the  Country.  Be  it  therefore  unanimously  resolved  by  the 
mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  of  Savannah  that  for  and  in  behalf  of 
themselves,  and  their  Fellow  Citizens  of  Savannah,  they  beg  leave  most 
respectfully  to  tender  to  Captain  David  Porter,  late  of  the  Essex  Frigate, 
his  officers  and  crew  this  high  opinion  of  his  skill,  Perseverance  and  Pa- 
triotism evinced  throughout  the  long  and  perilous  cruise  of  the  Essex,  as 
well  as  the  sincere  profound  and  unaffected  gratitude  with  which  they 
have  been  inspired  by  the  great  glorious  and  unexampled  skill  and  her- 
oism displayed  by  Captain  Porter,  the  brave  officers  and  gallant  Seamen 
in  the  unequal  contest  of  the  Essex  with  the  British  Frigate  Phcebe  and 
the  Sloop  of  War  Cherub." 

The  aldermen  elected  on  September  14,  18 14,  were  John  B.  Norris, 
Isaac  Fell,  T.  U.  P.  Charlton.  J.  B.  Read,  R.  Mackay,  George  Jones,  J. 
Hersman,  H.  Mcintosh,  E.  Harden,  Alexander  S.  Roe,  M.  McAllister, 
Th.  Bourke,  William  B.  Bullock.  A  committee  of  vigilance  was  selected 
composed  of  Aldermen  Roe,  Charlton,  and  Morris  who  were  charged  to 
"  guard  against  the  introduction  of  suspicious  characters  into  the  city,  and 
to  have  weekly  returns  from  all  taverns,  lodging  and  boarding-house 
keepers  of  the  numbers  of  names  and  business  of  such  persons,  and  to 
act  towards  them  as  the  law  and  ordinances  direct,  and  they  are  required 
to  aid  in  ascertaining  the  earliest  information  of  the  approach  of  the  en- 
emy by  land  or  water  and  are  empowered  to  appoint  a  secretary  to  re- 
cord proceedings.  Resolved,  that  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  be  and 
is  hereby  appropriated  and  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  committee  for  the 
public  good."  This  committee,  however,  was  discharged  in  December 
following,  as  the  arrival  of  Brigadier- General  Floyd  with  a  large  military 
force  near  the  city  persuaded  the  council  the  city  was  amply  protected 
against  the  attack  of  the  enemy.  This  feeling  of  security  soon  after  gave 
place  to  fresh  alarm,  and  in  January,  1815,  the  council  requested  Com- 
modore Hugh  G.  Campbell,  then  in  command  of  the  flotilla  stationed  off 


Return  of  Peace.  337 


Savannah  to  sink  vessels  at  any  point  he  deemed  expedient  to  obstruct 
the  river.  The  victory  of  General  Jackson  at' New  Orleans  in  February 
following,  made  such  action  unnecessary,  and  the  president's  proclama- 
tion of  peace  on  February  28th  dispelled  all  fears,  and  was  the  cause  of 
rejoicing  among  the  people. 

Saturday  the  fourth  of  March,  18 15,  was  designated  by  the  council 
as  "a  day  for  innocent  amusement  and  recreation,  in  consequence  of  the 
ratification  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace,  with  Great  Britain,  founded  on  a  Basis 
of  perfect  reciprocity  and  honorable  to  this  Nation  resolved  that  the  board 
having  heretofore  devoted  all  the  means  and  energies  in  the  prosecution 
of  just  war,  now  hails  the  return  of  Peace  and  Amity  and  Commerce  which 
it  is  hoped  will  follow  this  gratifying  event,  and  declare  itself  equally  de- 
voted to  the  Maintenance  of  Peace  and  Friendship  with  the  subjects  of 
Great  Britain.  Always  having  had  in  view  the  sacred  and  patriotic  duty 
of  considering  in  the  scope  of  its  authority,  all  persons  '  enemies  in  war, 
in  peace  friends.' " 

The  return  of  peace  was  most  grateful  to  the  people  of  Savannah  who 
for  three  years  had  been  in  a  state  of  anxiety  and  suspense  which  had 
prostrated  all  avenues  of  prosperity.  Mementoes  of  the  War  of  18 12  are 
still  to  be  found  in  Savannah,  in  the  naming  of  its  squares  and  streets, 
several  bearing  the  names  of  naval  heroes  or  victorious  battles,  as  Chip- 
pewa and  Orleans  squares,  Hull,  McDonough  and  Perry  streets. 

James  Monroe,  the  fifth  president  of  the  United  States,  visited  Savan- 
nah on  May  8,  18 19,  and  was  received  with  that  hospitality  for  which  the 
city  has  always  been  noted.  He  remained  while  in  the  city  at  the  home 
of  William  Scarborough  on  West  Broad  street.  A  public  ball  was  given 
in  his  honor  in  a  building  erected  for  the  occasion  in  Johnson  square. 
He  remained  for  five  days,  and  on  the  last  day  of  his  visit  he  enjoyed  a 
novel  excursion  to  Tybee  on  the  steamboat  City  of  Savannah,  the  first 
steamship  ever  built  in  the  United  States.  On  the  same  day  a  public 
dinner  was  given  in  his  honor  in  a  booth  built  for  the  occasion.  The 
features  of  this  important  event  were  thus  described  in  a  Savannah  jour- 
nal :  "  The  booth  was  ornamented  with  wreaths  and  branches  of  laurels. 
At  the  head  of  the  table  was  an  arch  composed  of  laurels  beautifully 
decorated  with  roses,  so  disposed  as  to  form  the  name  of  James  Monroe. 
The  company  having  dined,  the  following  toasts  were  announced  from 


338  History  of  Savannah. 

the  chair  accompanied  with  appropriate  music  from  the  stand.  During 
the  giving  of  toasts,  the  Dallas  fired  salutes,  her  commander  having 
obligingly  tendered  his  services  for  the  occasion.  On  the  president  re- 
tiring from  the  table  a  grand  national  salute  was  opened  which  made  the 
welkin  ring.     The  regular  toasts  were : 

"  I.  Our  country.  In  her  infancy  she  is  mighty  in  the  first  class  of 
nations,  what  will  be  the  meridian  of  her  life? 

"  2.  The  Federal  Union.  May  the  head  be  accursed  that  shall  in- 
sidiously plot  its  dissolution,  the  arm  withered  that  shall  aim  a  blow  at 
its  existence. 

"  3.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  framed  by  the  wisdom 
of  sages,  may  our  statesmen  and  our  posterity  regard  it  as  the  national 
ark  of  political  safety  never  to  be  abandoned. 

"  4.  The  military,  naval,  legislative  and  diplomatic  worthies  of  the 
Revolution.  It  is  our  duty  and  delight  to  honor  them  and  to  tell  their 
deeds  with  filial  piety. 

"5.  General  George  Washington,  revered  be  his  memory!  Let  our 
statesmen  and  our  warriors  obey  his  precepts,  our  youth  emulate  his  vir- 
tues and  services,  and  our  country  is  safe. 

"6.  The  cession  of  the  Floridas  —  Honorable  to  the  administration 
and  useful  to  the  United  States,  it  completes  the  form  of  the  Republic. 

"  7.  Major-General  Andrew  Jackson — The  hero  of  New  Orleans,  the 
brave  defender  of  his  country  and  vindicator  of  its  injured  honor. 

"  8.  Adams,  Jefferson,  and  Madison  —  They  have  withdrawn  from 
public  duty,  and  illustrious  by  their  virtues,  and  services,  carry  with 
them  a  nation's  gratitude. 

"  9.  The  navy.  Imperishable  fame  accompanies  the  Star  Spangled 
Banner.  In  the  last  war  we  coped  with  Britain  on  the  ocean  ;  now  we 
hear  of  no  search,  no  impressment. 

"10.  The  army.  Our  pillar  of  protection  on  the  land;  their  valor 
and  patriotism  won  the  victories  of  York  and  of  Erie,  of  Chippewa,  and 
of  Niagara. 

"II.  The  miHtia  —  Yet  the  bulwark  of  our  country.  Invincibles 
fell  before  them  in  the  battle  of  Baltimore,  and  of  Plattsburg,  of  the 
Thames,  and  of  New  Orleans. 

"  12.  Concord  between  the  North  and  the  South,  the  East  and  the 


Visit  of  President  Monroe.  339 

West.  May  unanimity  till  the  end  of  time,  falsify  the  timid  fears  of  those 
who  predict  dissolution. 

"  13.  The  American  fair — May  they  always  be  mothers  to  a  race  of 
patriots. 

"  The  following  informal  toasts  were  proposed  : 

"By  president  of  the  United  States. — The  people  of  the  United 
States.  They  constitute  but  one  family,  and  may  the  bond  which  unites 
them  together  as  brethren  and  freemen  be  eternal. 

"By  John  C.  Calhoun,  secretary  of  war  —  The  freedom  of  the  press, 
and  the  responsibility  of  public  agents.  The  sure  foundation  of  the 
noble  fabric  of  American  liberty. 

"By  Major-General  Gaines — The  memory  of  Jackson,  Tattnall,  and 
Telfair.     The  choice,  the  pride,  and  ornament  of  Georgia. 

"  By  Mr.  Middleton  —  The  memory  of  General  Greene,  who  con- 
quered for  liberty. 

"  By  Major-General  Floyd  —  Our  Country  —  May  its  prosperity  be 
as  lasting,  as  its  government  is  free. 

"  After  the  president  and  secretary  of  war  had  retired  the  following 
toasts  were  proposed : 

"  By  the  mayor  —  The  President  of  the  United  States. 

"By  William  Bullock,  esq.,  vice-president —  Mr.  Calhoun,  secretary 
at  war.     The  distinguished  statesman,  the  virtuous  citizen. 

"  By  General  John  Mcintosh.  —  Peace  with  all  the  world  as  long  as 
they  respect  our  rights  —  disgrace  and  defeat  to  the  power  who  would 
invade  them. 

"  By  Colonel  James  E.  Houstoun — The  memory  of  General  Lachlan 
Mcintosh. 

"  By  General  Mitchell — The  late  war — a  practical  illustration  of  the 
energy  of  our  repubHc. 

"  After  the  mayor  retired,  James  M.  Wayne,  mayor  of  the  city.  By 
Colonel  Marshall — The  governor  of  the  State  of  Georgia  —  a  virtuous 
man  and  zealous  chief  magistrate. 

"  After  the  vice-president  retired,  William  B.  Bullock  —  Our  re- 
spected citizen. 

"By  Colonel  Harden  —  The  assistant  vice-presidents  of  the  day  — 
Charles  Harris,  Mathew  McAllister  and  John  Eppinger,  esqs. 


340  History  of  Savannah. 

"  By  John  H.  Ash — Colonel  James  Marshall,  a  skillful  officer,  and  the 
friend  of  his  country. 

"  By  Major  Gray — We  are  a  free  and  happy  people,  and  while  enjoying 
every  blessing  let  us  not  forget  the  great  Author  from  whom  all  good 
emanates. 

"  By  Josiah  Davenport — The  union  of  our  country.  May  the  last 
trump  alone  dissolve  it." 

In  1820  Savannah  experienced  the  horrors  of  a  conflagration  far  sur- 
passing in  violence  and  destruction  the  fire  that  occurred  in  1796.  It 
commenced  on  the  morning  of  January  11,  and  before  the  flames  were 
extinguished  four  hundred  and  sixty-three  houses,  exclusive  of  outbuild- 
ings, were  destroyed.  With  the  exception  of  the  Planters'  Bank,  the 
Episcopal  Church  and  three  or  four  other  brick  buildings,  every  house 
between  Broughton  and  Bay  streets  was  destroyed,  the  loss  being  esti- 
mated at  four  million  dollars.  At  this  time  Savannah  did  not  contain 
more  than  7,500  persons,  and  the  distress  caused  by  the  fire  was  felt  by 
every  one.  The  Georgian  of  January  17,  1820,  was  largely  devoted  to 
a  description  of  the  scenes  and  incidents  of  the  great  conflagration,  and 
the  following  extract  from  this  journal  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  fearful 
desolation  wrought  by  the  fire:  "The  city  of  Savannah,  after  a  lapse  of 
twenty-four  years  has  again  experienced  the  horrors  of  a  conflagration, 
far  surpassing  in  violence  and  destruction  the  melancholy  fire  in  1796. 
The  buildings  then  were  of  little  value  compared  to  those  recently  lost. 
The  genius  of  desolation  could  not  have  chosen  a  spot  within  the  limits 
of  our  city,  where  so  widespread  a  scene  of  misery,  ruin  and  despair 
might  be  laid,  as  that  which  was  recently  the  center  of  health  and  indus- 
try, now  a  heap  of  worthless  ruins.  On  Tuesday  morning,  between  the 
hours  of  one  and  two  o'clock,  an  alarm  of  fire  was  given  from  the  livery 
stable  of  Mr.  Boon,  on  the  trust  lot  of  Isaac  Fell,  esq.,  situated  in  Bap- 
tist Church  square,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Market  square,  around 
which  the  buildings  were  almost  exclusive  of  wood.  They  were  in  a 
most  combustible  state,  from  a  long  continuance  of  dry  weather.  When 
the  conflagration  reached  Market  square,  a  heavy  explosion  of  gun-pow- 
der added  greatly  to  the  general  destruction.  For  the  information  of 
readers  at  a  distance  the  principal  streets  of  the  city  run  parallel  with  the 
river  nearly  east  and  west,  beginning  at  Bay  street,  one  side  of  which 


Great  Fire  of  1820.  341 

only  is  built  up  at  the  distance  generally  of  about  three  or  four  hundred 
feet  from  the  top  of  the  bluff,  beneath  which  runs  the  river.  These 
streets  are  intersected  by  others  at  right  angles  and  at  regular  intervals, 
spacious  squares  are  left  open  into  which  the  property  rescued  from  the 
flames  was  hastily  thrown.  Broughton  street,  the  most  considerable  in 
the  city,  runs  parallel  with  Bay  street,  above  described  and  five  smaller 
streets  and  lanes  thickly  built  are  comprehended  between  those  two 
streets.  Ninety-four  lots  were  left  naked,  containing  three  hundred  and 
twenty-one  wooden  buildings,  many,  often  double  tenements,  thirty-five 
brick,  four  hundred  and  sixty-three  buildings,  exclusive  of  outbuildings. 
The  estimated  loss  is  upwards  of  four  millions.  The  fire  was  extinguished 
between  twelve  and  one  o'clock  the  next  day,  and  if  possible  the  scene 
became  more  painfully  distressing.  Wherever  an  open  space  promised 
security  from  the  flames,  property  of  every  description  had  been  depos- 
ited in  vast  heaps.  Some  were  gazing  in  silent  despair  on  the  scene  of 
destruction,  others  were  busily  and  sorrowfully  employed  in  collecting 
what  little  was  spared  to  them.  Alas,  never  did  the  sun  set  on  a  gloom- 
ier day  for  Savannah,  or  on  so  many  aching  hearts.  Those  whose  avo- 
cations called  them  forth  that  night,  will  long  remember  its  sad  and  sol- 
emn stillness,  interrupted  only  by  the  sullen  sound  of  falling  ruins.  Dur- 
ing the  excitement  while  the  heart  of  the  city  was  wrapped  in  flames, 
each  one  was  too  busy  for  reflection,  but  when  the  danger  was  past  and 
the  unfortunate  sufferers  had  leisure  to  contemplate  the  extent  of  their 
losses,  a  generous  mind  may  conceive,  but  it  is  impossible  to  describe 
their  feelings  of  despair." 

Generous  was  the  aid  that  flowed  from  Northern  and  Southern  cities 
to  the  distressed  people  of  Savannah  after  the  fire  of  1820,  while  the  gen- 
erosity of  those  in  the  afflicted  city  who  were  in  position  to  render  as- 
sistance was  characteristic  of  a  naturally  kind  hearted  and  generous  peo- 
ple. Before,  however,  the  people  had  recovered  from  the  effects  of  this 
great  disaster  they  were  confronted  by  a  death  dealing  pestilence  which 
was  the  most  severe  blow  that  had  yet  befallen  the  city  by  the  sea.  On 
the  fifth  of  September  a  vessel  arrived  from  the  West  Indies  having  yel- 
low fever  on  board.  A  few  days  after  several  cases  were  reported  in  the 
city.  The  dread  disease  spread  rapidly,  and  on  the  6th  of  November  fol- 
lowing two  hundred  and  thirty- nine  persons  had  been  stricken  down. 


342  History  of  Savannah. 

Wh'en  the  fever  began  its  relentless  sway  the  population  of  the  city  was 
7,523,  which  was  quickly  reduced  by  flight,  there  being  only  1,494  Per- 
sons in  the  city  at  the  end  of  October.  Among  those  who  remained  the 
loss  of  life  was  fearful,  but  was  mostly  confined  to  the  foreign  population 
which  had  come  the  previous  winter  and  had  not  become  thoroughly 
acclimated. 

During  the  early  years  of  Savannah  as  an  incorporated  city,  the 
mayor  served  without  salary,  but  as  the  duties  of  the  ofifice  increased,  re- 
muneration for  his  services  seemed  to  impress  the  "city  fathers"  as  just 
and  proper,  and  in  1821  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  bill  en- 
titled "  An  ordinance  for  allowing  the  mayor  a  salary  annually." 

The  recovery  from  the  effects  of  the  fire  of  1820  and  the  ravages 
of  yellow  fever  was  slow.  The  financial  conditions  of  the  city  had 
become  much  depressed  and  it  took  several  years  of  hard  persistent 
work  to  regain  what  in  a  few  hours  had  been  swept  away  by  the  fire, 
fire,  and  the  losses  caused  by  the  suspension  of  all  business  during  the 
visitations  of  the  yellow  fever  epidemic.  The  holiday  spirit  of  the  peo- 
ple had  become  somewhat  regained  in  1825,  and  the  occasion  of  General 
La  Fayette's  visit  during  this  year  was  made  a  season  of  the  most  impos- 
ing civil  and  military  displays  ever  witnessed  in  Savannah. 

The  tour  of  General  LaFayette  in  the  United  States  during  1824  and 
1825  was  made  a  national  event.  Everywhere  the  "Nation's  Guest" 
was  received  with  an  enthusiasm,  which  has  been  accorded  to  few  men 
in  the  world's  history.  From  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  New  Orleans  in 
August,  1824,  until  he  landed  at  the  east  bluff  of  Savannah  on  the  19th 
of  March,  1825,  the  papers  of  this  city  had  contained  full  accounts  of  his 
triumphal  tour.  His  reception  in  Savannah  was  fully  chronicled  by  the 
local  papers  as  the  following  description  of  this  interesting  occasion  fully 
shows  :  "Almost  up  to  the  last  hour  the  time  of  the  probable  arrival  of 
our  venerated  Guest  was  but  conjectural;  opinions  were  various  as  to  the 
moment  at  which  he  might  be  expected,  and  all  the  preparations  for  giv- 
ing eclat  to  the  visit  were  confined  to  little  more  than  a  week.  How 
well  the  time  was  improved  the  detail  of  the  circumstances  attending  it 
will  shew  ;  it  was  a  labour  of  affectionate  respect,  in  which  all  appeared 
to  join  with  heart  and  hand.  As  the  time  approached,  the  interest  pro- 
portionately increased.     The  stages  and  packets,  particularly  from  the 


Visit  of  General  La  Fayette.  343 

South,  were  crowded  with  passengers.  The  Liberty  County  Troop  of 
Light  Dragoons,  under  the  command  of  Captain  W.  M.  Maxwell,  and 
the  Darien  Hussars,  Captain  Charles  West,  had  early  evinced  their  anx- 
ious desire  to  do  honour  to  the  occasion,  and  had  reached  town  on  the 
Tuesday  preceding.  On  Friday  evening  all  appeared  to  be  in  a  buzz  of 
expectation,  and  numerous  parties  were  collected  in  almost  every  spot 
on  Bay  street  and  elsewhere ;  every  one  with  a  face  of  pleasure  and  ex- 
pectation. At  half  past  five  o'clock  on  Saturday  morning,  by  a  signal 
from  the  Chatham  Artillery,  the  Military  were  warned  to  repair  to  their 
several  parade  grounds.  The  line  was  formed  at  eight  o'clock,  soon  after 
which,  there  being  no  appearance  of  the  Boat,  the  troops  stacked  their 
arms  and  were  dismissed  until  the  arrival.  At  an  early  hour  the  French 
and  American  flags  were  hoisted  on  the  Exchange  steeple,  the  Revenue 
Cutter  Gallatin,  Captain  Matthews,  was  also  decorated  with  flags,  and 
the  Merchant  Vessels  were  dressed  in  the  same  manner.  On  Bay  street, 
on  each  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  city  from  under  the  bluff,  were  placed 
two  French  brass  pieces,  one  of  which,  tradition  informs  us,  was  received 
in  this  country  by  the  same  vessel  that  brought  over  LaFayette ;  they 
were  manned  by  a  company  of  masters  of  vessels,  and  others  who  vol- 
unteered for  the  occasion.  The  resort  to  the  Eastern  part  of  the  bluff 
was  general  at  an  early  part  of  the  morning,  continuing  to  increase  dur- 
ing the  day ;  and  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  was  crowded  with  ladies  and 
citizens  at  every  point  which  could  command  a  view  of  the  landing.  A 
temporary  landing  was  erected  at  the  wharf,  consisting  of  a  flight  of  steps 
and  a  platform At  an  early  hour  the  committee  of  recep- 
tion deputed  from  the  Joint  Committee,  together  with  Colonels  Brailsford 
and  Randolph,  aids  of  his  excellency  Governor  Troup,  proceeded  to  Fort 
Jackson  in  three  barges,  decorated  with  flags,  rowed  by  seamen  in  blue 
jackets  and  white  trowsers,  under  the  command  of  Captains  Nicolls, 
Campbell,  and  Dubois.  The  first  notice  of  the  arrival  of  the  welcome 
vessel  was  by  a  few  strokes  of  the  Exchange  Bell.  A  few  minutes  after 
the  volume  of  smoke  which  accompanied  her  was  perceptible  over  the 
land ;  she  was  then  about  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  off,  but  rapidly  ap- 
proaching. The  intelligence,  '  The  boat's  in  sight,'  spread  with  electrical 
rapidity,  and  the  bustle  which  had  in  some  measure  subsided,  recom- 
menced and  every  one  repaired  to  the  spot  where  his  landing  was  to  take 


344  History  of  Savannah. 

place.  The  troops  were  immediately  formed  and  marched  to  the  lower 
part  of  Bay  street,  where  they  were  placed  in  position  on  the  green  in 
front  of  the  avenue  of  trees,  their  right  on  East  Bay.  A  more  gallant 
and  splendid  military  display  we  have  never  seen ;  the  effect  was  beauti- 
ful, every  corps  exceeded  its  customary  numbers ;  many  who  had  not 
appeared  under  arms  for  years,  shouldered  them  on  this  occasion,  and 
the  usual  pride  of  appearance  and  honourable  eniulation  was  ten  times 
increased  by  the  occasion. 

"Those  who  knew  the  Volunteer  Companies  of  Savannah  will  believe 
this  to  be  no  empty  compliment.  As  the  Steamboat  passed  Fort  Jackson 
she  was  boarded  by  the  Committee  of  Reception.  On  their  ascending 
the  deck,  the  General  was  addressed  by  their  chairman,  George  Jones, 
Esq.  The  boat  now  came  up  in  gallant  style,  firing  by  the  way,  and  a 
full  band  of  music  on  board  playing  the  Marseillaise  Hymn  and  other  fa- 
vourite French  and  American  airs.  Her  appearance  was  imposing  and 
beautiful,  to  which  the  splendid  and  glittering  uniforms  of  the  officers 
from  South  Carolina  who  attended  the  General  greatly  added.  As  the 
Steamboat  came  up  to  her  anchorage  a  salute  was  fired  by  the  Revenue 
Cutter  Gallatin,  Captain  Matthews.  General  LaFayette  was  now  assisted 
into  the  first  barge  accompanied  by  the  Committee  and  others,  the  other 
boats  being  occupied  by  the  remainder  of  the  suite.  As  the  boat  reached 
the  shore  the  excitement  in  every  face  increased.  A  line  was  then 
formed  from  the  landing  place  on  the  wharf,  facing  inwards,  composed  of 
the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city,  the  clergy,  the  judge  and  officers  of 
the  District  Court,  the  Superior  Court,  and  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Ter- 
miner, the  Union  Society,  deputations  from  the  Hibernian  Society,  with 
their  badges  and  banners ;  from  the  St.  Andrew's  Society  with  their 
Badge's,  and  from  the  Agricultural  Society  with  their  badges,  and  citi- 
zens. The  officers  and  gentlemen  who  accompanied  the  General  in  the 
Steamboat  from  Charleston,  besides  the  governor  of  that  State,  were 
Colonel  Huger,  Major-General  Youngblood,  General  Geddes,  Adjutant- 
General  Earle,  Colonel  Keith,  Colonel  Butler,  Colonel  Chesnutt,  Colonel 
Brown,  Colonel  Clonnie,  Colonel  Fitsimmons,  Colonel  Taylor,  Major 
Warley,  Major  Hamilton,  Captain  Moses,  and  Messrs.  Bee  and  McCloud; 
Colonel  Huger  and  Major  Hamilton  alone  accepted  the  invitation  of  the 
committee  to  land  and  participate  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  procession.     . 


Visit  of  General  La  Fayette.  345 

.  .  .  As  the  General  placed  his  foot  upon  the  landing-place  a  salute 
was  fired  by  the  Chatham  Artillery  in  line  on  the  Bluff,  with  four  brass 
field-pieces,  four  and  six-pounders,  one  of  which  was  captured  at  York- 
town.  He  was  here  received  by  William  C.  Daniell  Esq.,  mayor  of  the 
city.  Six  cheers  were  now  given  by  the  whole  of  the  citizens,  who  were 
assembled  on  the  gratifying  occasion ;  for  which  the  General  expressed 
his  grateful  acknowledgments  to  those  nearest  him.  Supported  by  the 
mayor  and  attended  by  the  committee  of  reception,  he  now  ascended 
the  bluff,  followed  by  his  suite,  the  Members  of  the  Corporation,  the  So- 
cieties and  Citizens.  Here  he  was  again  enthusiastically  cheered.  On 
arriving  at  the  top  of  the  Bluff,  on  the  green,  he  was  presented  to  Gov- 
ernor Troup,  by  whom,  in  the  most  cordial  manner,  he  was  welcomed  to 
the  soil  of  Georgia.  LaFayette  replied  in  feeling  terms.  The  General 
was  then  introduced  to  several  Revolutionary  soldiers ;  among  those 
present  were  General  Stewart,  Colonel  Shellman,  Eb.  Jackson,  Sheftall 
Sheftall,  and  Captain  Rees.  The  utmost  animation  appeared  to  sparkle 
in  the  eyes  of  the  General  at  this  time.  This  was  particularly  the  case 
when  the  latter,  addressing  him  with  a  cordial  grip  of  the  hand,  said,  '  I 
remember  you,  I  saw  you  in  Philadelphia,'  and  proceeded  to  narrate 
some  trifling  incidents  of  the  occasion ;  to  which  the  General  repHed, 
'Ah,  I  remember!'  and  taking  Captain  Rees's  hand  between  both  of 
his,  the  eyes  of  each  glistening  with  pleasure,  they  stood  for  a  few  mo- 
ments apparently  absorbed  in  recollections  of  the  days  of  their  youth. 
The  officers  of  the  brigade  and  of  the  regiment  were  then  introduced. 
Whilst  these  introductions  were  going  on  a  salute  was  fired  along  the 
whole  line  of  infantry.  The  General  and  suite,  together  with  the  gov- 
ernor and  suite,  the  Revolutionary  officers,  mayor,  committee  of  recep- 
tion, guests.  General  Harden  and  suite.  Colonel  McAllister,  and  the  field 
officers  from  the  adjoining  Counties  proceeded  on  foot  down  the  front  of 
the  line  in  review.  After  passing  the  troops  the  General  ascended  the 
carriage  prepared  for  his  reception,  and  the  procession  moved  in  the  fol- 
lowing order : 

"  I  St.  F.  M.  Stone,  Marshal  of  the  City,  with  staff  of  office. 

"  2d.  Divisions  of  the  Georgia  Hussars,  Liberty  and  Mcintosh  Troops 
of  Cavalry,  Jas.  Barnard  first  Marshal  with  Staff. 

"3d.  General  LaP'ayette  and  Governor  Troup,  in  a  Landau  drawn  by 
four  grey  horses. 


346  History  of  Savannah. 

"4th.  The  Mayor  of  the  City  and  Colonel  Huger,  in  a  second  Carriage, 

"  5th.   G.  W.  LaFayette  and  Mr.  LeVasseur  in  a  third  carriage. 

"  6th.   Revolutionary  officers  in  a  fourth  carriage. 

"7th.  Brigadier  General,  the  suites  of  the  Governor  and  the  General. 
J.  Habersham,  second  Marshal  and  Staff. 

"  8th,  The  Committee  of  Council  of  the  Citizens  and  of  Officers. 

"  9th.   Aldermen. 

"  loth.  The  Reverend  Clergy,  Judges,  Officers  of  the  United  States 
Consuls,  Officers  of  Courts,  H.  Cope,  third  Marshal,  with  Staff,  E.  Bour- 
quin,  fourth  Marshal. 

"  nth.  The  Union,  The  Hibernian,  The  St.  Andrew's,  and  Agricult- 
ural Societies  in  ranks  of  eight.  Citizens  in  ranks  of  eight.  Sam.  M.  Bond, 
fifth  Marshal,  Jos.  S.  Pelot,  sixth  Marshal. 

"  1 2th.  Divisions  of  the  Georgia  Hussars,  Liberty  and  Mcintosh 
Troops  of  Cavalry. 

"  13th.  Field  Officers  of  other  Regiments. 

"14th.   Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy. 

"iSth.  Company  Officers  of  the  first  and  other  Regiments.'  Lieuten- 
ant Colonel,  Chatham  Artillery,  United  States  Troops,  Savannah  Volun- 
teer Guards,  Georgia  Volunteers,  Republican  Blues,  Savannah  Juvenile 
Guards,  Major  and  Regimental  Staff. 

"  The  procession  moved  up  East  Broad  street,  to  Broughton  street, 
from  thence  to  West  Broad  street,  from  thence  to  South  Broad  street, 
down  that  street  to  Abercorn  street,  and  through  Abercorn  street  to 
Oglethorpe  square.  When  the  procession  began  to.  move,  a  third  salute 
was  fired  by  the  Marine  Corps  which  we  have  heretofore  mentioned.  . 
.  .  .  The  procession  moved  as  prescribed  in  the  arrangements  of  the 
day,  and  about  half  past  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  arrived  at  the 
lodgings  appropriated  for  him  at  Mrs.  Maxwell's,  the  same  in  which  Gov- 
ernor Troup  resided.  The  time  of  his  landing  was  at  three  o'clock  ;  so 
that  the  reception  and  procession  took  up  about  two  hours  and  a  half 
The  troops  then  filed  off  to  the  South  Common  and  fired  a  National  sa- 
lute, after  which  they  returned  to  the  quarters  of  the  General  to  whom 
they  paid  the  marching  salute. 

"During  the  passage  of  the  procession,  the  windows  and  doors,  as  well 
as  the  spacious  streets  through  which  he  passed,  were  crowded  to  excess; 


Visit  of  General  La  Fayette.  347 

and  the  expression  of  enthusiastic  feeling  was  repeatedly  displayed  by  all, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  He  was  saluted  by  the  ladies  from  every 
place  affording  a  view  of  the  procession,  by  the  wavmg  of  handkerchiefs; 
which  he  returned  by  repeated  and  continued  inclination  of  the  head, 
bowing  in  acknowledgment.  At  sundown  another  salute  was  fired  by 
the  Marine  Volunteer  Corps.  Such  was  the  inspiring  and  joyful  spec- 
tacle produced  by  the  reception  of  General  La  Fayette  in  our  City." 

During  General  LaFayette's  visit  to  Savannah  he  laid  the  corner-stones 
of  the  Greene  and  Pulaski  monuments,  the  former  in  Johnson  and  the 
latter  in  Chippewa  squares.  The  corner-stone  of  the  Greene  Monument, 
in  commemoration  of  the  event,  bears  the  following  inscription  :  "  This 
corner-stone  of  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Major-General  Nathanael 
Greene,  was  laid  by  General  LaFayette  at  the  request  of  the  citizens  of 
Savannah,  on  the  twenty- first  of  March,  A.  D.  1825."  Upon  the  other 
was :  "  On  the  twenty-first  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1825,  was  laid  by  General 
LaFayette,  at  the  request  of  the  citizens  of  Savannah,  this  foundation 
stone  of  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Brigadier  Count  Pulaski.'' 

The  house  in  which  General  LaFayette  was  entertained  during  his  stay 
in  the  city  still  stands.  It  faces  Oglethorpe  square  and  is  now  the  resi- 
dence of  Mrs.  H.  W.  Thomas.  It  was  built  in  the  early  part  of  the  pres- 
ent century,  and  still  presents  much  of  the  appearance  it  did  when  LaFay- 
ette was  a  guest  beneath  its  roof. 

In  1 83 1  was  commenced  the  erection  of  Fort  Pulaski,  the  most  im- 
portant defense  of  th.e  city  against  hostile  approach  by  sea,  commanding 
as  it  does  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River.  It  is  situated  fourteen  miles 
from  the  city,  on  Cockspur  Island,  and  was  named  in  honor  of  Brigadier- 
General  Count  Pulaski.  The  site  for  it  was  selected  by  Major  Babcock, 
of  the  United  States  Engineer  Corps,  about  1 827-8,  and  work  was  begun 
upon  it  by  Captain  Manfield,  United  States  engineer,  at  the  time  stated. 
It  was  completed  in  1847,  at  a  cost  of  a  miUion  dollars,  but  was  never 
occupied  by  troops  until  in  January,  1861,  when  it  was  taken  possession 
of  by  Confederate  troops  by  order  of  Governor  Brown. 

The  erection  of  permanent  barracks  in  Savannah  began  to  be  dis- 
cussed in  the  winter  of  183 1.  The  mayor  and  aldermen  presented  to 
Congress  a  memorial  which  the  War  Department  favorably  received,  and 
immediately  issued  orders  to  find  suitable  quarters  within  the  city  for 


348  History  of  Savannah. 

troops  during  the  summer  months  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  the 
healthfulness  of  the  location.  The  theater  was  secured  for  such  purpose, 
and  here  a  detachment  of  the  regular  army  was  quartered  during  the 
summer  of  1832.  This  venture  convinced  Captain  Merchant,  who  with 
fifty- five  men  was  stationed  here,  that  Savannah  was  a  most  desirable 
location  for  the  erection  of  army  barracks,  and  in  October,  1832,  he  made 
a  report  to  the  War  Department  to  this  effect.  During  the  next  session 
of  Congress  an  appropriation  of  $30,000  was  made  for  a  site  and  the 
building  of  a  barracks.  They  were  constructed  about  1832-5,  and  covered 
two  blocks  and  the  lane  between,  extending  from  Liberty  to  Harris 
streets,  and  from  Bull  to  Drayton,  fronting  on  Bull  street. 

The  period  from  1830  to  1840  witnessed  the  inauguration  of  some  of 
the  most  important  events  in  the  history  of  Savannah,  as  the  formation 
of  the  poorhouse  and  hospital  society,  the  Georgia  Infirmary,  and  the 
Central  Railroad  incorporation.  The  last  named  enterprise  has  had  a 
"most  important  bearing  on  the  destinies  of  Savannah.  The  first  sixty- 
seven  miles  of  the  road  was  completed  in  1838,  and  gave  a  wonderful  im- 
petus to  the  commerce  of  the  city.  Improvements  began  on  every  hand. 
In  1839  there  was  scarcely  a  building  adapted  for  commercial  purposes 
untenanted.  Stores  and  counting-houses  arose  at  every  turn,  and  the 
little  city  with  its  1 1,000  inhabitants  in  1840  was  supreme  in  the  Sea  Isl- 
and cotton,  rice  and  lumber  trades.  Steam -mills  were  put  into  operation, 
steam  packet  lines  were  established,  and,  to  keep  pace  with  the  commer- 
cial growth  of  the  city,  means  of  culture  for  the  inhabitants  were  not 
neglected  as  is  evidenced  by  the  formation  in  1839  of  the  Georgia  His- 
torical Society,  which  from  that  time  to  the  present  has  been  one  of  the 
most  beneficent  institutions  of  the.  city. 

The  4th  of  July,  1845,  was  observed  by  the  citizens  of  Savannah  as 
a  day  of  mourning  for  Andrew  Jackson,  the  late  president  of  the  United 
States.  In  commemoration  of  the  life,  services,  and  character  of  this  illus- 
trious soldier  and  statesman  an  eulogy  was  pronounced  by  Matthew  Mc- 
Allister at  the  Indefiendent  Presbyterian  Church.  Francis  M.  Stone  was 
chief  marshal  of  the  day  and  had  charge  of  the  procession  in  which  the 
following  civil  and  military  officers,  organizations,  societies,  and  com- 
panies took  part: 

The  United  States  troops,  and  volunteer  companies  of  the  city  of  Sa- 


Mexican  War.  349 


vannah,  commanded  by  Colonel  White,  the  orator  and  committee  of  ar- 
rangements, the  reverend  clergy,  judges  and  officers  of  the  Superior 
Court,  justices  and  officers  of  the  Inferior  Court  and  Court  of  Ordinary, 
judge  and  officers  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  Oyer  and  Ter- 
miner, the  mayor  and  aldermen,  and  all  officers  deriving  their  appoint- 
ments from  the  city,  justices  of  the  peace,  foreign  consuls  and  officers, 
the  collector  and  other  officers  of  the  customs,  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
Revolution,  officers  of  the  revenue  marine,  officers  of  the  militia,  the 
Union  Society,  the  Medical  Society,  the  Library  Society,  the  Hibernian 
Society,  the  St.  Andrew's  Society,  the  German  Friendly  Society,  the 
Georgia  Historical  Society,  the  Catholic  Temperance  Society,  the  Me- 
chanics' Temperance  Society,  the  Agricultural  Society,  Georgia  Chapter 
No.  3  and  Masonic  Lodges  of  Savannah,  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  the  United  Ancient  Order  of  Druids,  teachers  of  public  schools 
and  their  pupils,  teachers  of  Sabbath-schools  and  their  pupils,  the  pilot, of 
the  port  of  Savannah,  captains  and  officers  of  vessels  and  marines. 

When  hostilities  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  commenced  in 
1846,  a  call  was  made  upon  Georgia  for  a  regiment  of  soldiers  to  be  sent  to 
the  seat  of  war.  All  the  infantry  volunteer  companies  of  the  city  offered 
their  services  to  the  State  to  make  up  the  regiment,  but  only  one  com- 
pany could  be  taken  and  it  was  decided  by  lot  which  it  should  be.  The 
lot  fell  upon  the  Irish  Jasper  Greens,  which  was  accepted  and  formed  a  part 
of  the  regiment,  which,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Henry  R.  Jack- 
son, shared  the  honors  won  by  American  soldiers  on  the  plains  of  Mexico. 
The  Jasper  Greens  were  composed  of  the  following  named  officers  and 
men  :  J.  McMahon,  captain  ;  G.  Curlette,  D.  O'Conner,  lieutenants;  John 
Devaney,  M.  Carey,  P.  Martin,  sergeants  ;  Leo  Wylly,  M.  Feery,  P.  Tier- 
ney,  T.  Bourke,  Owen  Reilly,  corporals ;  William  Baudy,  W.  D.  Burke, 
P.  Bossee,  Francis  Camfield,  J.  Chalmers,  P.  Clark,  P.  Cody,  John  Coffee, 
William  Coffee,  John  Coulihan,  Elijah  Coudon,  Joseph  Davis,  Dennis 
Dermond,  Michael  Downy,  Michael  Duggan,  Francis  Datzner,  Charles 
Farrelly,  Thomas  Fenton,  David  Fountain,  James  Fleeting,  James  Flynn, 
William  P.  Fielding,  James  Feely,  P.  Gerrin,  Moses  Gleason,  O.  B.  Hall, 
Michael  Hoar,  Timothy  Howard,  R.  M.  Howard,  B.  W.  Irwin,  John  Kee- 
gin,  Humphrey  Leary,  W.  S.  Levi,  David  Lynch,  Michael  Lynch,  L. 
Mahoney,  Henry  Moury,  John   Makin,  Bryan  Morris,  James  McFehilly, 


350  History  of  Savannah. 

Hugh  Martagh,  Henry  Nagle,  Daniel  Nichels,  M.  M.  Payne,  George 
Perminger,  Thomas  Pigeon,  John  Reagan,  Francis  Reeves,  R.  Richard- 
son, J.  Rinehart,  B.  Rodebuck,  R.  M.  Robertson,  J.  D.  Ryan,  Thomas 
Ryan,  John  Sanderlyn,  Michael  Shea,  Peter  Seizmel,  David  Stokes,  C.  F. 
E.  Smyth,  R.  L.  S.  Smith,  Patrick  Shi'els,  Patrick  Tidings,  Daniel  F. 
Fowles,  J.  W.  Warden,  James  Waters,  Michael  Weldon,  John  Whaling, 
James  Waters,  jr.,  Jacob  Zimmerman,  privates ;  William  Gatehouse, 
George  Gatehouse,  musicians. 

In  May,  1847,  Daniel  Webster,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  Miss 
Sutton,  visited  Savannah  and  was  accorded  a  public  reception  in  John- 
son square.  The  citizens  gave  him  a  public  dinner  at  the  Pulaski  House, 
and  he  was  also  similarly  entertained  by  the  bar  of  Savannah  ;  at  the  lat- 
ter Hon.  M.  Hall  McAllister,  and  Hon.  William  Law  presided.  The 
distinguished  orator  and  jurist  was  highly  gratified  with  his  reception, 
and  made  a  feeling  speech  of  thanks. 

Col.  James  S.  Mcintosh,  of  Savannah,  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  Mex- 
ican War,  died  in  October,  1847,  of  wounds  received  in  the  battle  of  El 
Molino  del  Rey  on  the  8th  of  September,  1847.  His  remains  were 
brought  to  Savannah,  where  his  funeral  obsequies  were  held  on  Satur- 
day, March  18,  1848,  The  Savannah  paper  of  March  20,  1848,  gives  the 
following  notice  of  the  services : 

"  Our  fellow-citizens  generally  on  Saturday  forsook  their  usual  avo- 
cations to  mingle  around  the  bier  of  the  veteran  soldier,  the  gallant  leader 
of  the  Third  Infantry,  and  acting  brigadier-general  in  more  than  one 
well  fought  battle  on  the  plains  of  Mexico.  The  Music  of  the  Military, 
at  an  early  hour  of  the  forenoon,  summoned  the  Members  of  the  respec- 
tive Volunteer  Corps,  attached  to  the  First  Regiment,  and  their  full  ranks 
attested  the  admiration  of  the  Citizen  Soldier  for  the  character  of  the 
warrior  who  now  rested  from  his  labors. 

"  The  National  Banner  was  displayed  at  half-mast  at  the  Garrison  and 
on  the  Chatham  Light  Artillery  Armory — and  all  the  shipping  in  Port 
displayed  their  colors  also  at  half-mast.  The  following  corps  formed  as 
a  battalion  on  the  Bay.  The  Georgia  Hussars — Captain  Bailey.  The 
Chatham  Light  Artillery — Captain  Stephens.  The  Republican  Blues — 
Captain  Anderson.  The  Savannah  Volunteer  Guards,  Captain  Richard- 
son The  Irish  Jasper  Greens — Captain  M'Mahon.  The  German  Vol- 
unteers, Captain  Stegin.     The  Phoenix  Riflemen,  Lieutenant  Polin. 


Visit  of  Ex-President  Polk.  351 

"  Under  the  command  of  Colonel  Knapp  the  battalion  proceeded  to 
the  residence  of  Major  Wm.  J.  Mcintosh,  where  the  mortal  remains  of 
his  gallant  brother  reposed.  The  veteran  lay  in  a  leaden  coffin,  inclosed 
in  one  of  Mahogany,  with  the  following  inscription  :  Colonel  Jas.  S.  Mc- 
intosh, Fifth  Regiment,  United  States  Infantry,  died  first  October,  1847, 
of  wounds,  received  in  the. battle  of  El  Molino  del  Rey,  Mexico,  eighth 
September,  1847.  The  American  flag  was  thrown  as  a  pall  over  the  cof- 
fin, and  the  sword  with  the  dress  of  the  deceased,  (pierced  by  eight  bul- 
let holes),  which  was  worn  by  him  at  the  fatal  battle  of  El  Molino  del  Rey, 
rested  upon  the  coffin.  Reverend  Rufus  White  of  St.  John's  Church,  as- 
sisted by  Edward  Neufville  D.D.,  officiated  at  the  house,  and  read  the 
funeral  service  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Escort,  Clergy — Pall  Bearers, 
W.  B.  Bullock,  Judge  J.  M.  Wayne,  Major  Wade,  U.  S.  A.,  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Law,  Colonel  Williams,  Colonel  J.  W.  Jackson,  Captain  Stephens, 
Major  Talcott,  U.  S.  A.,  Family,  Colonel  John  G.  Park,  and  Major  M.  D. 
Huson,  the  Commander  on  the  part  of  the  State  in  charge  of  the  body 
from  Mexico — Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  Brigadier  General  White 
and  Staff,  Committee  from  the  Floyd  Rifles  and  Macon  Volunteers  un- 
der Captain  Conner  ;  Officers  of  the  First  Regiment — Grand  Marshal  not 
on  Duty — Mayor  and  Aldermen — Citizens. 

"  On  entering  the  old  Cemetery,  the  services  at  the  grave  were  per- 
formed by  Reverend  Rufus  White.  After  the  coffin  was  deposited  in  the 
vault  which  contains  the  remains  of  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh,  a  patriot 
of  the  Revolution,  three  volleys  were  fired  over  the  grave  of  the  warrior 
by  the  Rifles  and  the  four  Companies  of  Infantry.  The  battalion  then 
returned  to  the  Bay,  and  the  Companies  were  dismissed  to  their  respec- 
tive commands.  Thus  has  the  grave  closed  over  the  remains  of  one  who 
in  life  we  cherished  as  a  gallant  citizen,  ready  at  any  moment  to  lay  down 
his  life  for  his  Country." 

Saturday,  March  10,  1849,  was  made  memorable  in  the  municipal  his- 
tory of  Savannah  by  the  arrival  in  the  city  of  ex-President  James  K.  Polk. 
He  was  received  by  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  and  a  commit- 
tee of  twenty-one  citizens.  He  came  by  boat  from  Charleston  and  was 
accompanied  by  his  wife,  nieces,  and  Hon.  Robert  J.  Walker,  ex-secre- 
tary of  the  treasury.  The  battalions  composed  of  the  Hussars,  Lieu- 
tenant Blois ;  the  Blues,  Captain  Anderson ;  the  Guards,  Captain  Rich- 


352  History  of  Savannah. 

ardson  ;  the  Irish  Jasper  Greens,  Captain  Wylly;  the  German  Volun- 
teers, Captain  Stegin  ;  and  the  Phoenix  Riflemen,  Captam  Mills,  turned 
out  in  honor  of  his  presence.  He  remained  from  Saturday  evening  until 
Monday  morning,  when  the  Republican  Blues  escorted  him  to  the  Cen- 
tral Railroad  depot,  whence  he  proceeded  to  Macon. 

In  August  of  the  following  year  the  people  of  Savannah,  in  common 
with  the  people  all  over  the  country,  mourned  the  death  of  the  chief  mag- 
istrate of  the  nation,  Zachary  Taylor,  whose  victories  in  Mexico  had  so 
shortly  before  won  the  hearts  of  the  American  people.  The  mayor  and 
aldermen  adopted  suitable  measures  for  the  commemoration  of  his  death, 
which  were  carried  out  on  Thursday,  the  8th  of  August.  W.  W.  Oates 
was  made  chief  marshal  of  the  day,  and  a  committee  of  arrangements, 
composed  of  R.  R.  Cuyler,  W.  Thorne  Williams,  F.  S.  Barton,  William  Law, 
W.  P.  White,  W.  B.  Felmaine,  J.  L.  Locke,  Alderman  J.  Lippman,  Rob- 
ert Habersham,  E.  J.  Hardin,  A.  R.  Lawton,  Chas.  S.  Henry,  Geo.  Schley, 
R.  D.  Arnold,  Aldermen  R.  H.  Griffin  and  M.  Gumming  was  appointed. 
A  procession  was  formed,  composed  as  follows:  The  escort  of  volunteer 
companies,  chief  marshal,  the  standard  of  the  United  States,  the  orator  and 
committee  of  arrangements,  the  reverend  clergy,  teachers  of  public  schools, 
the  mayor  and  aldermen  and  their  officers,  judges  and  officers  of  the  Su- 
perior Court,  justices  of  the  Inferior  Court  and  their  officers,  judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  Oyer  and  Terminer  and  officers,  magistrates 
and  officers  of  the  city  and  county,  foreign  consuls,  officers  of  the  United 
States,  collector  and  officers  of  the  customs,  military  and  naval  officers  of 
the  United  States,  brigadier- general  of  the  First  Brigade  and  staff,  major 
of  cavalry  and  staff,  field  staff  and  company  officers  First  Regiment,  the 
Union  Society,  the  Medical  Society,  the  Library  Society,  the  Hibernian 
Society,  the  St.  Andrew's  Society,  the  German  Friendly  Society,  the 
Georgia  Historical  Society,  the  Irish  Union  Society,  Temperance  Soci- 
eties. During  the  march  of  the  procession  the  Chatham  Artillery  fired 
minute-guns  to  the  number  of  sixty- five,  the  age  of  the  deceased,  and  at 
sunset  a  national  salute  was  fired.  Banks,  public  buildings,  stores  and 
private  dwellings  were  draped  in  mourning,  and  during  the  ceremonies 
all  business  was  suspended.  Francis  S.  Bartow  delivered  the  funeral 
eulogy  on  the  public  life  and  character  of  the  illustrious  dead  at  the  new 
Methodist  Church  in  St.  James  square. 


Visit  of  Ex-President  Fillmore.  353 

The  present  custom-house  was  erected  in  1850,  under  plans  designed 
by  John  S.  Norris.  The  customs  had  been  collected  for  several  years 
previous  to  the  erection  of  the  present  building  in  the  Exchange. 

On  the  22d  of  April,  1854,  ex- President  iFillmore,  accompanied  by 
Hon.  John  P.  Kennedy,  arrived  in  Savannah.  They  were  received  at  the 
Central  Railroad  depot  by  a  large  concourse  of  citizens,  the  Chatham  Ar- 
tillery firing  a  salute  as  the  train  came  in.  The  reception  ceremonies 
were  held  in  the  extensive  warehouse  of  the  Central  Railroad,  after  which 
the  distinguished  guest  and  suite  were  honored  by  a  civic  and  military 
escort  to  quarters  provided  at  the  Pulaski  House.  "  On  Saturday,  the  day 
following  his  arrival,  the  ex-president,"  says  the  Georgian  of  Tuesday 
April  25th,  "  visited  Bonaventure."  "  On  Sunday  morning  he  attended 
Christ  Church,  Reverend  Bishop  ElHott,  officiating.  In  the  afternoon  he 
attended  the  Independent  Presbyterian  Church,  and  listened  to  a  sermon 
from  Reverend  Chas.  Rogers,  in  the  absence  of  the  Pastor,  Reverend  Doc- 
tor Preston.  In  the  evening  he  attended  the  Unitarian  Church,  Rev- 
erend John  Pierpont,  Junior,  to  which  denomination  we  believe  he  is  at- 
tached as  a  member.  Yesterday  from  ten  to  eleven  o'clock  a  public  levee 
.  was  held  at  the  Pulaski  House.  The  citizens  without  distinction  paid 
their  respects  to  the  ex-President.  At  eleven  o'clock  by  invitation  of 
Captain  Hardie,  Mr,  Fillmore  and  suite  visited  the  Steamship  the  Key 
Stone  State.  He  was  welcomed  by  a  salute  of  twenty- one  guns.  Af- 
terwards the  Steamer  Seminole  was  placed  at  his  disposal — the  ex- Presi- 
dent and  his  friends  viewing  the  scenery  down  the  river.  Dinner  fol- 
lowed, and  many  toasts  were  enjoyed  on  board  the  Seminole.  The  Boat 
returned  to  the  city  at  an  early  hour  of  the  evening,  in  time  to  attend 
the  ball,  where  there  was  a  large  gathering.  On  Tuesday  morning  the 
party  departed  for  Charleston  accompanied  by  several  citizens." 

The  year  1854  was  an  era  of  extraordinary  calamity.  Throughout 
the  civilized  world  its  history  is  written  in  pestilence,  war,  and  disasters 
of  the  most  fatal  and  appalling  character.  The  fields  of  Eastern  Europe 
were  strewn  with  the  dead  of  contending  armies  who  fell  by  the  sword 
and  by  pestilence.  Over  our  own  country  swept  two  fatal  epidemics, 
the  cholera  in  the  North  and  West  and  the  fever  in  the  South,  while  dis- 
asters at  sea,  collisions  on  land,  tornadoes  and  conflagrations  added  to  the 
destruction  of  life  and  property  in  a  degree  perhaps  unparalleled  in  any 


354  History  of  Savannah. 

previous  year.  Savannah  was  severely  scourged  by  yellow  fever.  The 
disease  made  its  appearance  on  the  I2th  of  August  in  the  eastern  district 
of  the  city  among  the  Irish  population  in  Washington  ward.  Here  the 
sickness  was  confined  to  a  limited  space  for  a  week  or  ten  days,  be- 
fore its  epidemic  character  had  been  sufficiently  developed  to  excite  gen- 
eral apprehension.  It  soon,  however,  spread  over  a  larger  surface  in  the 
eastern  district,  after  which  it  extended  with  great  rapidity  through  the 
center  of  the  city  westward,  spreading  from  St.  Julien  to  South  Broad 
street  and  reaching  to  the  extreme  western  limits  of  the  town.  By  the 
first  of  September  the  epidemic  was  diffused  in  every  direction,  and  the 
mortality  reached  its  maximum  height  about  the  I2th  of  that  month,  on 
which  day  fifty-one  interments  were  reported.  For  several  days  there 
was  little  abatement  observable  in  the  sickness  or  number  of  deaths,  and 
it  is  very  certain  that  but  for  the  exertions  of  the  mayor  of  the  city,  the 
medical  faculty,  the  Board  of  Health,  the  clergy,  the  Young  Men's  Be- 
nevolent Association,  organized  about  that  time,  and  the  many  benevo- 
lent citizens  who  devoted  themselves  to  the  alleviation  of  the  general 
suffering  among  all  classes  of  the  citizens,  the  list  of  mortality  would  have 
been  increased  to  a  still  more  frightful  figure.  The  decline  of  the  sick-, 
ness  began  about  the  20th  of  September.  During  the  week  ending  on 
the  26th  of  that  month  the  deaths  from  all  diseases  numbered  121,  being 
68  less  than  the  previous  week,  and  79,less  than  the  week  ending  on  the 
I2th,  when  the  mortality  reached  210.  From  the  26th  the  number  of 
deaths  gradually  decreased  until  the  29th  of  October,  the  date  of  the  last 
report  of  the  Board  of  Health,  when  only  one  death  by  yellow  fever  was 
recorded. 

The  epidemic  continued  about  nine  or  twelve  weeks  and  during  that 
time  the  mortality  from  all  diseases  reached  upwards  of  one  thousand, 
and  the  number  of  sick  during  the  same  period,  including  the  dead,  was 
at  least  five  thousand.  The  census  taken  by  the  Young  Men's  Benevo- 
lent Association  when  the  sickness  was  at  its  height  gave  a  white  popu- 
lation of  6,000,  being  only  one-third  of  the  permanent  white  population. 
Of  the  6,000  who  remained  in  the  city  a  very  large  majority  were  sick, 
while  many  of  those  who  had  left  had  been  sick  and  had  recovered,  or 
were  attacked  after  leaving  the  city.  The  medical  faculty  and  the  clergy 
were  conspicuous  in  their  devotion  to  the  plague  stricken  city,  most  of 


Epidemic  of  Yellow  Fever.  355 

them  remaining  at  their  post  of  duty  while  several  fell  while  battling  with 
the  disease.  Ten  physicians  and  three  medical  students  were  numbered 
with  the  dead  while  many  others  were  sick.  Of  the  clergy  three  died 
and  every  one  of  their  number  who  remained  was  attacked.  Of  the 
editorial  corps,  all  of  whom  remained  at  their  posts  until  attacked,  two 
died. 

The  fearful  ravage  of  yellow  fever  was  not  the  only  calamity  the 
people  of  Savannah  were  called  upon  to  endure  in  1854,  for  on  the  lOth 
of  September  of  this  year  a  severe  storm  fell  upon  the  city  which  wrought 
great  havoc.  Hutchinson  and  Fig  islands  were  covered  with  water,  a 
number  of  houses  were  washed  away,  and  several  persons  were  drowned. 
Most  of  the  trees  on  South  Broad  street  were  blown  down,  buildings 
were  unroofed,  shipping  in  the  river  was  driven  upon  the  wharves,  and 
the  large  dry-dock  parted  from  its  mooring,  floated  up  the  river,  and 
damaged  several  vessels.  Never  had  the  people  of  Savannah  been  more 
sorely  tried.  Disease,  tempest,  and  tides  had  united  to  complete  the  work 
of  destruction.  The  deplorable  condition  of  the  people  strangely  appealed 
to  the  sympathy  of  the  benevolent  all  over  the  country  and  contributions 
of  money  to  the  extent  of  nearly  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  of  provisions 
poured  in  from  every  quarter.  The  thanks  of  the  people  for  this  timely 
and  generous  assistance  were  expressed  at  a  meeting  of  the  city  council, 
when  Alderman  Screven  offered  the  following  resolutions  which  were 
unanimously  adopted : 

"  Whereas,  by  the  dispensation  of  Providence,  this  city  has  been  af- 
flicted with  an  epidemic  of  the  most  fatal  character,  and  its  inhabitants 
during  its  prevalence  have  been  the  recipients  of  the  munificence  and 
benevolence  of  various  public  bodies,  charitable  associations,  and  indi- 
viduals. Be  it  therefore  resolved  that  the  thanks  of  this  body  are  due, 
and  are  hereby  tendered  to  the  corporate  authorities  of  our  sister 
cities  for  the  sympathy  they  have  manifested  in  the  affhqtions  of  this 
city,  and  for  their  generous  contributions  in  aid  of  its  suffering  and  des- 
titute inhabitants.  Resolved,  that  the  thanks  of  this  body  are  due,  and 
are  hereby  tendered  to  all  benevolent  and  other  associations  and  to  in- 
dividuals who  have  in  any  manner  contributed  to  the  relief  of  the  af- 
flicted in  this  city.  Thanks  to  the  resident  physicians  for  their  noble 
conduct  during  the  epidemic ;  to  transient  physicians  for  their  profes- 


3S6  History  of  Savannah. 

sional  gallantry  when  our  physicians  were  faUing  in  our  midst,  victims 
to  the  faithful  discharge  of  duties.  Thanks  to  the  devoted  clergy  who, 
without  exception,  pursued  their  holy  calling.  Thanks  to  the  Young 
Men's  Benevolent  Association." 

The  progress  of  the  city  from  1855  to  the  beginning  of  the  war  was 
of  the  most  satisfactory  character  in  its  social,  religious,  business,  and  ma- 
terial interests.  The  great  political  questions  which  agitated  the  country 
during  this  period  largely  engrossed  the  public  attention,  and  the  events 
immediately  preceding  i860  and  during  the  years  of  the  war  are  so  im- 
portant that  a  separate  chapter  has  been  devoted  to  this  period  of  the 
city's  history. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE  WAR  PERIOD. 

Exciting  Event  in  1 860 — Secession  of  Soutli  Carolina — Rejoicing  in  Savannah — Call 
tor  a  State  Convention — Governor  Brown's  Order — Seizure  of  Fort  Pulaski — State  Con- 
vention in  Savannah — Unfurling  of  the  Confederate  Flag — Departure  of  the  Oglethorpe 
Light  Infantry — Death  of  General  Bartow — Defenses  of  Savannah — General  Lee  in  Sa- 
vannah— Attack  on  Fort  Pulaski — Surrender  of  the  Garrison — Naval  Assault  on  Fort 
McAllister — Sherman's  March  from  Atlanta — Proclamation  by  the  Mayor — The  Fed- 
eral Array  before  Savannah — Fort  McAllister  Attacked  by  a  Land  Force — Graphic  Ac- 
count of  the  Assault  and  Its  Capture — Plans  for  Evacuating  the  City — General  Sher- 
man's Demand  for  the  Surrender  of  Savannah — Evacuation  of  the  City — How  the  City 
was  Surrendered — General  Sherman's  Order — Confiscation  of  Cotton — Destructive  Fire 
of  January,  1865 — Return  of  Peace  and  Prosperity. 

IN  Savannah,  as  well  as  all  over  the  country,  political  affairs  monopo- 
lized a  large  share  of  the  public  attention  from  1855  to  i860.  Na- 
tional politics,  before  the  latter  year  closed,  had  reached  the  point  of  rev- 
olution. The  people  of  the  South  and  North  were  beginning  to  assert 
themselves  away  beyond  their  leaders,  who  had  worked  them  up  to  the 
extremity  where  discussion  and  persuasion  ceased  to  have  any  weight  or 
effect.  Savannah  had  enjoyed  a  career  of  business  prosperity  for  a  few 
years  preceding  the  war,  but  when  the  first  sound  of  war's  alarms  was 


The  War  Period.  357 


heard  throughout  the  land  the  march  of  progress  diverged  from  its  ac- 
customed course.  Building  operations  were,  to  a  great  extent,  discon- 
tinued, and  business  in  some  of  its  departments  was  paralyzed  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent. 

In  the  present  quiet  and  peaceful  days  in  Savannah  it  is  hard  to  realize 
the  intensely  excited  state  of  public  feeling  in  the  latter  part  of  i860. 
That  the  two  sections  were  on  the  verge  of  open  rupture  all  felt,  but  few 
appreciated  the  magnitude  of  the  struggle  that  was  to  take  place.  Still 
the  hum  of  preparation  was  heard  on  every  side,  and  the  ranks  of  the  va- 
rious volunteer  companies  were  crowded  with  new  members.  There  was 
an  eager  restlessness  that  filled  every  soul,  and  while  the  older  citizens 
may  have  felt  some  forebodings  for  the  future,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  thought  the  time  for  argument  had  passed 
and  were  ready  to  maintain  what  they  believed  to  be  their  rights  at  the 
hazard  of  their  lives. 

The  newspapers  of  Savannah  were  faithful  chroniclers  of  these  times. 
Every  move  of  the  diverse  populations  of  the  Union  was  recorded  and 
every  changing  shade  of  public  opinion.  For  months,  and  until  the  in- 
auguration of  Lincoln,  all  eyes  were  turned  upon  Charleston,  S.  C.  It 
was  the  theater  of  exciting  events,  and  even  local  affairs  were  lost  sight 
of  in  view  of  the  contest  between  that  State  and  the  Federal  authorities. 
The  diplomatic  movements  of  the  distinguished  agents  and  commission- 
ers of  the  State,  and  afterward  of  thbse  of  the  Confederate  States  were 
carefully  noted  and  criticised  and  furnished  occasion  for  some  fierce  out- 
bursts against  the  North.  The  resignations  of  Cobb,  Floyd,  Thompson, 
and  Thomas  were  occasions  eagerly  seized  for  an  eulogy  upon  these 
statesmen,  and  the  formation  of  the  provisional  government  of  the  Con- 
federacy, and  the  organization  and  assembling  of  troops  kept  the  public 
constantly  on  the  qui  vive. 

The  announcement  of  the  secession  of  South  Carolina  in  December  of 
i860  was  hailed  with  almost  as  much  delight  in  Savannah  as  in  Charles- 
ton. A  secession  flag  bearing  the  representation  of  a  large  rattlesnake, 
with  the  inscription  "  Don't  Tread  on  me,"  was  unfurled  from  the  top  of 
the  Green  Monument  in  Johnson  square,  while  the  newspapers  were  filled 
with  calls  for  meetings  to  ratify  the  course  of  South  Carolina.  The  old  vol- 
unteer companies,  the  Chatham  Artillery,  Savannah  Volunteer  Guards, 


3S8  History  of  Savannah. 

Republican  Blues,  Georgia  Hussars,  Phanix  Riflemen,  Irish  Jasper 
Greens,  Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry,  De  Kalb  Riflemen,  and  German  Vol- 
unteers, promptly  tendered  their  services  for  any  duty  that  might  be  re- 
quired of  them. 

A  call  for  a  State  convention  to  be  held  in  Savannah  was  issued  in 
December,  1 860,  and  throughout  the  State  was  received  with  ready  re- 
sponse. An  election  for  delegates  to  this  convention  was  held  in  Savan- 
nah on  January  2,  1861,  and  resulted  in  the  selection  of  Francis  S.  Bar- 
tow, John  W.  Anderson,  and  Colonel  A.  S.  Jones,  all  of  whom  favored  im- 
mediate secession  and  separate  State  action. 

When  the  news  of  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Moultrie  and  the  occupa- 
tion of  Fort  Sumter  by  United  States  troops,  under  Major  Anderson, 
reached  Savannah  the  excitement  reached  fever  heat.  The  evident  in- 
tention of  the  United  States  government  to  gain  possession  of  all  the  forts 
commanding  the  harbors  of  the  Southern  States  determined  Governor 
Joseph  E.  Brown  to  take  the  bold  step  of  seizing  the  fortifications  of  the 
United  States  built  upon  Georgia  soil  to  prevent  their  occupation  by  the 
Federal  government.  At  this  time  the  First  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Sa- 
vannah was  the  only  military  organization  larger  than  a  company  at  his 
command,  and  accordingly  an  order  was  transmitted  to  Colonel  A.  R. 
Lawton,  then  in  command  of  the  regiment,  directing  him  at  once  to  take 
possession  of  Fort  Pulaski,  "  and  to  hold  it  against  all  persons."  The  full 
text  of  this  memorable  document  was  as  follows: 

"  Headquarters,  Georgia  Militia, 
"Savannah,  January  2,  1861. 

"  Col.  A.  R.  Lawton,  Commanding  ist  Regiment,  Georgia  Vols. ,  Savannah: 
"Sir, — In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  government  at  Washington  has,  as 
we  are  informed  on  high  authority,  decided  on  the  policy  of  coercing  a 
seceding  State  back  into  the  Union,  and  it  is  believed  now  has  a  move- 
ment on  foot  to  reinforce  Fort  Sumter,  at  Charleston,  and  to  occupy 
with  Federal  troops  the  Southern  forts,  including  Fort  Pulaski  in  this 
State,  which  if  done  would  give  the  Federal  government  in  any  contest 
great  advantage  over  the  people  in  this  State  ;  to  the  end  therefor  that 
this  stronghold  which  commands  also  the  entrance  into  Georgia  may  not 
be  ox;cupied  by  any   hostile  force  until  the  convention  of  the  State  of 


The  War  Period.  359 


Georgia,  which  is  to  meet  on  the  i6th  instant,  has  decided  on  the  policy 
which  Georgia  will  adopt  in  this  emergency,  you  are  ordered  to  take  pos- 
session of  Fort  Pulaski  as  by  public  order  herewith,  and  to  hold  it  against 
all  persons,  to  be  abandoned  only  under  orders  from  me  or  under  com- 
pulsion by  an  overpowering  hostile  force. 

"Immediately  upon  occupying  the  fort  you  will  take  measures  to  put 
it  in  a  thorough  state  of  defense  as  far  as  its  means  and  ours  will  permit ; 
and  for  this  purpose  you  will  advise  with  Captain  Claghorn,  Chatham 
Artillery,  who  has  been  charged  with  all  matters  relating  to  ordnance 
and  ordnance  stores,  and  their  supply. 

"You  will  further  arrange  with  Captain  Claghorn  a  series  of  day  and 
night  signals  for  communicating  with  the  city  of  Savannah,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  calling  for  reinforcements,  or  for  other  necessary  purposes.  And 
you  will  arrange  with  Mr.  John  Cunningham,  military  purveyor  for  the 
time  being,  for  the  employment  of  one  or  more  steamboats,  or  other 
means  of  transportation  by  land  or  by  water  that  may  be  necessary,  and 
for  other  supplies  (except  for  ordnance  stores,  for  which  you  will  call  up- 
on Captain  Claghorn)  as  may  be  required. 

"If  circumstances  should  require  it  the  telegraph  will  be  placed  under 
surveillance.  I  think  from  our  conversations  you  fully  understand  my 
views,  and,  relying  upon  your  patriotism,  energy,  and  sound  discretion 
in  the  execution  of  this  important  and  delicate  trust,  I  am  sir,  very  re- 
spectfully. Your  obedient  servant, 

"Joseph  E.  Brown, 
"Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief" 

"  Upon  the  issue  of  this  order,"  says  Colonel  Charles  H.  Olmstead  in 
his  history  of  the  First  Georgia  Regiment,  published  in  the  Savannah 
News  of  May  5,  1886,  "the  city  was  in  a  fever  of  excitement.  Here  at  last 
was  the  first  step  in  actual  war — a  step  that  placed  State  and  central  gov- 
ernment in  open  antagonism,  the  beginning  whose  ending  no  man  could 
foretell.  There  may  have  been  faint  hearts  that  trembled  in  view  of  re- 
sulting possibilities,  but  among  the  military  of  Savannah  the  order  was 
received  with  unbounded  enthusiasm  Dissatisfied  ones  there  were,  but 
only  because  they  were  not  among  the  chosen  few  who  were  to  carry 
out  the  orders  of  the  governor. 

"At  an  early  hour  on  January  3,  1861,  detachments  from  the  Chat- 


36o  History  of  Savannah. 

ham  Artillery,  Captain  Joseph  S.  Claghorn,  the  Savannah  Volunteer 
Guards,  Captain  John  Screven,  and  the  Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry,  Cap- 
tain Francis  S/Bartow,  marched  to  the  wharf  at  the  foot  of  West  Broad 
street  and  embarked  on  board  the  steamer  Ida  to  take  possession  of  Fort 
Pulaski- 

"  Truth  compels  the  statement  that  the  expeditionary  force  carried 
enough  baggage  to  have  served  for  a  division  later  in  the  war.  Every 
soldier  had  his  trunk  or  valise,  his  cot  and  his  roll  of  bedding,  while  to 
every  three  or  four  there  was  a  huge  mess  chest  large  enough  for  the 
cooking  outfit  of  a  full  regiment.  The  recollection  of  all  these  things 
brings  a  smile  now,  but  there  is  only  proud  exultation  as  those  who  took 
part  in  the  stirring  event  recall  the  generous  enthusiasm,  the  fervid  pa- 
triotism, that  glowed  in  every  heart.  Alas  !  how  many  of  those  noble 
young  hearts  were  soon  to  beat  no  more  ;  how  many  gallant  youths  who 
on  that  bright  morning  gloried  in  the  honor  of  serving  our  mother, 
Georgia,  were  soon  to  '  illustrate'  her  by  their  death.  Some  led  the  way 
in  the  first  shock  of  arms  upon  the  plains  of  Manassas  ;  some  in  the  fierce 
seven  days'  grapple  around  Richmond  ;  some  at  Sharpsburg,  at  Freder- 
icksburg, at  Gettysburg,  at  the  Wilderness,  at  Murfreesboro,  at  Chicka- 
mauga,  at  Kenesaw,  at  Atlanta,  at  Franklin,  at  Nashville,  and  some  at 
the  last  fatal  struggle  at  Sailor's  Creek. 

"  In  due  time  Fort  Pulaski  was  reached ;  its  garrison,  one  elderly 
United  States  sergeant,  made  no  defense,  and  the  three  companies  of  the 
first  volunteer  regiment  marched  in  with  drums  beating  and  colors  fly- 
ing, and  so  for  them  a  soldier's  life  began. 

"The  armament  of  the  fort  at  that  time  consisted  of  but  twenty  old- 
fashioned  long  32-pounders  mounted  upon  cast-iron  carriages,  rusty 
from  age  and  lack  of  care,  the  magazines  were  nearly  empty,  a  few  solid 
shot  were  all  the  projectiles  that  could  be  found.  And  yet  the  little  gar- 
rison felt  ready  to  meet  the  entire  navy  of  the  United  States,  for  which, 
by  the  way,  we  looked  for  at  every  high  tide.  The  duty  of  the  hour  called 
for  hard,  vigorous  work,  and  it  was  refreshing  to  note  the  alacrity  with 
which  this  citizen  soldiery  turned  their  hands  to  everything,  from  scrap- 
ing the  rust  from  gun  carriages  to  polishing  the  casemates.  There  was  an 
individuality  in  each  man,  that  marked  characteristic  of  the  Southern 
soldier  that  afterwards,  upon  so  many  battlefields  held   grimly  to  posi- 


The  War  Period.  361 


tions,  from  which,  by  all  the  rules  of  warfare,  the  Confederates  should 
have  been  swept.  All  the  routine  of  garrison  duties  was  promptly  inau- 
gurated by  Colonel  Lawton,  whose  West  Point  training  and  army  life 
here  served  him  in  good  stead.  Guards  were  regularly  mounted,  drills 
at  the  heavy  guns  began  at  once,  and  a  rigid  system  of  military  discipline 
maintained. 

"In  course  of  time  the  first  three  companies  were  relieved  from  this 
duty  and  others  took  their  places,  until  every  command  in  the  city,  in- 
cluding the  Georgia  Hussars  and  Savannah  Artillery,  had  again  and 
again  served  at  this  excellent  school  of  military  instruction.  True,  it 
was  long  ere  an  enemy  appeared  before  the  walls  of  Pulaski,  but  the  les- 
sons learned  in  garrison  life  there  were  fit  preparation  for  active  service 
on  other  fields.  Meanwhile  military  spirit  ran  high  in  the  city,  and  dur- 
ing the  first  part  of  186 1  several  new  companies  were  formed  and  added 
to  the  regiment  under  the  provisions  of  the  act  above  quoted.  Among 
these  were  the  Pulaski  Guards,  the  Irish  Volunteers,  Company  B  Irish 
Jasper  Greens,  the  Forest  City  Rangers,  the  City  Light  Guard,  the  Wash- 
ington Volunteers,  the  Coast  Rifles,  the  Montgomery  Guards.  Each 
and  all  were  full  companies,  and  did  valiant  service  throughout  the  war." 

In  the  meantime  the  people  in  Savannah  were  kept  in  a  state  of  ex- 
cited feeling.  The  adoption  of  the  ordinance  of  secession  by  South  Car- 
olina caused  a  spontaneous  feeling  among  the  people  of  Georgia  that 
they  should  take  the  same  stand  with  their  sister  State.  A  large  gath- 
ering of  the  citizens  of  Savannah  was  held  at  the  Masonic  Hall,  on  the 
corner  of  Bull  and  Broughton  streets,  at  which  eloquent  speeches  were 
made  in  favor  of  secession,  and  a  series  of  resolutions  advocating  such  a 
course  were  adopted,  and  when  a  short  time  thereafter  in  January,  1861, 
the  ordinance  of  secession  was  adopted  by  the  State  of  Georgia  in  no 
quarter  of  the  State  was  it  hailed  with  more  delight  than  in  Savannah. 
All  now  prepared  for  the  conflict  which  they  saw  was  inevitable.  The 
State  convention  reassembled  in  Savannah  on  the  7th  of  March,  1861, 
and  after  adopting  a  constitution  for  the  State  adjourned.  The  day  fol- 
lowing this  assembUng  the  flag  of  the  Confederate  States  was  thrown  to 
the  breeze  from  the  custom-house  by  Major  W.  J.  Mcintosh,  and  a  salute 
of  seven  guns — one  for  each  State  in  the  Confederacy — was  fired  in  honor 
of  the  occasion. 


362  History  of  Savannah. 

After  the  Confederacy  had  been  brought  into  existence,  orders  were 
rapidly  issued  from  its  capitol  at  Montgomery  in  reference  to  the  mar- 
shaHng  of  the  forces  of  the  South.  One  of  the  first  orders  appointed 
Colonel  A.  R.  Lawton  to  a  brigadier-generalship,  and  his  connection  with 
the  first  regiment  was  severed.  Under  his  orders  Fort  Jackson  and 
Oglethorpe  Barracks  were  seized  and  occupied  by  Savannah  soldiers. 
The  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  promotion  of  General  Lawton  was  filled 
by  the  election  of  Hugh  W.  Mercer  to  the  colonelcy  of  the  First  Regi- 
ment. At  the  same  time  Lieutenant-Colonel  Stiles  having  resigned  to 
enter  the  service  with  the  Savannah  Volunteer  Guards,  of  which  corps 
he  was  also  an  officer,  Major  W.  S.  Rockwell  -was  elected  lieutenant- 
colonel,  and  Charles  H.  Olmstead,  major.  Edward  Lawton  succeeded  to 
the  adjutantcy. 

The  Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry  of  Savannah,  under  command  of 
Captain  Francis  S.  Bartow,  was  the  first  of  the  Savannah  companies  to 
respond  to  President  Davis's  call  for  troops.  They  departed  from  the 
city  on  May  21,  1861,  for  Richmond,  being  escorted  to  the  cars  by  the 
volunteer  companies  of  the  city  and  a  large  concourse  of  citizens,  who 
little  dreamed  that  in  a  few  short  weeks  they  would  be  mourning  the 
death  of  the  company's  gallant  captain.  Such,  however,  was  the  case, 
for  the  same  dispatch  which  told  of  the  victory  at  Manassas  on  the  22d 
of  July,  1 861,  brought  the  sad  news  of  General  Bartow's  death.  His  re- 
mains were  brought  to  the  city  on  the  27th  of  July,  and  his  funeral  was 
one  of  most  solemn  and  imposing  spectacles  ever  witnessed  in  Savannah. 
General  Bartow's  ^  remains  lie  buried  in  Laurel  Grove  Cemetery. 

'  General  Bartow  was  born  in  Savannah  on  the  6th  of  September,  1816.  After  grad- 
uating at  Franklin  College,  at  Athens,  Ga.,  in  1835  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  the 
office  of  Berrien  &  Law  of  Savannah,  and  afterwards  attended  the  law  school  at  New 
Haven,  Conn.  After  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  became  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of 
Law,  Bartow  &  Lovell  of  Savannah.  He  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  and  served 
several  times  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  In  i860  he  took  a  decided  stand  in  favor 
of  secession.  He  'represented  Chatham  county  in  the  State  convention  which  carried 
Georgia  out  of  the  Union,  and  was  selected  by  the  convention  to  represent  his  native 
State  in  the  Confederate  Congress  which  met  in  Montgomery,  Ala.,  and  was  chosen  chair- 
man of  the  military  committee.  Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Virginia  with  the  Oglethorpe 
Light  Infantry,  of  which  he  had  been  captain  from  1857,  he  was  appointed  colonel  of 
the  Eighth  Georgia  Regiment,  and  at  the  first  battle  of  Manassas  was  commanding  a 
brigade  composed  of  the  Seventh,  Eighth,  Ninth,  and  Eleventh  Georgia  and  the  First 


The  War  Period.  363 


During  the  summer  of  1861  the  First  Regiment  was  scattered  to 
various  points  along  the  Georgia  coast.  They  helped  to  build  and  equip 
the  numerous  fortifications  with  which  the  coast  was  lined.  They  were 
stationed  at  Forts  Pulaski  and  Jackson  and  at  other  points  on  the  Savan- 
nah River,  on  Tybee  Island,  at  Causton's  Bluff,  Thunderbolt,  Green 
Island,  and  St.  Catherine's  Island.  During  the  war  there  were  three  lines 
of  defense  adopted  to  protect  Savannah,  and  a  fourth  begun  but  aban- 
doned after  an  inconsiderable  amount  of  work  had  been  done.  The  first 
or  exterior  line  of  defense  was  constructed  early  in  the  war,  to  protect 
the  coast  from  attack  by  the  Federal  navy,  and  to  prevent  the  landing 
of  troops.  This  line  extended  from  Causton's  Bluff,  four  miles  east  of 
Savannah,  to  the  Ogeechee  River,  and  embraced  the  following  points, 
at  which  works  were  erected :  Greenwich,  Thunderbolt,  Isle  of  Hope, 
Beaulieu,  and  Rosedew.  Detached  works  were  also  constructed  on 
Whitmarsh,  Skidaway,  and  Green  Islands,  but  these  latter  works  were 
only  occupied  a  portion  of  the  time,  and  towards  the  close  of  the  war 
were  mostly  abandoned.  The  general  character  of  the  works  at  the 
points  mentioned  were  water  batteries,  constructed  of  earth  and  reveted 
with  sand-bags,  sods,  and  facines,  with  traverses,  bomb-proofs,  etc.  The 
armament  of  these  works  generally  consisted  of  heavy  ordnance  en  itzr- 
hette.  Where  rifle  guns  and  columbiads  could  not  be  procured  smooth 
bore  42  and  60-pounders  were  employed.     The  river  batterie's,  located 

Kentucky  Regiments.  During  the  forepart  of  the  battle  his  command  suffered  heavily, 
and  at  noon  when  it  became  necessary  for  the  left  of  the  Confederate  army  to  fall  back  to 
its  original  position  occupied  early  in  the  morning  his  regiments  also  retired.  During 
this  movement  General  Bartow  rode  up  to  General  Beauregard,  the  general  command- 
ing and  said  :  "  What  shall  now  be  done  }  Tell  me,  and,  if  human  efforts  can  avail,  I  will 
do  it."  General  Beauregard  pointing  to  a  battery  at  Stone  Bridge,  replied  :  ■'  That  bat- 
tery should  be  silenced."  Seizing  the  standard  of  the  Seventh  Georgia  Regiment  and 
calling  upon  the  remnants  of  his  command  to  follow  him,  he  led  the  van  in  the  charge. 
A  ball  wounded  him  slightly  and  killed  his  horse  under  him.  Still  grasping  the  stand- 
ard, and  rising  again,  he  mounted  another  horse,  and  waving  his  cap  around  his  head 
cheered  his  troops  to  come  on.  They  followed.  Another  ball  pierced  his  heart  and  he 
fell  to  the  ground,  exclaiming  to  those  who  gathered  around  him,  "  they  have  killed  me ^ 
but  never  give  up  the  field,"  and  expired.  His  dying  injunction  was  obeyed.  His 
command  proceeded  on  the  charge  and  silenced  the  battery  under  the  protection  of 
which  the  enemy  had  hurled  the  missile  of  death  into  the  heart  of  one  whose  fall 
plunged  a  struggling  nation  into  mourning. — Abridged  from  a  sketch  in  the  ''  Historical 
Record  of  Savannah." 


364  History  of  Savannah. 

at  and  around  Fort  Jackson,  were  intended  for  the  protection  of  the 
main  water  approach  and  to  constitute  the  extreme  left  of  the  above  men- 
tioned line.  Prominent  among  the  works  referred  to  was  Fort  Bartow 
at  Causton's  Bluff.  This  was  the  largest  and  most  complete  work  on  the 
entire  coast,  and  the  character  of  the  work  and  labor  expended  in  its 
construction  attested  the  importance  attached  to  this  position  as  a  salient 
point  on  this  line,  and,  so  to  speak,  the  key  to  Savannah.  This  was  a 
bastioned  work  inclosing  an  area  of  seventeen  acres,  with  glacis,  moat, 
curtains,  and  in  fact  every  appointment  complete,  bomb-proofs  and  sur- 
geon-rooms under  ground,  with  advanced  batteries  and  rifle  pits  in  front 
near  the  water  line.  The  other  works  on  this  line  were  not  from  this 
character  deserving  of  special  notice.  Fort  Bartow  was  pronounced  by 
some  of  the  ablest  Southern  officers  a  splendid  work  and  recognized  by 
all  as  the  most  important  in  the  defenses  of  Savannah.  This  work  was 
constructed  by  Captain  M.  B.  Grant,  of  the  Engineer  Corps,  who  also  had 
immediate  charge  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  work  around  the  city. 

Fort  McAllister,  located  on  the  south  side  of  the  Ogeechee  River  at 
Genesis  Point,  was  an  inclosed  work,  of  about  one  acre,  detached  and  iso- 
lated, irregular  in  form,  but  compactly  built,  and  adapted  to  its  isolated 
condition  and  surroundings.  The  armament  of  this  work  was  heavy,  and 
the  gallant  and  successful  defense  repeatedly  made  here  against  the  en- 
emy's ironclads,  and  at  the  last  against  one  of  Sherman's  corps  from  the 
land  side,  have  given  it  a  name  and  place  in  the  history  of  Savannah's 
defenses,  that  is  imperishable  and  preeminently  grand.  Though  a  little 
and  insignificant  earthwork  it  was  by  location  and  circumstances  called 
upon  to  act  a  giant's  part.  On  this  exterior  line  there  were  no  other 
points  deserving  Special  notice. . 

The  second  line  constructed  was  what  was  known  as  the  interior  line 
of  defense.  This  line  was  almost  semi-circular  in  contour,  and  distant 
from  the  city  on  an  average  of  three-fourths  of  a  mile,  its  left  resting  at 
Fort  Boggs,  next  to  the  rice  lands  on  the  Savannah  River,  its  right  rest- 
ing at  a  point  a  little  south  of  Laurel  Grove  Cemetery,  and  on  the  low 
lands  of  the  Springfield  Plantation.  This  line,  as  the  term  interior  signi- 
fies, was  to  resist  any  direct  assault  upon  the  city  should  a  force  succeed 
in  passing  the  exterior  line.  This  line  consisted  of  detached  lunettes  at 
regular  intervals,  constructed  with  mutual  flank  defense,  and  having  sec- 


The  War  Period.  365 


tors  of  fire,  covering  the  entire  space  in  front  of  the  Une,  all  growth  hav- 
ing been  cut  away  for  a  half  mile  in  advance.  The  curtains  were  not  of 
the  same  heavy  character  as  the  lunettes,  but  consisted  of  rifle  pits  and 
covered  ways  for  direct  communication.  Abatis  were  constructed  in 
front  of  many  of  the  lunettes.  No  portion  of  this  line  was  ever  subjected 
to  an  attack,  and  there  was  nothing  to  create  or  give  distinction  to  any 
special  lunettes.  There  were,  however,  on  this  line  certain  works  which 
should  be  mentioned,  viz  : 

Fort  Boggs,  on  the  left  of  the  line,  was  a  bastioned  work,  inclosed 
(commonly  known  as  a  Star  Fort),  about  an  acre  and  a  half  in  area.  It 
was  situated  on  the  bluff,  in  a  commanding  position,  and  would  have 
proved  a  very  strong  and  important  work  had  it  been  attacked. 

Fort  Brown,  near  the  Catholic  Cemetery,  was  a  point  of  some  im- 
portance on  this  line,  more,  however,  from  its  early  location  and  con- 
struction than  any  special  merit. 

The  bombardment  and  capture  of  Port  Royal  in  November  of  1861 
occasioned  great  alarm  in  Savannah  as  it  was  feared  that  the  large  Fed- 
eral fleet  employed  there  would  next  attack  the  city,  yet  the  people  did 
not  despair  of  successfully  combating  the  enemy.  But  with  the  Federals 
intrenched  in  Port  Royal  it  was  deemed  impracticable  with  the  resources 
at  command  to  defend  all  the  outlying  islands  of  the  Georgia  coast. 
Among  others  Tybee  Island  was  evacuated  and  Fort  Pulaski  became  the 
outwork  of  the  line  of  defense.  About  this  time  Colonel  Mercer  was 
promoted  to  a  brigadier-generalship  arid  the  following  changes  were 
made  in  the  field  officers  of  the  First  Regiment:  Major  Charles  H.  Olm- 
stead  was  made  colonel,  W.  S.  Rockwell  retained  the  lieutenant-c,ol- 
onelcy,  and  Captain  John  Foley,  of  the  Irish  Jasper  Greens,  was  promoted 
major,  H.  M.  Hopkins  was  appointed  in  place  of  Edward  Lawton  pro- 
moted. 

General  Robert  E.  Lee,  then  commanding  the  military  district  of 
South  CaroHna,  Georgia  and  Florida  arrived  in  Savannah  on  the  nth  of 
November,  1861,  and  remained  until  the  February  following.  During 
his  stay  he  visited  Fort  Pulaski  and  gave  minute  instructions  for  protect- 
ing the  garrison  from  the  fire  of  shells  from  Tybee  Island.  At  this  time 
rifled  cannon  of  large  caliber  had  not  been  tested  and  their  penetrative 
power  was  of  course  unknown,  and  even  General  Lee  did  not  think  the 


366  History  of  Savannah. 

walls  of  Fort  Pulaski  could  be  broken  at  the  distance  the  Federals  were 
stationed,  saying  one  day  to  Colonel  Olmstead,  while  looking  at  the  near- 
est point  on  Tybee  Island  occupied  by  the  Federals,  some  1700  yards 
distant,  "  Colonel,  they  will  make  it  pretty  hot  for  you  here  with  shells, 
but  they  cannot  breach  your  walls  at  that  distance." 

"The  garrison,''  says  Colonel  Olmstead  in  the  article  previously 
quoted  from,  "  went  vigorously  to  work  to  carry  out  the  orders  of  Gen- 
eral Lee.  Pitts  and  trenches  were  dug  on  the  parade  to  catch  rolling 
shells,  huge  traverses  were  built  between  the  guns  en  barbette,  and  all  the 
casemate  doors  in  the  entire  circuit  of  the  fort  were  protected  by  heavy 
blindages  of  ranging  timber." 

"  In  the  month  of  January,  1862,  there  were  signs  of  great  activity 
among  the  enemy,  who  succeeded  in  establishing  a  battery  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Savannah  upon  the  north,  between  the  fort  and  the  city,  and 
also  in  commanding  the  channel  of  the  river  on  the  south  by  gunboats 
from  Wilmington  River  and  St.  Augustine  Creek.  After  this  but  one 
expedition  from  the  city  reached  the  fort.  Commodore  Tattnall,  with 
his  little  fleet  of  river  steamers,  fought  his  way  down  bringing  two  barge 
loads  of  provisions  for  the  garrison,  and  then  fought  his  way  back  again 
in  the  style  that  came  so  naturally  to  that  single-hearted  brave  old  gen- 
tleman.    From  that  time  the  isolation  of  the  fort  was  complete. 

"The  garrison  thus  invested  consisted  of  about  four  hundred  men  and 
officers,  comprising  the  German  Volunteers,  Captain  Stegin;  Oglethorpe 
Light  Infantry  (Company  B),  Captain  Sims ;  Washington  Volunteers, 
Captain  McMahon ;  Montgomery  Guards,  Captain  Guilmartin,  of  the 
First  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Georgia ;  and  the  Wise  Guards,  Captain 
McMullen. 

"This  latter  command  was  from  the  vicinity  of  Oglethorpe,  Ga.  They 
were  unused  to  heavy  artillery  service,  but  when  it  became  apparent 
that  the  fort  would  be  attacked  and  needed  reinforcements,  they  had 
volunteered  to  come  to  our  aid.  Captain  McMullen  was  just  such  a  man 
as  might  have  been  expected  to  perform  such  an  action,  and  he  was  well 
seconded  by  his  Lieutenants  Montfort,  Blow  and  Sutton.  The  memory 
of  this  service  should  be  treasured  by  the  First  Regiment.  All  during 
the  months  of  February  and  March  the  isolation  of  the  fort  continued, 
and  during  these  months  it  was  made  plain  that  the  enemy  were  hard  at 


■~'^''byF:iiKernm  *  C"*"^ 


The  War  Period.  367 


work  behind  the  ridge  of  sand  hills  that  border  the  shore  of  Tybee  Is- 
land. There  was  no  sign  of  working  parties  during  the  day  time,  but  at 
night  a  faint  hum  would  come  across  the  waters  of  the  south  channel 
nearly  a  mile  away,  telling  of  activity  and  preparation.'' 

Early  in  April  the  Federals  had  erected  eleven  sand  batteries  upon 
Tybee  Island,  these  batteries  distributed  along  a  front  of  2,550  yards, 
mounted  by  thirty-six  heavy  guns — ten  heavy  rifle  cannon  among  them 
— and  a  number  of  mortars.  These  guns  were  well  protected.  The 
farthest  was  3,400,  and  the  nearest  1,650  yards  from  the  fort. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  loth  of  April  General  David  Hunter, 
commanding  the  besieging  force,  sent,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  an  order 
"  for  the  immediate  surrender  of  Fort  Pulaski  to  the  authority  and  pos- 
session of  the  United  States,"  to  which  Colonel  Charles  H.  Olmstead, 
commandant  of  the  fort,  sent  the  following  laconic  and  brave  response  : 

"Headquarters,  Fort  Pulaski,  April  10,  1862. 
"  Major-  General  David  Hunter,  Commanding  on  Tybee  Isla^id : 

"Sir, — I  have  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  communication  of  this 
date,  demanding  the  unconditional  surrender  of  Fort  Pulaski. 

"In  reply  I  can  only  say  that  I  am  here  to  defend  not  to  surrender  it. 
"Your  obedient  servant, 

"Charles  H.  Olmstead. 
"  Colonel  First  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Georgia  Commanding  Post." 

"  Upon  the  receipt  of  this  reply  by  the  Federal  commander,  orders 
were  immediately  issued  for  the  commencement  of  the  bombardment. 
The  first  shell  was  fired  from  Battery  Halleck  at  a  quarter  past  eight 
o'clock, and  soon  all  the  Federal  batteries,  including  Stanton,  Grant,  Lyon, 
Lincoln,  Burnside,  Sherman,  Scott,  Sigel,  McClellan  and  Totten,  were  en- 
gaged. "  The  garrison,"  says  Colonel  Olmstead  in  an  admirable  account 
of  the  bombardment,  "  went  to  their  work  with  enthusiasm,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  roar  of  artillery,  the  screaming  of  shot  and  bursting  of  shells 
made  hideous  that  lovely  April  morning.  All  day  long  the  firing  con- 
tinued with  damage  to  the  fort  that  was  painfully  apparent  to  its  defend- 
ers. Indeed  it  was  noticed  early  in  the  morning  that  one  rifle  shot  strik- 
ing the  wall  under  an  embrasure  while  still  intact,  had  bulged  the  bricks 
inward  in  the  interior.  A  sample  of  the  power  of  the  new  projectile  that 
we  were  unprepared  for. 


368  History  of  Savannah. 

"A  few  men  were  wounded,  but,  thanks  to  the  labor  that  had  been  be- 
stowed upon  the  defenses  and  shelters,  they  were  very  few.  At  night- 
fall the  firing  slackened  and  opportunity  was  had  for  examining  into  the 
injury  received  by  the  fort.  It  was  appalling,  nearly  all  of  the  barbette, 
guns  and  mortars  bearing  upon  the  position  of  the  enemy  had  been  dis- 
mounted, and  the  traverse  badly  torn,  many  of  the  casemate  guns  were 
in  a  similar  plight  and  the  line  of  officer's  quarters  and  kitchen  were 
wrecked,  but  most  serious  of  all  was  the  condition  of  the  southeast  angle 
of  the  fort. 

"There  the  fire  of  the  enemy  had  been  concentrated  with  a  view  to 
making  a  breach,  and  it  needed  but  one  look  to  convince  that  an  hour  or 
two  longer  of  such  pounding  would  most  certainly  accomplish  what  was 
intended.  The  whole  outer  surface  of  the  wall  had  been  battered  away 
and  nearly  filled  the  moat,  and  what  was  left  standing  between  the  piers 
of  three  casemates  was  shaken  and  trembling.  The  danger  of  the  posi- 
tion was  that  this  wall  once  down  the  same  projectiles  that  had  done 
the  mischief  there  would  have  free  sweep  across  the  parade  against  the 
wall  of  the  main  service  magazine  on  the  opposite  angle  of  the  fort. 
During  the  night  the  firing  continued  at  short  intervals,  and  in  the  early 
morning  was  commenced  with  great  rapidity  again. 

"  One  by  one  the  guns  of  the  fort  were  disabled,  until  there  were  only 
two  or  three  that  could  be  brought  to  bear  at  all  upon  the  batteries  that 
were  doing  us  most  injury.  The  walls  of  the  injured  casemates  were 
soon  shot  away  entirely,  and  now  solid  shot  and  shell  were  pounding  up- 
on the  traverses  that  protected  the  entrance  to  the  magazine.  About 
two  o'clock  in  the  day  an  officer  reported  that  a  shell  had  penetrated 
through  the  traverse  and  exploded  in  the  alley- way  of  the  magazine. 

"  Then  it  appeared  to  the  commanding  officer  that  longer  resistance 
would  be  useless,  and  the  signal  of  surrender  was  given. 

"  General  Gillmore  came  to  treat  for  the  surrender,  and  the  following 
terms  were  agreed  upon  : 

"  Article  i.  The  fort,  armament  and  garrison  to  be  surrendered  at 
once  to  the  forces  of  the  United  States 

"  Article  2.  The  officers  and  men  of  the  garrison  to  be  allowed  to 
take  with  them  all  their  private  effects,  such  as  clothing,  bedding,  books, 
etc.     This  not  to  include  private  weapons. 


The  War  Period.  369 


"Article  3.  The  sick  and  wounded  under  charge  of  the  hospital 
steward  of  the  garrison  to  be  sent  up  under  a  flag  of  truce  to  the  Con- 
federate lines;  and,  at  the  same  time  the  men  to  be  allowed  to  send  up 
any  letters  they  may  desire,  subject  to  the  inspection  of  a  Federal  officer. 
"Signed  the  eleventh  day  of  April,  1862,  at  Fort  Pulaski,  Cockspur 
Island,  Ga.  CHARLES  H.  Olmstead, 

"  Col.  First  Vol.  Reg't  of  Ga.      Comd'g  Fort  Pulaski. 
"  Q.  A.  GiLLMORE, 

"  Brig.  Gen.  Vols.  Comd'g  U.  S.  Forces,  Tybee  Island. 

"  Among  the  wounded  was  one  of  two  brothers  from  Berrien,  Ga. 
He  was  badly  mangled,  it  was  plain  that  he  could  not  live,  and  the  dis- 
tress of  his  brother  at  the  prospect  of  leaving  him  was  pitiful.  Adjutant 
Matthew  H.  Hopkins  had  received  a  wound  in  the  eye,  and,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  terms  of  surrender,  was  entitled  to  be  sent  to  Savannah. 
With  a  magnanimity  which  did  not  surprise  those  who  knew  his  true 
heart,  he  relinquished  his  right  to  release,  and  chose  the  lot  of  a  prisoner 
of  war  in  order  that  the  brothers  might  not  be  separated." 

The  garrison  surrendered  numbered  365  men  and  24  officers,  and  was 
composed  of  the  following  companies  :  German  Volunteers,  Captain  John 
H.  Stegin;  Washington  Volunteers,  Captain  John  McMahon;  Wise  Guards, 
Captain  M.  J.  McMullen ;  Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry,  Company  B,  Cap- 
tain F.  W.  Sims ;  Montgomery  Guards,  Captain  L.  J.  Guilmartin.  The 
following  constituted  the  field  and  staff  officers  :  Colonel  Charles  H.  Olm- 
stead, commanding  post;  major,  John  Foley;  adjutant,  M.  H.  Hopkins; 
quartermaster,  Robert  Erwin  ;  commissary,  Robert  D.  Walker ;  surgeon, 
J.  T.  McFarland ;  sergeant,  Major  Robert  H.  Lewis  ;  ordnance  sergeant, 
Harvey  Lewis;  quartermaster's  sergeant,  William  C.  Crawford;  quarter- 
master's clerk,  Edward  D.  Hopkins;  commissary  clerk,  E.  W.  Drummond. 

The  captured  garrison  was  removed  by  steamer  to  Port  Royal  and 
from  thence  by  the  steamer  Oriental  to  Governor's  Island,  New  York. 
The  officers  were  confined  at  Columbus  and  the  men  in  a  fort  on  the  same 
inland  known  as  Castle  William.  In  the  course  of  two  months  the  offi- 
cers were  sent  to  the  prison  on  Johnson's  Island,  near  Sandusky,  O.,  and 
the  men  to  Fort  Delaware.  In  September,  1862,  a  general  exchange  of 
prisoners  was  effected  and  the  Fort  Pulaski  officers  returned  to  Savannah. 


370  History  of  Savannah. 

The  conduct  of  Fort  Pulaski's  garrison  during  the  trying  days  of  the 
siege  was  most  heroic,  and  the  people  of  Savannah,  of  whom  nearly  all 
were  natives,  have  no  reason  but  to  feel  a  justifiable  pride  in  their  deeds. 
Although  three  thousand  shot  and  shell  were  thrown  into  the  fort  only 
four  were  seriously  wounded  and  some  fourteen  slightly,  while  the  Fed- 
erals had  several  killed  and  wounded.  On  the  second  day  of  the  bom- 
bardment, when  the  enemy's  fire  was  hottest,  occurred  an  incident,  which 
for  cool  and  undaunted  bravery  is  especially  deserving  of  mention.  The 
halyards  of  the  flag  of  the  fort  having  been  cut  away  by  the  incessant 
firing  of  the  enemy,  Lieutenant  Christopher  Hussy,  of  the  Montgomery 
Guards,  and  John  Latham,  of  the  Washington  Volunteers,  immediately 
sprang  upon  the  parapet,  exposed  to  a  rain  of  shot  and  shell,  and  seizing 
the  flag  carried  it  to  a  gun-carriage  at  the  northeastern  angle  of  the  fort, 
where  they  rigged  a  temporary  staff",  from  which  the  flag  proudly  floated 
until  the  surrender.  "  When,"  says  Colonel  Jones  in  his  historical  sketch 
of  the  Chatham  Artillery,  "  the  heroic  memories  of  the  momentous  strug- 
gle for  Confederate  independence  are  garnered  up,  and  the  valiant  deeds 
recorded  of  those  who  in  their  persons  and  acts  illustrated  the  virtues  of 
the  truly  brave  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  peril  and  in  the  hour  of 
supreme  danger  freely  exposed  themselves  in  defense  of  the  national  em- 
blem, let  the  recollection  of  this  illustrious  incident  upon  the  parapet  of 
Fort  Pulaski  be  perpetuated  upon  the  historic  page,  and  the  names  of 
these  two  courageous  men  be  inscribed  upon  the  roll  of  honor." 

The  reduction  of  Fort  Pulaski  and  subsequent  movements  of  the  Fed- 
erals led  to  the  opinion  that  Savannah  was  to  be  attacked,  but  after  results 
showed  that  the  feints  of  the  enemy  in  that  direction  were  only  intended 
to  distract  the  attention  of  the  Confederate  military  commanders  who 
would  thus  be  led  to  keep  a  large  force  here  while  hostile  operations 
were  conducted  elsewhere.  The  military  authorities  in  Savannah  believ- 
ing the  city  would  be  attacked  laid  plans  to  defend  it  to  the  last  extrem- 
ity, and  that  their  work  in  this  direction  met  the  heartiest  approval  of  the 
citizens,  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  adopted  by  the  city  coun- 
cil on  the  29th  of  April,  1862,  clearly  shows  : 

"Whereas,  A  communication  has  been  received  from  the  command- 
ing general  stating  that  he  will  defend  this  city  to  the  last  extremity,  and 
whereas,  the  members  of  the  council  unanimously  approve  of  the  deter- 
mination of  the  commanding  general,  therefore  be  it 


The  War  Period.  371 


"  Resolved,  That  the  council  will  render  all  that  is  in  their  power  to 
sustain  the  general  and  to  carry  out  his  laudable  determination." 

The  district  of  Georgia  at  this  time  was  commanded  by  Brigadier- 
General  A.  R.  Lawton,  but  in  May  following  General  Lawton  was  or- 
dered with  five  thousand  men  to  report  to  General  Lee  in  Virginia,  and 
shortly  after  departed.  He  was  succeeded  in  command  of  the  district  by 
General  Hugh  W.  Mercer,  who  remained  until  Lieutenant- General  W. 
J.  Hardee  assumed  command  in  1864,  a  short  time  prior  to  the  evacua- 
tion of  the  city.  General  Mercer  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  heroic 
Mercer  of  Revolutionary  memory,  who,  in  the  darkest  hour  of  his  coun- 
try's hopes,  fell  mortally  wounded  while  leading  the  van  at  the  battle  of 
Princeton. 

Fort  McAllister  is  so  inseparably  associated  with  the  record  of  valor- 
ous deeds  of  Savannah  soldiers,  that  a  history  of  the  military  operations 
in  connection  with  the  defense  of  this  famous  military  post  is  necessary. 
It  is  situated  about  sixteen  miles  from  Savannah,  on  Genesis  Point,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  great  Ogeechee  River,  and  was  among  the  first  of  the 
numerous  earthworks  constructed  for  the  defense  of  the  city,  being  in- 
tended as  a  stronghold  from  which  to  dispute  a  passage  up  the  river. 

It  was  first  attacked  on  June  29,  1862,  when  four  gunboats  tested 
the  strength  of  its  works  and  the  efficiency  of  its  garrison  then  composed 
of  the  De  Kalb  Riflemen  under  the  command  of  Captain  A.  L.  Hartridge, 
This  attack  was  unsuccessful,  and  only  two  men  were  wounded.  The 
fort  was  again  made  a  target  of  by  several  vessels  on  the  2d  of  No- 
vember of  the  same  year,  the  Emmett  Rifles,  Captain  George  A.  Nicoll, 
being  in  command  of  the  garrison.  This  attack  was  followed  by  another 
on  the  19th  of  November,  when  the  Republican  Blues,  under  Lieutenant 
George  W.  Anderson,  assisted  the  Emmet  Rifles  in  defending  the  fort. 
At  this  time  three  men  of  the  garrison  were  wounded.  On  this  occasion 
the  enemy  again  encountered  a  repulse  which  was  but  a  prelude  to  others 
more  signal. 

On  the  morning  of  the  27th  of  January,  1863,  the  Federal  ironclad 
Montauk,  accompanied  by  three  gunboats,  a  mortar  schooner  and  a  tug 
opened  fire  upon  the  fort. 

The  Montauk  was  armed  with  one  fifteen-inch  and  one  eleven-inch 
Dahlgren  gun.     For  five  hours  and  a  half  the  big  guns  of  the  Montauk 


372  History  of  Savannah. 

hurled  their  heavy  projectiles  against  the  sand  parapet  of  the  fort.  De- 
spite this  formidable  demonstration,  however,  the  earthworks  were  com- 
paratively uninjured  and  none  of  the  garrison  was  injured.  "  To  this 
bombardment,"  says  Colonel  Jones  in  the  historical  sketch  of  the  Chatham 
Artillery,  "  remarkable  historical  interest  attaches,  because,  on  this  oc- 
casion, a  fifteen-inch  gun  was  first  used  in  the  effort  to  reduce  a  shore 
battery;  and  the  ability  of  properly  constructed  sand  parapets  to  resist 
the  effect  of  novel  projectiles,  far  supassing  in  weight  and  power  all 
others  heretofore  known,  was  fairly  demonstrated.  To  the  honor  of  this 
little  fort  and  the  praise  of  its  heroic  defenders  let  these  facts  be  recorded 
and  perpetuated." 

Not  satisfied  with  the  experience  of  their  repeated  attacks,  the  Fed- 
erals, with  the  Montauk,  four  gunboats,  and  a  mortar  boat  again  began  to 
bombard  the  fort  early  on  Sunday  morning  of  February  1st  of  the  same 
year.  After  a  six  hours'  contest  the  enemy  for  the  fifth  time  was  com- 
pelled to  retire  from  the  contest  vanquished  and  discomforted.  During 
the  engagement  Major  John  B.  Gallic,  commandant  of  the  fort,  was 
struck  on  the  head  and  instantly  killed,  and  seven  others  of  the  garrison 
were  slightly  wounded.  Upon  the  death  of  Major  Gallie  the  command 
of  the  fort  devolved  upon  Captain  George  W.  Anderson,  who  bravely 
continued  the  fight.  This  signal  victory  was  made  the  subject  of  the  fol- 
lowing complimentary  order  from  General  Beauregard,  commanding  the 
Department  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Florida  :  "  The  thanks  of  the 
country  are  due  to  this  intrepid  garrison  who  have  thus  shown  what  brave 
men  may  withstand  and  accomplish  despite  apparent  odds.  Fort  Mc- 
Allister will  be  inscribed  on  all  the  flags  of  all  the  troops  engaged' in  the 
defense  of  the  battery." 

The  last  naval  attack  upon  Fort  McAllister  was  made  on  the 
3d  of  March,  1863.  The  enemy  appeared  early  on  that  day  with 
a  formidable  fleet  consisting  of  four  ironclads,  five  gunboats,  and  two 
mortar  schooners.  The  terrible  conflict  which  followed  the  commence- 
ment of  the  engagement  was  graphically  and  fully  detailed  in  the  Savan- 
nah Republican  of  March  11,  1863,  from  which  we  make  the  following 
extract :  "  About  a  quarter  before  nine  o'clock  the  fort  opened  on  the 
Passaic  with  a  rifled  gun,  the  eight  and  ten-inch  Columbiads  following 
suit,  to  which  the  Montauk  replied,  firing  her  first  gun  at  nine  o'clock. 


The  War  Period.  373 


She  was  followed  by  her  associates  in  quick  succession.  The  fire  on  both 
sides  was  continued  for  seven  hours  and  a  half,  during  which  the  enemy 
fired  two  hundred  and  fifty  shot  and  shell  at  the  fort,  amounting  to  about 
seventy  tons  of  the  most  formidable  missiles  ever  invented  for  the  de- 
struction of  human  life.  .  .  The  fort  fired  the  first  and  last  shot. 
The  enemy's  mortar  boats  kept  up  a  fire  all  night,  and  it  was  evidently 
their  intention  to  renew  the  fight  the  next  morning,  but  finding  that  the 
damage  done  to  the  fort  the  day  before  had  been  fully  repaired,  and  the 

garrison  fully  prepared  to  resist,  declined Notwithstanding 

the  heavy  fire  to  which  the  fort  was  subjected,  only  three  men  were 
wounded  :  Thomas  W.  Rape,  and  W.  S.  Owens  of  the  Emmett  Rifles, 
the  fir.st  on  the  knee  and  the  latter  in  the  face;  James  Mims  of  Company 
D,  First  Georgia  Battalion,  Sharpshooters,  had  his  leg  crushed  and  an- 
kle broken  by  the  fall  of  a  piece  of  timber  while  remounting  a  Colum- 
biad  after  the  fight The  night  previous  to  the  fight  Lieu- 
tenant E.  A.  Ellarbe,  of  the  Hardwick  Mounted  Rifles  ;  Captain  J.  L. 
McAllister,  with  a  detachment  consisting  of  Sergeant  Harmon  and  Pri- 
vates Proctor,  Wyatt,  Harper,  and  Cobb,  crossed  the  river  and  dug  a 
rifle-pit  within  long  rifle  range  of  the  rams  and  awaited  the  coming  fight. 
During  the  hottest  part  of  the  engagement  an  officer  with  glass  in  hand 
made  his  appearance  on  the  deck  of  the  Passaic.  A  Maynard  rifle  slug 
soon  went  whizzing  by  his  ears,  which  startled  and  caused  him  to  right- 
about face,  when  a  second  slug,  apparently,  took  effect  upon  his  person, 
as  with  both  hands  he  caught  hold  of  the  turret  for  support,  and  imme- 
diately clambered  or  was  dragged  into  a  port-hole.  It  is  believed  that 
the  officer  was  killed.  The  display  on  the  Passaic  the  day  following, 
and  the  funeral  on  the  Ossabaw  the  Friday  following  gave  strength  to 
the  opinion.  As  soon  as  the  fatal  rifle  shot  was  fired  the  Passaic  turned 
her  guns  upon  the  marsh  and  literally  raked  it  with  grape  shot.  The  ri- 
flemen, however,  succeeded  in  changing  their  base  in  time  to  avoid  the 
missiles  of  the  enemy.     Not  one  of  them  was  hurt.     Too  much  credit 

cannot  be  bestowed  upon  the  daring  act  of  a  few  brave  men 

Captain  George  W.  Anderson,  of  the  Republican  Blues,  commanded  the 
fort  on  this  trying  occasion,  and  he  and  his  force  received,  as  they  de- 
served, the  highest  commendation.  Captain  George  A.  NicoU  of  the 
Emmett  Rifles,  Captain  J.  L.  McAllister,  Lieutenant  W.  D.  Dixon,  and 


374  History  of  Savannah. 

Sergeant  T.  S.  Flood  (the  latter  was  sick  at  the  hospital  when  the  fight 
commenced,  but  left  his  bed  to  take  part  in  the  fight),  Corporal  Robert 
Smith  and  his  squad  from  the  Republican  Blues,  which  worked  the  rifle 
gun,  Lieutenant  Quin  of  the  Blues,  Sergeant  Frazier,  Lieutenant  Rock- 
well, and  Sergeant  Cavanaugh,  Captain  Robert  Martin  and  detachment 
of  his  company,  who  successfully  worked  a  mortar  battery.  Captain 
McCrady,  and  Captain  James  McAlpin  were  entitled  to  and  received  a 
large  share  of  the  honors  of  the  day." 

This  brilliant  victory  drew  from  Brigadier- General  Mercer,  command- 
ing the  district  of  Georgia,  a  general  order  complimenting  the  garrison 
for  their  heroic  defense,  stating  that  the  "  brigadier-general  command- 
ing again  returns  his  hearty  thanks  to  the  brave  garrison,  and  expresses 
the  confident  hope  that  this  heroic  example  will  be  followed  by  all  under 
his  command.  For  eight  hours  these  formidable  vessels,  throwing  fif- 
teen-inch hollow  shot  and  shell,  thirteen-inch  shell,  eleven-inch  solid 
shot,  and  eight -inch  rifle  projectiles — a  combination  of  formidable  mis- 
siles never  before  concentrated  upon  a  single  battery — hurled  an  iron 
hail  upon  the  fort ;  but  the  brave  gunners,  with  the  cool  efificient  spirit 
of  disciplined  soldiers,  and  with  the  intrepid  hearts  of  freemen  battling 
for  a  just  cause,  stood  undaunted  at  their  posts,  and  proved  to  the  world 
that  the  most  formidable  vessels  and  guns  that  modern  ingenuity  has 
been  able  to  produce  are  powerless  against  an  earthwork  manned  by 

patriots  to  whom  honor  and  liberty  are  dearer  than  life 

As  a  testimonial  to  the  brave  garrison,  the  commanding  general  will  be 
solicited  to  direct  that  '  Fort  McAllister,  March  3,  1863,'  be  inscribed 
upon  their  flags."  This  request  General  Beauregard  complied  with  in  a 
general  order,  stating  that  he  "had  again  a  pleasant  duty  to  discharge — 
to  commend  to  the  notice  of  the  country  and  the  emulation  of  his  officers 
and  men  the  intrepid  conduct  of  the  garrison  of  Fort  McAllister,  and  the 
skill  of  the  officers  engaged  on  the  3d  of  March,  1863." 

This  was  the  last  naval  attack  upon  this  battery.  So  far  it  had 
proved  itself  an  overmatch  for  all  that  had  been  sent  against  it.  Seven 
times  had  the  Federals  been  repulsed  before  its  Bermuda  covered  para- 
pets. After  the  engagement  of  the  3d  of  March  the  fort  was  consider- 
ably strengthened,  especially  its  rear  defenses,  and  its  armament  increased 
by  the  addition  of  some  heavy  and  light  guns.     Late  in  1864  its  battery 


The  War  Period.  375 


consisted  of  one  ten-inch  mortar,  three  ten-inch  Columbiads,  one  eight- 
inch  Columbiad,  one  forty-two-pounder  gun,  one  thirty-two-pounder 
gun,  rifled,  four  thirty-two-  pounder  guns,  smooth  bore,  one  twenty-four- 
pounder  howitzer,  two  twelve-pounder  mountain  howitzers,  two  twelve- 
pounder  Napoleon  guns,  and  six  six-pounder  bronze  field  guns.  The 
fort  was  finely  equipped  to  resist  a  naval  attack  and  to  defend  the  Great 
Ogeechee  River.  It  was  never  intended  to  resist  a  serious  or  protracted 
land  attack. 

The  destructive  march  of  General  Sherman's  army  from  Atlanta  to 
the  defenses  of  Savannah  occupied  the  time  from  the  middle  of  Novem- 
ber until  the  early  part  of  December,  1864.  The  merits  of  this  military 
movement  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  discuss.  That  the  methods  employed 
in  this  predatory  march  were  in  many  instances  unnecessary  and  cruel 
the  conservative  military  leaders  of  the  world  have  long  ago  admitted. 
That  the  objective  point  of  General  Sherman's  expedition  was  Savannah 
was  fully  realized  by  the  people  of  this  city  early  in  his  campaign. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  guard  the  city  from  attack.  The  patriotism  of 
the  people  was  fully  aroused,  and  they  freely  responded  to  the  following 
spirited  address  of  the  mayor  : 

"  Mayor's  Office, 
"Savannah,  November  28, 

"Fellow  Citizens, — The  time  has  come  when  every  male  who  can 
shoulder  a  musket  can  make  himself  useful  in  defending  our  hearths  and 
homes.  Our  city  is  well  fortified,  and  the  old  can  fight  in  the  trenches 
as  well  as  the  young;  and  a  determined  and  brave  force  can,  behind  en- 
trenchment, successfully  repel  the  assaults  of  treble  their  number. 

"The  general  commanding  this  division  has  issued  a  call  for  all  men  of 
every  age,  not  absolutely  incapacitated  from  disease,  to  report  at  once  to 
Captain  C.  W.  Howard  at  the  Oglethorpe  Barracks,  for  the  purpose  of 
organizing  into  companies  for  home  defense.  I  call  upon  every  man  not 
already  enrolled  into  a  local  corps  to  come  forward  at  once  and  report  to 
Captain  Howard.  Organization  is  everything.  Let  us  emulate  the  noble 
example  of  our  sister  cities  of  Macon  and  Augusta,  where  the  whole  male 
population  is  in  arms.  By  manning  the  fortifications  we  will  leave  free 
the  younger  men  to  act  in  the  field.  By  prompt  action  a  large  local 
force  can  be  organized  from  our  citizens  above  the  military  age,  and  from 
those  who  have  been  exempted  from  field  service. 


3,  1864.  } 


376  History  of  Savannah. 

"  No  time  is  to  be  lost.  The  man  who  will  not  comprehend  and  re- 
spond to  the  emergency  of  the  times  is  foresworn  to  his  duty  and  to  his 
country.  R.  D.  ARNOLD,  Mayor." 

On  the  loth  of  December,  1864,  Sherman's  army  enveloped  the  west- 
ern and  southern  lines  of  the  defenses  of  the  city,  and  with  this  date  the  his- 
tory of  the  siege  of  Savannah  properly  commences.  Although  every  ef- 
fort had  been  made  to  concentrate  a  large  force  for  the  defense  of  Savan- 
nah, such  was  the  pressure  upon  the  Confederacy  and  so  reduced  the 
troops  that  at  the  inception  and  during  the  siege  there  were  not  more  than 
ten  thousand  men  fit  for  duty  in  the  Confederate  lines  around  the  city,  and 
against  this  small  number  was  brought  to  bear  the  Federal  army  consist- 
ing of  some  sixty  thousand  infantii^-,  fifty-five  hundred  cavalry  and  a  full 
proportion  of  artillery.  This  large  force  completely  enveloped  the  west- 
ern lines  erected  for  the  defense  of  the  city,  extending  from  the  Savannah 
River  at  Williamson's  plantation  to  the  bridge  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
Railroad  across  Little  Ogeechee.  The  Confederate  line,  according  to 
Colonel  Jones  in  his  "Siege  of  Savannah,"  was  subdivided  and  commanded 
as  follows:  "The  right,  extending  from  the  Savannah  River  at  William- 
son's plantation  to  within  about  one  hundred  feet  of  the  Central  Railroad 
crossing,  garrisoned  by  the  Georgia  militia  and  the  State  line  troops,  was 
under  the  command  of  Major- General  Gustavus  W.  Smith.  Twenty 
guns  were  in  position  on  his  front. 

"  The  batteries  at  the  Central  Railroad  and  Louisville  Road  crossings, 
and  extending  from  that  point  to  the  head  of  Shaw's  dam,  were  com- 
manded by  Major-General  Lafayette  McLaws.  Twenty-nine  pieces  of 
artillery  were  posted  on  his  front. 

"  Lieutenant- General  William  J.  Hardee  was  in  general  command 
with  his  headquarters  in  the  city  of  Savannah.  For  holding  this  long 
line  less  than  ten  thousand  infantry,  dismounted  cavalry,  and  artillerists 
were  assembled  ;  and  for  the  space  of  ten  days  this  little  more  than  a 
thin  skirmish  line  confronted,  at  close  quarters,  Sherman's  investing  army 
over  sixty  thousand  strong. 

"  The  light  artillery  companies  were  distributed  as  the  necessities  of 
the  line. demanded,  and  were  either  actively  engaged  in  handling  the  guns 
in  position,  or  were  posted  at  such  convenient  distances  in  the  rear  that 
they  could  move  immediately  to  any  designated  point  in  their  respective 
fronts.     Only  two  of  them  were  held  in  reserve  park. 


Phe  War  Period. 


m 


"Lieutenant-Colonel  Charles  C.  Jones,  jr.,  was  chief  of  artillery. 

"  On  Major- General  Smith's  front  Captain  R.  W.  Anderson  acted  as 
chief  of  artillery  of  that  division.  Captain  J.  A.  Maxwell  was  detailed 
as  chief  of  artillery  on  Major-General  McLaws'  front,  and  Captain  John 
W.  Brooks  acted  in  a  similar  capacity  in  Major-  General  Wright's  divi- 
sion. 

"  By  assignment  of  the  general  commanding,  Major  Black  of  his  staff 
was  designated  as  inspector  on  Major-General  Smith's  front;  Colonel 
George  A.,  Gordon,  volunteer  aid,  inspector  on  Major-General  McLaws' 
front;  and  Lieutenant- Colonel  S.  B.  Paul,  of  the  lieutenant-general's 
staff,  inspector  on  Major-General  Wright's  front." 

So  judiciously  was  the  strength  of  the  Confederate  line  located  that 
the  Federals  failed  to  attack  it,  and  with  the  purpose  of  securing  an  out- 
let to  the  sea  by  an  avenue  other  than  the  Savannah  River,  General 
Sherman  turned  his  attention  to  Fort  McAllister,  which,  if  it  could  be 
captured,  opened  up  communication  with  an  expectant  fleet. 

The  fort  at  this  time  was  in  command  of  Major  George  W.  Anderson, 
the  garrison  consisting,  of  the  Emmett  Rifles,  Captain  George  A.  Nicoll ; 
Clinch  Light  Battery,  Captain  W.  B.  Clinch  ;  Companies  D  and  E., 
First  Georgia  Reserves,  the  first  company  commanded  by  Captain  Henry, 
and  the  second  by  Captain  Morrison.  The  whole  force  of  the  garrison 
was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  men. 

Against  this, small  body  of  men  in  an  absolutely  isolated  condition 
and  without  the  least  possible  chance  of  support  or  relief  from  any  quar- 
ter, the  Sejcond  Division  of  the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps  of  the  Federal  army, 
consisting  of  seventeen  regiments,  under  the  command  of  Brigadier- Gen- 
eral Hazen,  was  sent  by  order  of  General  Sherman  on  December  13, 
1864.  Genepl  Hazen  advanced  at  once  to  the  assault,  moving  with  his 
whole  force  against  the  fort  and  in  a  short  time  effected  its  capture  with 
a  Ipss  to  his  command  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  officers  and  men 
killed  and  wounded.  Major  Anderson  who  was  in  command  of  the  fort 
furnished  a  graphic  account  of  this  assault  to  Colonel  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,  for 
publication  in  his  "  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Chatham  Artillery,"  from 
which  we  take  the  following: 

"About  eight  o'clock  A.M.  [December  13,1864,]  desultory  firing 
commenced  between  the  skirmishers  of  the  enemy  and  my  sharpshooters. 


378  History  of  Savannah. 

At  ten  o'clock  the  fight  became  general,  the  opposing  forces  extending 
from  the  rives  entirely  around  to  the  marsh  on  the  east.  • .  .  .  Re- 
ceiving from  headquarters  neither  orders  nor  responses  to  my  telegraphic 
dispatches  I  determined,  under  the  circumstances,  and  notwithstanding 
the  great  disparity  of  numbers,  between  the  garrison  and  attacking  forces, 
to  defend  the  fort  to  the  last  extremity.  The  guns  being  en  barbette,  the 
detachment  serving  them  were  greatly  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy's 
sharpshooters.  To  such  an  extent  was  this  the  case  that  in  one  instance, 
out  of  a  detachment  of  eight  men,  three  were  killed,  and  three  more 
wounded.  The  Federal  skirmish  line  was  very  heavy  and  the  fire  so  close 
and  rapid  that  it  was  at  times  impossible  to  work  the  guns.  My  sharp- 
shooters did  all  in  their  power,  but  were  entirely  too  few  to  suppress  this 
galling  fire  upon  the  artillerists.  In  view  of  the  large  force  of  the  enemy 
— consisting  of  nine  regiments,  whose  aggregate  strength  was  estimated 
between  3,500  and  4,000  muskets,  and  possessing  the  ability  to  increase  it 
at  any  time  should  it  become  necessary — and  recollecting  the  feebleness 
of  the  garrison  of  the  fort,  numbering  150  effective  men,  it  was  evident, 
cut  off  from  all  support,  and  with  no  possible  hope  of  reinforcement, 
from  any  quarter,'  that  holding  the  fort  was  simply  a  question  of  time. 
There  was  but  one  alternative — death  or  captivity. 

"  Late  in  the  afternoon  the  full  force  of  the  enemy  made  a  rapid  and 
vigorous  charge  upon  the  works,  and  succeeding  in  forcing  their  way 
through  the  abatis,  rushed  over  the  parapet  of  the  fort  carrying  it  by 
storm,  and  by  virtue  of  superior  numbers,  overpowered  the  garrison^ 
fighting  gallantly  to  the  last.  In  many  instances  the  Confederates  were 
disarmed  by  main  force.  The  fort  was  never  surrendered.  It  was  cap- 
tured by  overwhelming  numbers. 

"  I  am  pleased  to  state  that  in  my  endeavors  to  hold  the  fort.  I  was 
nobly  seconded  by  the  great  majority  of  officers  and  men  under  my  com- 
mand. Many  of  them  had  never  been  under  fire  before,  and  quite  a 
number  were  very  young,  in  fact  mere  boys.  Where  so  many  acted 
gallantly  it  would  be  invidious  to  discriminate,  but  I  cannot  avoid  men- 
tioning those  who  came  more  particularly  under  my  notice.  I  would 
therefore  most  respectfully  call  the  attention  of  the  general  commanding 
to  the  gallant  conduct  of  Captain  Clinch,  who  when  summoned  to  sur- 
render by  a  Federal  captain  responded  by  dealing  him  a  blow  on  the 


The  War  Period.  379 


head  with  his  sabre  (Captain  Clinch  had  previously  received  two  gun- 
shot wounds  in  the  arm)  immediately  a  hand  to  hand  fight  ensued. 
Federal  privates  came  to  the  assistance  of  their  oflScer,  but  the  fearless 
Clinch  continued  the  unequal  contest  until  he  fell  bleeding  from  eleven 
wounds  (three  sabre  wounds,  six  bayonet  wounds  and  two  gun-shot 
wounds),  from  which  after  severe  and  protracted  suffering  he  has  barely 
recovered.  His  conduct  was  so  conspicuous,  and  his  cool  bravery  so 
much  admired,  as  to  elicit  the  praise  of  the  enemy  and  even  of  General 
Sherman  himself. 

"  First  Lieutenant  William  Schirm  fought  his  gun  until  the  enemy 
had  entered  the  fort,  and,  notwithstanding  a  wound  in  the  head,  gallantly 
remained  at  his  post  discharging  his  duties  with  a  coolness  and  efficiency 
worthy  of  all  commendation. 

"  Lieutenant  O'Neal,  whom  I  placed  in  command  of  the  scouting  party 
before  mentioned,  while  in  the  discharge  of  that  duty  and  in  his  subse- 
quent conduct  during  the  attack,  merited  the  honor  due  to  a  faithful  and 
gallant  officer. 

"  Among  these  who  nobly  fell  was  the  gallant  Hazzard,  whose  zeal 
and  activity  was  worthy  of  all  praise.  He  died  as  a  true  soldier  to  his 
post,  facing  overwhelming  odds.  The  garrison  lost  seventeen  killed  and 
thirty-one  wounded." 

Speaking  of  the  gallant  fight  of  these  Confederate  heroes  in  their  de- 
fense of  Fort  McAllister,  Colonel  Jones  in  his  "  Siege  of  Savannah," 
justly  says:  "Among  the  golden  deeds  wrought  by  Confederates  in  their 
gigantic  struggle  for  right,  property,  home,  and  national  independence, 
the  defense  of  Fort  McAllister  against  seven  naval  attacks  and  their  final 
assault  will  be  proudly  reckoned.  The  heroic  memories  of  this  earth- 
work will  be  cherished  long  after  its  parapets  shall  have  been  wasted  into 
nothingness  by  the  winds  and  rains  of  the  changing  seasons.  Utterly 
isolated,  cut  off  from  all  possible  relief — capture  or  death  the  only  alter- 
native— the  conduct  of  this  little  garrison  in  the  face  of  such  tremendous 
odds,  was  gallant  in  the  extreme." 

After  the  fall  of  Fort  McAllister  the  Federals  had  full  command  of  the 
Great  Ogecchee  River,  and  General  Sherman  was  enabled  to  establish  a 
convenient  base  of  supplies  for  his  army.  Reinforcements  could  be  had 
and  heavy  guns  could  be  procured  with  which  to  prosecute  the  siege  of 


38o  History  of  Savannah. 

Savannah.  That  the  Confederates  could  much  longer  hold  the  town  was 
impossible  and  the  early  evacuation  of  the  city  became  a  necessity.  The 
only  line  of  retreat  now  open  to  the  Confederates  was  by  bqats  to  Screv- 
en's ferry  landing,  and  thence  intb  South'  Carolina.  All  hope  of  success- 
fully coping  with  the  enemy  was  rightly  abandoned  by  General  Hardee 
and  he  concluded  to  evacuate  the  city  and  thus  save  his  command  to  the 
Confederacy. 

Orders  were  issued  for  the  immediate  construction  of  suitable  pon- 
toon bridges.  The  line  of  retreat  selected  by  the  engineers  involved  the 
location  of  a  pontoon  bridge  extending  from  the  foot  of  West  Broad  street 
to  Hutchinson  Island,  a  distance  of  about  one  thousand  feet,  a  roadway 
across  that  island  in  the  direction  of  Pennyworth  Island,  a  second  pon- 
toon bridge  across  the  Middle  River,  another  roadway  across  Penny- 
worth Island,  and  a  third  pontoon  bridge  across  Back  River,  the  further 
end  of  which  rested  on  the  Carolina  shore. 

The  work  of  building  the  bridges  and  constructing  the  roads  was 
placed  in  charge  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Frobel.  On  the  evening  of  the 
17th  of  December  the  first  of  the  bridges  was  completed,  and  by  half- 
past  eight  on  Monday  the  19th  following  the  remaining  bridges  were 
completed  and  the  route  in  readiness  for  the  retreat  of  the  Confederate 
garrison. 

In  the  meantime,  on  the  17th  of  December,  General  Sherman  de- 
manded the  surrender  of  Savannah  and  its  dependent  forts.  This  demand 
was  addressed  to  General  Hardee  and  conveyed  to  the  latter  officer  under 
a  flag  of  truce.  In  his  letter  General  Sherman  said :  "  I  have  already 
received  guns  that  can  cast  heavy  and  destructive  shot  as  far  as  the  heart 
of  your  city,  also  I  have  for  some  days  held  and  controlled  every  avenue 
by  which  the  people  and  garrison  of  Savannah  can  be  supplied,  and  I  am 
therefore  justified  in'  demanding  the  surrender  of  the  city  of  Savannah 
and  its  dependent  forts,  and  shall  await  a  reasonable  time  your  answer 
before  opening  with  heavy  ordnance."  To  this  demand  General  Hardee 
in  part  replied :  "  Your  statement  that  you  have  for  some  time  held  and 
controlled  every  avenue  by  which  the  people  and  garrison  can  be  sup- 
plied is  incorrect ;  I  am  in  free  and  constant  communication  with  my  de- 
partment. Your  demand  for  the  surrender  of  Savannah  and  its  depen- 
dent forts  is  refused." 


The  War  Period.  381 


Notwithstanding  the  defiant  attitude  of  General  Hardee  and  the  ap- 
parent attitude  of  the  Confederate  forces  to  continue  in  the  defense  of  the 
city,  the  work  for  preparing  the  way  of  retreat  went  steadily  on.  To 
deceive  the  enemy,  on  the  19th  and  2oth  of  December  the  Confederate 
artillery  and  infantry  fire  was  heavier  than  it  had  been  on  any  other  pre- 
vious days.  The  work  of  spiking  the  guns  and  destroying  of  ammuni- 
tion was  silently  and  skillfully  done,  and  on  the  evening  of  December  20 
the  evacuation  of  the  city  began,  and  by  three  o'clock  of  the  following 
morning  the  rearguard  of  the  Confederate  army  had  passed  over  to 
Hutchinson  Island  and  the  evacuation  of  the  city  was  complete. 

General  Hardee  in  speaking  of  the  successful  retreat  of  the  garrison, 
remarked  the  day  after  the  evacuation  to  Colonel  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,  chief 
of  artillery  during  the  siege,  "  that  while  sadly  deploring  the  loss  of  the 
city  he  was  persuaded  nothing  had  been  neglected  which  could  have  con- 
tributed to  the  honor  of  our  arms  ;  and  that  under  the  circumstances  he 
regarded  the  safe  withdrawal  of  his  army  from  the  lines  around  Savan- 
nah as  one  of  the  most  signal  and  satisfactory  exploits  in  his  military  ca- 
reer." 

The  intention  of  General  Hardee  to  evacuate  the  city  with  his  com- 
mand was  known  to  the  civil  authorities  of  the  city,  and  on  the  night 
of  December  20,  when  the  troops  had  begun  their  successful  retreat,  Dr. 
R.  D.  Arnold,  mayor  of  Savannah,  and  Aldermen  Henry  Brigham,  J.  F. 
O'Byrnc,  C.  C.  Casey,  Henry  Freeman,  Robert  Lachlison,  Joseph  Lipp- 
man,  J.  L.  Villalonga  and  George  W.  Wylly  met  in  the  Exchange  and 
resolved  that  the  council  should  repair  to  the  outer  defenses  of  the  city 
before  daylight  to  surrender  the  city  and  secure  such  terms  as  would  se- 
cure protection  to  the  persons  and  property  of  the  citizens.  The  history 
of  events  which  closely  followed  this  meeting  is  admirably  told  in  Lee  and 
Agnew's"  Historical  Record  of  Savannah,"  from  which  the  following  ac- 
count is  taken: 

"  The  council  dispersed  to  assemble  at  the  Exchange  at  a  later  hour 
where  hacks  would  await  to  convey  the  members  to  the  outer  works. 
As  they  came  out  of  the  Exchange  a  fire  was  observed  in  the  western 
part  of  the  city,  and  by  request  Messrs.  Casey,  O' Byrne  and  Lachlison 
went  to  it  with  a  view  of  taking  measures  for  its  suppression.  The  fire 
was  caused  by  the  burning  of  a  nearly  completed  ironclad  and  a  lot  of 


382  History  of  Savannah. 

timber  near  the  mouth  of  the  Ogeechee  Canal  which  had  been  fired  by 
the  retreating  troops.  The  wmd  was  blowing  to  the  west,  and  after  ob- 
serving that  no  danger  to  the  city  need  be  apprehended  from  the  flames, 
these  gentlemen  returned  to  the  Exchange  where  the  other  members  of 
the  council  had  assembled  and  were  in  a  hack  prepared  to  start.  They 
stated  that  other  hacks  had  been  provided,  but  General  Wheeler's  cav- 
alry had  pressed  the  horses  into  service.  Mr.  O'Byrne  procured  his 
horse  and  buggy  and  conveyed  Mr.  Casey  to  the  junction  of  the  Louis- 
ville road  with  the  Augusta  road — about  half  a  mile  beyond  the  Central 
Railroad  depot — and  leaving  him  there  returned  for  Mr.  Lachlison  who 
had  walked  in  that  direction.  The  party  in  the  hack,  meanwhile,  had 
come  up  to  Mr.  Casey,  and  taking  him  up  drove  up  the  Louisville  road. 
Mr.  O'Byrne  met  Mr.  Lachlison,  and  with  him  returned  to  where  Mr. 
Casey  had  been  left,  but  not  finding  any  of  the  party  there  concluded 
they  had  gone  up  the  Augusta  road,  and  proceeded  up  it,  hoping  to 
overtake  them.  They  advanced  but  a  short  distance  when  they  heard 
the  report  of  a  gun  and  a  minnie-ball  whistled  between  them.  They 
halted,  and  were  then  ordered  by  the  picket  to  turn  around,  (they  had 
unawares  passed  the  enemy's  picket  and  had  not  heard  the  command  to 
halt),  and  come  to  them.  They  did  as  commanded,  and  after  informing 
the  officer  of  the  picket  who  they  were,  were  conducted  to  Colonel  Bar- 
num  to  whom  they  stated  the  object  of  their  mission.  He  then  con- 
ducted them  to  General  John  W.  Geary.  They  told  him  that  the  city 
had  been  evacuated,  and  that  they,  having  started  with  the  mayor  and 
council  to  surrender  it;  but  becoming  separated  from  them,  would  assume 
the  authority  of  consummating  a  surrender.  General  Geary  at  first  did 
not  believe  them,  and  questioned  them  very  closely.  After  becoming 
satisfied  that  they  were  what  they  assumed  to  be,  he  consented  to  receive 
the  surrender.  The  aldermen  then  asked  that  the  hves  and  property  of 
the  citizens  should  be  respected  and  the  ladies  protected  from  insult. 
General  Geary  promptly  replied  that  the  requests  should  be  complied 
with,  and  that  any  soldier  detected  violating  the  orders  which  would  be 
given  to  restrain  them  should  be  punished  with  death.  Messrs.  Lachli- 
son and  O'Byrne  then  asked  that  a  detachment  should  be  sent  to  look 
after  the  mayor  and  other  aldermen,  which  was  granted.  General  Geary 
then  put  his  troops  in  motion  and  with  Messrs.  Lachlison  and  O'Byrne 


The  War  Period.  383 


acting  as  guides,  advanced  toward  the  city.  At  the  Central  Railroad 
bridge  they  were  met  by  the  mayor  and  aldermen  who  had  been  over- 
taken by  the  detachment  sent  for  them  and  returned  with  it.  They,  on 
being  introduced  to  the  general  and  told  what  had  been  done  by  Messrs. 
O'Byrne  and  Lachlison,  confirmed  their  action.  The  line  of  march  was 
then  taken  up  to  West  Broad  street,  down  to  the  Bay,  and  thence  to  the 
Exchange,  in  front  of  which  the  troops  were  drawn  up.  The  officers  and 
members  of  the  council  proceeded  to  the  porch,  from  which  General 
Geary  addressed  the  troops,  complimenting  them  upon  their  past  deeds 
and  upon  the  additional  honor  they  had  conferred  upon  themselves  by 
capturing  '  this  beautiful  city  of  the  South.'  During  this  speech  Colonel 
Barnum  observed  a  sergeant  step  out  of  the  ranks  to  the  store  at  the 
corner  of  Bull  and  Bay  street,  enter  and  come  out  wearing  a  fireman's 
hat.  On  coming  down  from  the  porch  he  called  the  sergeant  to  him, 
and  drawing  his  sword  ordered  him  to  hold  out  the  hat,  which  he  did,  and 
the  colonel  with  one  stroke  of  his  sword  cut  it  in  half.  He  then  stripped 
the  chevrons  from  the  sergeant's  arms  and  reduced  him  to  the  ranks. 

"  After  the  speech  the  troops  were  dispersed  in  squads  throughout 
the  city,  and,  notwithstanding  the  strict  orders  they  had  received,  com- 
mitted many  depredations,  among  them  the  wanton  destruction  of  valu- 
able books  and  papers  in  the  Exchange  and  court-house  belonging  to  the 
city  and  county.  General  Geary  established  his  headquarters  in  the  Cen- 
tral Railroad  Bank,  and  his  subordinate  officers  in  the  various  unoccupied 
stores  along  the  bay.  On  the  24th  of  December  he  issued  an  order  re- 
garding the  posts  and  duty  of  the  provost  guards,  and  instructing  the 
civil  authorities  to  resume  their  official  duties." 

General  W.  T.  Sherman  arrived  in  Savannah  on  the  2i,th,  and  after 
telegraphing  President  Lincoln  he  would  present  him  Savannah  as  a 
"  Christmas  gift,"  he  issued  the  following  order  from  his  headquarters  at 
the  Green  mansion  opposite  Oglethorpe  Barracks : 

"Headquarters  Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi,  ) 
"In  the  field,  Savannah,  Ga.,  December  26,  1864.         ) 
"Special  Field  Order,  ) 
"No.  143.  5 

"  The  city  of  Savannah  and  surrounding  country  will  be  held  as  a  mil- 
itary post  and  adapted  to  future  military  uses,  but  as  it  contains  a  popu- 


384  History  of  Savannah. 

lation  of  some  20,000  people  who  must  be  provided  for,  and  as  other  cit- 
izens may  come,  it  is  proper  to  lay  down  certain  general  principles,  that 
all  within  its  military  jurisdiction  may  understand  their  relative  duties 
and  obligations. 

"I.  During  war  the  military  is  superior  to  civil  authority,  and  where 
interests  clash  the  civil  must  give  way,  yet  where  there  is  no  conflict 
every  encouragement  should  be  given  to  well  disposed  and  peaceful  in- 
habitants to  resume  their  usual  pursuits.  Families  should  be  disturbed 
as  little  as  possible  in  their  residences,  and  tradesmen  allowed  the  free 
use  of  their  shops,  tools,  etc.  Churches,  schools,,  all  places  of  amusement 
and  recreation  should  be  encouraged  and  streets  and  roads  made  per- 
fectly safe  to  persons  in  their  usual  pursuits.  Passes  should  not  be  ex- 
acted within  the  lines  of  other  pickets,  but  if  any  person  should  abuse 
these  privileges  by  communicating  with  the  enemy  or  doing  any  act  of 
hostility  to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  he  or  she  will  be  pun- 
ished with  the  utmost  rigor  of  the  law. 

"  Commerce  with  the  outer  world  will  be  resumed  to  an  extent  com- 
mensurate with  the  wants  of  the  citizens,  governed  by  the  restriction 
and  rules  of  the  treasury  department. 

"  II.  The  chief  quartermaster  and  commissary  of  the  army  may  give 
suitable  employment  to  the  people,  white  or  black,  or  transport  them  to 
such  points  as  they  choose,  where  employment  may  be  had,  and  may  ex- 
tend temporary  relief  in  the  way  of  provisions  and  vacant  houses  to  the 
worthy  and  needy  until  such  time  as  they  can  help  themselves.  They  will 
select  first,  the  buildings  for  the  necessary  uses  of  the  army ;  next  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  stores  to  be  turned  over  to  the  treasury  agent,  for  trade 
stores.  All  vacant  storehouses  or  dwellings  and  all  buildings  belong- 
ing to  absent  rebels  will  be  construed  and  used  as  belonging  to  the  United 
States  until  such  times  as  their  titles  can  be  settled  by  the  courts  of  the 
United  States. 

"  III.  The  mayor  and  city  council  of  Savannah  will  continue  to  exer- 
cise their  functions  as  such  and  will,  in  concert  with  the  commanding  of- 
ficer of  the  post  and  the  chief  quartermaster,  see  that  the  fire  companies 
are  kept  in  organization,  the  streets  cleaned  and  lighted,  and  keep  up  a 
good  understanding  between  the  citizens  and  soldiers.  They  will  ascer- 
tain and  report  to  the  chief  C.  S.,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  names  and  mem- 
bers of  worthy  families  that  need  assistance  and  support. 


The  War  Period.  jg^ 


"The  mayor  will  forthwith  give  public  notice  that  the  time  has  come 
when  all  must  choose  their  course,  viz. :  to  remain  within  our  lines  and 
conduct  themselves  as  good  citizens  or  depart  in  peace.  He  will  ascer- 
tain the  names  of  all  who  choose  to  leave  Savannah,  and  report  their 
names  and  residences  to  the  chief  quartermaster  that  measures  may  be 
taken  to  transport  them  beyond  the  lines. 

"  IV.  Not  more  than  two  newspapers  will  be  published  in  Savannah, 
and  their  editors  and  proprietors  will  be  held  to  the  strictest  accountabil- 
ity, and  will  be  punished  severely  in  person  and  property  for  any  libel- 
ous publications,  mischievous  matter,  premature  news,  exaggerated  state- 
ments, or  any  comments  whatever  upon  the  acts  of  the  constituted  au- 
thorities ;  they  will  be  held  accountable  even  for  such  articles  though 
copied  from  other  papers. 

"By  order  of  Major-General  W.  T.  SHERMAN. 

"L.  M.  BrayTON,  Aid-de-camp." 

The  people  of  Savannah  in  a  spirit  of  moderation,  and  actuated  by 
the  most  sincere  motives,  quietly  undertook  the  work  of  adapting  them- 
selves to  the  conditions  imposed  upon  them  by  the  fate  of  war.  A  meet- 
ing of  the  citizens  was  held  in  the  Masonic  Hall  two  days  after  General 
Sherman  issued  his  order  to  "take  into  consideration  matters  appertain- 
ing to  the  present  and  future  welfare  of  the  city,  Dr.  R.  D.  Arnold  pre- 
sided, and  after  several  conciliatory  speeches  had  been  made,  the  follow- 
ing preamble  and  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

"Whereas,  By  the  fortunes  of  war  and  the  surrender  of  the  city  by 
the  civil  authorities,  the  city  of  Savannah  passes  once  more  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  United  States  ;  and  whereas,  we  believe  that  the  interest 
of  the  city  will  be  best  subserved  and  promoted  by  a  full  and  free  ex- 
pression of  our  views  in  relation  to  our  present  conditions ;  we,  there- 
fore, the  people  of  Savannah  in  full  meeting  assembled  do  hereby  resolve: 

"  That  we  accept  the  position,  and  in  the  language  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  seek  to  have  'peace  by  laying  down  our  arms  and 
submitting  to  the  national  authority  under  the  Constitution,  leaving  all 
questions  which  remain  to  be  adjusted  by  the  peaceful  means  of  legisla- 
tion, conference  and  votes.' 

"  Resolved,  That  laying  aside  all,  differences,  and  burying  by-gones 


386  History  of  SavannaiI. 


in  the  grave  of  the  past,  we  will  use  our  best  endeavors  once  more  to 
bring  back  the  prosperity  and  commerce  we  once  enjoyed. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  do  not  put  ourselves  in  the  position  of  a  con- 
quered city,  asking  terms  of  a  conqueror,  but  we  claim  the  immunities 
and  privileges  contained  in  the  Proclamation  and  Message  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  in  all  the  legislation  of  Congress  in  refer- 
ence to  a  people  situated  as  we  are,  and  while  we  owe  on  our  part  a 
strict  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  we  ask  the  protection 
over  our  persons,  lives  and  property  recognized  by  these  laws." 

Soon  after  the  Federal  troops  had  arrived  in  Savannah  they  threw 
up  intrenchments  to  resist  any  attempts  that  might  be  made  by  the  Con- 
federates to  recapture  the  city.  Intrenchments  were  also  thrown  up  on 
the  Thunderbolt  road  upon  which  guns  were  mounted,  bearing  upon  the 
city,  being  intended  as  a  rallying  point  if  they  should  be  driven  from  the 
other  intrenchments.  In  building  the  latter  line,  they  ran  their  works 
through  the  Catholic  Cemetery,  tearing  up  the  ground  and  in  many 
cases  mutilating  or  covering  up  the  monuments  and  tablets  erected  over 
the  dead.  In  some  instances  it  was  claimed  bones  were  dug  up,  and  left 
scattered  about.  The  officers  who  authorized  the  work,  when  remon- 
strated with,  claimed  the  work  was  necessary  and  excused  their  inhu- 
manity on  the  ground  of  "military  necessity." 

The  confiscation  of  the  cotton  which  was  stored  in  Savannah  was  the 
most  severe  financial  blow  suffered  by  the  city  during  its  occupancy  by 
the  Federals.  At  the  time  the  city  was  evacuated  there  were  30,500 
bales  of  upland  and  over  8,000  bales  of  Sea  Island  cotton  stored  in  the 
warehouses,  only  1,000  bales  it  is  claimed  belonging  to  the  Confederate 
States  government.  The  United  States  quartermaster  seized  all  of  this 
cotton  and  shipped  it  to  New  York  where  upland  cotton  at  this  time  com- 
manded $1.25  per  pound  and  Sea  Island  $3  per  pound,  making  the  to- 
tal value  of  the  seized  cotton  about  $28,000,000. 

While  the:  people  were  suffering  all  the  annoyances  and  hardships  in- 
cident to  military  rule  they  were  called  upon  to  bear  a  calamity  which  at 
one  time  threatened  to  destroy  the  entire  city.  This  was  the  fire  of  the 
27th  of  January,  1865,  which  destroyed  over  one  hundred  buildings.  It 
commenced  in  a  stable  in  the  rear  of  old  "Granite  Hall"  and  it  was  claimed 
was  started  by  the  Federal  soldiers.     Granite  Hall  had  been  used  by  the 


The  War  Period.  387 


Confederate  authorities  as  an  arsenal,  and  in  it  on  this  occasion  were 
stored  thousands  of  rounds  of  ammunition.  Under  the  direction  of  a 
United  States  officer  the  citizens  and  soldiers  commenced  to  remove  the 
ammunition,  but  before  much  of  it  had  been  removed  the  fire  was  com- 
municated to  the  powder  and  explosion  after  explosion  followed  in  rapid 
succession.  Fragments  of  shells  flew  in  all  directions,  killing  a  negro 
and  wounding  two  or  three  citizens.  "  During  this  novel  bombardment," 
saj's  a  local  historian,  "  which  put  a  stop  to  the  working  of  the  engines 
in  the  vicinity  and  allowed  the  fire  full  sway,  a  piece  of  shell  struck  the 
reservoir.  A  jet  of  water  immediately  sprung  out,  which  for  novelty 
and  beauty  surpassed  any  fountain,  looking  in  the  fiery  glare  like  a  sheet 
of  molten  silver."  Before  the  flames  were  extinguished  over  one  hun- 
dred houses  located  on  West  Broad,  between  Pine  and  St.  Gaul  streets, 
and  a  few  on  Broughton  and  Congress  streets  were  destroyed. 

No  act  of  General  Sherman's  while  in  Savannah  called  forth  more 
bitter  denunciation  than  his  order  requiring  the  wives  and  families  of 
Confederate  officers  to  be  sent  into  Confederate  lines.  Word  was  sent 
privately  to  the  ladies  that  it  was  the  intention  to  remove  them  and  that 
they  must  register  their  names  by  a  certain  time.  All  did  not  comply 
with  this  request  as  is  evinced  by  the  following  order  of  Major-General 
C.  Grover  then  in  command  of  Savannah  : 

"Office  Provost  Marshal,  District  of  Savannah. 

March  28,  1865. 

"  The  wives  and  families  of  Confederate  officers  who  have  not  regis- 
tered their  names  at  this  office  will  do  so  at  once." 

"  By  order,  BREVET  Major-General  C.  GroVER,  Commanding. 
"Robert  P.  York,  Provost  Marshal  District  of  Savannah,  Ga." 

Three  days  after  this  order  was  issued  the  ladies  and  children  were 
placed  on  the  steamer  Hudson  to  be  carried  to  Augusta,  but  when  the 
boat  arrived  at  Sister's  Ferry,  about  sixty- four  miles  from  Savannah,  the 
captain  refused  to  proceed  further.  Captain  Edward  C.  Anderson,  who 
was  stationed  at  this  point,  had  the  ladies  and  children  transferred  to  the 
shore  and  transported  to  Augusta  in  wagons,  the  only  means  of  convey- 
ing them  to  their  destinations.  The  suffering  and  exposure  they  had  to 
endure  was,  however,  of  short  duration,  for  shortly  after  their  arrival  in 


388  History  or  Savannah. 

Augusta  the  armies  of  Generals  Lee  and  Johnston  surrendered  and  they 
were  soon  united  at  their  homes  with  their  lawful  protectors. 

With  the  end  of  the  war  the  restrictions  which  had  been  placed  upon 
the  commerce  and  business  of  Savannah  were  gradually  removed,  a 
civil  government  was  restored,  and  the  people  brave  and  courageous, 
with  no  useless  regret,  took  up  the  work  of  retrieving  their  fallen  for- 
tunes and  restoring  the  city  they  loved  to  its  rightful  place  among  the 
commercial  centers  of  the  South.  With  unhesitating  confidence  they  put 
the  past  with  all  its  ruin  and  blasted  hopes  behind  them,  and  beginning 
at  the  very  bottom,  applied  themselves  to  planting  in  steady  labor,  frugal 
living  and  self-denial,  the  shattered  foundation  of  public  and  individual 
prosperity.  The  progress  they  have  made  challenges  wonder  and  ad- 
miration. To-day  Savannah  has  no  disturbing  element;  order,  industry 
and  thrift  are  everywhere,  while  its  growth  in  material  wealth,  and  pop- 
ulation suffers  no  disparagement  in  comparison  with  any  Southern  city. 


CHAPTER   XXVn. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  MILITARY  ORGANIZATIONS  OF  SAVANNAH. 

Growth  of  Military  Ideas--Chatham  Artillery — Savannah  Volunteer  Guards — First 
Volunteer  Regiment  of  Georgia — Georgia  Hussars— Colored  Military  Companies. 

FOR  an  even  century  no  American  city  has  had  a  m'ore  brilliant  mili- 
tary history  than  Savannah.  The  causes  which  fostered  and  de- 
veloped the  sentiments  which  have  made  the  city  conspicuous  in  this  re- 
gard, Colonel  C.  H.  Olmstead  admirably  explains  in  his  prelude  to  a  his- 
tory of  the  First  Georgia  Regiment,  published  in  the  Morning  News  of 
May  5,  1886,  from  which  we  make  the  following  liberal  extracts: 

"  From  the  eventful  day  on  which  General  Oglethorpe  landed  upon 
the  bluff  at  Yamacra  v  until  the  present  time,  the  city  of  Savannah  has 
been  noted  for  the  vigorous  hold  of  the  military  ideas  upon  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  its  citizens.     Military  spirit  born  of  necessity  has  always 


Military  Organizations.  389 

been  high,  and  a  belief  in  the  military  virtues  has  been  inherited  by  gen- 
eration after  generation,  imbibed  as  it  were  with  mother's  milk. 

"The  earliest  picture  of  the  city  represents  a  few  scattered  houses 
surrounded  by  a  wall  of  living  forest,  but  upon  the  left  a  flag  flutters  in 
the  breeze  and  a  battery  of  cannon  points  over  the  waters  of  the  river, 
promising  even  in  that  early  day  a  hot  welcome  to  every  foe.  The  col- 
ony was  planted  upon  ground  claimed  by  the  Spaniards.  Within  easy 
distance  was  the  strong  fortress  of  St.  Augustine,  a  base  from  which  again 
and  again  the  land  and  naval  forces  of  his  Majesty  Philip  the  Fifth  were 
hurled  against  the  little  handful  of  Englishmen.  A  regiment  was  one  of 
the  first  of  Oglethorpe's  wants,  and  from  the  beginning  each  colonist  felt 
in  his  inmost  soul  that  the  safety  of  altars  and  firesides  depended  upon 
stout  arms  and  brave  hearts.  No  wonder  that  then  was  born  the  spirit 
that  has  never  since  died.  The  war  of  the  Revolution  certainly  had  no 
tendency  to  weaken  the  sentiment,  but  rather  added  fuel  to  the  flame, 
and  to  this  day  the  imagination  of  every  native  of  the  old  city  kindles 
to  a  white  heat,  as  he  recalls  the  rush  of  Pulaski's  Legion  and  the  fall  of 
that  gallant  chieftain,  the  desperate  assault  upon  Spring  Hill  redoubt  by 
the  allied  forces,  and  the  death  of  Jasper.  We  mourn  over  the  fortunes 
of  that  fatal  day  as  though  it  had  been  yesterday,  and  how  our  hearts 
rejoice  as  we  think  of  the  glorious  morn  when  the  British  ships  sailed 
away  never  to  return  save  as  the  '  white  winged  messengers  of  peace,' 
and  the  '  Ragged  Continentals  '  once  more  marched  in  to  enjoy  their  own 
again. 

"These  events  were  talked  of  at  the  fireside  by  old  men  and  women, 
even  as  late  as  forty  years  ago.  As  little  children  they  had  witnessed 
them,  and  the  story  was  handed  down  from  one  to  another,  ever  excit- 
ing a  generous  ardor  in  noble  souls  to  prepare  for  the  day  when  their 
manhood,  too,  might  be  put  to  the  crucial  test,  their  courage  and  self- 
denial  tried  as  by  fire.  What  Savannahian  who  ever  saw  him,  can  forget 
the  venerable  figure  of  Sheftall  Sheftail,  that  old  soldier  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, pacing  back  and  forth  in  the  quaint  old  uniform  in  which  he  had 
fought  for  liberty,  and  who  can  tell  what  influences  his  simple  life  in  the 
community  may  have  had  in  moulding  military  thought  and  desire  ? 

.    "The  War  of  18 12  found  Savannah  still  an  outpost.     The  proximity 
of  Britain's  great  naval  stations  in  the  West  Indies,  kept  our  people  keenly 


390  History  of  Savannah. 

on  the  alert  to  repel  invasion.  Florida  was  still  a  dangerous  neighbor, 
and  so  once  again  the  maps  of  the  city  show  the  homes  of  its  inhabitants 
guarded  by  cannon.  From  the  river  on  the  east  around  to  the  river  on 
the  west  we  see  a  line  of  strong  redoubts  and  salients,  telling  the  story 
of  a  people  ready  to  defend  themselves,  a  people  who  had  added  to  nat- 
ural bravery  the  skill  and  military  capacity  which  belong  only  to  those 
who  study  the  arts  of  war  in  the  piping  times  of  peace. 

"The  legitimate  outgrowth  of  this  gallant  spirit  was  the  banding  to- 
gether of  the  young  men  of  Savannah  as  volunteer  soldiery.  Scarcely 
had  the  echoes  of  the  Revolution  died  away,  when  the  '  Dextrous  Com- 
pany of  Artillery '  was  formed — that  splendid  organization  whose  guns 
pealed  forth  a  welcome  to  Washington  and  thundered  a  mournful  fare- 
well over  the  grave  of  Greene.  .  .  .  Other  companies  were  formed 
in  quick  succession,  each  doing  its  full  share  in  fostering  the  manly  vir- 
tues received  of  their  fathers,  and  in  transmitting  to  their  successors  the 
traditions  of  a  glorious  past." 

The  Chatham  Artillery,  the  oldest  artillery  organization  in  the  State 
of  Georgia,  was  organized  on  May  i,  1786,  mainly  through  the  efforts  of 
Edwin  Lloyd,  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  who  was  elected  the  first  captain 
of  the  company.  The  first  public  service  rendered  by  the  battery  was 
performed  in  association  with  other  companies  of  the  regiment  of  the 
Chatham  county  militia,  and  other  troops  from  Beaufort  district,  in  the 
State  of  South  Carolina  in  attacking  and  dispersing  on  May  6,  1786,  a 
camp  of  runaway  negroes,  who,  styling  themselves  the  King  of  England's 
soldiers,  had  fixed  their  lawless  homes  on  Bear  Creek,  in  Effingham 
county.  The  first  funeral  honors  paid  by  the  corps  were  rendered  upon 
the  occasion  of  the  burial  of  Major- General  Nathanael  Greene  on  June 
20,  1786. 

During  the  visit  of  General  Washington  to  Savannah  in  May,  1791, 
he  was  constantly  attended  by  the  Chatham  Artillery,  then  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Elf,  the  second  captain  of  the  battery.  General 
Washington  after  his  visit  presented  to  the  battery  two  of  the  guns  taken 
at  Yorktown,  which  are  still  in  their  possession  and  cherished  with  much 
pride.  The  third  commander  of  the  battery  was  Josiah  Tattnall,  the 
father  of  Commodore  Tattnall,  a  man  upon  whom  was  bestowed  the 
highest  civil  and  military  honors  within  the  gift  of  the  State  of  Georgia. 


Military  Organizations.  391 


James  Robinson  was  the  fourth  captain  of  the  Chatham  Artillery,  being 
elected  in  July,  1794.  The  battery  under  his  command  participated  in 
the  Creek  Indian  disturbance  along  the  southern  coast  of  Georgia.  Ben- 
jamin Wall  succeeded  Captain  Robinson  as  commander  of  the  battery. 
Captain  Wall  was  followed  by  Richard  Montgomery  Stiles.  Under  the 
command  of  Captain  Robert  McKay,  the  Chatham  Artillery  as  a  part  of 
the  First  Regiment  of  the  Georgia  militia,  entered  the  service  of  the 
United  States  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  for  a  time  formed  a  part  of  the 
garrison  at  Fort  Jackson,  besides  being  actively  engaged  in  the  construc- 
tion of  earth-works  for  the  immediate  protection  of  Savannah.  The 
eighth  captain  of  the  Chatham  Artillery  was  Colonel  William  T.  Will- 
iams who  was  elected  in  18 16,  and  continued  as  captain  until  his  election 
in  1824  as  major  of  the  First  Regiment.  Colonel  Williams  was  several 
times  elected  mayor  of  Savannah,  and  was  a  man  of  the  highest  integrity 
of  character. 

During  the  command  of  Captain  Blois,  who  succeeded  Colonel  Will- 
iams, the  city  of  Savannah  was  honored  by  a  visit  from  General  Lafay- 
ette, upon  which  occasion  the  Chathams  extended  military  honor  to  the 
friend  of  Washington. 

On  February  2,  1826,  Charles  M.  King  was  elected  the  tenth  captain 
of  the  Chatham  artillery,  and  for  a  period  of  six  years  he  remained  in  ac- 
tive command.  He  was  followed  as  captain  by  Charles  Stephens,  an  of- 
ficer of  the  regular  army  who  had  seen  much  service  in  the  southwest 
under  General  Jackson.  It  was  under  his  command  that  the  Chatham 
artillery  tendered  its  services  to  the  governor  of  the  State  when  the  Uni- 
ted States  became  involved  in  the  war  with  Mexico.  They  were  not  ac- 
cepted because  their  services  were  not  required.  For  seventeen  years 
the  command  of  the  company  was  retained  by  Captain  Stephens.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Captain  John  B.  Gallic,  who  during  the  civil  war,  while 
in  command  at  Fort  McAUister,  with  the  rank  of  major,  was  killed  on 
February  i,  1863.  It  was  during  the  captaincy  of  Major  Gallic  that  the 
company  assisted  in  celebratijig  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  settle- 
ment of  Liberty  county  in  1853,  on  which  occasion  the  Chatham  Artil- 
lery, Republican  Blues  and  the  Savannah  Guards  formed  a  mihtary  or- 
ganization known  as  the  Washington  Legion. 

John  E.  Ward  succeeded  Major  Gallie  as  captain.     In  1858  Joseph 


j9^  History  op  SavaNnaH. 


S.  Claghorn  became  the  fourteenth  commander  of  the  company.  Under 
the  captaincy  of  the  latter  the  battery  was  mustered  into  the  service  of 
the  Confederate  States  on  July  31,  1861,  as  a  part  of  the  First  Volunteer 
Regiment  of  Georgia,  the  commissioned  officers  being  Jasper  S.  Clag- 
horn, captain;  Charles  C.  Jones,  jr.,  senior  first  lieutenant;  Julian  Hart- 
ridge,  junior  first  lieutenant ;  William  H.  Davidson,  senior  second  lieu- 
tenant, and  Bernardino  S.  Sanchez,  junior  second  lieutenant. 

On  May  i  preceding  their  being  mustered  into  service,  the  seventy- 
fifth  anniversary  of  the  corps  was  celebrated  with  most  interesting  cere- 
monies, on  which  occasion  an  oration  commemorative  of  its  history  from 
its  earliest  organization  was  pronounced  By  the  senior  first  lieutenant, 
Charles  C.  Jones,  jr.  On  October  14,  1862,  Lieutenant  Jones  was  pro- 
moted and  commissioned  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  artillery,  and  by  Briga- 
dier-General Mercer  was  ordered  to  the  command  of  the  light  batteries 
in  the  military  district  of  Georgia,  in  which  capacity  he  continued  to  ren- 
der most  efficient  service  until  the  war  closed.  The  remaining  war  rec- 
ord of  the  corps  we  have,  with  only  slight  changes,  taken  from  the  ad- 
dress of  Hon.  John  E.  Ward,  delivered  at  the  centennial  anniversary  ex- 
ercises of  the  company,  held  in  Savannah  in  May,  1886. 

Under  Captain  Claghorn  the  company  entered  the  Confederate  ser- 
vice with  over  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  with  horses,  drivers  and 
cannoneer,  and  as  a  thoroughly  drilled  and  mounted  battery.  On  De- 
cember 24,  1861,  a  Blakely  gun.  throwing  a  conical  projectile  of  nearly 
twelve  pounds  in  weight,  which  had  been  brought  through  the  blockade, 
was  assigned  to  this  battery  by  Brigadier- General  Lawton,  as  a  special 
mark  of  the  esteem  in  which  the  battery  was  held  by  him,  and  as  a  re- 
ward for  the  proficiency  and  skill  which  it  had  already  attained.  For 
many  months  it  continued  in  their  possession,  and  was  used  by  them  in 
the  battle  of  Secession-ville.  When  the  armament  of  the  battery  was 
changed,  it  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  company,  and  was  abandoned 
by  Wagner's  German  artillery  upon  the  retreat  from  Bryan  county,  when 
at  the  close  of  the  war  it  was  retiring  within  the  Confederate  lines  on  the 
old  Darien  road,  upon  the  advance  of  Sherman's  army. 

The  first  hostile  guns  were  heard  in  the  encampments  of  the  battery 
on  October  30,  1861.  On  that  day  launches  from  a  blockading  vessel 
attempted  to  set  fire  to  a  schooner  which  had  stranded  near  the  Confed- 


Military  Organizations.  393 

erate  battery  on  the  north  point  of  Warsaw  Island.  This  battery  was  at 
the  time  garrisoned  by  the  Republican  Blues  of  Savannah,  and  opened 
fire  upon  the  launches,  which  resulted  in  an  engagement  which  was  ter- 
minated by  the  withdrawal  of  the  Federals  without  accomplishing  their 
purpose.     This  was  the  first  passage  of  arms  on  the  coast  of  Georgia. 

Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines,  General  Lawton,  who 
from  the  first  moment  when,  as  colonel  of  the  State  regiment  under  the 
order  of  Governor  Brown,  he  had  occupied  Fort  Pulaski,  had  with  ability 
and  patriotism  devoted  his  entire  time  and  all  his  energies  to  the  defense 
of  Georgia,  received  an  order  to  prepare  five  thousand  men  to  move  on 
to  Richmond  at  the  shortest  notice.  His  prompt  reply  was  :  "  My  men, 
to  the  number  designated,  are  ready  to  march  at  once,  and  I  earnestly 
request  that  I  may  be  ordered  to  Virginia  with  them."  This  request  was 
granted,  and  history  records  how  he  there  illustrated  his  State,  and  glad- 
dened the  hearts  of  her  people  by  his  gallant  deeds. 

The  Chatham  Artillery,  then  a  part  of  his  command,  earnestly  solic- 
ited to  be  allowed  to  follow  their  general  to  the  field  of  battle.  Their 
application  was  warmly  seconded  by  General  Lawton,  but  was  refused 
because  their  services  were  deemed  absolutely  necessary  on  the  seacoast 
of  Georgia. 

On  December  12,  1862,  when  by  the  exertions  of  Captain  Claghorn 
the  battery  had  been  raised  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five 
men,  the  animals  carefully  trained  and  all  the  appointments  of  the  bat- 
tery in  excellent  order,  he  resigned  the  command  of  the  company  to  ac- 
cept the  appointment  of  lieutenant- colonel  and  ordnance  officer  upon  the 
staff  of  Major-General  Gustavus  W.  Smith,  commanding  the  Georgia 
militia  and  the  State  forces.  Passing  through  all  the  dangers  of  the  war, 
Captain  Claghorn  died  at  his  own  home,  in  the  city  of  Savannah,  on  April 
8,  1879,  honored,  respected  and  beloved,  having  been  as  a  man,  all  that 
wife,  child,  or  friend  could  hope  for.  He  was  buried  by  the  Chatham 
Artillery  with  military  honors,  leaving  no  ex-captain  of  the  company  sur- 
viving but  John  E.  Ward. 

The  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  Captain  Claghorn  was 
filled  by  the  promotion  of  the  then  Junior  First  Lieutenant  John  F. 
Wheaton  to  the  captaincy,  who  is  yet  the  honored  commander,  having 
been  captain  for  more  than  one-quarter  of  the  entire  period  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  corps.  so 


394  History  of  Savannah. 

John  F.  Wheaton  was,  born  at  Gilford,  New  Haven  county,  in  the  State 
of  Connecticut,  on  January  22,  1822.  After  a  short  residence  at  Hart- 
ford and  Bridgeport  in  his  native  State,  he  came  to  Savannah  in  1852, 
and  having  selected  this  as  his  home,  has  been  one  of  its  most  useful  and 
valued  citizens  for  more  than  one-third  of  a  century.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Chatham  Artillery  in  May,  1856,  was  appointed  chairman 
of  the  armory  committee,  1859,  which  position  he  has  held  from  that  time 
up  to  the  present.  During  that  period  the  entire  debt  for  the  original 
cost  of  the  armory,  about  $i2;ooo,  under  his  judicious  management  has 
been  retired.  A  large  amount  has  been  expended  in  repairs  to.  the  ar- 
mory building,  the  company's  quarters  have  been  comfortably  and  taste- 
fully furnished,  and  the  armory  has  been  improved  at  an  expense  of  about 
$7,000. 

He  was  elected  a  corporal  of  the  company  in  1859,  promoted  to  sec- 
ond sergeant  in  May,  1861,  to  orderly  sergeant  in  February,  1862,  to 
junior  first  lieutenant  May,  1862,  and  to  the  captaincy  in  November,  1862. 

Captain  Wheaton  assumed  command  not  on  a  holiday  parade,  not 
amid  the  pomp  and  pageantry  of  mimic  war,  not  in  the  hour  of  sunshine, 
but  when  the  roar  of  battle  was  sounding,  when  danger  stood  in  every  path, 
when  death  lurked  in  every  corner. 

Faithfully  and  fearlessly,  from  that  period  to  the  present  time,  has  he 
discharged  every  obligation  resting  upon  him,  as  a  soldier  amid  the  carn- 
age of  battle,  or  a  citizen  treading  the  path  of  duty,  encompassed  by  the 
"  Pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness,"  or  as  the  chief  officer  of  the  city. 
Immediately  after  assuming  command  of  the  company  the  battery  was 
ordered  to  James  Island  in  Charleston  harbor,  and  there  for  two  years  it 
endured  all  the  hardships  and  participated  in  all  the  engagements  and 
skirmishes  that  there  occurred,  serving  at  Battery  Wagner  with  detach- 
ments of  thirty  men  during  the  most  eventful  month  of  the  memorable 
siege  of  that  fort. 

Transferred  from  the  coast  of  South  Carolina  to  the  everglades  of 
Florida,  under  the  command  of  General  Colquitt,  the  company  was  en- 
gaged in  the  famous  battle  of  Olustee,  where  by  the  skillful  handling 
of  their  battery  they  greatly  contributed  to  the  winning  of  that  glorious 
victory.  It  participated  in  the  reconnoissance  and  engagement  at  Cedar 
Creek  and  at  Columbia,  S.  C.      Retreating  with  General  Johnston's  army 


Military  Organizations.  395 


through  South  Carolina  from  Columbia  to  Smithville,  thence  to  Raleigh 
and  thence  to  Greensborough,  where  it  was  surrendered  in  April,  1865, 
with  Johnston's  entire  command.  Immediately  after  the  surrender  the 
company  was  marched  to  Augusta,  Ga.,  where  it  was  disbanded  as  a 
Confederate  organization.  Thus,  from  the  time  when  the  curtain  rose 
at  Pulaski  to  its  fall  at  Greensborough,  the  Chatham  Artillery  was  no- 
bly performing  its  part  in  this  great  drama  which  had  fixed  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world  for  four  years,  and  been  baptized  in  the  blood  of  thou- 
sands engaged  in  constant  and  active  service,  enduring  cheerfully  every 
privation,  fearlessly  encountering  every  danger,  and  during  the  most  try- 
ing periods  led  by  John  F.  Wheaton  as  commander. 

During  the  dark  days  of  reconstruction  the  company  was  not  permit- 
ted to  retain  its  military  character,  yet  all  the  members  assembled  in  citi- 
zens dress  whenever  summoned  by  their  officers  for  the  transaction  of 
business.  Although  their  armory  was  seized  by  the  forces  of  the  United 
States  in  December,  1 864,  and  placed  under  the  control  of  the  Freedman's 
Bureau  until  June,  186S,  the  interest  due  on  the  armory's  scrip  was  at  all 
times  paid,  and  the  general  welfare  of  the  organization  was  carefully 
looked  after  and  attended  to.  The  social  characteristics  that  had  so  long 
been  features  of  the  company,  were  retained  and  continued  during  that 
humiliating  period.  On  February  22,  1866,  the  company  gave  a  grand 
picnic,  and  since  that  date  has  given  one  every  year,  in  which  its  mem- 
bers, their  families  and  friends  participated. 

On  January  19,  1872,  the  anniversary  of  the  birthday  of  General  Rob- 
ert E.  Lee,  the  company  made  its  first  uniformed  appearance  after  the 
war,  and  since  that  date  has  paraded  on  all  its  regular  parade  days  on 
all  public  occasions,  retaining  in  its  advanced  age  its  true  military  bear- 
ing, its  social  instincts,  its  patriotic  and  public  spirit,  remaining  true  to  the 
principles  that  actuated  the  fathers  and  promoters  of  this  grand  old  asso- 
ciation from  its  organization. 

As  soon  after  the  surrender  of  the  Confederate  army  as  the  nature  of 
the  case  and  the  exigency  of  the  times  would  permit,  the  company  was 
reorganized  upon  a  peace  basis.  Their  Washington  guns,  which  had  been 
carefully  buried  and  concealed  during  the  war,  were  resurrected  from 
their  hiding-place,  and  remounted  and  restored  to  their  former  position 
as  honorary  field-pieces  of  the  battery.     The  old  spirit  still  survived, 


396  History  of  Savannah.' 

and  the  Chatham  Artillery  was  again  restored  to  its  pristine  vigor  and 
its  high  reputation  among  the  volunteer  companies  of  Savannah.  The 
objects  of  the  founders  of  this  military  organization  are  thus  expressed 
in  the  preamble  to  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  company: 

"  Impressed  with  a  firm  belief  that  the  safety  of  the  glorious  institu- 
tions under  which  we  live,  and  which  have  been  bequeathed  to  us  as  a 
sacred  and  inestimable  legacy,  purchased  by  the  blood  and  toil  of  the 
fathers  of  the  Republic,  depends  upon  a  well  regulated  and  strictly  dis- 
ciplined militia,  and  that  such  a  militia  is  especially  necessary  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  we  live,  from  the  peculiar  character  of  our  population 
which  renders  it  necessary  to  be  always  prepared,  and  ever  on  the  alert 
to  meet  a  danger  which  may  have  its  being  among  us  without  our  knowl- 
edge, and  may  break  forth  in  our  most  unsuspecting  moments  ;  fully  con- 
vinced that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  contribute  not  only  to  the  pe- 
cuniary exigencies  of  his  country  when  demanded,  but  to  be  prepared  in 
times  of  danger  when  the  peace  and  welfare  and  dignity  of  that  country 
are  threatened  to  interpose  his  person  as  a  shield  and  safeguard  between 
her  and  dishonor  ;  that  to  obtain  this  laudable  and  honorable  object,  a 
proper  organization  and  a  strict  bond  of  union  and  action  are  required  as 
well  in  peace  as  in  war,  and  that  a  corps  devoted  to  the  service  of  field  arm- 
ory is  an  honorable,  important  and  efficient  branch  of  the  national  or  State 
defense,  affording  the  best  opportunities  to  render  valuable  those  services 
which  it  is  our  duty  and  desire  to  proffer  to  our  beloved  country  on  all 
occasions  when  the  support  of  her  right  or  interest  may  demand  them, 
we  the  officers,  noncommissioned  officers  and  privates  of  the  Chatham 
Artillery  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed  for  the  purposes  above 
recited,  and  with  a  view  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  military  tactics,  and 
especially  that  portion  more  particularly  embraced  under  the  title  of  our 
association,  do  hereby  solemnly  agree  to  the  following  rules  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Chatham  Artillery,  and  we  do  hereby  pledge  our  honor, 
for  which  our  signature  is  witness,  that  we  will  to  the  best  of  our  ability 
and  understanding  devote  ourselves  to  the  advancement  of  the  interests  • 
of  the  corps,  to  which  we  have  voluntarily  attached  ourselves  by  all  hon- 
orable means,  and  ardently  co-operate  in  the  increase  of  its  strength,  re- 
spectability and  discipline,  and  that  we  will  foster  and  maintain  senti- 
ments of  respect  and  affection  towards  each  other  as  soldiers  and  citizens, 


Military  Organizations.  397 

and  united  as  a   band  of  brothers,  devote  ourselves,  when  occasion  re- 
quires it,  to  the  service  of  our  Country." 

It  may  in  just  pride  be  affirmed  that  the  members  of  this  ancient  com- 
pany have  under  all  circumstances  and  on  all  occasions  endeavored  to 
redeem  the  pledges  and  maintain  the  sentiments  thus  early  given  and 
recorded.  Surviving  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune  and  the  shock  of  battle 
this  organization  after  more  than  a  century's  existence,  is  still  bouyant  in 
spirit  and  strong  in  membership.  The  total  strength  of  the  company, 
rank  and  file,  is  fifty-eight  men.  The  implements  of  war  consist  of  two 
six-pounders,  presented  by  General  George  Washington,  one  howitzer, 
one  light  six-pounder,  and  one  gatling  gun.  The  officers  are :  John  F. 
Wheaton,  captain  ;  R.  F.  Harmon,  senior  first  lieutenant ;  G.  P.  Walker, 
junior  first  lieutenant;  J.  R.  Saussy,  second  lieutenant;  I.  A.  Solomons, 
orderly  sergeant ;  T.  N.  Theus,  ordnance  sergeant ;  E.  E.  Buckner,  quar- 
termaster sergeant;  J.  B.  Law,  guidon  sergeant;  J.  S.  Silva,  secretary; 
J.  F.  La  Far,  treasurer. 

Savannah  Volunteer  Guards.  This  is  the  oldest  infantry  corps  in 
Georgia.  It  was  organized  as  a  company  early  in  1802,  and  was  at- 
tached to  the  First  Regiment,  First  Brigade,  First  Division  of  the  Georgia 
Militia.  Its  first  parade  was  on  May  i,  1802,  and  it  has  ever  since 
adopted  and  observed  that  day  as  its  anniversary.  On  the  20th  of  the 
same  month  the  corps  took  part  in  the  reception  extended  to  vice- Presi- 
dent Aaron  Burr.  The  uniform  at  that  time  was  blue,  trimmed  with  red, 
with  gold  bars  across  the  breast. 

Dr.  John  Cummings  was  the  first  captain  of  the  Guards.  He  was  an 
Irishman  by  birth — one  of  the  leading  and  most  influential  merchants  of 
Savannah  at  that  time,  and  president  of  the  Branch  Bank  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  lost  at  sea  on  board  the  steamer  Pulaski,  on  a  trip 
from  Savannah  to  Baltimore. 

Captain  Cummings  resigned  in  1808,  and  was  succeeded  by  Captain 
James  Marshall.  During  Captain  Marshall's  command  the  War  of  1812 
with  Great  Britain  occurred,  and  the  Guards  with  the  other  companies  of 
Savannah  composing  the  First  Regiment  were  mustered  into  the  service 
of  the  United  States  for  local  defense,  and  at  one  time  a  portion  of  the 
Guards  with  the  Republican  Blues  were  sent  on  an  expedition  against  St. 
Augustine.     We  are  unable  to  ascertain  how  long  Captain  Marshall  con- 


398  History  of  Savannah! 

tinued  to  command  tlie  Guards.  He  afterwards  became  colonel  of  the 
regiment,  and  was  so,  as  hite  as  1825.  He  was  succeeded,  however,  as 
captain  of  the  Guards  by  Fredeiick  S.  Fell,  who  had  been  first  lieutenant 
of  the  company. 

In  18 1 8  Edward  F.  Tattnall  was  elected  commander.  Captain  Tatt- 
nall was  of  the  family  of  Tattnalls  so  distinguished  in  the  history  of 
Georgia.  His  father  was  Josiah  Tattnall,  \vho  had  been  the  third  cap- 
tain of  the  Chatham  Artillery,  colonel  of  the  First  Regiment  Georgia 
Militia,  general  of  the  First  Brigade,  United  States  Senator  from  Georgia, 
and  governor  of  the  State.  He  was  the  elder  and  only  brother  of  the 
celebrated  Commodore  Josiah  Tattnall,  who,  himself,  was  a  member ^of 
the  Guards  from  his  early  manhood  to  his  death,  and  whose  remains  they 
attended  to  their  last  resting  place  at  Bonaventure  on  June  16,  1871. 

Captain  Tattnall  had  been  a  captain  in  the  United  States  army  in  the 
war  of  1812,  and'  had  greatly  distinguished  himself  in  an  engagement 
with  the  British  at  Point  Petre,  near  St.  Mary's,  Ga.  Captain  Tattnall 
entered  upon  the  command  of  the  guards  vigorously  and  with  zeal.  He 
was  evidently  a  born  soldier;  arid,  though  a  strict  disciplinarian  and  very 
exacting  in  his  requirements,  he  soon  secured  the  absolute  devotion  of 
his  command,  and,  infusing  into  it  much  of  his  own  high,  chivalric  spirit, 
enhanced,  if  he  did  not  create,  that  intense  and  admirable  esprit  de  corps 
which  has  ever  since  been  one  of  its  chief  characteristics.  Under  his 
leadership  it  attained  a  degree  of  efficiency  and  prosperity  it  had  never 
known  before,  and  received  an  impulse  which  it  has  not  yet  lost.  He 
may  be  considered,  in  the  largest  sense,  "the  second  foiinder  "  of  the 
corps.  On  the  occasion  of  President  James  Monroe's  visit  to  Savannah 
on  May  8,  1819,  the  Savannah  Volunteer  Guards,  under  his  command, 
took  part  in  the  reception  and  parade.  The  second  uniform  adopted  by 
the  company  was  blue,  trimmed  and  slashed  with  scarlet,  and  a  full  scar- 
let front — very  similar  to  the  uniform  of  the  French  gens  d'arme  at  one 
time.  And,  in  this  connection,  a  pleasant  incident  is  related  as  occur- 
ring on  the  occasion  of  Lafayette's  visit  to  Savannah  during  his  Ameri- 
can tour  in  1825. 

It  appears  that  the  distinguished  visitor  landed  at  the  foot  of  East 
Broad  street.  A  contemporary  account  says:  "The  troops  were  placed 
in  position  on  the  green,  in  front  of  the  avenue  of  trees,  their  right  on 


Military  Organizations.  399 

East  Bay.  A  more  gallant  and  splendid  military  display  we  have  never 
seen;  the  effect  was  beautiful ;  every  corps  exceeded  its  customary  num- 
bers; many  who  had  not  appeared  under  arms  for  years  shouldered  them 
on  this  occasion,  and  the  usual  pride  of  appearance  and  honorable  emu- 
lation was  ten  times  increased  by  the  occasion.  Those  who  know  the 
volunteer  companies  of  Savannah  will  believe  this  to  be  no  empty  com- 
pliment." 

The  incident  referred  to  is  that,  as  Lafayette  passed  down  the  line, 
he  reached  Tattnall  with  his  Guards,  and  either  affected  by  the  sight 
of  a  uniform  so  familiar  to  him  in  his  own  country,  or  attracted  by  the 
fine  appearance  of  the  company,  he  threw  up  both  hands,  and,  with 
sparkling  eyes,  exclaimed,  "  Ah  !  quels  beaux  soldats  I  qjich  beaux  sold- 
alsl" 

Captain  Tattnall  continued  in  command  until  January,  183 1,  and  after 
an  interval  of  some  time  was  succeeded  by  Joseph  W.  Jackson.  Cap- 
tain Jackson  was  a  lawyer,  a  member  of  Congress  and  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  his  day.  His  successor  was  William  Robertson, 
proprietor  of  the  Savannah  Daily  Georgian,  who  assumed  command  in 
November,  1836.  Capt.iin  Robertson  held  his  commission  but  a  few 
months,  resigning  in  July,  1837.  He  was  succeeded  by  William  P. 
Bovven,  under  whom  was  procured  an  act  of  the  Legislature  authorizing 
the  corps  to  half  pay  members,  the  object  of  which  was  to  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  a  fund  with  v/hich  at  some  future  da}',  to  build  an  armory  or 
arsenal. 

Captain  Bowen  resigned  in  1844,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Dr. 
Cosmo  P.  Richardsone,  who  was  elevated  to  the  position  from  the  rank 
of  private.  Captain  Richardsone  proved  to  be  an  officer  of  extraordin- 
ary merit.  During  his  term  occurred  the  incorporation  of  the  corps 
which  in  another  part  of  the  chapter  is  more  fully  discussed.  Captain 
Richardsone  died  while  holding  the  position  of  Captain  of  the  Guards- 
He  was  dearly  beloved  by  every  member  of  the  corps  and  his  death  was 
in  the  nature  of  a  personal  loss.  He  was  buried  with  military  honors  on 
February  8,  1852. 

Dr.  James  P.  Screven,  an  exempt  private,  was  elected  the  next  Cap- 
tain of  the  Guards,  the  first  position  of  a  public  character  he  had  ever 
consented    to  take.     Soon,   however,  he    became    in  quick    succession, 


400  History  of  Savannah. 

mayor  of  the  city,  member  of  the  State  Senate  and  first  president  of  the 
Savannah,  Albany  and  Gulf  Railroad  Company,  now  known  as  the  Sa- 
vannah, Florida  and  Western  Railway.  Dr.  Screven's  pressing  public 
and  private  engagements  induced  him  to  resign  in  December,  1857,  when 
he  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  the  present  distinguished  citizen  of 
Savannah,  Colonel  John  Screven. 

Under  the  administration  of  Captain  Screven  the  corps  made  rapid 
advance  in  all  the- avenues  which  marlc  the  proficiency  of  a  military  or- 
ganization. The  first  event  of  importance  during  tlie  command  of  Cap- 
tain John  Screven  was  the  acquisition  of  an  armory.  This  was  secured 
in  1859  by  the  purchase  of  the  old  Unitarian  Church  on  the  southeast- 
ern corner  of  BuU  and  York  streets.  It  required  some  time  and  expense 
to  prepare  the  building  for  the  use  of  the  corps,  but  it  was  finally  con- 
verted into  pleasant  military  quarters.  During  the  occupation  of  the 
city  by  Sherman  in  1864,  it  was  used  by  some  of  his  troops  as  a  guard- 
house.    Through  their  carelessness  it  took  fire  and  was  destroyed. 

Soon  after  the  acquisition  of  an  armory  a  very  rapid  increase  in  the 
members  of  the  corps  began  to  take  place,  and  it  not  infrequently  hap- 
pened that  at  an  afternoon  drill  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  or  more 
would  be  out — a  number  quite  too  large  to  be  handled  with  convenience 
as  a  single  company.  This  state  of  affairs  gave  rise  to  the  idea  of  form- 
ing an  independent  battalion.  Steps  were  immediately  taken  to  carry 
it  into  effect. 

While  preparations  to  form  a  battalion  were  going  on  South  Carolina 
seceded  from  the  Union,  and  on  January  3,  1861,  as  related  in  the  chap- 
ter devoted  to  the  war  period,  fifty  men  of  the  Guards  under  Captain 
Screven,  the  Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry  and  the  Chatham  Artillery  were 
taken  by  Colonel  Lawton  under  orders  from  Governor  Brown,  and  ef- 
fected the  seizure  of  Fort  Pulaski.  From  this  time  for  several  months 
the  volunteer  companies  took  turns  at  Fort  Pulaski,  The  Guards  were 
there  several  times. 

While  these  events  were  in  progress,  recruits  rapidly  poured  in  and 
the  Guards  hastened  to  effect  the  permanent  battalion  organization.  The 
plan  was  to  form  two  companies,  A  and  B,  by  assigning  members  to 
them;  and  complete  the  organization  by  formal  elections  for  officers,  and 
to  elect  Captain  Screven  major  of  the  battalion.      But  at  this  juncture 


^:^^^&^^,^- 


Military  Organizations.  401 


the  then  adjutant- general  of  the  State  maintained  that  there  could  not 
be  a  battalion  of  so  few  companies  as  two,  commanded  by  a  field  officer. 
To  obviate  this  diflficulty  as  many  officers  as  were  necessary  consented  to 
go  one  grade  lower.  Thus  organized,  the  officers  of  the  corps,  if  it  may 
be  so  styled  at  that  time,  were  as  follows:  Captain  John  Screven,  cap- 
tain commanding  company  A  ;  first  lieutenant,  W.  S.  Basinger;  second 
lieutenant,  Gilbert  C.  Rice ;  ensign,  J.  C.  Habersham.  Company  B ; 
captain,  A.  C.  Davenport ;  first  lieutenant,  George  W.  Stiles  ;  second 
lieutenant,  Thomas  F.  Screven ;  ensign,  M.  H.  Hopkins. 

The  battalion  was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  Confederate  States 
in  March,  1861,  for  two  months,  and  during  this  period  was  assigned  to 
duty  as  the  garrison  of  a  battery  at  Thunderbolt.  At  the  end  of  this 
time  the  corps  returned  to  Savannah  and  was  dismissed,  but  shortly  after 
it  was  again  mustered  for  six  months,  and  immediately  sent  to  take 
charge  of  a  much  heavier  battery  on  Green  Island,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Vernon  River. 

At  the  end  of  their  second  period  of  enlistment  the  members  of  the 
corps  resolved  to  again  muster  for  the  war.  They  were  informed  that 
the  battalion  would  be  accepted  as  an  independent  organization  and  a 
field  officer  to  command,  if  three  companies  could  be  formed.  A  third 
company  was  formed  by  taking  as  many  members  from  Companies  A 
and  B  as  could  be  spared.  The  following  officers  were  then  chosen  : 
Company  A,  captain,  W.  S.  Basinger  ;  first  lieutenant,  Thomas  F.  Scre- 
ven ;  second  lieutenants,  William  H.  King  and  Frederick  Tupper.  Com- 
pany B,  captain,  George  W.  Stiles ;  first  lieutenant,  Edward  Padelford, 
jr.  ;  second  lieutenants,  Edwin  A.  Castellaw  and  George  D.  Smith. 
Company  C,  captain,  Gilbert  C.  Rice ;  first  lieutenant,  George  M.  Tur- 
ner;  second  lieutenants,  John  R.  Dillon  and  Eugene  Blois.  The  organ- 
ization was  approved  by  the  adjutant- general  of  the  State,  and  commis- 
sions were  issued  to  the  officers  above  named.  The  corps  was  mustered 
into  service  for  the  war  in  March,  1862.  This  terminated  the  connection 
of  the  Guards  with  the  first  volunteer  regiment.  John  Screven  was  com- 
missioned by  the  Confederate  government  major  of  artillery,  and  assigned 
by  General  A.  R.  Lawton  to  the  command  of  the  Savannah  Volunteer 
Guards  Battalion. 

The  first  service  of  this  corps  as  a  separate  battalion  was  at  Fort  Boggs, 

51 


402  History  of  Savannah. 

a  fine  large  work  on  the  bluff,  about  two  miles  below  the  city,  overlook- 
ing Fort  Jackson  and  the  river,  and  constituting  the  extreme  left  of  the 
inner  line  of  defense.  In  the  spring  of  1863  Major  Screven  resigned  the 
command  of  the  battalion  as  the  management  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
Railroad — a  line  of  communication  and  supply  very  important  to  the  Con- 
federate government — required  as  president,  his  personal  attention.  Cap- 
tain Basinger  succeeded  him  as  major,  Lieutenant  T.  F.  Screven  became 
captain  of  Company  A,  and  the  other  officers  went  up  each  one  grade, 
Sergeant  P.  N.  Raynal  being  elected  to  the  junior  lieutenancy. 

The  battalion  remained  in  charge  of  Fort  Boggs  until  July,  1863, 
when  it  was  sent  with  the  First  Volunteer  Regiment  and  the  Twelfth 
Georgia  Battalion  to  reinforce  the  troops  at  Battery  Wagner,  and  in  the 
celebrated  siege  of  July  1 1,  took  a  prominent  part,  four  of  the  Guards  be- 
ing killed  and  three  wounded.  Battery  Wagner  was  abandoned  late  in 
August,  1863,  and  the  Guards  were  ordered  to  Sullivan's  Island  to  occupy 
Battery  Marion.  Here  it  remained  until  the  following  May,  and  during 
this  period  the  troops  were  under  almost  constant  fire. 

In  May,  1864,  the  Guards  were  ordered  to  Virginia  to  join  the  army 
of  General  Lee.  Arriving  in  Virginia  the  corps  was  stationed  at  Mat- 
toax  to  guard  the  bridge  where  the  Richmond  and  Danville  Railroad 
crosses  the  Appomattox  River.  In  this  sort  of  duty  the  corps  remained 
until  the  following  October.  It  was  then  ordered  to  the  general  line  of 
the  army  and  posted  in  the  trenches  on  the  north  side  of  the  James  River, 
near  Chaffin  Bluff.  Here  the  Guards  passed  the  severe  winter  of  1864-5, 
enduring  every  hardship  to  which  the  illy  equipped  Confederate  troops 
were  subjected  during  this  trying  time.  When  General  Lee's  army  was 
forced  to  abandon  Richmond  in  April,  1865,  fears  for  the  result  of  the 
war  began  to  creep  into  the  minds  of  the  most  sanguine.  This  famous 
retreating  march  of  General  Lee  was  continued  for  several  days,  but  on 
April  6  the  rear  guard  was  brought  to  bay  near  Sailor's  Creek.  General 
Gordon's  corps  was  the  true  rear  guard,  but  in  the  various  operations  and 
movements  of  that  day  General  Ewell's  corps  got  into  the  rear  by  force  of 
circumstances.  Genenil  Custer  Lee's  division,  to  which  the  Guards  were 
attached,  was  in  General  Ewell's  corps. 

In  the  battle  at  Sailor's  Creek  the  Guards  took  a  prominent  part,  be- 
ing placed  so  as  to  receive  the  first  onset  of  the  enemy.     The  attack  was 


Military  Organizations.  403 

unsuccessful,  the  enemy  being  driven. off  with  the  loss  of  two  regimental 
flags  and  many  killed,  but  with  serious  loss  to  the  Guards  also.  The  bat- 
talion then  returned  to  the  original  line  to  take  its  part  in  the  main  bat- 
tle. But  again  they  were  put  in  the  same  manner  as  before.  The  enemy 
was  checked,  but  all  of  the  Guards  who  escaped  with  their  lives  were 
made  prisoners.  It  was  afterwards  ascertained  that  the  enemy  lost  in  the 
encounter  275  men,  and  of  the  Guards  numbering  85  men  engaged,  30 
were  killed  and  22  wounded,  every  officer  but  one  being  killed  or  wounded. 
The  killed  were  buried  on  the  field  by  the  enemy.  The  remains  of  such 
as  could  be  identified  were,  at  a  later  day,  brought  to  Savannah  and  buried 
in  the  lot  of  the  corps  at  Laurel  Grove  cemetery.  The  survivors  were  sent 
— the  wounded  to  hospitals,  the  unwounded  to  Northern  prisons — some 
to  Point  Lookout,  the  major  and  lieutenant-general  to  Johnson's  Island. 
But  the  closing  scene  of  the  great  struggle  was  then  taking  place,  and  a 
few  days  after  the  battle  of  Sailor's  Creek,  the  surrender  of  General  Lee's 
army  ended  the  war.  The  members  of  the  Guards  held  as  prisoners  of 
war  were  soon  after  released  and  sadly  wended  their  way  homeward,  to 
face  as  best  they  could  the  new  difficulties  that  lay  before  them. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  no  effort  was  made  to  reorganize  any  of  the 
volunteer  military  companies  of  Savannah  as  long  as  the  "carpet-bag" 
government  was  in  power.  The  Guards  by  occasional  meetings  and  by  at- 
tending in  a  body  the  funerals  of  deceased  members,  endeavored  to  main- 
tain their  corporate  existence,  and  to  preserve  their  property.  But  when 
James  M.  Smith  became  governor  of  the  State — his  elevation  being  the 
virtual  overthrow  of  the  "carpet-bag"  government — the  corps,  encouraged 
by  him,  determined  to  resume  its  usual  functions.  A  large  number  of 
new  men  joined,  officers  were  elected,  the  present  uniforms  adopted,  and 
on  the  19th  day  of  January,  1873.  the  first  parade  of  the  corps  after  the 
war  occurred.  Major  Basinger  was  re-elected  to  command  the  corps,  and 
in  1879,  in  pursuance  of  a  law  of  the  State  then  passed  which  required 
all  battalion  commanders  to  be  Heutenant-colonels,  such  a  commission 
was  sent  to  him,  and  the  corps  was  numbered  third  in  the  list  of  volun- 
teer infantry  battalions. 

Colonel  Basinger  resigned  in  August,  1882,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel 
William  Garrard,  the  present  popular  commander,  was  elected  to  succeed 
him.     Colonel  Basinger  was  a  member  of  the  corps  for  thirty- one  years, 


4o4  History  of  Savannah. 


and  was  distinguished  for  his  devotion  and  high  soldierly  qualities.  He 
was  longer  in  chief  command  than  any  of  his  predecessors,  and  in  peace 
and  war  he  sustained  the  honor  of  the  corps  with  loyalty,  intelligence 
and  skill. 

The  commissioned  officers  of  the  battalion  under  Major  Screven  were 
as  follows :  Company  A, — Captain,  W.  S.  Basinger ;  lieutenants,  Tho- 
mas F.  Screven,  W.  H.  King,  John  F.  Tupper.  Company  B., — Captain, 
G.  W.  Stiles ;  lieutenants,  Ed.  Padleford,  E.  A.  Castellaw,  George  D. 
Smith.  Company  C, — Captain,  G.  C.  Rice ;  lieutenants,  G.  M.  Turner, 
John  R.  Dillon,  Eugene  Blois.  Lieutenant  Dillon,  acting  adjutant. 
Captain  G.  C.  Rice,  acting  quartermaster.  Lieutenant  W.  H.  King,  act- 
ing commissary. 

After  Major  Basinger  assumed  command  Lieutenant  T.  F.  Screven 
was  made  captain  of  Company  A,  and  the  following  became  lieutenants, 
namely :  P.  N.  Raynal,  W.  E.  Gue,  and  W.  D.  Grant,  and  E.  P.  Starr 
was  appointed  adjutant  of  battalion.  After  the  war  ended  the  officers 
under  Major  Basinger  were :  Company  A, — Captain,  George  W.  Stiles ; 
lieutenants,  P.  N.  Raynal,  A.  A.  Winn,  E.  P,  Starr.  Company  B, — Cap- 
tain, T.  F.  Screven  ;  lieutenants,  J.  C.  Habersham,  H.  H.  Woodbridge, 
Malcolm  Maclean.  Company  C, — Captain,  John  R.  Dillon  ;  lieutenants, 
F.  R,  Sweat,  H.  C.  Cunningham,  John  Reilly.  Lieutenant  Sweat  was 
afterwards  appointed  adjutant,  and  Lieutenants  Raynal  and  Cunningham 
became  respectively  captains  of  their  companies,  and  the  following  be- 
came lieutenants  at  various  times,  namely :  C.  J.  Barie,  C.  R.  Maxwell, 
H.  R.  Symons,  W.  F  Symons,  Cuthbert  Barnwell,  Joe  C.  Thompson,  L. 
C  Strong,  M.  A.  Barie,  J.  A.  Cronk,  J.  W.  Fretwell,  W.  P.  Hunter  (ad- 
jutant). Major  Basinger  became  lieutenant-colonel  in  October,  1879. 
Thereafter  the  following  became  commissioned  officers  in  the  battalion  : 
Lieutenants  O.  H.  Lutburrow,  I.  G.  Heyward  and  W.  H.  Turner,  be- 
fore Lieutenant-Colonel  Garrard  took  command.  The  present  commis- 
sioned officers  of  the  battalion  are  :  Lieutenant-colonel,  William  Garrard  ; 
adjutant,  Wm.  P.  Hunter;  quartermaster,  John  Kollock;  judge-advocate, 
R.  R.  Richards;  commissary  and  treasurer,  John  M. -Bryan ;  sergeant- 
major,  R.  E.  L.  Daniels  ;  quartermaster-sergeant,  C.  E.  Dieterich.  Com- 
pany A  —  Captain,  W.  W.  Williamson  ;  first  lieutenant,  T.  P.  Huger  ; 
second  lieutenant,  Frank  Screven;   first  sergeant,  Hutton.     Com- 


Military  Organizations.  405 

pany  B, —  Captain,  Thomas  Screven  ;  first  lieutenant,  T.  D.  Rockwell ; 
second  lieutenant,  G.  S.  Orme ;  first  sergeant,  G.  M.  Gadsden.  Com- 
pany C, —  Captain,  John  Reilly;  first  lieutenant,  W.  W.  Rogers;  second 
lieutenant,  G.  W.  Cann  ;  first  sergeant,  J.  Ferris  Cann. 

Soon  after  the  election  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Garrard  steps  were 
taken  to  provide  for  the  battalion  a  suitable  armory  building.  The  loca- 
tion secured  was  the  site  of  the  old  State  arsenal.  In  1885  the  erection 
of  the  building  was  commenced  and  one  year  later  the  armory  was 
thrown  open  to  the  public  on  the  occasion  of  a  grand  bazaar.  It  was 
1 10  feet  long,  60  feet  in  width  and  64  feet  from  the  street  pavement  to 
the  deck  of  the  domed  roof  and  had  three  fronts,  facing  north  on  Presi- 
dent street,  west  on  Whitaker  street,  and  south  on  York  street.  The  cost 
of  erection  was  about  $60,000,  and  it  was  considered  the  finest  military 
building  in  the  South.  This  fine  structure,  which  was  no  less  the  pride 
of  the  battalion  than  of-  the  citizens  of  Savannah,  was  totally  destroyed 
by  the  destructive  fire  of  April  6,  1889.  It  was  insured  for  $50,000,  and 
with  characteristic  energy  the  battalion  has  begun  preparation  to  erect  a 
new  armory  which  will  rival  in  beauty  the  one  destroyed. 

The  Guards  have  erected  monuments  to  two  of  their  deceased  com- 
manders. The  first  is  a  plain,  marble  shaft  in  Bonaventure  Cemetery 
(formerly  the  family  seat  of  the  Tattnalls)  to  Captain  Tattnall,  and  bears 
the  following  inscription  on  its  western  face  : 

SACRED 

to  the  memory  of 

Edward  Fenwick  Tattnall, 

who  died  in  Savannah, 

on  the  2ist  day  of  November,  1832, 

aged  44  years. 

Erected  by  the  Savannah 

Volunteer  Guards,  which  corps 

he  for  a  period  of  years  commanded,  as 

a  tribute  of  affection  for  his  qualities 

as  a  Man,  a  Soldier,  and  a  Patriot. 

Muncia  parva  quidtm,  sed  magnum 

testantur  amor  em. 

Near  by,  in  the  same  enclosure,  is  the  tomb  of  his  brother.  Commo- 
dore Josiah  Tattnall,  one  of  the  most  honored  of  the  honorary  members 


406  History  of  Savannah. 

of  the  Guards.     On  this  significantly  rests  the  effigy  of  a  sheathed  sword, 
and  it  bears  the  following  inscription  : 

Commodore  Josiah  Tattnall,  U.  S.  and  C  S.  N. 

Born  near  this  spot  Nov.  8,  1785. 

Died  June  14,  1871. 

The  second  monument  erected  by  the  corps  is  in  Laurel  Grove  Ceme- 
tery to  Capt.  Richardsone — a  tasteful  marble  shaft  with  the  following  in- 
scriptions. On  the  eastern  face:  "Erected  by  the  Savannah  Volunteer 
Guards  in  token  of  their  regard  for  a  beloved  commander,  and  of  their 
admiration  for  his  virtues  as  a  citizen."  On  the  western  face,  on  a 
shield  within  a  bay  wreath  supported  on  cannon:  "Cosmo  P.  Richard- 
sone." On  the  southern  face:  "Born  January  24th,  1804."  On  the 
northern  face  :   "  Died  February  6th,  1852." 

Within  a  few  feet  of  the  resting  place  of  Captain  Richardsone  is  that 
of  his  friend  and  immediate  successor  in  command,  Captain  J.  P.  Screven. 

In  Laurel  Grove  Cemetery  the  Guards  hold  two  burial  lots,  numbers 
46  and  726.  In  the  former  are  interred  Privates  S.  F.  Ripley  and  John 
D.  Carter,  who  died  of  yellow  fever  respectively  in  1854  and  1876,  and 
Privates  T.  L.  Robertson,  John  Maddox,  John  Johnson,  A.  F.  Whitlock 
and  James  D.  Pardue.  In  this  lot  also  is  one  grave  containing  the  re- 
mains of  eleven  members  of  the  battalion,  who  fell  at  Sailor's  Creek,  the 
last  battle  of  the  Army  of  Virginia,  namely  :  King,  Turner,  Rice,  Abney, 
Mcintosh,  Rouse,  Millen,  Gordon,  Vickers,  Cook,  and  Barie,  removed 
from  Virginia  along  with  Rice,  James,  Myddleton,  Bowne,  Grant,  and 
Bennett,  who  are  interred  in  their  respective  family  lots.  In  lot  number 
726  (the  gift  of  first  Lieutenant  Thomas  J.  Bulloch)  are  interred  Privates 
Thomas  D.  Morel,  James  M.  Mallette,  Frederick  Myers,  and  James  0. 
A.  Simmons. 

Independettt  Volunteer  Battalion  of  Savannah. — During  the  first  part 
of  the  century  the  volunteer  and  uniformed  companies  of  Savannah  formed 
a  part  of  the  First  Regiment,  First  Brigade,  Georgia  Militia,  and  paraded 
on  stated  occasions  side  by  side  with  the  "  unterrified,"  un-uniformed, 
undisciplined  companies  of  the  "  beats,"  as  they  were  called.  These  or- 
ganizations were  but  burlesques  upon  what  a  military  command  should 
be,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  volunteers  became  restive 
under  the  enforced  associations.     The  desirability  of  forming  a  battalion 


Military  Organizations.  407 

exclusively  from  the  volunteers  was  most  apparent.  Steps  were  taken 
to  that  end,  and  on  January  20,  1852,  a  bill  was  approved  by  which  it 
was  enacted  : 

"I.  That  the  volunteer  companies  now  existing  in  the  city  of  Savan- 
nah and  belonging  to  the  First  Regiment,  First  Brigade,  First  Division 
Georgia  Militia  be  and  the  same  hereby  are  organized  and  erected  into  a 
separate  battalion,  which  shall  be  called  the  Independent  Volunteer  Bat- 
talion of  Savannah,  and  be  no  longer  a  part  of  the  said  First  Regiment. 

"II.  That  any  other  volunteer  companies  of  foot  which  may  here-" 
after  be  organized  in  the  city  of  Savannah  shall  be  attached  to  said  bat- 
talion until  the  number  of  said  companies  shall  be  eight,  when  the  said 
companies  shall  be  organized  and  erected  into  a  regiment,  which  shall  be 
called  the  Independent  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Savannah,  and  said  regi- 
ment shall  not  consist  of  less  than  eight  or  more  than  fourteen  com- 
panies." 

Section  three  of  the  act  vested  the  command  of  the  Independent 
Volunteer  Battalion  in  a  lieutenant  colonel,  with  full  regimental  staff. 

At  the  date  of  the  passage  of  the  above  act  the  following  were  the 
volunteer  companies  affected  by  it,  and  which  consequently  formed  the 
Independent  Volunteer  Battalion  of  Savannah  :  Chatham  Artillery,  Cap- 
tain John  B.  Gallic  ;  Savannah  Volunteer  Guards,  Captain  James  P.  Scre- 
ven, organized  1802  ;  Republican  Blues,  Captain  John  W.  Anderson, 
organized  1808;  Phoenix  Riflemen,  Captain  W.  H.  C.  Mills,  organized 
1830;  Irish  Jasper  Greens,  Captain  John  Devanney,  organized  February 
22,  1843;  German  Volunteers,  Captain  J.  H.  Stegin,  organized  Febru- 
ary 22,  1846  ;  DeKalb  Riflemen,  Captain  John  Bilbo,  organized  1850. 
The  whole  was  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant- Colonel  Alexander  R. 
Lawton. 

The  Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry  was  organized  under  Captain  John 
N.  Lewis  in  January,  1856,  and  became  a  part  of  the  Independent  bat- 
talion, completing  the  eight  companies  to  the  regimental  formation,  when 
the  battalion  became  the  Independent  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Savannah. 

The  act  of  January  20,  1852,  was  in  part  and  substance  amended  as 
follows : 

Section  i.  Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  that  the  regiment  formed  under  the  sec- 
ond section  of  said  act  shall  be  known  as  "  The  First  Volunteer  Regiment 


4o8  History  of  Savannah. 

of  the  State  of  Georgia,"  and  may  embrace  as  many  infantry  corps  formed 
in  said  city,  as  may  choose  to  conform  to  the  regimental  organization. 

Section  2.   Provided  for  full  field  and  staff. 

Section  3.  Provided  that  the  rights  and  privileges  accruing  to  said 
regiment  shall  not  fall  by  the  consolidation  of  two  or  more  companies,  or 
the  withdrawal  or  dissolution  of  one  or  more  companies,  but  the  same  shall 
vest  in  and  be  enjoyed  by  the  corps  composing  the  Volunteer  Regiment. 

Section  4.   Withdrew  the   regiment  from  the  First  Brigade  Georgia 
Militia  and  placed  it  exclusively  under  the  command  of  its  own  officers. 
Under  the   re-organization  conformatory   to   this  act  the   following 
officers  were  elected  and  commissioned  : 

A.  R.  Lawton,  colonel ;  George  W.  Stiles  as  lieutenant- colonel,  and 
W.  S.  Rockwell  as  major.  Bulloch  Jackson  was  appointed  adjutant; 
John  Fraser,  paymaster  ;  J.  D.  Fish,  surgeon  ;  J.  W.  Johnston,  assistant 
surgeon.  No  further  change  occurred  among  the  list  of  officers  until  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  when  C.  H.  Olmstead  was  made  adjutant  in  place 
of  Bulloch  Jackson,  who  resigned. 

An  account  of  the  first  service  of  this  regiment  in  behalf  of  the  Con- 
federacy, will  be  found  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  war  period,  as  well 
as  the  changes  in  officers  which  followed  in  the  first  year  of  the  war. 

The  regiment  was  reorganized  by  an  order  from  the  Confederate  de- 
partment headquarters  in  October,  1862,  to  conform  to  the  requirement 
of  actual  service.  The  following  companies  were  made  to  compose  the 
regiment : 

Company  A, —  First  Company  Irish  Jasper  Greens,  Captain  John 
Flannery. 

Company  B. — Second  Company  Irish  Jasper  Greens,  Captain  James 
Dooner. 

Company  C, — Republican  Blues,  Captain  W.  D.  Dixon. 

Company  D, — City  Light  Guard,  Captain  S.  Yates  Levy. 

Company  E, — Irish  Volunteers,  Captain  John  F.  O'Neill. 

Company  F, — Coast  Rifles,  Captai'n  Screven  Turner. 

Company  G, — Tattnall  Guards,  Captain  A.  C.  Davenport. 

Company  H, — Second  Company  Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry,  Captain 
James  Lachlison. 

Company  I, — German  Volunteers,  Captain  C.  Werner. 

Company  K, — Washington  Volunteers,  Captain  John  Cooper. 


Military  Organizations.  409 

Field  and  Staff. — Colonel,  Charles  H.  Olmstead  ;  lieutenant-colonel, 
W.  S.  Rockwell;  major,  M.  J.  Ford;  adjutant,  Matthew  H.  Hopkins; 
quartermaster,  Edward  Hopkins ;  commissary,  E.  W.  Drummond ;  sur- 
geon, W.  H.  Elliott;  chaplain,  S.  Edward  Axson. 

Non-commissioned  Staff. — Sergeant-major,  F.  M.  Hull ;  commissary- 
sergeant,  W.  H.  Boyd ;  quartermaster-sergeant,  William  C.  Crawford  ; 
ordnance-sergeant,  Thaddeus  F   Bennett. 

During  the  winter.  Captain  Edward  Hopkins  died  and  was  succeeded 
by  Captain  F.  M.  Hull,  who  was  appointed  quartermaster. 

The  service  that  followed  the  reorganization  of  the  regiment  is  best 
told  in  the  following  language  of  its  commanding  officer.  Colonel  Olm- 
stead : 

"  For  many  months  the  regiment  continued  to  do  service  at  various 
points  on  the  coast.  Companies  A  and  B  at  the  Savannah  River  bat- 
teries. Company  C  at  Fort  McAllister,  Companies  D,  E  and  F  at  Fort 
Bartow,  Causton's  Bluff,  and  Companies  G,  H,  I  and  K  in  the  lines  around 
the  city,  at  Isle  of  Hope,  and  Whitmarsh  and  Wilmington  Islands.  Again 
was  Company  C  fortunate — a  second  time,  on  February  i,  1863,  it  took 
part  in  repulsing  a  vigorous  attack  of  the  iron-clad  monitors  upon  Fort 
McAllister.  It  was  a  brilliant  affair,  and  the  garrison  handsomely  earned 
the  laudatory  order  from  General  Beauregard  which  authorized  them  to 
inscribe  the  name  Fort  McAllister  upon  their  colors. 

"  Early  in  July,  1863,  Companies  G,  H,  I  and  K,  in  concert  with  the 
Eighteenth  and  Twelfth  Georgia  Battalions  were  hurried  over  to  Charles- 
ton to  assist  in  meeting  the  attack  upon  that  city,  which  had  just  devel- 
oped itself  at  the  lower  end  of  Morris  Island.  The  Georgians,  number- 
ing five  hundred  or  six  hundred  men,  were  thrown  into  Battery  Wagner 
on  the  night  of  July  10,  and  at  daybreak  on  the  following  morning  took 
part  in  repelling  a  vigorous  assault  made  by  General  Gillmore  with  a 
strong  storming  column.  In  this  action  Captain  Werner,  of  Company  I, 
was  killed  while  bravely  meeting  the  attack.  Here  the  First  Regiment 
met  again  its  'friends  the  enemy,'  of  the  Seventh  Connecticut,  that  com 
mand  being  one  of  the  leading  regiments  in  the  assault.  A  number  of 
them  surrendered  to  the  men  who  had  been  captured  by  them  the  year 
before."  Of  subsequent  service  at  Wagner,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
write  in  detail,  but  a  clear  idea  of  the  character  of  the  service  there  may 

52 


4IO  History  of  Savannah. 


be  gained  from  the  following  account,  written  by  Major  Robert  C.  Gil- 
christ, of  Charleston,  himself  one  of  the  most  gallant  and  efficient  of  the 
defenders  of  the  fort : 

"  '  Night  and  day,  with  scarcely  any  intermission,  the  howling  shell 
burst  over  and  within  it.  Each  day,  often  from  early  dawn,  the  new  Iron- 
sides, or  the  six  monitors,  sometimes  all  together,  steamed  up  and  deliv- 
ered their  terrific  broadsides,  shaking  the  fort  to  its  centre.  The  noise- 
less Coehorn  shells,  falling  vertically,  searched  out  the  secret  recesses,  al- 
most invariably  claiming  victims.  The  burning  sun  of  a  Southern  sum- 
mer, its  heat  intensified  by  the  reflection  of  the  white  sand,  scorched  and 
blistered  the.  unprotected  garrison,  or  the  more  welcome  rain  and  storm 
wet  them  to  the  skin.  An  intolerable  stench  from  the  unearthed  dead 
of  the  previous  conflict,  the  carcasses  of  cavalry  horses  lying  where  they 
fell,  in  the  rear,  and  barrels  of  putrid  meat  thrown  out  on  the  beach,  sick- 
ened the  defenders. 

"  '  A  large  and  brilliantly  colored  fly,  attracted  by  the  feast,  and  un- 
seen before,  inflicted  wounds  more  painful,  though  less  dangerous  than 
the  shot  of  the  enemy.  The  food,  however  good  when  it  started  for  its 
destination,  by  exposure,  first  on  the  wharf  in  Charleston,  then  on  the 
beach  at  Cummings'  Point,  being  often  forty-eight  hours  in  transition, 
was  unfit  to  eat.  The  unventilated  bomb-proofs  filled  with  smoke  of 
lamps  and  smell  of  blood,  were  intolerable,  so  that  we  endured  the  risk 
of  shot  and  shell  rather  than  seek  their  shelter.  The  incessant  din  of  ils 
own  artillery,  as  well  as  the  bursting  shells  of  the  foe,  prevented  sleep. 
Then,  as  never  before,  all  realized  the  force  of  the  prophecy  :  "  In  the 
morning  thou  shall  say,  would  God  it  were  even  !  and  at  even  thou  shall 
say,  would  God  it  were  morning  !  for  the  fear  of  thine  eyes,  wherewith 
thou  shall  fear,  and  for  the  sight  of  thine  eyes  which  thou  shall  see." 

"In  the  spring  of  1864,  mighty  preparations  were  made  by  both  Fed- 
eral and  Confederate  authorities  for  what  was  felt  would  be  the  decisive 
campaign  of  the  war.  Every  effort  was  made  to  recruit  the  armies  of 
the  Confederacy  to  the  greatest  possible  extent.  Troops  were  withdrawn 
in  every  direction  from  the  sea  coast  and  sent  to  the  armies  of  Lee  and 
Johnston.  The  scattered  companies  of  the  First  Regiment  were  brought 
together,  and  on  a  lovely  spring  morning  the  command  left  Savannah  to 
join  the  army    under  General    Joseph  E.  Johnston  in  North  Georgia, 


Military  Organizations.  411 

nearly  1,000  officers  and  men  being  in  line.  The  regiment  joined  the 
army  at  Lost  Mountain,  in  the  vicinity  of  Marietta,  on  the  day  after  the 
battle  of  New  Hope  Church.  It  was  assigned  to  General  Mercer's  brig- 
ade in  Walker's  division,  Hardee's  corps,  the  other  regiments  in  the 
brigade  being  the  Fifty-fourth  Georgia,  Colonel  C.  H.  Way,  the  Fifty- 
seventh  Georgia,  Colonel  William  Barkaloo,  and  the  Sixty-third  Georgia, 
Colonel  George  Gordon.  The  morale  of  the  army  at  that  time  was  of  the 
highest  type.  There  was  on  the  part  of  every  man  unbounded  confi- 
dence in  the  sagacity  and  generalship  of  our  distinguished  leader,  and 
doubt  as  to  the  ultimate  issue  of  the  campaign,  found  no  lodgement  in 
any  heart.  There  was  in  the  movements  of  the  men  an  elasticity  and 
alertness  indicative  of  high  spirit  and  a  bouyant  belief  in  the  success  of 
our  arms. 

"  From  that  time  onward  the  First  Regiment  bore  honorable  part  in 
the  history  of  the  army.  The  grapple  between  Generals  Johnston  and 
Sherman  was  without  resting  spells.  Every  day  the  two  armies  felt  each 
other  in  sharp  fights  on  the  picket  lines,  in  fierce  artillery  duels  and 
sometimes  in  desperate  charge  against  fortified  positions. 

"  The  regiment's  first  severe  loss  was  in  a  hot  skirmish  just  before 
the  army  retired  to  the  line  of  Kenesaw  Mountain.  On  that  day  the 
killed,  wounded  and  missing  amounted  to  about  seventy,  among  whom 
was  that  gallant  gentleman.  Lieutenant  Cyrus  Carter  of  Company  G, 
who  received  a  mortal  wound  while  encouraging  his  men.  Much  of  the 
loss  on  that  occasion  was  due  to  the  inexperience  of  our  men  in  bush 

fighting Every  one  familiar  with  the  history  of  that  summer, 

1864,  remembers  how  by  continued  reaching  out  of  his  flanks  (an  opera- 
tion which  his  superior  numbers  gave  him  power  to  repeat  again  and 
again)  Sherman  gradually  pushed  Johnston  back  to  the  lines  around  At- 
lanta. At  Smyrna  Church,  midway  between  Marietta  and  the  Chattahoo- 
chee River,  the  First  Regiment  suffered  severely  in  holding  an  isolated 
position  on  a  little  barren  hill  top  some  distance  out  in  front  of  the  main 
line,  without  supports  on  either  right  or  left.  Why  it  was  sent  there  we 
never  knew,  for  when  the  enemy  did  get  possession  of  this  hill  and  planted 
their  artillery  upon  it,  the  position  was  so  commanded  from  our  lines  that 
the  guns  were  abandoned  by  the  gunners  so  long  as  daylight  lasted. 


412  History  of  Savannah. 

"  The  regiment  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Peachtree  Creek,  but  was 
very  lightly  engaged  on  that  day.  On  July  22,  however,  in  Hardee's  flank 
attack  upon  Sherman  (when  the  Federals  lost  McPherson,  and  the  State 
of  Georgia  had  to  mourn  the  loss  of  the  chivalrous  Walker)  Mercer's 
brigade  was  hotly  engaged,  and  lost  many  noble  officers  and  men.  Cap- 
tain Screven  Turner,  of  Company  F,  was  among  the  killed,  and  Captain 
Umbach,  of  Company  I,  received  a  wound  that  disabled  him  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  war. 

"  Upon  the  death  of  General  Walker  his  division  was  scattered. 
Mercer's  brigade  was  assigned  to  the  division  of  General  Pat  Cleburne. 
At  the  same  time,  General  Mercer  having  been  assigned  to  duty  else- 
where, the  command  of  the  brigade  devolved  for  a  time  upon  the  Senior 
Colonel.  All  during  the  closing  days  of  July  and  in  the  month  of  Au- 
gust the  lines  of  Atlanta  were  firmly  held,  but  little  by  little  the  Confed- 
erate left  was  extended  to  meet  a  corresponding  extension  of  the  Federal 
right  down  the  line  of  the  Macon  and  Western  Railroad. 

"The  movement  terminated  in  the  two  days'  fight  at  Jonesboro,  where 
the  fate  of  Atlanta  was  sealed.  On  the  first  day  the  corps  of  Hardee 
and  Lee  fought  side  by  side,  but  on  that  night  Lee's  corps  was  withdrawn 
by  General  Hood  towards  Atlanta,  leaving  Hardee  alone  to  breast  the 
storm  on  the  second  day.  He  was  fearfully  overmatched,  and  nightfall 
found  the  corps  almost  encircled  by  the  enemy,  and  our  lines,  to  the  ex- 
tent of  one  brigade  front,  in  their  possession.  With  great  skill  General 
Hardee  extricated  himself  from  this  hazardous  position,  leaving  behind 
the  desperately  wounded  who  could  not  be  moved.  In  the  immediate 
front  of  the  First  Regiment  the  enemy  were  so  near  that  we  could  hear 
them  conversing  as  we  moved  off"  silently  in  the  darkness.  It  was  a  sad 
march,  the  men  were  exhausted  from  che  two  days'  struggle,  but  physi- 
cal fatigue  was  nothing  compared  to  the  mental  depression  that  came 
upon  us  as  the  lurid  glare  in  the  northern  sky,  and  the  dull,  distant  rum- 
ble of  explosions  of  powder,  as  Hood  burned  the  supplies  he  could  not 
take  away,  told  the  story  of  Atlanta's  fall  and  the  defeat  of  the  Confed- 
erate campaign. 

•  "  After  a  short  season  of  rest  and  recuperation  the  army  was  again  in 
motion.  Our  brigade  being  placed  in  command  of  General  J.  Argyle 
Smith,  a  brave  officer  but  an  exceedingly  unfortunate  one,  in  a  matter  of 


Military  Organizations.  413 

wounds.     It  was  said  that  he  rarely  was  thoroughly  recovered  from  one 
before  he  received  another. 

"  Northward  our  line  of  march  took  its  way,  constantly  threatening 
Sherman's  line  of  communications.  The  post  of  Rome  was  captured  ; 
then  a  further  march,  still  to  the  north,  then  a  square  turn  to  the  west, 
and  we  swept  across  the  northern  part  of  Alabama  until  the  town  of  Tus- 
cumbia  was  reached.  Then  it  became  known  that  a  winter  campaign  in- 
to Tennessee  was  ahead  of  us. 

"  The  army  crossed  the  Tennessee  River  upon  a  long  pontoon  bridge 
at  Florence,  Ala.,  on  a  bright,  frosty  Sunday  morning,  and  a  brilliant, 
inspiring  scene  it  was. 

"  Resting  for  a  short  time  at  Florence  the  order  for  the  advance  was 
again  given,  but  here  Smith's  brigade  was  detached  and  sent  to  a  point 
about  thirteen  miles  distant,  known  as  Cheatham's  Ferry,  to  help  a  supply 
train  over  the  river  and  convey  it  to  the  army. 

"The  operations  around  Murfreesboro  were  marked  with  much  suffer- 
ing among  the  troops.  The  weather  was  intensely  cold,  the  ground  rigid 
with  frost  and  covered  with  sleet  and  snow.  While  the  men  were  poorly 
clad,  without  overcoats,  and  many  of  them  barefooted. 

"  Smith's  and  one  other  small  brigade,  constituted  the  whole  of  Gen- 
eral Forrest's  infantry  force,  the  rest  being  cavalry,  with  one  section  of 
light  rifled  guns. 

"  When  Hood  was  defeated  at  Nashville  this  little  force  was  in  a  preca- 
rious position,  as  General  Thomas'  army  was  between  it  and  the  Confed- 
erate army. 

"  We  were  saved,  however,  by  the  skill  of  General  Forrest,  who  knew 
every  inch  of  the  country,  and  who  conducted  his  command  by  a  forced 
march  in  a  detour  around  Thomas's  left,  reaching  Hood  at  Columbia, 
where  he  had  made  a  stand. 

"  No  member  of  the  First  Regiment,  who  w-is  on  that  march  will  ever 
forget  its  hardships.  Bloody  tracks  of  bare  feet  upon  the  snowy  ground, 
shivering  bodies,  exhausting  fatigue ;  these  are  some  of  the  memories 
evoked,  but  with  them  comes  also  the  recollection  of  manly  endurance 
and  a  patient  courage  that  no  suffering  could  subdue,  no  danger  appall. 


414  History  of  Savannah. 


"At  Columbia  General  Hood  organized  a  rear- guard  under  General 
Forrest  composed  of  his  cavalry  and  eight  small  brigades  of  infantry,  un- 
der the  immediate  command  of  General  Walthall,  of  Mississippi.  Smith's 
brigade  had  the  honor  to  be  chosen  for  this  hazardous  service.  It  was 
intended  that  the  infantry  portion  of  this  rear- guard  should  be  at  least 
three  thousand  men,  but  after  the  sick,  the  wounded  and  the  barefooted 
had  been  sent  to  the  rear  the  effectives  of  the  entire  eight  brigades  num- 
bered but  i,6oi  men — skeleton  brigades,  indeed.  Few  in  numbers,  yet 
with  brave  hearts  and,' as  the  event  proved  "  enough"  for  the  duty  re- 
quired of  them. 

"  Surely  every  man  who  was  there  has  a  right  to  be  proud  of  the  rec- 
ord. The  rear- guard  was  formed  on  the  morning  of  December  20,  1864, 
and  it  at  once  held  the  line  of  Duck  River,  while  the  main  army  pressed 
southward  toward  Bainbridge,  near  which  point  the  pontoons  were  laid 
for  the  passage  of  the  Tennessee. 

"  At  an  early  hour  on  December  22  the  enemy  crossed  Duck  River  at 
some  distance  above  Columbia.  General  Forrest'  then  slowly  retired, 
making  a  bold  front  from  time  to  time. 

"There  was  considerable  skirmishing  and  fighting  during  December 
22,  23  and  24.  At  midnight  on  Christmas  eve  the  exhausted  troops  en- 
camped upon  a  bleak  hill-top  in  front  of  Pulaski,  Tenn.  At  early  dawn 
on  the  day  of  "  peace  and  good  will  to  men,"  we  were  in  motion  again, 
and  on  our  way  through  the  town. 

"  Seven  miles  south  of  Pulaski,  at  Anthony's  Hill,  the  pursuit  of  the 
enemy  being  vigorously  pressed.  General  Forrest  decided  to  make  a 
stand.  Four  of  the  small  brigades,  including  Smith's,  were  placed  in  line 
on  the  crest  of  the  hill,  or  just  beyond  it,  so  as  to  form  a  partial  ambus- 
cade, cavalry  being  upon  each  flank.  The  enemy  pushed  boldly  up  the 
hill,  but  were  received  by  a  destructive  fire  followed  by  a  charge  of  our 
entire  line.  They  retired  in  confusion,  leaving  a  number  of  prisoners  in 
our  hands,  a  good  many  horses  and  one  piece  of  artillery. 

"  The  attack  was  not  repeated  that  4ay.  The  Confederates  again  re- 
sumed the  line  of  march,  a  cold  winter's  rain  having  set  in  which  added 
immeasurably  to  the  discomfort  of  the  men. 

"  On  the  night  of  December  27  we  arrived  in  the  vicinity  of  the  River 
(Tennessee)  and  early  on  the  morning  of  December  28,  the  rear-guard 
crossed  the  bridge  and  joined  the  army  on  the  south  side. 


Military  Organizations.  415 


"  After  a  necessary  period  of  rest  at  Corinth  and  other  points  in  Miss- 
issippi, the  army  was  called  to  the  East.  Passing  rapidly  through  Ala- 
bama, Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  Smith's  brigade  once  more  found  it- 
self under  its  old  leader.  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  in  North  Carolina. 
It  was  closely  engaged  at  the  battle  of  Bentonville,  where  many  of  the 
men  were  killed,  and  where  the  fourth  color-bearer  of  the  First  Regi- 
ment received  his  death  wound. 

"  At  Smithville,  N.  C,  a  general  consolidation  of  the  army  was  made. 
New  regiments  were  formed  from  the  fragments  of  old  ones.  Under  this 
arrangement  what  was  left  of  the  First,  Fifty-seventh  and  Sixty-th'rd 
regiments  was  brought  together  under  the  colors  of  the  First  Regiment, 
and  once  more  our  ranks  were  full.  Of  the  rejuvenated  regiment  C.  H. 
Ohnstead  was  colonel,  C.  S.  Guyton,  of  the  Fifty- seventh,  lieutenant- 
colonel,  and  J.  V.  H.  Allen,  of  the  Sixty-third,  major. 

"  The  men  were  veterans  who  had  literally  borne  the  '  heat  and  bur- 
den of  the  day.'  Tough,  elastic  and  hopeful,  even  in  that  dark  hour,  be- 
cause of  the  brave  hearts  within  them,  they  formed  a  magnificent  com- 
mand, of  which  any  soldier  would  have  been  proud.  But  the  war  was 
practically  over,  and  the  regiment  did  not  fire  another  gun.  The  army 
was  surrendered  by  General  Johnston  at  Greensboro',  N.  C,  and  in  a  few 
days  the  troops  were  upon  the  homeward  march. 

"  An  attempt  was  made  to  keep  the  various  commands  together  as 
much  as  possible  until  their  respective  States  were  reached.  This  failed 
in  most  instances,  but  the  First  Georgia  carried  its  colors  and  its  organi- 
zation to  the  city  of  Augusta,  where  its  service  ended  and  officers  and 
men  separated." 

It  was  not  until  the  reconstruction  era  was  passed  that  the  First  Reg- 
iment was  permanently  reorganized.  It  is  now  in  a  most  flourishing 
condition  and  an  honor  to  the  city  and  State.  The  members  of  the 
field  and  staff  are  as  follows :  George  A.  Mercer,  colonel ;  Peter  Reilly^ 
lieutenant- colonel;  J.  Schwarz,  major;  R.  G.  Gaillard,  adjutant;  M.  A. 
O'Byrne,  quartermaster;  John  T.  Ronan,  commissary;  S.  B.  Adams, 
judge  advocate  ;   E.  Karow,  paymaster;   W.  W.  Owens,  surgeon. 

Savajinah  Cadets. — H.  M.  Branch,  captain  ;  J.  F.  Brooks,  first  lieu- 
tenant ;  R.  S.  Mell,  second  Heutenant ;  E.  H.  Nichols,  surgeon  ;  R.  P. 
Lovell,  first  sergeant. 


4i6  History  of  Savannah. 


Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry. — R.  Falligant,  captain ;  W.  S.  Rockwell, 
first  lieutenant ;   C.  F.  Law,  sergeant  ;  J.  T.  Ronan,  quartermaster. 

Irish  Jasper  Greens. — J.  Flannery,  captain  ;  J.  McGrath,  first  lieu- 
tenant ;  P.  F.  Gleason,  second  lieutenant ;  J.  T.  McMahon,  first  sergeant; 
J.  M.  Reynolds,  quartermarter. 

German  Volunteers. — John  Derst,  captain  ;  H.  C.  Harms,  first  lieu- 
tenant ;  H.  Kolshorn,  second  lieutenant ;  M.  G.  Helmken,  orderly  ser- 
geant. 

Republican  Blues. — W.  D.  Dixon,  captain  ;  F.  P.  Haupt,  first  lieu- 
tenant;  J.  J.  Gaudry,  second  lieutenant;   G.  Gregor,  first  sergeant. 

The  Georgia  Hussars  is  the  oldest  cavalry  company  in  Savannah. 
They  were  organized  in  1785.  In  September,  1861,  under  Captain  J.  F. 
Waring,  they  entered  the  service  of  the  Confederate  States  government  and 
served  throughout  the  war  with  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia.  Cap- 
tain Waring  was  promoted  to  colonel  of  the  Jefferson  Davis  Legion.  The 
other  officers  of  the  company  at  the  time  of  enlistment  were  lieutenants, 
ranking  in  the  order  named,  David  Waldhauer,  W.  W.  Gordon,  A.  McC. 
Duncan.  Waldhauer  was  promoted  to  captain,  Gordon  to  captain  on 
General  Mercer's  staff  and  Duncan  to  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant.  At 
the  time  these  latter  promotions  were  made  J.  L.  McTurner  was  chosen 
second  lieutenant,  and  Robert  Saussy  third  lieutenant. 

A  second  company  (known  as  Company  B)  was  organized  in  Novem- 
ber, 1861,  under  Captain  W.  H.  Wiltberger,  (promoted  to  major  of  the 
Fifth  Georgia  Cavalry);  Lieutenants  R.  J.  Davant,  (promoted  to  lieuten- 
ant-colonel of  the  same  regiment);  M.  E.  Williams  and  F.  Williams.  In 
1862  the  company  was  reorganized  under  Captain  Wiltberger,  Lieuten- 
ants James  A.  Zittrouer,  E.  P.  Hill,  and  PhiUip  Yonge.  Lieutenant  Hill 
resigned  and  Fred.  H.  Blois  was  elected  lieutenant.  At  the  promotion 
of  Captain  Wiltberger  Lieutenant  Zittrouer  became  captain.  The  com- 
pany was  with  the  Fifth  Georgia  Cavalry  and  served  with  distinguished 
credit  around  Savannah,  on  the  South  Carolina  coast,  in  Florida,  and  with 
the  Western  Army. 

Since  the  war  the  Hussars  has  bef.n  thoroughly  reorganized  and  are 
now  in  excellent  condition,  both  as  to  numbers  and  efficiency  of  drill. 
The  total  strength  is  one  hundred  men  armed  with  sabers  and  pistols. 
The  uniform  consists  of  blue  jackets  trimmed  with  silver  stripe  and  regu- 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  417 

lation  helmet.  The  present  officers  are  W.  W.  Gordon,  captain  ;  G.  B. 
Pritchard,  first  Heutenant ;  G.  C.  Gaillard,  and  P.  W.  Meldrim,  second 
lieutenants,  and  F.  A.  Habersham,  first  sergeant. 

The  colored  citizens  of  Savannah  are  represented  by  the  First  Bat- 
talion Georgia  Volunteer  Regiment,  which  was  organized  in  1878.  Its 
officers  are  John  H.  Deveaux,  lieutenant- colonel ;  A.  K.  Desverney,  ad- 
jutant; A.  Bowen,  quartermaster;  T.J.  Davis,  surgeon;  T.  Sanders, 
paymaster.  This  regiment  is  composed  of  the  Chatham  Light  Infantry 
Company,  the  Savannah  Light  Infantry,  Lone  Star  Cadets,  Colquitt  Bluesi 
Forest  City  Light  Infantry,  and  the  Union  Lincoln  Guards. 

There  is  also  one  colored  cavalry  company  known  as  the  Savannah 
Hussars,  and  an  artillery  company  known  as  the  Georgia  Artillery. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
THE   BENCH   AND   BAR. 

THOSE  bright  and  able  intellects  which,  for  a  round  century,  have 
ornamented  Savannah's  bench  and  bar,  make  lustrous  every  page 
of  even  their  unabridged  history. 

Meagre  and  vague  indeed,  are  the  annals  of  juridical  practice  in 
Georgia  prior  to  the  period  which  began  with  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  The  oldest  records  of  Chatham  county's  courts  to  be  found 
in  the  record  vault,  date  back  only  to  1782.  What  evidence  is  extant 
and  available,  tends  to  show  that  for  the  first  half  century  of  Savannah's 
life,  litigation  was  not  a  weakness  of  the  people.  They  were  just  getting 
a  foothold  in  this  part  of  the  New  World,  and  were  too  intent  on  plant- 
ing securely  their  homes  and  laying  the  basis  of  fortunes  to  settle  differ- 
ences in  the  courts.  But,  during  the  last  two  decades  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  dockets  were  burdened  with  causes.  This  heavy  practice  de- 
veloped and  trained  the  legal  minds  of  the  practitioners  and  gave  to  them 
a  marked  depth  and  scholarly  finish.  To  this  day,  the  traces  thereof  are 
broad  and  clear.      How  much  for  instance,  of  the  credit  is  due  to  Savan- 

53 


41 B  History  of  Savannah. 

nah's  bar  for  the  Judicial  Act  of  1799  is  a  subject  which,  in  the  absence 
of  special  research  in  that  direction  one  hesitates  to  speak  positively 
upon,  but  that  it  is  no  little  can  be  safely  held.  That  Act  will  stand  for 
all  time  as  a  monument  of  the  wisdom  and"  to  the  wisdom  of  its  framers 
— a  judiciary  system  which  the  great  Lord  Brougham  ranked  above  all 
others  in  the  world.  It  was  just  about  this  time  that  the  bar  of  Savan- 
nah began  to  shine  with  those  members  who  carried  it  to  the  fore  by 
their  eloquence,  profound  knowledge  of  the  law  and  high  code  of  ethics. 

Berrien  and  Wayne  and  Law  and  the  Charltons  are  but  a  few  of  the 
names  caught  as  the  memory  runs  down  the  list.  These  were  truly 
great  lawyers.  Since  their  day  other  sections  of  the  State  have  boasted, 
and  with  reason,  of  eloquent  and  brilliant  lawyers  and  judges,  but  the 
standard  of  ethics  observed  by  Savannah's  bar  is  the  highest  of  all,  and. 
in  every  respect  as  applicable  to  the  bar  of  to-day  as  they  were  to  that 
of  eighty  years  ago,  are  those  words  of  the  elder  Charlton :  "  The  fidelity, 
integrity  and  I  may  add  the  talents  of  our  bar  will  bear  a  parallel  with 
that  of  any  other  country." 

The  date  of  the  establishment  of  Savannah's  first  court  is  fixed  to  a 
nicety.  This  took  place  July  7,  1733,  "after  dinner."  All  the  forenoon 
General  Oglethorpe  had  been  busy  naming  wards,  dividing  them  into 
tithings,  and  assigning  lots  to  a  shipload  of  new  settlers  who  had  just 
arrived.  At  this  time  Savannah  was  five  months  old.  With  the  influx 
of  so  many  new  settlers,  it  occurred  to  the  founder  that  there  might  soon 
be  need  for  a  court  and  in  the  afternoon  of  the  day  above  named,  a  town 
court  of  record  was  established.  Three  bailiffs  and  a  recorder  were  in- 
ducted into  office,  twelve  freeholders,  good  men  and  true,  were  sworn  as 
jurors  and  the  first  court  ever  opened  in  Georgia  was  held. 

As  marks  of  office,  the  bailiffs  were  required  to  wear  magisterial  gowns 
of  purple  edged  with  fur,  and  the  recorder  donned  a  black  robe  tufted. 
The  members  of  Georgia's  first  grand  jury  were:  Messrs.  Samuel  Parker, 
Thomas  Young,  Joseph  Cole,  John  Wright,  John  West,  Timothy  Bow- 
ling, John  Milledge,  Henry  Close,  Walter  Fox,  John  Grady,  James  Car-  ■ 
well  and  Richard  Cannon.  On  an  old  map  giving  a  view  of  Savannah 
in  the  latter  part  of  March  1734,  is  represented  a  building  which  was  used 
for  a  tabernacle  and  court  house.  This  was  a  rude  little  building,  12  by 
30  feet,  which  stood  on  a  spot  now  covered  by  the  rear  of  the  custom- 
house at  Bull  street  and  Bay  lane. 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  419 

Justice  as  administered  in  courts  did  not  get  an  auspicious  start  in 
Georgia.  Before  departing  for  England  in  the  spring  of  1734,  Oglethorpe 
entrusted  the  care  of  the  infant  colony  to  the  three  oailiffs.  He  was 
barely  out  of  sight  of  land  when  one  of  the  bailiffs,  John  Causton,  under- 
took to  play  the  usurper.  He  assumed  all  authority  and  made  his  two 
associates  yield  to  him  and  agree  with  him.  So  intolerant  did  he  be- 
come that  the  colonists  went  to  work  to  have  him  removed.  One  charge 
which  they  preferred  against  him  was,  that  he  had  threatened  jurors  who 
did  not  find  verdicts  which  pleased  him.  Again,  he  had  compelled  eight 
freeholders,  with  an  officer,  to  attend  at  the  door  of  the  court-house  while 
the  court  was  in  session,  with  their  guns  and  bayonets,  and  they  had 
orders  to  rest  their  fire-locks  as  soon  as  he  appeared.  Jurors  were  act- 
ually afraid  to  act  according  to  their  consciences  the  arraignment  stated, 
and  it  further  set  forth  "that  the  British  nation  was  deceived  (by  Caus- 
ton) with  the  fame  of  a  happy,  flourishing  colony,  and  of  its  being  free 
from  that  pest  and  scourge  of  mankind  called  lawyers,  for  the  want  of 
whose  legal  assistance  the  poor,  miserable  inhabitants  are  exposed  to  a 
more  arbitrary  government  than  ever  was  exercised  in  Turkey  and  Mus- 
covy.'' Upon  receiving  this  complaint,  the  trustees  removed  Causton 
and  Mr.  Gordon  was  sent  over  commissioned  to  assume  the  power  and 
duties  of  chief  magistrate.  The  deposed  justice  like  many  modern  office 
holders,  objected  to  being  put  out.  So  he  took  a  novel  way  to  force  his 
successor  to  resign.  Causton  was  keeper  of  the  public  store  and  it  was 
his  duty  to  sell  provisions  to  all  applicants.  When  Mr.  Gordon  tried  to 
buy,  he  was  refused.  He  could  not  stand  that  and  in  six  weeks  gave  up 
his  position,  left  the  bench  and  sailed  for  England.  Causton  lost  no  time 
in  putting  on  the  purple  and  returning  to  his  old  seat. 

The  first  notable  trial  in  the  colony  was  held  shortly  afterwards, 
Causton  sat  as  chief  judge.  In  truth  he  did  more  than  preside,  for  he 
was  a  witness  and  advocate  too,  against  the  defendant.  Captain  Joseph 
Watson.  The  latter  had  taken  an  active  hand  in  having  his  honor  re- 
moved. Causton  wanted  revenge  and  he  trumped  up  charges  against 
the  militia  officer,  accusing  him  of  having  aroused  a  bad  feeling  in  the 
minds  of  the  Indians.  The  jury's  verdict  was  to  the  effect  that  Watson 
was  not  guilty  of  any  crime  save  that  of  having  made  some  thoughtless 
and  unguarded  remarks.     This  verdict  was  not  what  the  judge  wanted 


420  History  of  Savannah. 

and  he  charged  the  jury  to  go  out  and  agree  on  another.  The  jurors  re- 
fused to  change  their  opinion  and  they  returned  with  the  same  verdict. 
Causton  charged  the  jurors  again,  telUng  them  distinctly  that  they  should 
find  that  Watson  was  guilty  and  a  lunatic,  and  recommend  him  to  the 
mercy  of  the  court.  This  time  the  accused  was  found  "  guilty  of  lunacy.'' 
Captain  Watson  was  thereupon  sent  to  prison  by  his  enemy,  and  was 
there  kept  for  nearly  three  years  without  having  sentence  pronounced 
upon  him. 

Francis  Moore,  who  visited  the  colony  in  1736,  wrote  an  interesting 
account  of  what  he  saw,  and  mentioned  that  "  the  town  is  governed  by 
three  bailiffs,  and  has  a  recorder,  register,  and  town  court,  which  is  holdeh 
every  six  weeks,  where  all  matters  civil  and  criminal  are  decided  by 
grand  and  petit  juries  as  in  England."  And  this  chronicler  adds  :  "  But 
there  are  no  lawyers  allowed  to  plead  for  him ;  nor  no  attorneys  to  take 
money,  but  (as  in  old  times  in  England)  every  man  pleads  his  own  cause. 
In  case  it  should  be  an  orphan,  or  one  that  can  not  speak  for  themselves, 
there  are  persons  of  the  best  substance  in  the  town  appointed  by  the 
trustees  to  take  care  of  the  orphans  and  to  defend  the  helpless,  and  that 
without  fee  or  reward,  it  being  a  service  that  each  that  is  capable  must 
perform  in  his  term."  Continuing,  Mr.  Moore  wrote :  "  They  have 
some  laws  and  customs  that  are  peculiar  to  Georgia ;  one  is  that  all  bran- 
dies and  distilled  liquors  are  prohibited  under  severe  penalties;  another  is, 
that  no  slavery  is  allowed,  nor  negroes;  a  third,  that  all  persons  who  go 
among  the  Indians  must  give  security  for  their  good  behavior.  .  .  . 
No  victualler  or  ale-house  keeper  can  give  any  credit,  so  consequently 
cannot  recover  any  deb'." 

In  an  account  of  the  public  buildings  in  1738,  this  appears:  "The 
public  works  in  this  town  are,  i.  A  court  house,  being  one  handsome 
room,  with  a  piache  on  three  sides."  This  likewise  served  as  a  church 
for  divine  service.  No  place  for  religious  worship  had  been  built,  al- 
though the  trustees  in  their  public  acts  acknowledged  the  receipt  of  about 
seven  hundred  pounds  sterling  from  charitable  persons  for  that  express 
purpose.  Opposite  the  court-house  stood  the  log-house  or  prison  (which 
was  the  only  one  remaining  of  five  or  six  that  had  been  successively 
built.) 

A  memorial  presented  to  the  General  Assembly  in   175 1   notes  that 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  421 

the  court-house  needed  repairs,  and  three  years  later  one  end  of  it  fell 
down  while  Governor  John  Reynolds  and  the  council  were  sitting  in  it. 
The  history  of  the  bar  prior  to  the  federation  of  States  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  is,  unhappily,  fragmentary  and  unsatisfactory.  When 
the  stamp  act  troubles  began,  early  in  1766,  all  judicial  business  was  sus- 
pended, and  the  courts  were  closed.  The  new  court-house  erected  about 
this  time  had  "  in  addition  to  a  court-room,  a  jury-room  with  other  con- 
veniences." 

The  Revolutionary  War  was  followed  by  a  great  deal  of  litigation. 
The  Superior  Court  bench  consisted  of  a  chief  justice  and  two  associate 
judges.  Richard  Hawley  was  the  first  chief  justice  under  the  new  judi- 
ciary system,  1782,  and  his  associates  were  Joseph  Clay  and  William 
O'Bryan.  An  appeal  could  be  taken  from  this  court  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  the  first  murder  case  was  appealed  by  John  Houstoun, 
esq.,  counsel  for  the  convicted  defendant,  Sampson  Wall.  So  heavy  did 
the  litigation  become  that  the  grand  jury  at  the  March  term  of  the  Supe- 
rior Court,  1785,  called  attention  to  it  in  this  strong  language:  "We 
present  as  a  Grievance  replete  with  distress  the  enormous  Docquet  of  the 
Civil  actions  now  before  the  Court,  and  it  is  much  to  be  lamented  that 
the  Legislature  did  not  adopt  some  mode  to  prevent  the  ruin  of  our 
citizens." 

In  1784,  the  judges  of  the  Superior  Court  observing  several  causes 
on  the  docket,  brought  by  and  in  behalf  of  British  subjects,  ordered  that 
the  attorneys  who  brought  them  should  discontinue  them,  or  the  court 
would  dismiss  them  agreeable  to  a  former  determination  that  no  British 
subject  should  be  permitted  to  sue  or  implead  a  citizen  of  the  State,  until 
regulations  in  that  regard  should  be  made  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature. 

Between  1780  and  the  end  of  the  century  the  leading  attorneys  were 
Samuel  Stirk,  James  Whitfield,  William  Stephens,  Nathanael  Pendleton, 
Abraham  Jackson,  Messrs.  Hawley,  Houstoun  and  Matthew  Hall  Mc- 
Allister, the  father  of  the  famous  Ward. 

The  judge  was  dependent  upon  fees  for  his  compensation  just  as  the 
clerk  was.  Collections  were  poor  at  times,  and  in  November,  1782, 
Judge  O'Bryan  passed  an  order  to  the  effect  that  all  fees  due  the  judge 
and  clerk  should  be  paid  into  the  hands  of  the  clerk  before  any  action, 
suit  or  condemnation  should  be  deemed  complete. 


422  HrexoRY  OF  Savannah. 

About  this  time  a  jury  in  a  certain  case  brought  in  a  verdict,  but  re- 
fused to  announce  it  until  paid  for  their  attendance.  When  the  payment 
of  the  jurors'  fees  was  arranged  the  foreman  announced  that  their  verdict 
was  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff  for  £126. 

In  October,  1789,  there  was  no  provision  for  a  motion  for  a  new  trial 
in  case  either  party  to  a  suit  was  dissatisfied.     This  was  only  temporary. 

The  new  court-house  and  new  jail  question  which  appears  every 
quarter  of  a  century  agitated  the  city  as  well  as  the  bar  in  the  closing 
years  of  the  last  century. 

A  grand  jury  in  1790  recommended  a  new  jail.  Judge  Osborne  in 
charging  a  grand  jury  in  1790,  remarked  that  the  City  Council  ought  to 
make  an  appropriation  for  repairing  the  court-house  "  which  at  small  ex- 
pense could  be  made  a  beautiful  ornament  of  the  city  as  well  as  a  build- 
ing of  public  utility.'' 

A  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  from  1792  to  the  organization  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  in  1845,  was  an  official  of  much  more  power 
and  importance  than  now,  for  there  was  no  appeal  from  his  final  judg- 
ment. Counterfeiting  and  mutilating  coins  were  common  offenses,  though 
punishable  by  death,  and  convicted  persons  were  to  be  executed  with- 
out the  benefit  of  clergy. 

Some  odd  and  interesting  things  are  found  in  the  records  of  the 
courts  about  this  time.  In  1785  the  chief  justice  of  the  Superior  Court 
was  George  Walton,  who  "  intending  to  pass  the  summer  in  the  country 
near  Savannah,  appointed  Thursday  of  every  week  to  hold  chambers  at 
the  clerk's  office  in  Town  at  the  hour  of  1 1  in  the  forenoon."  On  the 
Fourth  of  July  of  that  year  his  honor  observed  "that  there  was  a  general 
diffusion  of  an  extraordinary  gladness  on  account  of  the  day."  In  those 
days  the  power  of  the  chief  justice  in  this  State,  with  respect  to  bail,  was 
considered  to  be  like  that  of  the  King's  Bench  in  England.  Chief  Jus- 
tice Walton  ordered  peremptorily  on  one  occasion  that  the  gentlemen 
of  the  bar  should  not  bring  any  proceedings  before  him  without  the  fees, 
except  in  cases  already  begun. 

Chief  Justice  Nathanael  Pendleton  in  addressing  his  first  grand  jury 
in  March,  1789,  said  that  he  "  assumed  the  office  of  chief  judicial  magis- 
trate of  the  State  with  diffidence  and  apprehension  proportioned  to  the 
great  importance  and  difficulty  of  the  position.''    One  of  the  most  remark- 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  423 

able  incidents  connected  with  the  history  of  Savannah's  Bench  and  Bar, 
was  the  imprisonment  of  the  whole  panel  of  one  grand  jury  by  the  court, 
followed  almost  immediately  by  the  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  the 
judge  himself.  This  extraordinary  proceeding  occurred  in  1804.  Jabez 
Bowen,  jr.,  a  Northern  lawyer,  probably  from  Rhode  Island,  had  been 
elected  to  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Chatham  county  by  the 
Legislature.  On  April  23,  1804,  he  convened  his  court  for  the  regular 
term.  When  the  jurors  were  sworn  and  had  taken  their  seats  his  honor, 
who  was  an  impolitic  justice,  delivered  a  charge  which  consisted  mainly 
of  a  bitter  and  malignant  attack  on  slavery.  His  strictures  on  the  social 
customs  of  the  people,  the  Legislature  and  the  authorities  of  the  State 
were  rabid.  His  expressions  would  have  caused  amazement  in  any 
court  room.  Directed  as  they  were  at  length,  and  with  so  much  pro- 
nounced feeling,  at  a  Georgia  jury,  they  incensed  the  grand  inquisitorial 
body  beyond  measure.  No  reply  was  made  at  that  time,  but  when  the 
jurors  retired  to  their  room  they  discussed  nothing  else.  They  resolved 
that  they  would  show  their  resentment  by  ignoring  the  court.  Accord- 
ingly not  one  of  the  twenty-two  jurors  appeared  the  next  morning  when 
the  court  was  opened.  Judge  Bowen  then  fined  each  one  ten  dollars  for 
contempt.  Scarcely  had  this  order  been  recorded  when  the  jury  marched 
into  court,  and  through  the  foreman  delivered  a  presentment  setting  forth 
that  they  "  having  taken  into  consideration  the  political  strictures  deliv- 
ered to  us  yesterday  as  a  charge  by  his  Honor  Judge  Bowen,  do,  upon 
our  oaths,  present  that  it  is  injudicial,  insulting  to  our  government,  and 
repugnant  to  the  general  interests  of  our  country,  and  by  disseminating 
principles  that  may  tend  to  involve  the  community  in  the  horrors  of  do- 
mestic insurrection."  The  members  of  the  body  further  declared  that 
without  violence  to  their  consciences  and  a  total  disregard  of  the  dearest 
ties  of  society  and  its  welfare,  they  would  not  proceed  to  business.  They 
recommended  that  the  judge's  charge  should  not  be  published,  but  that 
a  copy  of  it  and  of  their  presentment  should  be  forwarded  by  the  clerk 
of  the  court  to  the  governor,  and  be  laid  before  the  next  session  of  the 
Legislature. 

This  bearding  of  the  judge  on  his  bench  was  signed  by  Wm.  Smith, 
foreman,  William  Blogg,  Richard  Turner,  Wm.  Lewden,  John  Ciine,  Isaac 
Minis,  Saul  Simons,  John  Y.   White,  Joseph  Machin,   Sampson  Neyle, 


424  History  of  Savannah. 

/ 

Timothy  Barnard,  jr.,  Banack  Gibbons,  Jas.  Mackintosh,  S.  Shad,  James 
Atger,  John  Gibbons,  William  Brown,  James  Belcher,  Joseph  Rice,  John 
Pettibone,  David  Gugil,  Henry  Putnam.  The  court-room  was  thronged 
with  auditors  who  illy  concealed  their  excitement.  It  was  not  imagined 
that  Judge  Bowen  would  be  soothed  by  the  vigorous  arraignment  and 
deserved  rebuke  which  he  received.  Nor  was  he,  but  on  the  contrary  his 
indignation  was  aroused,  and  he  issued  an  order  committing  his  jurors, 
one  and  all  to  jail.  He  accepted  the  presentment  as  a  gross  insult  and 
resented  it  to  the  extent  of  his  power.  He  further  ordered  that  his 
charge  should  be  published  in  the  Georgia  Republican,  giving  as  the 
reason  that  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  judge  that  the  dissemination  of  the 
principles  contained  in  his  address  "  could  alone  secure  the  happiness 
and  eventually  the  very  existence  of  his  country." 

The  lawyers  and  the  people  were  in  sympathy  with  the  grand  jurors 
and  did  not  allow  them  to  remain  in  jail  long.  On  the  following  day, 
April  25,  an  application  was  made  to  the  judges  of  the  Inferior  Court 
for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  for  the  purpose  of  releasing  the  imprisoned 
citizens.  Messrs.  Mitchell,  Noel,  Miller  and  Berrien  appeared  as  council 
for  the  prisoners. 

Judge  Bowen's  order  was  held  to  be  vague,  informal  and  illegal  by 
Justices  Edward  Telfair,  Edward  Harden  and  John  G.  Williamson.  In 
discharging  the  jurors  the  judges  complimented  them  in  this  language: 
"  The  patriotism,  firmness  and  dignity  with  which  you  have  conducted 
yourselves  with  the  patience  and  fortitude  you  have  displayed  will  hand 
your  names  down  to  posterity  with  applause." 

In  the  meantime  Justice  of  the  Peace  John  Pooler  had  issued  a  war- 
rant for  Judge  Bowen  charging  him  with  an  attempt  to  excite  a  domes- 
tic insurrection  in  the  State.  Under  the  warrant  the  judge  was  arrested 
and  sent  to  jail.  The  grand  jurors  had  been  confined  for  twenty-four 
hours.  His  Honor  did  not  get  out  for  two  weeks.  On  Thursday  June 
8,  his  father,  Hon.  Jabez  Bowen,  of  Rhode  Island,  secured  the  release  of 
the  judge  upon  giving  an  $8,000  bond  that  Jabez  Bowen,  jr.,  should  keep' 
the  peace  and  in  all  respects  conduct  himself  as  a  good  and  faithful  citi- 
zen of  the  State  for  five  years.  Judge  Bowen  never  again  presided  over 
a  Georgia  court,  but  left  the  State  soon  after  his  release. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  succeeding  term  Judge  George  Jones,  who 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  425 

had  been  elected  by  the  General  Assembly  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by 
Judge  Bowen's  departure,  remarked  in  his  charge  to  the  grand  jury  that 
the  practice  of  delivering  written  addresses  to  grand  juries  had  perhaps 
grown  into  greater  use  in  this  than  in  any  other  State.  He  suggested) 
that  the  practice  could  be  traced  to  have  its  origin  in  the  war  of  Inde- 
pendence and  even  to  have  contributed  to  it  though  in  what  way  he  does 
not  explain. 

In  1805  the  first  clash  of  authority  occurred  between  the  Superior 
Court  and  the  city.  One  Walter  Roe  had  been  arrested  by  City  Mar- 
shal Charles  Cope  for  violating  the  quarantine  law.  Roe  applied  to  the 
Superior  Court  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  and  secured  his  release  from 
custody.  Upon  the  order  of  Mayor  John  Y.  Noel,  Roe  was  re- arrested 
by  the  city  marshal  and  was  required  to  give  bond.  Thereupon  Judge 
Jones  of  the  Superior  Court  ruled  the  mayor  and  the  marshall  for  con- 
tempt of  court  and  after  giving  them  an  opportunity  to  show  cause  why 
they  should  not  be  punished,  he  fined  the  mayor  $50  and  the  marshal 
$10  and  held  that  the  Superior  Court  had  jurisdiction  over  the  city  of 
Savannah,  a  judgment  which  the  later  mayors  have  questioned. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  grand  jury  in  1808  presented  "  the  too 
frequent  and  irreligious  custom  of  duelling  as  we  view  it  with  horror. 
We  recommend  some  penalty  that  may  effectually  restrain  it." 

Actions  for  debt  comprised  a  large  part  of  the  business  of  the  Supe- 
rior Court  in  this  decade. 

Even  so  early  as  this  another  war  with  England  was  foreseen,  and 
more  than  one  reference  was  made  to  the  impending  war  cloud  by  Judge 
T.  U.  P.  Charlton. 

In  no  section  of  the  country  was  greater  energy  displayed  either  in 
support  of  the  laws  or  of  the  authority  of  the  magistracy.  Justice  for 
years  moved  on  with  a  firm  and  steady  pace  uninterrupted  by  any  of 
those  comrnotions  which  theorists  had  predicted  would  be  found  to  be 
inseparably  connected  with  Republican  institutions.  The  course  of  events 
as  they  were  blended  with  judicial  proceedings  proved  also,  beyond  the 
reach  of  refutation,  the  exalted  moral  character  of  the  citizens  of  this 
judicial  district.  Judge  Charlton  observed  in  this  connection  in  the  year 
1810:  "For  nearly  eight  years  back  the  public  sensibiUty  has  not  been 
shocked  by  the  pageant  of  an  execution,  and  for  six  years  of  that  time 


42b  History  of  Savannah. 

punishment  by  branding  and  whipping  has  been  inflicted  only  upon  three 
persons  and  one"  of  these  was  not  a  native  of  this  country."  Amidst  so 
large  a  population  such  a  diminution  of  crime  was  spoken  of  as  unpar- 
aleled. 

The  last  century  was  just  rounding  off  when  there  came  to  the  Sa- 
vannah bar  a  youth  who  was  destined  to  become  the  brightest  star  of 
his  profession,  the  noblest  ornament  of  the  bench.  For  more  than  half  a 
century  from  1799  to  1856  John  McPherson  Berrien  was  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  legal  profession,  the  virtues  of  Which  he  illustrated,  adorning  it 
by  the  exhibition  of  rare  and  eminent  talents.  Dying,  he  left  an  exam- 
ple of  spotless  purity  and  integrity  of  life.  His  memory  is  still  sweet, 
and  it  is  not  rare  to  hear  his  name  mentioned  with  pride  by  the  older 
members  of  the  present  bar.  He  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  in  1781,  but 
his  parents  soon  came  to  Georgia.  Young  Berrien  read  law  in  the  office 
of  the  Hon.  Joseph  Clay,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1799  before  he 
completed  his  eighteenth  year.  Ten  years  later  he  was  elected  solicitor- 
general  and  in  18 10  became  judge  of  the  Eastern  Circuit.  The  latter 
office  he  held  four  terms.  While  on  the  bench,  the  question  of  the  con- 
stitutionality of  the  alleviating  law  came  before  him,  and  in  a  convention 
of  all  the  judges  at  Augusta,  he  delivered  the  opinion  declaring  the  act 
to  be  unconstitutional.  This  was  a  triumph  of  law  over  popular  excite- 
ment. Distressed  in  financial  matters  the  people  had  elected  a  majority 
to  the  Legislature  to  grant  relief,  even  to  the  suspension  of  debts,  or  at 
■least  of  the  process  of  enforcing  them. 

During  the  war  with  Great  Britain  Judge  Berrien  commanded  a  reg- 
iment of  volunteer  cavalry,  but  he  had  no  opportunity  of  engaging  in  a 
conflict.  The  only  time  when  a  judicial  act  of  his  caused  dissatisfaction 
was  when  he  passed  sentence  on  Hopkins,  found  guilty  of  the  murder  of 
one  Mcintosh.  After  the  crime  Hopkins  was  aided  in  making  his  escape 
by  his  overseer,  who  had  no  further  connection  with  the  offence.  Both 
were  convicted  of  manslaughter.  Judge  Berrien  sentenced  Hopkins  to 
the  penitentiary  without  labor  and  the  overseer  was  subjected  to  hard  la- 
bor for  a  term  of  years.  This  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  public  who 
considered  the  judgment  discrimination — the  wealthy  criminal  under- 
going simple  confinement  and  his  poor  innocent  friend  toiling  at  the  work- 
bench.    Judge  Berrien  demanded  an  investigation,  and  the  Legislature 


tHE  bENCH  And  Sar.  427 

of  1818  unanimously  vindicated  him.  The  judge  had  been  actuated  by 
motives  of  humanity.  Hopkins  was  in  feeble  health,  and  labor  would 
have  been  taking  his  life  by  judicial  execution  when  a  less  punishment 
was  all  that  the  law  authorized.  In  1822  and  1823  Judge  Berrien  served 
Chatham  county  in  the  State  Senate,  and  in  1824  he  was  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate.  In  that  body  he  took  a  commanding  position. 
Only  on  important  questions  did  he  take  part  in  the  debates  and  then 
maturely  prepared,  as  he  never  failed  10  be,  his  arguments  were  sustained 
by  a  logic  and  an  eloquence  which  gjTve  universal  delight.  Chief  Justice 
Marshall  called  him  the  "  honey  tongued  Georgia  youth."  He  also  won 
the  title  "  American  Cicero." 

It  is  said  that  he  was  the  only  man  to  whom  Daniel  Webster  softened 
his  voice  when  he  turned  from  his  seat  to  address  him.  President  Jack- 
son invited  Judge  Berrien  to  a  seat  in  his  first  cabinet,  and  Judge  Ber- 
rien became  the  attorney-general  ol  the  United  States.  Judge  Berrien's 
daughters  with  the  other  cabinet  ladies  cut  Mrs.  Eaton,  wife  of  the  secre- 
tary of  war,  and  from  that  arose  the  unpleasantness  in  the  Cabinet  which 
resulted  in  the  withdrawal  of  Judge- Berrien,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
Ingham,  and  Secretary  of  the  Navy  Branch.  In  accepting  the  attorney- 
general's  resignation,  the  president  wrote :  "  I  take  pleasure  in  express- 
ing my  approbation  of  the  zeal  and  efficiency  with  which  its  (the  office's) 
duties  have  been  performed,  and  in  assuring  you  that  you  carry  with 
you  my  best  wishes  for  your  prosperity  and  happiness.'' 

To  Judge  Berrien  the  bar  is  indebted  for  that  compilation  of  the  statute 
laws  of  England  then  in  force  in  Georgia  known  as  Schley's  digest,  for  it 
was  prepared  under  a  resolution  introduced  by  him  when  he  was  chair- 
man of  the  Georgia  Senate  Judiciary  Committee. 

The  old  criminal  code  was  violative  of  the  principle  that  life  and  the 
right  to  enjoy  it  with  dignity  were  sacred  things.  That  code  attached 
very  little  value  to  human  life  or  dignity,  and  in  many  instances  men 
could  be  deprived  of  their  lives  when  imprisonment  and  labor  might  have 
fulfilled  all  the  purposes  of  punishment.  In  almost  every  case  there  was 
a  disproportion  between  the  crime  and  the  punishment.  Judge  Thomas 
U.  P.  Charlton,  who  preceded  and  succeeded  Judge  Berrien,  took  a  stand 
against  the  penal  laws  and  put  himself  on  record  so  in  his  first  charge  to 
a  grand  jury. 


4^8  History  of  SavaNnaM. 

The  principal  law  firms  in  Savannah  for  some  years,  prior  to  and  sub- 
sequent to  1840,  were  those  of  Berrien  &  Law,  MacAllister  &  Cohen, 
Charlton  &  Ward,  and  Miller  &  Kollock.  Francis  S.  Bartow's  name  was 
added  to  the  firm  Berrien  &  Law  about  that  time.  This  firm  reaches 
far  back  and  touches  the  present.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the  century  the 
■firm  of  Davies  &  Berrien  was  formed.  Then  it  became  Berrien  &  Law, 
then  Law  &  Bartow,  then  Law,  Bartow  &  Lovell,  then  Law,  Lovell  & 
Falligant,  the  next  Law  &  Falligant,  and  now  as  sole  survivor  of  a  firm 
which  began  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  is  Captain  Robert  Falliganit, 
ithe  wit  and  poet  of  the  bar  of  to-day,  the  fourth  member  of  the  firm  to 
fill  the  Superior  Court  bench. 

Half  a  century  ago  there  was  no  greater  character,  in  a  certain  sense, 
at  the  Savannah  bar  than  John  Millen.  He  bore  plainly  the  stamp  of 
originality.  He  had  ability  without  eloquence.  Brevity,  directness  and 
force  marked  his  manner.  In  1837,  °^  thereabouts,  he  pledged  his  per- 
sonal character  and  obtained  the  respite  of  a  convicted  client,  a  slave 
named  Adam,  found  guilty  of  having,  with  the  assistance  of  another  slave, 
Bella,  murdered  the  latter's  master,  Warren.  Bella  was  hung.  On  the 
gallows  she  made  a  confession  and  exonerated  Adam,  who  was  afterwards 
pardoned. 

Levi  S.  DeLyon  was  directly  descended  from  the  colony  of  Israelites 
who  located  in  Savannah  soon  after  it  was  laid  out.  His  personal  mag- 
netism, his  fidelity  to  his  clients,  his  fluency  of  speech,  and  his  ability 
soon  drew  to  him  a  lucrative  practice.  By  his  professional  labors  he 
made  a  comfortable  fortune.  He  eschewed  politics,  except  in  the  line  of 
his  profession,  and  was  for  several  years  judge  of  the  city  court  of  Sa- 
vannah. 

One  of  the  most  promising  of  the  young  attorneys  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  the  decade  between  1830  and  1840,  was  Nicholas  Marlow.  He 
was  a  pupil  in  Dr.  White's  school  in  Savannah  for  a  year  or  two.  His 
early  opportunities  had-  been  Hmited,  but  he  had  a  good  mind  and  he 
was  a  diligent  student.  During  his  brief  career  at  the  bar  he  won  an 
enviable  reputation  by  his  conduct  of  a  case  involving  certain  rights  of 
slaves.  John  Dugger,  jr.,  had  by  will  directed  that  certain  slaves  of  his 
should  be  sent  out  of  the  State  to  some  place  where  they  could  be  free. 
The  Court  of  Ordinary  refused  to  probate  the  will  on  the  ground  that  its 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  429 

provisions  were  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  State  touching  the  manumis- 
sion of  slaves.  Mr.  Henry  Rose,  of  Savannah,  became  interested  in  the 
case  and  employed  young  Marlow  to  secure  the  slaves  their  rights.  It 
had  been  the  general  opinion  of  the  bar  that  such  a  will  was  void,  but 
Judge  R.  M.  Charlton,  then  the  youngest  judge  in  the  State,  at  the  instance 
of  perhaps  the  youngest  attorney  at  the  bar,  decided  against  that  gen- 
eral opinion,  and  in  favor  of  the  liberty  of  the  slaves.  Subsequently 
the  Georgia  judges  in  convention  rendered  the  same  judgment  in  a  similar 
case,  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  afterwards  affirmed  the  ruling 
in  many  cases.  Through  the  case  the  young  judge  and  young  Marlow 
both  made  a  name.  Marlow's  success  was  assured,  but  death  cut  short 
his  career  about  three  years  later,  at  which  time  he  was  the  partner  of 
Hon.  Joseph  W.  Jackson. 

Thelawyers  of  fifty  years  ago  were  Jeremiah  Cuyler,  Counselor  Leake, 
William  B.  Bulloch,  Mordecai  Sheftall,  sr.,  John  M.  Berrien,  George  W. 
Owens,  Richard  W.  Habersham,  James  M.  Wayne,  Joseph  S.  Pelot,  Levi 
S.  De  Lyon,  Joseph  W.  Jackson,  Wm.  Law,  M.  H.  MacAllister,  Chas. 
S.  Henry,  Mordecai  Myers,  Geo.  Glenn,  John  C.  Nicoll,  John  M.  Clark, 
Robert  W.  Pooler,  William  W.  Gordon.  Richard  R.  Cuyler,  Robert  M. 
Charlton,  John  Miller,  Wm.  H.  Bulloch,  Alexander  J.  Drysdale,  Wm.  H. 
Miller,  J.  De  La  Motta,  jr.,  William  H.  Stiles,  George  J.  Kallock,  Ed.  J. 
Harden,  John  E.  Ward.  William  B.  Bulloch  was  a  bank  officer,  Mor-  • 
decai  Myers  was  an  officer  of  the  city  government,  J.  De  La  Motta  was 
an  editor  of  the  Sa.va^nnah  Republican,  WiWrnm  H.  Bulloch  of  the  Georgian, 
and  Robert  W.  Pooler  was  clerk  of  the  Superior  Court ;  Messrs.  Owens, 
Habersham,  Jackson  and  Stiles  represented  Georgia  in  Congress;  John 
E.  Ward  was  speaker  of  the  Georgia  House  of  Representatives  and  was 
minister  to  China.  Three  old  lawyers  at  that  time  who  were  not  natives 
of  Georgia  were  Wm.  B.  Fleming,  Solomon  Cohen,  and  Mulford  Marsh. 
Both  the  Charltons,  father  and  son,  were  men  of  extensive  legal  knowl- 
edge, possessed  of  remarkable  powers  of  memory,  and  were  ripe  scholars. 
Their  names  are  linked  with  the  history  of  the  Savannah  bar  throughout 
the  first  half  of  the  century.  The  elder  Charlton,  T.  U.  P.,  was  twice 
judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  for  one  term  was  solicitor- general.  His 
son,  Robert,  was  judge  of  the  same  court  from  1835  to  1837.  Judge 
Wayne  was  for  years  judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court.     Judge 


430  HisTORV  OF  Savannah. 

Edward  J.  Harden,  of  the  city  court,  was  a  practicing  lawyer  for  almost 
forty  years.  He  came  to  the  bar  in  1834  and  died  in  1873.  His  name 
always  suggests  the  ready  recognition  of  a  generous  and  kindly  sym- 
pathy, of  which  he  seemed  by  common  consent,  to  be  the  center  and  ex- 
ponent. As  a  judge  he  was  upright  and  just;  as  a  counselor  he  was.  wise, 
prudent  and  safe  ;  as  an  advocate  he  was  earnest,  zealous,  faithful  and 
stern  in  integrity.  He  was  distinguished  in  his  profession  by  his  labori- 
ous industry,  by  his  great  legal  acquirements,  and  by  his  devotion  to  his 
duties  and  to  the  interests  of  his  clients.  During  the  existence  of  the 
Confederacy  he  was  on  the  bench  of  the  Confederate  States  Court  here  in 
Savannah. 

Though  rarely  seen  in  the  court-house  now,  there  are  members  of  the 
bar  yet  who  connect  the  first  half  of  the  century  with  the  present.  Gen- 
eral Henry  R.  Jackson,  General  Alexander  R.  Lawton,  and  Captain  John 
M.  Guerard  were  attorneys  before  the  fifties.  Another  who  lives,  though 
retired  from  practice,  is  Judge  Richard  Clarke,  and  still  another  is  John 
E.  Ward,  who  was  solicitor-general  in  1836,  mayor  of  Savannah  many 
years  ago,  ex-minister  to  China,  and  now  is  practicing  his  profession  in 
New  York.  But  all  honor  to  Savannah's  post  bellum  bar.  Four  years 
of  army  life  made  a  great  scar  in  the  professional  careers  of  every  one. 
Those  who  had  made  a  start  before  the  war  broke  out  were  rusty,  and 
had  to  begin  again  when  they  returned.  The  rivalry  between  intellects 
which  followed  was  keen.  The  briefless  young  attorney  and  the  expe- 
rienced heads  started  off  with  enthusiasm.  New  men  kept  coming  in. 
Cases  were  many,  and  the  battles  of  the  bar  were  fought  with  admirable 
skill.  General  Henry  R.  Jackson  took  a  leading  position,  delighting  by 
his  poetic  thought,  classic  diction  and  eloquence.  He  had  been  a  Supe- 
rior Court  judge  eleven  years  before  the  war  opened,  and  had  been 
United  States  attorney,  representing  the  government  in  the  most  notable 
case  ever  tried  in  the  Federal  courts  here,  that  of  the  captain  of  the  bark 
Wanderer,  and  others  who  were  interested  in  bringing  to  Georgia  from 
the  African  coast  a  cargo  of  slaves.  After  the  war  General  Jackson  was 
engaged  in  many  of  the  most  famous  civil  cases  in  this  judicial  district, 
and  some  of  the  cases  he  fought  through  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  '  General  A.  R.  Lawton  was  for  several  years  a  partner 
of  General  Jackson's,  and  was  associated  with  him  in  some  large  cases. 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  431 

Then  for  several  years  General  Lawton  was  general  counsel  for  the  Cen- 
tral Railroad  and  Banking  Company,  a  position  upon  which  devolves  a 
voluminous  business. 

During  the  last  years  of  its  existence  the  law  firm  of  Hartridge  & 
Chisholm  stood  at  the  head  of  the  bar  of  the  State.  Judge  Walter  S. 
Chisholm  and  Hon.  Julian  Hartridge  were  strong  lawyers.  Judge  Chis- 
holm had  the  training  acquired  from  eleven  years  on  the  bench,  and  Mr. 
Hartridge  had  served  as  solicitor  general  and  had  considerable  experi- 
ence obtained  as  a  member  of  various  public  bodies.  Mr.  Hartridge  died 
a  member  of  Congress.  Ex-judge  Chisholm  is  the  general  counsel  of  the 
Plant  Railroad  and  Steamship  System  and  of  the  Southern  Express  Com- 
pany. His  greatest  case  in  the  Georgia  courts  was  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
Railroad  suit  which  he  won,  and  for  which  he  received  the  largest  fee 
ever  paid  a  Savannah  lawyer,  $80,006.  For  five  years  he  has  resided  in 
New  York  although  he  has  an  office  here,  his  associate  in  it  being  Robert 
G.  Erwin,  esq. 

Captain  Guerard   retired   from  practice  a  few  months  ago.     He  has 
read  widely  and  his  familiarity  with  the  old  English  law  has  many  a  time . 
surprised  court  and  opposing  counsel. 

Thomas  M.  Norwood,  esq,  ex-Congressman  and  ex- United  States 
Senator,  is  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  Georgia.  His  strength  has  been 
his  logical  mind  and  dreaded  sarcasm,  equipped  on  one  hand  for  the 
court  and  on  the  other  for  effect  before  a  jury.  For  years  he  drew  a 
handsome  salary  as  the  counsel  for  a  large  corporation  with  western  in- 
terests. 

Not  to  be  forgotten  is  the  late  S.  Yates  Levy  who  was  a  litterateur  as 
well  as  counselor,  and  whose  talent  won  admiration  in  which  field  so  ever 
he  worked. 

Georgia  probably  has  no  abler  legal  firm  than  Denmark,  Adams  & 
Adams.  B.  A,  Denmark  and  S.  B.  Adams  had  an  enviable  reputation 
before  ex-Judge  A.  P.  Adams  resigned  from  the  Superior  Court  bench 
to  enter  the  firm.  Judge  Adams  was  conceded  to  be  the  finest  jurist  on 
the  Superior  Court  bench  in  the  State,  and  his  decisions  were  keen  and 
logical  analyses  of  the  law.  For  his  ability  the  Supreme  Court  enter- 
tained the  highest  esteem  and  so  expressed  itself  The  bar  sincerely  re- 
gretted his  retirement,  for  the  members  admired  him.     He  has  rare  logi- 


432-  History  of  Savannah. 

cal  powers,  is  a  hard  student  and  has  fjreat  powers  as  a  pleader.  Judge 
Adams'  associates  at  the  bar  regard  him  as  the  coming  lawyer  of  the 
State,  for  he  is  yet  a  young  man. 

S.  B.  Adams,  esq.,  his  brother,  is  the  attorney  for  the  city  of  Savan- 
nah and  is  an  able  lawyer. 

B.  A.  Denmark  has  an  exceptionally  practical  business  mind,  and  he 
is  the  attorney  of  several  large  corporations. 

Judge  William  D.  Harden  of  the  City  Court  is  still  reckoned  among 
the  younger  members  of  the  bar.  His  attainments  are  varied,  the  ex- 
pression "  well  rounded  "  being  very  applicable  to  him.  Aside  from  the 
law,  his  fund  of  general  information  is  so  wide  that  he  might  be  taken 
for  a  specialist  in  any  one  of  half  a  dozen  pursuits. 

Fleming  G.  du  Bignon,  president  ot  the  last  State  Senate,  rose  rapidly. 
While  most  men  are  laying  the  foundation  he  reared  the  walls.  Scarcely 
more  than  six  years  ago,  if  that  long,  he  came  back  to  Savannah  after  a 
residence  of  some  years  in  Milledgeville.  Elected  Solicitor- General  of 
this  judicial  district,  he  proceeded  to  administer  his  ofiRce  with  a  fearless- 
ness and  ability  which  quickly  gained  him  the  good  will  of  all  save  the 
criminal  classes,  and  they  respected  him.  He  is  a  magnetic,  eloquent 
speaker,  particularly  strong  in  graphic  dramatic  descriptive  style  of  ora- 
tory such  as  is  often  wonderfully  effective  in  criminal  trials.  Mr.  du  Big- 
non rarely  lost  a  case  when  he  was  the  State's  counsel,  and  he  has  no 
superior  to-day  in  Georgia  as  a  criminal  lawyer.  His  greatest  cases  have 
been :  The  Pfluger,  Dawson,  and  Smith-Cassidy  murder  trials  in  the 
Superior  Court,  and  the  moonshine  case  in  the  United  States  Court. 

Charles  N.  West  is  a  brainy  lawyer  and  a  tireless  worker.  He  never 
gives  up  so  long  as  there  is  the  smallest  chance.  Not  infrequently  has 
he  carried  his  point  when  opposed  by  k  long  line  of  counsel,  sometimes 
by  half  the  members  of  the  bar  in  important  assignment  and  recievership 
cases.      Mr.  West  has  a  large,  valuable  and  steadily  growing  practice. 

J.  R.  Saussy,  esq.,  is  a  strong  civil  lawyer,  to  which  practice  he  chiefly 
confines  himself.  If  he  cannot  win  a  jury  or  at  least  a  large  part  of  it,  no 
one  can  for  his  side  of  the  case.  Mr.  Saussy  has  figured  in  some  of  the 
largest  cases  here,  notably  the  Telfair  will  case  and  the  Rose  will  case. 
As  an  authority  on  testamentary  law  he  is  at  the  head  of  the  bar.  His 
law  library  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  State. 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  433 


Messrs.  Garrard  &  Meldrim,  while  not  by  any  means  old  lawyers,  are 
about  the  oldest  firm  in  the  city.  They  are  successful  too.  Colonel 
William  Garrard  fortifies  himself  with  authorities.  Mr.  Peter  W.  Mel- 
drim wins  a  jury  through  the  evidence  and  his  address  and  the  court  he 
addresses  with  strong  reasoning. 

Inheriting  the  ability  of  father  and  grandfather  Walter  G.  Charlton 
easily  attained  and  maintains  a  leading  position  at  the  Savannah  bar. ' 
He  was  solicitor- general  for  a  term,  and  before  that  had  practically  filled 
the  position  for  a  term  or  two.  A  fearless  prosecutor  of  violators  of  the 
law  was  he,  too,  and  a  lasting  benefit  did  he  confer  on  the  city  in  making 
the  first  move  to  break  up  the  gambling  hells  and  gangs  of  footpads. 
Mr.  Charlton  is  an  effective  speaker,  ready  at  repartee,  cool  and  when 
he  chooses  to  resort  to  it  bitterly  sarcastic. 

His  law  partner  W.  W.  Mackall,  esq.,  has  a  name  as  a  sound  coun- 
selor and  is  often  selected  by  the  courts  to  act  as  master  in  cases. 

Wallace  W.  Fraser  is  the  present  solicitor- general.  He  is  a  native 
of  Liberty  county  and  is  popular  all  over  the  circuit.  Mr.  Fraser  excels 
as  a  civil  lawyer  and  he  alway.=  knows  his  cases  when  he  appears  in  court. 

Alex.  R.  MacDonell  is  among  the  young  lawyers.  His  city  code 
however,  entitles  him  to  rank  with  the  older  members  of  the  profession. 
The  work  was  carefully,  thoroughly  done  and  is  a  highly  creditable  law 
book,  the  best  codification  of  ordinances  Savannah  has  ever  had. 

The  possessor  of  the  most  remarkable  memory  at  the  Savannah  bar, 
yes  at  the  bar  of  Georgia,  is  Joseph  Cronk,  esq.,  who  cites  opinions,  titles 
of  authorities,  the  numbers  of  the  page  or  section  of  the  codes  with  un- 
failing accuracy  and  without  reference  to  memorandums. 

Not  another  Savannah  lawyer  has  prospered  as  J.  L.  Whatley,  esq., 
has.  He  had  a  lucrative  practice  and  he  was  farseeing,  he  invested  and 
cleared  handsomely  and  is  now  one  of  the  wealthiest  members  of  his  pro- 
fession. By  the  way,  his  partner.  General  Henry  R.  Jackson,  is  the 
wealthiest  member  of  the  bar.  Mr.  Whatley  has  not  the  disadvantage 
which  handicaps  so  many  lawyers,  his  mind  is  eminently  practical,  not 
theoretical. 

If  the  name  of  one  Savannah  lawyer  is  destined  to  outlive  all  others 
in  history  William  Clifton  is  that  name.  He  is  an  original  character 
with  a  memory  for  faces  and  names  which  is  simply  phenomenal.     That 

55 


434  History  of  SavannaH. 


is  the  chief  secret  of  Mr.  Clifton's  popularity.  He  knows  by  name  more 
men,  women  and  children  than  any  one  else  in  Georgia  certainly.  And 
while  the  city  lawyers  may  defeat  him  in  the  courts  in  Savannah  he  in- 
variably gets  the  better  of  them  on  the  circuit.  Mr.  Clifton  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  last  Legislature. 

R.  R.  Richards  probably  has  to  turn  more  clients  away  because  he  is 
too  busy  than  any  of  his  legal  brothers.  Mr.  Richards  makes  no  pre- 
tensions to  oratory  but  he  wins  cases  from  those  who  do.  His  acquaint- 
ance with  corporation  law  and  the  statutes  providing  for  damages  for 
personal  injury  is  wide  and  thorough. 

Captain  Henry  Cunningham,  associate  counsel  for  the  Central  Rail- 
road, is  another  lawyer  who  sifts  a  case  until  he  gets  at  the  issues  and 
then  he  regards  them  in  a  practical  business  way.  He  has  a  lucrative 
practice. 

Colonel  Rufus  E.  Lester,  for  six  years-  mayor  of  the  city  and  now 
congressman  from  this  district,  might  reasonably  be  supposed  from  his 
official  career  to  be  a  leading  lawyer.  And  he  is.  Colonel  Lester  is  a 
good  thinker.  He  gets  at  the  merits  of  a  case,  if  it  has  any,  and  he  is 
strong  before  a  jury.      He  has  been  a  successful  and  prosperous  attorney. 

No  lawyer  stands  higher  at  the  bar  than  Colonel  George  A.  Mercer 
who  has  a  remarkably  fine  legal  mind.  Colonel  Mercer  has  a  deep 
knowledge  of  law  and  a  careful  judgment  which  give  his  counsel  author- 
ative  value.  He  is  an  unusually  fluent  and  rapid  speaker.  His  style  in 
speaking  is  chaste  and  marked  by  its  smoothness  and  grace.  He  is  iden- 
tified with  many  of  the  most  important  civil  and  criminal  cases  at  every 
term  of  the  courts. 

The  Superior  Court  judges  and  the  Solicitor- Generals  of  the  Eastern 
Circuit,  since  the  Superior  Court,  as  it  now  is,  was  instituted  in  1792,  have 
been:  John  Houstoun,  1792;  William  Stephens,  1796;  John  Glen,  1798; 
David  Brydie  Mitchell,  1798;  Jabez  Bowen,  1804;  George  Jones,  1804; 
Thomas  U.  P.  Charlton,  1808;  John  M.  Berrien,  1813;  Thomas  U.  P. 
Charlton,  1821;  James  M.  Wayne,  1822;  Wilham  Davies,  1828;  Will- 
iam Law,  1829;  John  L  Nicoll,  1834;  Robert  M.  Charlton,  1835;  Charles 
H.  Henry,  1837;  Wilham  B.  Fleming,  1845;  Henry  R.  Jackson,  1849; 
Joseph  W.  Jackson,  1853  ;  William  B.  Fleming,  1853;  Wilham  Schley, 
1869;  Henry  B.Tompkins,  1875  ;  Wilham  B.  Fleming,  1879;  Henry  B. 
Tompkins,  1881 ;  A.  Pratt  Adams,  1882;   Robert  FaUigant,  1889. 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  435 


Solicitor-  generals,  George  Woodruff,  1795;  David  B.  Mitchell,  1796; 
William  B.  Bullock,  1799;  T.  U.  P.  Charlton,  1804;  John  M.  Berrien, 
1809;  Joseph  S.  Pelot,  1813  ;  Edward  F.  Tattnall,  18 16;  William  Law, 
1817;  John  C.  Nicoll,  1821 ;  Nathaniel  P.  Bond,  18:22;  Charles  S.  Henry, 
1825;  Joseph  W.  Jackson,  1831  ;  William  H.  Stiles,  1833;  John  Elliott 
Ward,  1836;  Edward  J.  Harden,  1838;  Richard  N.  Owens,  1838;  Will- 
iam P.  White,  1840;  William  P.  Gaulden,  1847;  George  A.  Gordon, 
1855;  Julian  Hartridge,  1855  ;  Claudius  C.  Wilson,  Jan.  23,  i860;  Fred- 
erick Tupper,  qualified  as  solicitor-general  March  4,  1861,  and  was  act- 
ing as  such  on  May  12,  1862;  John  W.  Heidt,  date  of  commission  does 
not  appear,  evidently  succeeded  Tupper,  first  reference  to  him  Jan.  29, 
1863,  was  still  acting  May  24,  1866;  Alfred  B.  Smith,  date  of  commis- 
sion does  not  appear,  was  acting  in  February,  1868,  term  expired  Janu- 
ary, 1873  ;  Albert  R.  Lamar,  January,  1873;  Alfred  B.  Smith,  January, 
1877;  Walter  G.  Charlton,  January,  188 1  ;  Fleming  G.  du  Bignon,  Janu- 
ary, 1885;  Wallace  W.  Eraser,  November,  1888. 

The  judges  of  the  City  Court  of  Savannah  have  been  :  James  M. 
Wayne,  1820;  John  C.  Nicoll,  1824;  Charles  S.  Henry,  1834;  John  C. 
Nicoll,  1837;  Levi  S.  D' Lyon,  1838;  William  B.  Fleming,  1844;  Ed- 
ward J.  Harden,  1845;  Mordecai  Sheftall,  1847;  Alexander  Drysdale, 
1850;  George  Troup  Howard,  1853;  John  M.  Millen,  1856;  Levi  S. 
De  Lyon,  1861  ;  Walter  S.  Chisholm,  1863  ;   William  D.  Harden,  1878. 

The  following  names  constitute  the  roster  of  Savannah's  bar :  A. 
Pratt  Adams,  S.  B.  Adams,  J.  Randolph  Anderson,  James  Atkins,  Isaac 
Beckett,  G.  E.  Bevans,  G.  T.  Cann,  J.  F.  Cann,  W.  G.  Charlton,  W.  S. 
Chisholm,  jr.,  J.  G.  Clark,  D.  H.  Clark,  William  Clifton,  J.  A.  Cronk,  H. 
C.  Cunningham,  B.  A.  Denmark,  F.  G.  du  Bignon,  R.  G.  Erwin,  Robert 
Falligant,  W.  W.  Eraser,  Davis  Freeman,  William  Garrard,  Eugene  L. 
Gilbert,  J.  M.  Guerard,  Henry  R.  Jackson,  W.  P.  La  Roche,  W.  F.  Law, 
A.  R.  Lawton,  sr..  A,  R.  Lawton,  jr.,  S.  L.  Lazaron,  W.  R.  Leaken,  R. 
E.  Lester,  W.  W.  Mackall,  U.  H.  McLaws,  A.  H.  MacDonell,  A.  M. 
Martin,  P.  W.  Meldrim,  George  A.  Mercer,  G.  H.  Miller,  A.  Minis,  jr., 
T.  S.  Morgan,  W.  E.  Morrison,  T.  M.  Norwood,  M.  A.  O'Byrne,  P.  J. 
O'Connor,  W.  W.  Osborne,  George  W.  Owens,  W.  H.  Patterson,  Will- 
iam Pease,  R.  R.  Richards,  T.  D.  Rockwell,  J.  R.  Saussy.  sr.,  J.  R.  Saussy, 
jr.,  John  S.  Schley,  R.  D.  Walker,  Charles  N.  West,  J.  L.  Whatley,  H. 
E.  Wilson,  W.  G.  Woodfin,  A.  C.  Wright. 


436  History  of  Savannah. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  MEDICAL  PROFESSION  OF  SAVANNAH. 

Sketches  of  some  of  the  most  Prominent  Physicians  of  Savannah,  Past  and  Present 
— Medical  Colleges — Georgia  Medical  Society. 

THE  history  of  the  medical  profession  of  Savannah  opens  a  wide  field, 
but  facts  to  form  a  perfect  record  are  limited  and  imperfectly  at- 
tainable. Physicians  have  little  in  common  with  each  other  to  go  to  form 
a  professional  history,  an  aggregation  of  the  personal  attainments  of  each 
is  therefore  essential  to  its  perfection  and  perpetuation.  But  to  record 
the  deeds  of  each,  or  even  a  bare  outline  of  their  achievements  and  per- 
sonal history,  would  develop  facts  that  should  be  preserved,  yet  the  lim- 
ited space  of  a  work  of  this  sort  forbids  its  full  cultivation. 

Among  the  earlier  settlers  upon  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Savan- 
nah, two  disciples  of  Esculapius  are  found,  Dr.  Patrick  Tailfer  and  Dr. 
Hugh  Anderson,  who  in  1741  wrote  a  description  of  the  settlement  found- 
ed by  Oglethorpe,  in  which  they  harshly  criticised  the  unhealthfulness 
of  the  locality.  These  two  doctors,  without  doubt,  the  first  in  this  sec- 
tion of  the  country,  were  worthy  followers  of  the  "  healing  art,''  and  their 
skill  found  abundant  field  of  exercise  among  the  members  of  Oglethorpe's 
followers.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  history  furnishes  us  so  little  con- 
cerning these  pioneer  physicians. 

Dr.  Nunis,  an  Israelite,  came  among  the  settlers  of  Savannah  in  its 
early  history  and  at  an  unfortunate  period.  The  spirit  of  religious  intol- 
erance was  most  bitter,  and  he  was  informed  that  Jews  and  Roman  Cath- 
olics were  not  welcome  among  a  people  whom  it  would  seem  had  every 
incentive  to  be  devoid  of  religious  prejudice.  Dr.  Nunis  therefore  sought 
a  home  in  a  more  generous  community  and  settled  in  Charleston.  Hap- 
pily the  spirit  that  characterised  the  earlier  settlers  of  the  colony  of  Geor- 
gia did  not  long  exist,  and  at  last  gave  way  to  broad  and  enlightened 
sentiments  which  found  fit  expression  in  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  preceding  century,  when  Savannah  was  hardly 


The  Medical  Profession.  437 


more  than  a  thriving  village,  we  find  among  its  medical,  fraternity  such 
distinguished  physicians  as  Dr.  Noble  Wimberly  Jones,  Dr.  John  Irvine, 
and  Dr.  Thomas  Young,  men  of  refinement  and  liberal  education,  who 
occupied  high  positions  in  their  profession. 

Dr.  Jones  was  born  near  London,  England,  in  1732,  and  was  a  son  of 
Hon.  Noble  Jones,  who  came  to  Georgia  with  General  Oglethorpe.  At 
the  commencement  of  the  dissensions  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Col- 
onies, Dr.  Jones  took  a  decided  stand  in  favor  of  the  latter.  He  was 
among  the  first  of  those  who  associated  for  the  purpose  of  sending  dele- 
gates to  a  General  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  and  was  chosen  speaker  of 
the  Provincial  Legislature.  When  Savannah  fell  under  the  British  in 
1778,  he  removed  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  where  he  was  arrested  by  order  of 
the  British  commander  and  carried  to  St.  Augustine.  He  was  released 
after  a  short  imprisonment  and  went  to  Philadelphia.  While  in  Phila- 
delphia he  was  appointed  by  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  a  delegate  to 
Congress,  and  continued  in  that  capacity  until  1782,  when  he  returned  to 
Savannah,  where  he  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  died  in 
1805  honored  by  the  community  as  an  honest  man,  a  sterling  patriot,  and 
a  skillful  physician. 

Dr.  John  Irvine  was  born  in  Scotland,  and  before  the  Revolution 
came  to  Georgia  where  he  practiced  his  profession.  He  was  a  Royalist, 
and  we  find  his  name  among  those  dissenting  to  certain  resolutions  which 
sharply  criticised  the  actions  of  the  English  government.  When  the 
colonies  declared  war  against  England  he  was  obliged  to  leave  Georgia 
and  return  to  England,  where  shortly  after  he  was  appointed  physician 
to  the  king.  After  the  independence  of  the  colonies  was  declared  he  re- 
turned to  Georgia  and  again  settled  in  Savannah,  and  became  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society.      He  died  in  March,  1809. 

Dr.  Thomas  Young  was  located  in  Savannah,  for  several  years.  He 
was  a  physician  of  fine  ability,  and  had  an  extended  practice.  He  died 
in  1808. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  Savannah  had  a  medical  corps 
whicii,  for  professional  attainments,  was  as  brilliant  as  has  ever  marked 
the  city's  history.  Besides  those  already  named,  it  was  composed  of  Drs. 
Thomas  Schley,  Henry  Bourquin,  James  Bond  Read,  James  Glen,  George 
Vinson  Proctor,  WiUiam  Cocke,  Nicholas  S.  Bayard,  John  Grimes,  Lem- 


438  History  of  Savannah. 

uel  Kollock,  James  Ewell,  John  Cumming,  Joshua  E.  White,  Moses  Shef- 
tall,  all  of  whom  died  prior  to  1830. 

Dr.  James  Glen  was  a  grandson  of  Hon.  James  Glen,  who  was  gov- 
ernor of  South  Carolina  in  1739,  and  son  of  Hon.  John  Glen,  first  chief 
justice  of  Georgia.      He  died  in  1816. 

Beyond  the  date  of  death  of  the  contemporaries  of  Dr.  Glen,  we  have 
been  unable  to  gather  but  little  concerning  their  personal  history.  Dr. 
Bourquin  died  in  1819;  Dr.  Schley  in  1812;  Dr.  Proctor  in  1817;  Dr. 
Cocke  in  1821  ;  Nicholas  S.  Bayard  in  1822  ;  Dr.  Kollock  in  1828  ;  Dr. 
Sheftall  in  1830. 

Drs.  George  Jones,  William  Parker,  Charles  Williamson,  W.  C.  Daniel, 
James  P.  Screven,  Peter  Ward,  and  Thomas  Young,  jr.,  were  also  located 
in  Savannah  and  practicing  their  profession  in  the  early  part  of  the  pres- 
ent century. 

Dr.  Daniel  was  born  in  Green  county,  Ga.,  in  1792,  or  1794.  He  set- 
tled in  Savannah  in  18 18.  He  introduced  a  new  system  for  treating  ma- 
larial fever,  and  was  the  author  of  a  work  on  "  The  Autumnal  Fevers  of 
Savannah."  He  -was  educated  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
died  in  Savannah  in  1869.  Dr.  Daniel  was  a  practitioner  of  great  ability, 
took  a  prominent  part  in  the  material  development  of  Savannah,  and  held 
many  positions  of  honor  in  the  management  of  municipal  affairs. 

Dr.  W.  R.  Waring  began  practice  in  Savannah  prior  to  Dr.  Daniel, 
and  for  many  years  was  one  of  the  leading  physicians  of  the  city.  He 
was  a  voluminous  contributor  to  the  medical  literature  of  the  profession, 
being  the  author  of  a  valuable  work  on  yellow  fever.  He  was  not  only  a 
skillful  physician,  but  one  of  the  most  public-spirited  and  useful  citizens 
of  Savannah.      He  was  at  one  time  mayor  of  the  city.      He  died  in  1843. 

Dr.  James  P.  Screven  was  a  descendant  of  Rev.  William  Screven,  who 
came  from  England  prior  to  1674,  and  settled  in  Maine ;  moved  to 
Charleston,  S.  C,  in  1683,  and  founded  the  Baptist  Church  in  that  State. 
Dr.  Screven  was  born  in  South  Carolina  in  1799,  and  moved  to  Savan- 
nah with  his  parents  while  an  infant.  His  preliminary  education  was  re- 
ceived under  Dr.  Moses  Waddell,  He  studied  medicine  under  Dr.  W.  R. 
Waring,  of  Savannah,  and  after  graduating  from  the  medical  department 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  spent  two  years  in  Europe  receiv- 
ing the  benefits  of  the  best  educational  institutions  of  the  old  world.     He 


The  Medical  Profession.  439 


commenced  his  professional  labors  in  Savannah  and  soon  attained  de- 
served success  in  his  calling.  In  1834  he  withdrew  from  active  profes- 
sional work  to  devote  his  time  to  his  large  landed  estate  and  business 
affairs.  In  the  material  development  of  Savannah  he  bore  an  important 
part,  being  the  originator  of  the  water  system,  and  the  main  projector  of 
the  Savannah,  Florida  and  Western  Railway  System.  Although  for  sev- 
eral years  he  did  not  practice  medicine  he  continued  to  feel  a  warm  in- 
terest in  his  profession.  He  was  at  one  time  mayor  of  the  city,  and  for 
one  term  represented  Chatham  county  in  the  State  Senate.  He  died  on 
July  16,  1859. 

During  the  period  from  1830  to  1850  the  medical  profession  of  Sa- 
vannah was  in  its  fullest  glory.  It  was  made  up  of  as  fine  material  as 
could  be  found  in  any  city,  many  of  its  members  possessing  an  enviable 
local  reputation  and  some  almost  national  repute.  Space  forbids  com- 
plete biographical  consideration  but  their  names  at  least  should  be  pre- 
served. Of  those  not  elsewhere  mentioned  there  were  in  active  practice 
during  a  portion  of  the  above  period  Drs.  William  Parker,  Cosmo  P. 
Richardson,  T.  G.  Barnard,  J.  R.  Saussy,  Stephen  N.  Harris,  Joseph  H. 
Burroughs,  William  A.  Caruthers,  R.  D.  Arnold,  Thadeus  Bartow,  P.  M. 
Kollock,  Martin  Tufts,  J.  D.  Fish,  Richard  Wayne,  J.  Ashby  Wragjg, 
Alexander  Cunningham,  R.  Wildman  and  William  Gaston  Bulloch 

Perhaps  no  member  of  the  medical  profession  of  Savannah  was  more 
generally  known  in  this  community  or  more  highly  honored  than  Dr. 
Richard  D.  Arnold.  He  was  born  in  Savannah  in  1808.  After  a 
thorough  preparatory  course  of  literary  and  scientific  study  at  Princeton, 
N.  J.,  he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  from  the  medical  de- 
partment of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1830,  at  that  time  the 
foremost  school  of  medicine  in  the  United  States,  and  soon  after  com- 
menced the  active  duties  of  his  profession  in  his  native  city.  Earnest  in 
his  efforts  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  possessing  a  mind  with  keen 
perceptive  quahties,  he  soon  attained  a  prominent  position  in  his  profes- 
sion. Appointed  in  1835  one  of  the  physicians  of  the  Savannah  poor- 
house  and  hospital,  which  appointment  was  renewed  annually  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  he  acquired  a  perfect  familiarity  with  the  diseases  of 
this  climate,  and  his  pubHshed  monograms  on  bilious  and  yellow  fevers 
made  him  an  authority  on  those  subjects  which  is  recognized  by  the  best 


440  History  of  SAVANi^Art. 

medical  writers  in  the  country.  He  was  a  member  of  the  American 
Medical  Association  from  its  inception  in  1846  and  co-operated  heartily 
in  the  objects  of  its  formation.  He  was  one  of  the  committee  that  framed 
the  code  of  ethics  by  which  the  whole  medical  profession  of  the  United 
States  is  governed,  and  at  its  fourth  annual  meeting  held  in  Charleston, 
S.  C,  in  1851  was  elected  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  association. 

Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  association  that  State  medical  soci- 
eties should  be  formed  as  auxiliaries  in  the  great  work  of  medical  reform. 
Dr.  Arnold  took  an  active  part  in  the  organization  of  the  medical  society 
of  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  as  president,  in  1851,  in  Atlanta  delivered 
an  able  address  upon  "  the  reciprocal  duties  of  physicians  and  the  public 
towards  each  other,"  in  which  he  advocated  a  more  thorough  prepara- 
tory course  of  instruction  in  English,  Greek  and  Latin  literature,  as  well 
as  the  collateral  sciences,  before  commencing  the  study  of  medicine. 

Upon  the  organization  of  the  Savannah  medical  college  in  1 850,  he 
became  professor  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  medicine  and  proved 
himself  to  be  one  of  its  most  valuable  instructors.  He  was  naturally  of 
a  literary  turn,  and  early  in  his  professional  career  employed  his  leisure 
hours  in  writing  for  the  Savannah  Republican.  In  January,  1833,  he  be- 
came part  proprietor  of  the  Daily  Georgian,  and  continued  in  the  jour- 
nalistic field  until  the  early  part  of  1835,  when  he  sold  out  and  devoted 
himself  entirely  to  the  medical  profession. 

In  the  political  affairs  of  the  city  and  State,  Dr.  Arnold  early  in  life 
took  an  active  part.  In  1839  he  was  elected  to  represent  Chatham 
county  in  the  Legislature,  and  distinguished  himself  by  his  fearless  and 
able  advocacy  of  all  measures  of  local  character.  His  entrance  into 
political  life  was  followed  by  many  party  triumphs.  In  1842  he  was 
elected  to  the  Georgia  Senate  over  General  Francis  S.  Bartow,  the  candi- 
date of  the  Whig  party,  and  in  September  of  1843  was  elected  by  a  large 
vote  as  mayor  of  the  city,  previously  having  served  several  terms  as  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen.  He  was  again  elevated  to  the  office 
of  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  city  in  1851,  then  in  1859  and  again  in 
1863,  and  continued  in  the  position  until  the  close  of  the  war,  when  the 
city  having  been  evacuated  by  General  Hardee,  he  was  compelled  to  ask 
the  protection  of  General  Sherman,  upon  its  occupation  by  him  in"  De- 
cember 1864,  and  was  permitted  to  remain  undisturbed  in  possession 
of  the  office  until  the  election  of  Colonel  E.  C.  Anderson. 


I'he  Medical  Profession.  441 

At  the  inception  of  the  present  system  of  public  school  education,  Dr. 
Arnold  became  president  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  held  the  posi- 
tion until  his  death.  His  interest  in  the  success  of  these  schools  was 
most  earnest. 

He  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  for  many  years  previous,  one  of  its  cura- 
tors. At  the  dedication  of  the  present  hall  in  1875,  he  delivered  a  most 
interesting  address  in  which  the  history  of  the  society  and  the  eftbrts  of 
its  most  prominent  early  patron  was  given. 

In  1854  when  Savannah  was  devastated  by  the  worst  yellow  fever 
epidemic  the  city  has  ever  experienced,  Dr.  Arnold  was  noted  for  his 
utter  self-abnegation.  He  was  unrernitting  in  his  attention  to  the  sick 
and  suffering,  and  brought  safely  through  some  of  the  severest  cases  of 
fever,  and  many  of  his  patients  yet  live  to  remember  with  gratitude  his 
kindness  and  zeal.  He  was  an  efficient  member  of  the  Savannah  Benev- 
olent Association  which  was  organized  during  those  terrible  days  of  1854 
and  has  maintained  its  organization  ever  since.  Upon  the  organization 
of  the  Board  of  Water  Commissioners  some  thirty  years  ago.  Dr.  Arnold 
was  elected  president  and  continued  to  hold  the  position  through  all 
successive  city  administrations  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  gave 
great  attention  to  the  subject  of  water  supply  and  many  of  the  improve- 
ments in  the  system  are  to  be  attributed  to  his  sagacity. 

In  his  intercourse  with  his  professional  brothers  he  was  high-toned, 
honorable,  generous,  but  no  man  looked  upon  anything  having  the 
slightest  appearance  of  charlatanism  or  quackery  with  greater  scorn  and 
disgust  than  Dr.  Arnold.  His  death  though  not  unexpected,  produced 
a  profound  sense  of  sorrow,  and  the  spontaneous  gathering  of  the  whole 
community  at  his  obsequies  attested  the  appreciation  in  which  he  was 
held  as  the  kind  and  skillful  physician  as  well  as  the  intelligent  and  faith- 
ful public  citizen. 

Dr.  John  D.  Fish  was  born  in  Washington  county,  Ga  ,  on  Septem- 
ber 28,  1822.  His  literary  and  classical  education  was  obtained  at  Mer- 
cer and  Oglethorpe  Universities  in  his  native  State  and  his  medical  edu- 
cation at  the  University  of  New  York,  where  he  graduated  in  1845.  The 
following  year  was  spent  at  Bellevue  Hospital  New  York.  In  1846  he 
settled  in  Savannah.      He  was  a  member  of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society, 


442  tiisTORY  OF  Savannah. 

and  filled  all  the  offices  within  the  gift  of  this  organization.  He  pub- 
lished several  articles  on  public  health  and  delivered  before  the  medical 
society  an  able  address  on  the  same  subject.  He  was  professor  of  obstet- 
rics in  the  Savannah  Medical  College  and  an  active  member  of  the  Sa- 
vannah Benevolent  Association.      He  died  on  February  12,  1879. 

Dr.  Cosmo  P.  Richardson  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  members  of 
the  Savannah  medical  profession  for  many  years.  He  was  born  in  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland,  but  his  father  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina.  At  the 
age  of  fifteen  he  came  to  Georgia  and  received  his  preparatory  education 
under  the  direction  of  Rev.  Carlisle  C.  P.  Beman  a  well-known  and  re- 
markably successful  teacher.  He  studied  medicine  in  the  office  of  Dr. 
W.  C.  Daniel  of  Savannah,  and  after  completing  a  thorough  medical 
course,  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Savannah.  He  was 
far  more  than  a  successful  practitioner — he  was  a  generous-hearted, .kindly 
man  in  whose  life  work  was  blended  the  exercise  of  the  noblest  Christian 
virtues.  He  died  in  1852  and  is  survived  by  a  widow,  two  daughters 
and  a  son. 

Dr.  William  Gaston  Bulloch  was  born  in  Savannah  August  4,  1815, 
and  was  a  grandson  of  Hon.  Archibald  Bulloch,  Dr.  John  Irvine  and  Dr. 
Noble  Wimberly  Jones.  Dr.  Bulloch  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1835, 
and  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1838. 
His  medical  education  was  thereafter  continued  for  nearly  two  years  in 
Paris,  France.  He  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Savannah 
in  1840,  and  for  many  years  was  one  of  the  best  known  physicians  and 
surgeons  in  Georgia,  particularly  excelling  as  an  oculist.  He  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Savannah  Medical  College,  and  for  several  years  held 
the  chair  of  surgery  in  that  institution.  In  1869  the  Gynaecological  So- 
ciety of  Boston  elected  him  a  corresponding  member.  During  the  late 
civil  war  he  served  as  a  surgeon  in  Richmond,  Va.,  as  a  member  of  the 
Charleston  Medical  examining  board,  and  also  had  charge  of  the  Brough- 
ton  Street  hospital  in  Savannah.  He  was  a  useful  citizen  of  Savannah, 
and  at  one  time  was  a  member  of  the  city  council.  He  was  a  physician 
of  decided  ability,  thoroughly  devoted  to  his  profession,  and  a  gentleman 
of  the  highest  moral  worth.      He  died  June  23,  1885. 

Dr.  Stephen  N.  Harris  was  born  in  Liberty  county,  Ga.,  in  1824. 
He  was  educated  at  Athens  University,  Georgia,  and  was  a  graduate  of  the 


The  Medical  Profession.  443 

Charleston  Medical  College  in  the  class  of  1840  or  1841.  He  commenced 
practice  in  Liberty  county  with  his  father,  Dr.  Raymond  Harris,  who 
for  a  short  time  was  located  in  Savannah.  In  1 844  Dr.  Harris  moved 
to  Savannah,  and  until  his  death,  in  1854,  when  he  died  of  yellow  fever, 
he  held  a  deservedly  high  position  in  the  medical  fraternity  of  the  city. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  local  and  State  medical  associations,  a  practi- 
tioner of  decided  skill,  and  met  his  death  while  attempting  to  combat  the 
ravages  of  the  memorable  epidemic  of  1854. 

Dr.  John  F.  Posey  died  on  January  15,  i860,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  was  the  oldest  practitioner  in  Savannah.  He  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina.  During  the  Mexican  War  he  served  as  surgeon.  At  its  close 
he  settled  in  Savannah,  where  he  remained  until  his  death.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  information,  meteorology  being  a  favorite  pursuit,  while  he 
was  a  regular  correspondent  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute.  His  personal 
character  was  of  the  highest  kind.  For  many  years  he  served  the  city 
as  one  of  its  municipal  guardians.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  efforts 
of  organized  medicine,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  president  of  the 
Georgia  Medical  Society. 

Dr.  Joseph  Clay  Habersham  was  another  physician  whose  professional 
attainments  and  moral  worth  added  luster  to  the  medical  fraternity  of 
Savannah  during  the  period  of  which  we  are  treating.  He  was  a  grand- 
son of  Governor  Habersham  and  graduated  at  Princeton  College,  pre- 
viously having  studied  under  the  celebrated  physician.  Dr.  Grimes,  of 
Philadelphia.  He  became  very  proficient  as  a  geologist,  and  Prof.  Lyle, 
the  eminent  geologist  and  mineralogist,  in  his  works  mentions  Dr.  Haber- 
sham as  "  the  eminent  Southern  scientist,  thoroughly  versed  in  miner- 
alogy and  geology."  In  1838,  with  Dr.  W.  C.  Daniel,  of  Savannah,  he 
visited  northern  Georgia  to  investigate  the  alleged  gold  fields  in  that  sec- 
tion, and  wrote  a  description  of  the  mineral  and  other  resources  of  that 
section,  which  is  in  exact  accord  with  the  result  of  later  examination  of 
the  mineral  region  of  Georgia.  Dr.  Habersham  was  thoroughly  devoted 
to  his  profession,  and  during  the  yellow  fever  of  1854  was  untiring  in  his 
exertion  in  behalf  of  the  scourge- stricken  people.  His  death  was  due  to 
his  overwork  in  this  epidemic,  although  it  did  not  occur  until  a  year  later. 

The  yellow  fever  of  1854  tested  the  metal  of  the  medical  profession  of 
Savannah  to  the  utmost.      Drs.   Harris,  Arnold,  Bulloch,  Habersham, 


444  History  of  Savannah. 

Wragg,  Cunningham,  Daniel,  and  others,  with  desperate  valor,  faced  the 
foe,  and  with  few  exceptions  survived  the  battle.  Other  tests  of  profes.sional 
integrity  have  occurred  from  the  same  source,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  in  every  outbreak  of  this  destroying  disease,  the  profession  al- 
most to  a  man  remained  at  the  post  of  duty  and  heroically  fought  the  ter- 
rible destroyer. 

From  1850  to  the  present  it  would  be  an  almost  impossible  task  to 
even  gather  the  names  of  all  the  physicians  who  have  practiced  in  Savan- 
nah, much  less  to  gather  even  limited  information  concerning  their  attain- 
ments or  achievements.  Among  those  who  may  be  said  to  have  gained 
a  worthy  place  in  their  profession,  and  who  are  not  now  living,  and  not 
before  mentioned,  may  be  named  :  Drs.  J.  J.  Waring,  D.  H.  Morrison, 
William  H.  Cuyler,  P.  M.  KoUock,  J.  Gordon  Howard,  James  Stoney, 
James  Campfield,  Joseph  West,  C.  W.  West,  Joseph  Turner,  John  Wake- 
field Francis,  Harvey  L.  Byrd,  George  P.  Padelford,  R.  H.  Footman, 
Frank  Demere,  E.  H.  Martin,  R.  M.  Nunn,  James  S.  Sullivan,  Thomas 
Smith,  J.  C.  Habersham,  E.  P.  Starr,  Easton  Yonge,  William  M.  Charters, 
A.  B.  Starr,  James  G.  Thomas,  Thomas  Smith,  Juriah  Harriss,  Thomas 
Stewardson,  C.  A.  DeCortez,  and  J.  M.  Gordon. 

Dr.  J.  J.  Waring  was  born  in  Savannah  in  1829,  and  was  a  son  of  Dr. 
William  R.  Waring.  His  literary  and  scientific  education  was  obtained 
in  Yale  College.  He  graduated  in  medicine  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania in  1852,  and  for  one  year  following  was  assistant  resident  physi- 
cian of  the  Bleckly  Hospital,  in  Philadelphia.  In  1853  he  went  to  Dub- 
lin, Ireland,  where  for  some  time  he  studied  medicine  under  Prof.  White. 
This  was  followed  by  an  appointment  as  assistant  resident  physician  in 
Bartholomew's  Hospital,  London.  After  a  stay  of  some  months  in  Paris, 
and  extensive  traveling  in  Switzerland  and  Italy,  he  returned  to  Amer- 
ica, and  in  1856  settled  in  Washington  city  and  began  the  practice  of 
his  profession.  In  1857  ^e  was  elected  professor  of  physiology  and  ob- 
stetrics in  the  National  Medical  College,  and  in  1859  surgeon  and  cura- 
tor of  the  Washington  Infirmary.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  he  re- 
turned to  Savannah,  where  he  remained  until  his  death  in  January,  1888. 
Dr.  Waring  was  a  man  of  great  mental  strength,  a  skillful  physician,  and 
no  man  held  more  of  the  confidence  of  Savannahians  than  did  he. 

Dr.  Joseph  Clay  Habersham,  jr.,  son  of  Dr.  J.  C.  Habersham,  grandson 


The  Medical  Profession.  445 

of  Major  John  Habersham,  of  the  Continental  army,  and  great-grandson  of 
Governor  James  Habersham,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  the  State,  was 
born  in  Savannah  on  October  9,  1829.  He  studied  his  profession  in  Har- 
vard Medical  College  graduating  in  May,  1853.  He  immediately  entered 
the  field  of  professional  usefulness  at  Savannah.  In  1861  he  was  made  a 
full  surgeon  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  held  various  posts  of  trust  and 
importance.  At  the  termination  of  the  contest  he  resumed  the  duties  of 
his  profession  at  Savannah,  and  was  actively  and  successfully  engaged  un- 
til his  death,  on  January  II,  1881.  In  1866  he  was  elected  vice-president 
of  the  Medical  Association  of  Georgia,  and  in  1876  president.  In  1870  he 
was  elected  health  officer,  which  position  he  held  until  1875.  During  the 
yellow  fever  of  1876  he  remained  at  his  post  and  did  his  utmost  to  alle- 
viate the  scourge-stricken  people.  In  1878  he  was  again  elected  health 
officer,  and  held  this  position  until  1880.  His  quiet  and  Christian-like 
life  was  marked  by  great  devotion  to  the  duties  of  his  profession  By 
education  and  attainments  he  held  a  foremost  place  in  the  medical  ranks 
of  Savannah.  The  Georgia  Medical  Society,  in  its  tribute  of  respect  to 
his  memory,  among  other  words  of  praise  said :  "  Sensitive  on  all  points 
of  honor,  he  scorned  and  manfully  discountenanced  any  degrading  or  du- 
bious action,  and  though  entitled  by  birth  and  by  a  thorough  medical  ed- 
ucation to  be  in  the  foremost  ranks,  he  moved  unostentatiously  among 
his  acquaintances  and  his  patients,  and  has  left  in  their  recollections  a 
pleasing  and  lasting  impression.  .     .     While  we  bow  with  submis- 

sion to  the  decree  of  Providence,  it  is  with  sincere  grief,  and  that  in  our 
hearts  we  will  ever  cherish  with  kindly  affection  and  esteem  the  memory 
of  our  departed  brother." 

Dr.  William  Morris  Charters  was  born  in  Florida  township,  Mont- 
gomery county,  N.  Y.,  in  1806.  His  literary  education  was  received  in 
New  York  and  Cincinnati,  and  in  the  latter  city  his  medical  education 
was  commenced  in  the  medical  college  of  that  city.  His  degree  of  M.D. 
was  received  in  1837.  He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Leb- 
anon county,  O.,  where  he  remained  for  several  years.  In  1850  he  set- 
tled in  Savannah.  He  labored  through  the  epidemic  df  1854,  and  was 
particularly  successful  in  the  treatment  of  this  malignant  disease.  Real- 
izing the  value  to  the  profession  of  medical  associations  he  became  a  most 
zealous  advocate  and  supporter  of  such  organizations.     In  1838  he  was 


446  History  of  Savannah. 

one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Lebanon  Medical  Society,  and  in  1843  was 
president  of  the  society.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Georgia  Medical  Society,  the  State  Medical  Association,  the  Georgia 
Historical  Society,  St.  Andrew's  Society,  the  Savannah  Benevolent  So- 
ciety, and  the  Savannah  Board  of  Education.  The  laws  of  hygiene  and 
proper  sanitary  measures  were  his  constant  study.  He  was  professor  of 
chemistry  in  the  Savannah  Medical  College,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the 
institution,  and  at  one  time  president  of  the  faculty.  His  contributions 
to  medical  literature  consisted  of  addresses  before  the  medical  society, 
and  numerous  essays  on  medical  subjects.      He  died  on  January  6,  1883. 

Dr.  E.  P.  Starr,  was  a  son  of  C.  H.  Starr,  who  was  born  in  Savannah 
in  1798,  and  died  May  23,  1866.  Dr.  Starr  was  born  in  Bryan  county, 
Ga.,  March  20,  1841.  After  spending  considerable  time  in  studying 
medicine  he  entered  the  Savannah  Medical  College,  and  was  graduated 
in  1861.  Immediately  after  graduation  he  entered  the  Confederate  ser- 
vice as  a  private  in  the  Eighteenth  Georgia  Battalion.  He  served  with 
much  credit,  and  in  1864  was  appointed  adjutant.  During  the  latter  end 
of  the  war  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  was  confined  until  the  summer  of 
1865,  when  he  returned  to  Savannah.  His  enfeebled  health  at  this  time 
prevented  his  practicing  his  profession  and  he  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits.  Exposure  during  his  military  career,  however,  had  so  under- 
mined his  health  that  he  was  not  permitted  to  prosecute  his  business. 
After  vainly  trying  to  establish  his  health  by  traveling  he  succumbed  to 
the  ravages  of  consumption  in  March,  1873.  He  was  a  young  man  of 
unusually  bright  intellect,  and  had  he  lived  and  been  enabled  to  engage 
in  professional  work  it  is  believed  he  would  have  gained  high  position. 

Dr.  Thomas  Smith  was  born  in  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  in  1839.  He 
was  educated  in  Washington  city,  where  he  studied  medicine  under  Dr. 
J.  J.  Waring.  After  graduating  at  the  Georgetown  Medical  College 
he  went  to  Europe  and  pursued  his  medical  education  at  London,  Paris 
and  Edinburgh.  Returning  to  Virginia  in  1861  he  ran  the  blockade  and 
became  assistant  surgeon  in  the  Confederate  service.  After  the  war  he 
came  to  Savannah,  and  for  one  year  was  associated  in  practice  with  Dr. 
J.  J.  Waring,  his  old  preceptor,  while  in  Washington  city.  He  was  en- 
gaged in  the  general  practice  of  his  profession  and  had  attained  a  posi- 
tion of  prominence  when  he  died  of  yellow  fever  in  1876.      He  was  a 


The  Medical  PROFESSIO^f.  44;^ 


professor  in  the  Savannah  Medical  College   and  a  member  of  the  Local 
Medical  Society  of  Savannah,  and  the  State  Medical  Association. 

Dr.  Thomas  J.  Charlton  who  died  in  Savannah  December  8,  1886, 
after  a  long  illness,  was  born  in  Bryan  county,  Ga.,  March  5,  1833,  and  was 
a  son  of  the  late  Dr.  Thomas  J.  Charlton,  and  a  grandson  of  Hon.  Thomas 
U.  P.  Charlton,  for  many  years  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Chatham 
county.  Dr.  Charlton  received  his  preparatory  education  in  Savannah 
and  graduated  with  distinction  from  the  University  of  Georgia.  He  pur- 
sued a  course  of  medicine  at  the  Savannah  Medical  College,  graduating 
in  1856.  During  the  time  he  was  pursuing  his  medical  education  the 
city  was  ravaged  by  yellow  fever,  and  Dr.  Charlton  did  noble  work  among 
the  distressed  people.  He  was  one  of  several  Savannah  physicians  who 
went  to  Norfolk,  Va.,  during  the  prevalence  of  the  fever  there  in  1855. 
and  remained  during  the  epidemic,  receiving  with  his  copartners  a  gold 
medal  from  the  city  of  Norfolk  in  recognition  of  his  devoted  services. 
Shortly  after  graduation  he  received  an  appointment  as  assistant  surgeon 
in  the  United  States  Navy  and  was  attached  to  the  sloop,  Jamestown. 
While  stationed  at  Chelsea,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  he  resigned 
and  came  home.  Soon  after  he  was  commissioned  as  surgeon  in  the 
Confederate  army.  A  short  time  after  receiving  his  commission  he  was 
sent  on  a  secret  mission  to  France,  and  remained  there  about  a  year. 
Upon  his  return  he  joined  the  Confederate  cruiser,  Florida,  and  was 
captured  with  the  vessel  at  Bahia,  Brazil,  and  sent  with  the  officers  to 
Fort  Warren,  Boston.  He  was  released  on  condition  that  he  leave  the 
country.  He  then  went  to  England,  where  he  remained  some  time,  and 
finally  settled  in  Halifax.  At  the  close  ot  the  war  he  returned  to  Sa- 
vannah. He  was  a  member  of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society,  the  Medical 
Association  of  Georgia,  and  for  many  years  was  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent physicians  in  the  State.  Dr.  Charlton  took  a  lively  interest  in  public 
affairs.  He  was  a  man  of  strict  integrity  and  great  strength  of  character, 
and  held  the  esteem  of  every  one  who  knew  him. 

Dr.  John  Wakefield  Francis  was  another  ante  bellum  physician  who 
occupied  a  high  place  in  the  Savannah  medical  profession.  After  fully 
half  a  century  of  successful  practice  he  died  in  1861. 

Dr.  James  Grey  Thomas,  descended  from  English  and  Welsh  settlers 
in  Virginia  and  Maryland  in  colonial  times,  was  born  near  Bloomfield, 


44^  History  of  Savannah. 


Nelson  county,  Ky.,  June  24,  1835.  He  was  educated  at  the  Bloomfield 
High  School,  and  at  the  Roman  Catholic  College  at  Bardstown,  Ky.  He 
entered  the  medical  department  of  the  New  York  University,  and  from 
that  institution  in  March,  1856,  received  the  degree  of  M.D.  During  the 
ensuing  four  years  he  practiced  in  Bloomfield.  During  the  war  between 
the  States  he  was  commissioned  surgeon  in  the  Confederate  States  army; 
was  chief  surgeon  of  McLaw's  Division,  and  at  one  time  medical  di- 
rector of  Hardee's  corps.  In  1865  he  located  in  Savannah,  where  he  re- 
mained in  active  practice  until  his  death  in  1884.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Georgia  Medical  Society,  and  of  the  Georgia  State  Medical  Associ- 
ation. Of  his  more  important  medical  publications  may  be  mentioned : 
"The  Use  of  the  Thermometer  in  the  Practice  of  Medicine."  "  The  Use 
of  Water  in  the  Summer  Complaint  of  Children,"  "The  Use  of  Water 
in  Typhoid  Fever."  In  1874  he  was  elected  to  the  Lower  House  of  the 
Georgia  Legislature.  He  was  the  author  of  the  law  creating  the  State 
Board  of  Health  of  Georgia,  and  requiring  the  registration  of  all  deaths, 
births  and  marriages.  He  was  president  of  the  State  Board  of  Health 
for  several  years,  and  in  the  two  reports  issued  by  that  body  in  1875  and 
1876,  is  the  author  of  several  articles  upon  public  hygiene. 

For  several  years  after  the  close  of  the  war  Dr.  Alexander  Means 
held  the  position  of  agricultural  chemist  for  the  State  at  the  port  of  Sa- 
vannah. He  was  born  in  Statesville,  Iredell  county,  N.  C,  February  6, 
1801.  The  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens  contributes  to  "Johnson's  Uni- 
versal Encyclopedia  "  the  following  sketch  of  his  life :  "  He  received  a 
classical  education  at  the  academy  at  Statesville  ;  removed  to  Georgia  in 
1822;  taught  school  for  four  years,  then  attended  medical  lectures  at 
Transylvania  University,  Kentucky,  and  commenced  the  practice  of 
medicine  in  Covington,  Ga.,  in  1826.  In  the  same  year  he  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  M.  E.  Church.  In  1834  he  was  called  to  the  superin- 
tendency  of  the  manual  labor  training  school  near  Covington.  At  the 
reorganization  of  Emory  College  at  the  same  place,  (now  known  as  Ox- 
ford) in  1838,  he  was  chosen  professor  of  physical  science,  which  position 
he  held  for  eighteen  years;  in  1840  was  appointed  piofessor  of  chemis- 
try and  pharmacy  in  the  medical  college  of  Georgia  located  at  Augusta ; 
delivered  a  regular  course  of  lectures  there  during  the  winter  season, 
continuing  at  the  same  time  for  eight  months  in  each  year  to  fi^ll  his  chair 


The  Medical  Profession.  449 

in  Emory  College.  In  1853  presided  over  the  Masonic  Female  College 
in  Covington  a  few  miles  from  Oxford.  In  1854  Dr.  Means  was  called 
to  the  presidency  of  Emory  College,  but  shortly  after  accepted  the  chair 
of  chemistry  in  the  Atlanta  Medical  College,  which  positioh  he  held 
twelve  years,  including  the  period  of  the  war,  lecturing  during  the  sum- 
mer season.  In  185 1  he  traveled  extensively  through  Europe.  Asa 
member  of  the  State  Convention  of  1861  he  spoke  eloquently  and  effect- 
ively against  the  ordinance  of  secession,  but  when  it  was  carried  he 
thoroughly  and  promptly  identified  himself,  his  family  and  his  fortunes 
with  his  native  South.  Since  the  war  he  has  held  the  position  of  agri- 
cultural chemist  for  the  State  at  the  port  of  Savannah  which  he  still 
(187s)  holds,  retaining  also  his  time-honored  connection  with  Emory 
College.      His  latest  work  is  entitled  the  '  Centennial  of  Chemistry.'" 

The  present  members  of  the  medical  fraternity  of  Savannah,  will  as  a 
class,  compare  favorably  with  those  of  any  city  in  the  country,  and  were 
it  possible  to  have  obtained  the  necessary  information  and  space  permit- 
ted their  use  we  would  have  been  pleased  to  give  biographical  sketches  of 
many  living  practitioners  who  have  obtained  an  honored  place  in  their 
profession.  The  physician  whose  professional  practice  extends  over  the 
longest  period  is  Dr.  J.  Bond  Read  who  was  born  in  Savannah  in  1837, 
He  was  educated  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  at  the  University  of  Maryland, 
graduating  from  the  medical  department  of  the  latter  institution  in  1849. 
He  commenced  practice  in  Savannah  immediately  after  graduation  and 
soon  attained  a  high  position  in  his  profession.  During  the  war  between 
the  States  he  entered  the  Confederate  service  as  surgeon  being  stationed 
at  hospital  No.  4  at  Richmond,  Va.  He  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in 
the  various  medical  associations  of  his  city  and  State  and  has  frequently 
contributed  to  the  literature  of  his  profession.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Medical  Association  of  the  State  of  Georgia  and  the  Georgia  Medical 
Society. 

Dr.  Robert  P.  Myers  was  born  in  Savannah  January  20,  1839,  but 
received  his  literary  education  in  the  county  schools  of  Cobb  county. 
In  1857  he  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  under  Dr.  R.  B.  Arnold 
of  Savannah,  supplemented  by  a  course  of  lectures  in  the  Savannah 
Medical  College,  graduating  in  i860.  After  one  year's  practice  he  be- 
came assistant  surgeon  in  the  Confederate  army,  remaining  in  this  capac- 
57 


45o  History  of  Savannah. 

ity  until  the  final  surrender  of  the  Southern  forces  at  Appomattox.  Af- 
ter the  war  he  returned  to  Savannah  and  in  1866  was  elected  coroner, 
being  the  first  physician  to  serve  in  that  capacity  in  Savannah.  He  was 
demonstrator  of  anatomy  in  the  Savannah  Medical  College  ;  has  been 
permanent  secretary  of  the  State  Medical  Association  and  for  thirteen 
years  has  been  recording  secretary  of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society.  For 
the  last  eight  years  he  has  been  superintendent  of  the  Georgia  Infirmary. 
Dr.  Myers'  practice  has  been  general  in  its  character  and  his  standing  in 
his  profession  is  deservedly  high.  Personally  he  is  a  pleasant,  genial 
gentleman  and  is  highly  esteemed. 

Dr.  Richard  J.  Nunn  was  born  in  Ireland,  December  13,  183 1,  and 
is  the  son  of  Dr.  R.  M.  Nunn.  After  receiving  his  preliminary  educa- 
tion in  Ireland  and  a  course  of  instruction  in  the  Royal  College  of  Sur- 
geons of  London  and  Apothecary  Hall,  Dublin,  he  came  to  America  and 
settled  in  Savannah.  Here  he  continued  his  medical  studies  and  in  1854 
graduated  at  the  Savannah  Medical  College.  The  year  following  gradu- 
ation he  spent  in  Europe.  Returning  to  America  in  1855  he  settled  in 
Norfolk,  Va.,  but  soon  after  returned  to  Savannah,  where  he  has  since 
been  engaged  in  the  general  practice  of  medicine.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  late  war  he  entered  the  Confederate  service  as  captain  of  Company 
D,  of  the  Twenty- second  Georgia  Artillery  Battalion.  He  served  in  this 
position  during  the  early  part  of  the  war,  when  his  health  failing  he  was 
discharged  from  service.  After  regaining  his  health  he  again  resumed 
practice  in  Savannah  in  1865,  and  has  since  been  engaged  in  continuous 
professional  work.  He  has  spent  considerable  time  in  traveling  in  Eu- 
rope both  for  pleasure  and  for  the  purpose  of  perfecting  himself  in  medi- 
cal science.  He  held  the  chair  of  practice  in  the  Savannah  Medical  Col- 
lege and  a  similar  position  in  the  Oglethorpe  College.  He  has  always 
taken  an  active  part  in  every  movement  to  make  medical  associations 
more  beneficial  to  the  profession,  and  is  a  member  of  the  county,  State 
and  American  Associations.  His  contributions  to  medical  literature 
have  been  numerous  and  have  covered  nearly  every  branch  of  practice, 
but  while  he  does  a  general  practice  it  is  in  the  field  of  gynecology  that 
he  particularly  excels. 

Dr.  William  Duncan  was  born  in  Savannah  January  4,  1840.     He 
was  educated  at  Chatham  Academy,  Springfield  Academy  and  Ogle- 


/^    <r2^^^ 


<^  ^Z^H^ 


The  Medical  Profession.  451 

thorpe  University,  Georgia.  He  graduated  in  medicine  from  the  Savan- 
nah IVIedical  College  in  March,  1861,  and  the  Rotunda  Lying-in  Hospital, 
Dublin,  in  1865.  He  is  also  a  licentiate  in  midwifery  of  the  King  and 
Queen's  College  of  Physicians,  Ireland,  1865.  Besides  the  above  he 
studied  in  King's  College  Hospital,  London,  and  in  Paris  hospitals  in  1865 
and  1866,  settling  in  Savannah  the  latter  year.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
State  Medical  Association  of  Georgia  and  of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society; 
was  treasurer  of  the  latter  in  1867  and  vice-president  in  1877.  He  was 
demonstrator  of  anatomy  in  the  Savannah  Medical  College  in  1867  and 
a  few  years  later  held  the  chair  of  Pathological  anatomy,  and  from  1872 
to  1 88 1  was  dean  of  the  faculty.  For  the  last  twenty  years  he  has  been 
chief  surgeon  of  the  Savannah,  Florida  and  Western  Railroad;  for  over 
twenty  years  superintendent  and  one  of  the  managers  of  the  Savannah 
Hospital,  and  from  1870  to  1888  was  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Geor- 
gia Infirmary.  During  the  four  years  of  the  late  civil  war  he  was  assist- 
ant surgeon  in  the  Confederate  States  army,  and  served  in  the  field  and 
in  the  hospitals  at  Savannah,  Ga.,  and  Harrisburg  and  Richmond,  Va, 
He  has  been  an  alderman  of  the  city  of  Savannah,  and  a  member  of  the 
board  of  sanitary  commissioners  of  the  city.  His  practice  is  general,  but 
largely  pertains  to  surgery  and  obstetrics. 

Dr.  William  Henry  Elliott  was  born  in  Savannah,  March  10,  1837. 
His  father  was  Dr.  Ralph  E.  Elliott  of  Beaufort,  S.  C,  whose  ancestors 
were  from  Cornwall,  England,  and  his  mother  was  Margaret  C.  Mackay, 
of  Scotch  descent,  He  received  his  literary  and  classical  education  at 
Hartford,  graduating  there  in  1837,  and  his  medical  education  at  the 
University  of  Virginia  and  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in 
New  York,  graduating  from  the  former  in  1858,  and  from  the  latter  in 
1859.  He  has  been  president  of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society  and  held 
the  position  of  surgery  in  the  Savannah  Medical  College.  During  the 
civil  war  he  was  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Confederate  army.  In  March, 
1862,  he  married  Sidney,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  B.  E.  Stiles  of  Savannah. 

Dr.  J.  C.  Le  Hardy  was  born  in  Belgium,  October  21,  1831.  His 
literary,  classical  and  scientific  education  was  received  at  the  Brussels 
Athensum,  the  Brussels  Universete'  libre  and  Ecole  Ponts  et  Chaussee, 
and  his  medical  and  pharmaceutical  studies  in  the  Georgia  Medical  Col- 
lege at  Augusta,  Ga.,  and  the  Jefferson   Medical  College  of  Pharmacy, 


452  History  of  Savannah. 

Philadelphia.  He  graduated  from  the  Jefferson  College  in  1855  and  set- 
tled first  near  Rome,  Ga.,  and  afterwards  in  Savannah.  He  isa  member 
of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society,  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
of  Georgia.  He  is  the  author  of  several  contributions  to  medical  litera- 
ture of  which  may  be  mentioned  :  "  Treatment  of  Stricture  of  Uretha, '' 
"The  Duality  of  Syphilitic  Poison,"  "The  Aerial  and  Terrestrial  Influ- 
ences on  Disease."  He  held  the  position  of  professor  of  chemistry  in 
the  Oglethorpe  Medical  College  and  has  been  especially  active  in  pro- 
moting the  objects  of  organized  medicine. 

Dr.  Raymond  B.  Harris,  son  of  Dr.  Raymond  Harris,  and  brother  of 
Dr.  Stephen  N.  Harris,  was  born  in  Bryan  county,  Georgia,  in  May,  1830. 
He  studied  medicine  under  Dr.  R.  D.  Arnold,  of  Savannah;  in  1859 
graduated  at  the  Savannah  Medical  College,  and  also  took  a  post-grad- 
uate course  at  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
In  i860  he  was  appointed  demonstrator  of  anatomy  in  the  Savannah 
Medical  College.  In  1861  he  became  assistant  surgeon  in  the  Second 
Georgia  Hospital  at  Richmond,  Va.  He  also  had  considerable  field  ser- 
vice with  the  Fifty-seventh  Georgia  Regiment,  Army  of  Tennessee.  He 
served  throughout  the  war  and  during  the  latter  part  with  General  Smith's 
brigade.  After  the  war  he  located  in  Darien,  Ga.,  where  he  remained 
seven  or  eight  years.  He  then  returned  to  Savannah,  where  he  has  since 
been  engaged  in  a  general  medical  practice.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Georgia  Medical  Society,  and  the  State  Medical  Association,  of  Georgia. 

Dr.  John  D.  Martin  was  born  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  1839,  ^"'^  at  the 
age  of  nine  years  came  to  Savannah.  His  literary  and  scientific  educa- 
tion was  received  at  Emmettsburg,  Md.,  and  Georgetown  College, 
Washington,  D.  C.  He  studied  medicine  in  the  office  of  Dr.  R.  D.  Ar- 
nold, and  in  1861  graduated  at  the  Savannah  Medical  College.  He  was 
for  a  time  associated  with  Dr.  Arnold  in  practice.  For  the  last  twenty 
years  he  has  been  connected  with  the  Savannah  Hospital,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  medical  staff  of  the  Telfair  Woman's  Hospital.  He  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society,  and  is  a  member  of  the  State  and 
American  Medical  Association. 

Dr.  Frank  Lincoln  is  one  of  the  younger  physicians.  He  is  a  native 
of  Savannah,  and  is  conceded  to  possess  one  of  the  strongest  and  most 
remarkable  intellects  in  the  State, 


The  Medical  Profession.  453 

Dr.  George  H.  Stone  was  born  in  Albion,  N.  Y.,  on  January  8,  1844, 
and  in  1868  graduated  from  the  medical  department  of  the  Georgetown 
College,  Washington,  D.  C.  He  soon  after  settled  in  Savannah,  where 
he  has  since  been  engaged  in  a  general  medical  practice. 

Dr.  J.  P.  S.  Houstoun  is  a  native  of  Florida,  and  was  born  No- 
vember 3,  1849.  In  1869  he  graduated  from  the  medical  department  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Dr.  C.  N.  Brandt  was  born  in  New  York,  on  May  30,  i860,  and  is  a 
graduate  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  New  York. 

Dr.  W.  W.  Owens  is  a  native  of  Savannah,  and  was  born  in  January, 
1863,  and  since  his  graduation  from  the  medical  department  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  1885,  has  been  located  in  Savannah. 

Dr.  C.  H.  Colding  was  born  in  1832,  and  is  a  native  of  South  Caro- 
lina. In  1855  he  graduated  at  the  Savannah  Medical  College.  He  is 
the  physician  in  charge  of  the  Savannah  Hospital. 

Dr.  Matthew  F.  Dunn  was  born  in  Savannah  in  1859,  and  in  1885 
graduated  at  the  New  York  Medical  College.  He  has  since  been  prac- 
ticing his  profession  in  Savannah. 

Medical  College. — Efforts  to  maintain  a  medical  college  in  Savannah 
have  not  been  successful.  Several  causes  can  be  attributed  for  this  failure, 
but  the  main  factor  in  the  non-maintenance  of  such  an  institution  can  be 
found  in  the  lack  of  hearty  and  united  support  of  the  medical  fraternity. 
As  early  as  1838  an  act  was  passed  by  the  State  Legislature  of  Georgia, 
incorporating  the  Savannah  Medical  College,  and  naming  as  trustees 
J.  M.  Berrien,  R,  M.  Charlton,  William  C.  Daniel,  William  Law,  James  W. 
Jackson,  Colonel  William  Thorne  William,  William  R.  Waring,  and  Rev. 
Edward  Neufville.  Nothing,  however,  was  done  to  carry  the  project  in- 
to execution  until  in  1852,  when  on  July  20  of  this  year  a  body  known 
as  the  Savannah  Medical  Institute  was  incorporated  by  the  Superior 
Court  of  Chatham  County.  These  two  corporate  bodies  soon  after  per- 
fected an  organization  by  electing  two  trustees  to  fill  vacancies  in  the 
board  of  trustees,  named  by  the  original  legislative  act  of  1838.  R.  D. 
Arnold  and  P.  M.  Kollock  being  elected  in  place  of  Dr.  W.  C.  Daniel, 
and  Rev.  Edward  Neufville  ;  Dr.  R.  D.  Arnold  was  elected  president  of 
the  board  of  trustees,  and  C.  W.  West,  secretary  and  treasurer.  The 
college  building  was  completed  in  1853,  at  a  cost  of  about  $19,000. 


454  History  of  Savannah. 

The  first  faculty  of  the  college  was  elected  in  March,  1853,  and  was 
composed  as  follows:  R.  D.  Arnold,  M.D.,  professor  of  the  theory  and 
practice  of  medicine  ;  P.  M.  Kollock,  M.D.,  professor  of  obstetrics  and  dis- 
eases of  women  and  children;  W.  G  Bullock,  M.D.,  professor  of  princi- 
ples and  practice  of  surgery  ;  J.  G.  Howard,  M.D.,  professor  of  anatomy; 
H.  L.  Byrd,  M.D.,  professor  of  materia  medica ;  E.  H.  Martin,  M.D., 
professor  of  physiology;  J.  Bond  Read,  M.D.,  professor  of  pathological 
anatomy.     C.  W.  West  was  elected  dean  of  the  faculty. 

The  first  course  of  lectures  was  begun  in  November,  1853,  and  during 
the  term  thirty-six  students  were  in  attendance.  At  the  end  of  the  term 
six  students  were  graduated,  the  class  being  composed  of  John  M.  Arm- 
field,  Elisha  Harrall,  Joseph  L.  Hawkins,  Richard  J.  Nunn,  George  W. 
Cleland,  and  Joseph  J.  West. 

Courses  of  lectures  were  continued  to  full  classes,  with  occasional 
change  in  faculty,  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  between  the  States, 
when  the  unsettled  condition  of  the  country  made  it  impossible  to  con- 
tinue the  college.  Instruction  was  therefore  discontinued  until  the  war 
closed.  In  November,  1866,  the  college  was  again  opened  with  the  fol- 
lowing faculty:  Thomas  Smith,  M.D.,  adjunct  professor  of  obstetrics  and 
diseases  of  women  and  children ;  Richard  J.  Nunn,  M.D.,  adjunct  pro- 
fessor of  materia  medica;  Thomas  J.  Charlton,  M.D,,  adjunct  professor 
of  surgery;  William  H.  Elliott,  M.D.,  adjunct  professor  of  chemistry; 
J.  G.  Thomas,  M.D.,  adjunct  professor  of  pathology;  William  Duncan, 
M.D.,  demonstrator  of  anatomy  ;  Robert~P.  Myers,  M.D.,  curator;  J. 
J.  Waring,  M.D.,  dean  of  the  faculty. 

The  college  proceeded  without  material  change  in  instructors  until  in 
May,  1870,  when  the  entire  faculty  resigned,  and  a  new  faculty  was 
elected  after  a  conference  with  the  trustees  and  the  members  of  the  regu- 
lar profession  of  the  city.  At  the  same  time  the  number  of  trustees  was 
increased  from  eight  to  twenty-one,  the  new  board  being  composed  of 
the  following  members :  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  J.  W.  Lathrop,  Dr.  Juriah 
Harriss,  C.  B.  Nottingham,  W.  A.  Green,  Robert  Batley,  C.  H.  Hall,  C. 
L.  Redwine,  E.  H.  W.  Hunter,  E.  F.  Knott,  John  C.  Drake,  J.  J.  Rob- 
inson, Samuel  G.  White,  W.  J.  Johnson,  R.  J.  Bruce,  F.  A.  Stanford,  E. 
A.  Jelks,  Rev.  Robert  W.  B.  Elliott,  and  W.  P.  Jennings.  The  faculty 
elected  at  this  time  was  as  follows:  Juriah  Harris,  M.D.,  professor  of  the 


The  Medical  Profession.  455 

principles  and  practice  of  medicine  ;  J.  G.  Thomas,  M.D.,  professor  of 
clinical  medicine;  W.  G.  Bulloch,  M.D.,  professor  of  principles  and  prac- 
tice of  surgery;  T.  J.  Charlton,  M.D,,  professor  of  clinical  surgery  and 
venereal  diseases  ;  J.  D.  Fish,  M.D.,  professor  of  the  principles  and  prac- 
tice of  obstetrics;  Thomas  Smith,  M.D.,  professor  of  clinical  obstetrics 
and  diseases  of  women  and  children  ;  W.  H.  Elliott,  M  D.,  professor  of 
anatomy;  R.  J.  Nunn.,  M.D.,  professor  of  materia  medica  ;  William  M. 
Charters,  M.D.,  professor  of  chemistry;  A.  J.  Seemes,  M.D.,  professor 
of  physiology  ;  Hon.  Solomon  Cohn,  professor  of  medical  jurisprudence  ; 
William  Duncan,  M.D.,  professor  of  pathological  anatomy.  J.  D.  Fish, 
M.D.,  was  elected  dean  of  the  faculty. 

Dr.  Juriah  Harriss  and  Dr.  Thomas  Smith,  both  members  of  the  fac- 
ulty, died  in  1878,  after  which  the  entire  faculty  resigned  and  a  new 
corps  of  instructors  was  selected  as  follows  :  W.  M.  Charters,  M.D.,  pro- 
fessor of  chemistry ;  William  Duncan,  M.D.,  professor  of  clinical  medi- 
cine;  W.  H.  Elliott,  M.D.,  professor  of  surgery;  T.  J.  Charlton,  M.D., 
professor  of  obstetrics;  B.  S.  Purse,  M.D.,  professor  of  materia  medica; 
J.  P.  S.  Houstoun,  M.D.,  professor  of  physiology  ;  George  H.  Stone,  M. 
D.,  professor  of  anatomy. 

The  college  proceeded  without  material  change  in  faculty  until  1881, 
when,  on  account  of  death  among  the  faculty  and  an  apparent  lack  of  in- 
terest in  the  institution  by  the  resident  profession,  the  college  suspended 
work.  In  1871  the  trustees  sold  the  college  building,  and  from  that  time 
until  1 88 1  lectures  were  given  in  the  Savannah  Hospital  building.  Dr. 
William  Duncan  succeeded  Dr.  Fish  as  dean  of  the  faculty  in  1872,  and 
retained  the  position  until  the  college  suspended  work. 

Medical  Society. — The  medical  association  known  as  the  Georgia 
Medical  Society  of  Savannah,  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  United  States. 
The  act  incorporating  it  was  passed  in    1804,  and  is  as  follows: 

Whereas  Noble  Wimberly  Jones,  president;  John  Irvine,  vice-pres- 
ident ;  John  Grimes,  secretary ;  Lemuel  Kollock,  treasurer  ;  John  Cum- 
ming,  James  Ewell,  Moses  Sheftall,  Joshua  E.  White,  William  Parker, 
Thomas  Schley,  George  Jones,  George  Vinson  Proctor,  Henry  Bourquin, 
Thomas  Young,  jr.,  Peter  Ward,  William  Cocke,  James  Glenn,  and  Nich- 
olas S.  Bayard,  have  by  their  petition  represented,  that  they  have  associ- 
ated in  the  city  of  Savannah,  under  the  style  and  name  of  "The  Georgia 


456  History  of  Savannah. 

Medical  Society,"  for  the  purpose  of  lessening  the  fatality  induced  by 
climate  and  incidental  causes,  and  improving  the  science  of  medicine. 
And  in  order  to  ensure  and  establish  their  said  institution  in  a  permanent 
and  effectual  manner,  so  that  the  benevolent  and  desirable  objects  thereof, 
may  be  executed  with  success  and  advantage,  have  prayed  the  legisla- 
ture to  grant  them  an  act  of  incorporation. 

Section  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  State  of  Georgia  in  general  assembly  met,  and  by  the  authority  of 
the  same,  it  is  hereby  enacted.  That  the  several  persons  herein  before 
named,  and  others  who  are,  or  may  become  members  of  the  said  society 
respectively,  the  officers  and  members  thereof,  and  their  successors,  shall 
be,  and  are  hereby  declared  to  be  a  body  corporate,  in  name  and  deed, 
by  the  style  and  denomination  of  "  The  Georgia  Medical  Society  ;''  and 
by  the  said  name  and  style,  shall  have  perpetual  succession  of  officers 
and  members,  and  a  common  seal  to  use ;  and  shall  have  power  and  au- 
thority to  make,  alter,  amend  and  change  such  bye-laws  as  may  be 
agreed  on  by  members  of  the  same ;  provided  such  bye  laws  be  not  re- 
pugnant to  the  laws  or  the  Constitution  of  this  State  or  the  United  States. 

Section  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  they  shall  have  full  power 
and  authority  under  the  style  and  name  of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society, 
to  sue  for  in  the  name  of  their  president  and  vice-president,  for  the  time 
being,  and  recover  all  such  sum  or  sums  of  money,  as  are,  or  hereafter 
may  become  due  the  said  society,  by  any  name  or  style  whatever,  in  any 
court  of  law,  or  at  any  tribunal  having  jurisdiction  thereof ;  and  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  said  society  in  any  court,  or  at  any  tribunal  what- 
ever, to  defend  and  also  to  receive,  take  and  apply  such  bequests  or  do- 
nations as  may  be  made,  to,  and  for  the  uses  and  purposes  intended  by 
the  said  society ;  and  shall  be,  and  are  hereby  declared  to  be  vested  with 
all  the  powers  and  advantages,  privileges  and  immunities  of  an  associa- 
tion or  society  of  people  incorporated,  for  the  purposes  and  intentions  of 
their  said  association. 

Section  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  this  act  shall  be,  and  is 
hereby  declared  to  be  deemed  and  considered  a  public  act,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  whatever.  ABRAHAM  JACKSON. 

Jared  Irwin,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

President  of  the  Senate. 

Assented  to  December  12,  1804.  —  John  MiLLEDGE,  Governor. 


The  Medical  Profession.  457 


At  the  time  of  the  formation  of  this  society  it  was  intended  to  serve 
as  a  State  organization,  hence  the  name  Georgia  Medical  Society  was 
adopted,  but  it  has  never  been  anything  but  a  local  association  composed 
only  of  Savannah  physicians. 

The  first  president  of  the  society  was  Dr.  Noble  Wimberly  Jones,  and 
the  first  vice-president  Dr.  John  Irvine,  a  Scotchman,  who  came  to  Geor- 
gia before  the  revolution.  The  society  proved  a  most  beneficial  institu- 
tion to  the  small  band  of  physicians  in  Savannah  at  that  early  day,  and 
from  that  time  to  the  present  has  been  the  means  of  advancing  the  good 
of  the  profession.  The  present  officers  of  the  society  are  :  John  D.  Mar- 
tin, president ;  M.  L.  Boyd,  vice-president ;  George  W.  Lamar,  record- 
ing secretary;  J.  C.  LeHardy,  corresponding  secretary  ;  W.  W.  Owens, 
treasurer,  and  M.  F.  Dunn,  librarian.  The  present  members  of  the  so- 
ciety are  :  Drs.  W.  F.  Brunner,  J.  G.  Bulloch,  T.  J.  Charlton,  T.  P.  Chis- 
holm,  C.  H.  Colding,  C.  H.  Cox,  W.  H.  Elliott,  J.  M.  Johnston,  J.  G. 
Kellar,  F.  T.  Lincoln,  J.  D.  Martin,  E.  H.  Nichols,  R.  G.  Norton,  W.  W. 
Owens,  S.  L.  Phillips,  B.  S.  Purse,  J.  B.  Read,  B.  F.  Sheftall,  J.  A.  Wege- 
farth,  C.  N.  Brandt,  William  Duncan,  J.  P.  S.  Houstoun,  J.  C.  LeHardy, 
R.  P.  Myers,  B.  P.  Oliveros,  R.  B.  Harris,  G.  C.  Hummel,  J.  Weichsel- 
baum,  M.  L.  Boyd,  R.  J.  Nunn,  G.  H.  Stone,  M.  F.  Dunn,  E.  G.  Lind, 
and  W.  K.  Blakeney. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES. 

THAT  port  which  exported  the  first  bale  of  American  cotton,  from 
which  sailed  the  first  steamship  that  crossed  the  Atlantic,  to-day 
the  largest  handler  of  one  of  the  world's  greatest  branches  of  trade,  queen 
of  seven  hundred  miles  of  sea  coast  in  one  direction  and  of  one  thousand 
in  another,  may  well  be  expected  to  have  a  commercial  history  of  more 
than  passing  interest.     And  Savannah  has. 

Utopian  ideas  and  plans  of  the  projectors  of  the  colony  of  Georgia 
handicapped  the  early  settlers  and  delayed  the  birth  of  the  new  town's 

58 


458  History  of  Savannah. 

commerce  until  sixteen  years  had  passed.  James  Oglethorpe,  in  a  day 
dream,  may  have  seen  his  settlement  grown  into  a  great  city,  but  the 
reahty  of  a  century  and  a  half  later,  certainly,  more  than  realizes  the 
ephemeral  pictures  of  his  fancy. 

Silk  culture  and  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  and  flax  were  the  principal 
objects  at  which  the  founders  of  the  colony  aimed.  On  one  side  of  their 
corporation's  common  seal  was  a  group  of  silk  worms  at  their  toil  busily 
engaged  and  deeply  absorbed  in  feeding  on  the  succulent  leaves  of  the 
mulberry.  The  motto  of  the  worms  and  the  corporation  was,  non  sibi 
.  sed  aliis — not  for  ourselves,  but  for  others. 

Silk  and  wine  and  hemp  were  to  be  the  cargoes  of  the  ships  which 
the  trustees  hoped  would  sail  out  of  the  Savannah.  They  pictured  their 
town  such  a  spot  as  ancient  Cyprus.  Natural  causes  defeated  this  dream. 
Under  the  hot  summer  sun  the  vine  withered  and  the  mulberry  did  not 
flourish.  One  colonist  had  some  success  with  the  Oporto  and  Malaga 
grape  on  a  small  scale,  but  the  general  culture  was  a  failure.  From 
year  to  year  a  little  silk  was  made,  and  twenty  years  from  the  settlement 
of  Yamacraw  by  the  whites  a  modest  shipment  of  raw  silk  was  made  to 
England.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  though  not  at  all  a  surprising  one,  that 
the  ideas  of  the  trustees  proved  radically  impracticable.  Neither  soil  nor 
climate  was  well  adapted  for  the  culture  of  silk  or  grape,  and  after  thor- 
ough trials  the  growth  of  both  was  abandoned.  To-  day,  instead  of 
sending  abroad  the  ruby  juice  from  the  wine  press  and  the  delicate  fibre 
of  the  cocoon,  ships  bear  hence  to  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  the  unguent, 
distilled  spirits  from  the  pine  tree  and  the  soft,  silvery  fleece  of  Sea  Island 
and  Upland,  ten  thousand  times  the  worth  of  that  golden  one  which  Ja- 
son and  his  comrades  in  the  Argo  carried  off". 

Oglethorpe  foresaw  a  commercial  town  spreading  along  the  river  when 
he  struck  his  bargain  with  Tomochi-chi.  That  he  chose  wisely  time  has 
proved.  From  the  Chesapeake  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  there  is 
not  a  bar  over  which  passes  so  much  commerce  as  comes  and  goes  across 
Tybee's. 

That  shipping  was  expected  to  be  an  important  interest  in  Savannah 
is  indicated  by  the  historical  fact  that  Mr.  Hume  offered  a  silver  boat  and 
spoon  to  the  first  child  which  should  be  born  in  Georgia.  Whether  the 
inducement  had  anything  to   do  with  it  or  not   Mrs.  Close's   infant  got 


Commerce  and  Manufactures.  459 

the  prize.  The  spoon  was  practical,  the  boat  emblematic.  Another 
prize  was  offered  for  the  first  ship  which  should  sail  up  the  Savannah 
River  and  unload  at  the  town.  This  prize  was  won  by  the  ship  James, 
of  which  Captain  Yoakley  was  master.  The  James  brought  several  new 
colonists.  This  first  vessel  to  navigate  the  Savannah  River  was  of  one 
hundred  and  ten  tons  burden,  carried  six  guns,  and  lay  at  anchor  close 
to  the  town  in  fifteen  feet  at  low  water,  where,  it  is  stated,  "  is  riding  for 
much  larger  vessels."  In  1734-  a  schooner  coming  in  over  the  bar  atTy- 
bee  reports  finding  at  least  three  fathoms  at  low  water,  and  in  1736  the 
Peter  and  James  found  "  19  foot  water  in  the  shoalest  part ''  of  the  bar  on 
the  first  of  the  flood. 

No  difficulty  was  experienced  by  the  vessels  of  that  day  in  going  up 
and  down  the  river  at  any  stage  of  the  tide.  Oglethorpe  had  written  in 
one  of  his  earliest  letters  from  the  colony :  "  Ships  which  draw  twelve  foot 
water  can  ride  within  ten  yards  of  the  bank." 

As  soon  as  he  had  affairs  in  the  town  in  shape,  the  general  ordered  a 
lighthouse  built  on  Tybee,  and  a  frame  one  was  put  up  on  the  north  end 
of  the  island.  The  specifications  provided  that  it  should  be  of  pine  and 
cedar,  twenty- five  feet  square  at  the  base,  ninety  feet  high  and  ten  feet 
each  way  at  the  top. 

To  get  goods  from  the  bluff  down  to  the  river  was  an  easy  matter,  but 
it  was  far  different  to  get  a  cargo  from  the  shore  up  on  the  bluff  Even 
after  the  crane  was  erected,  in  the  latter  part  of  1733,  the  work  was  slow 
and  hard.  However,  as  months  sometimes  elapsed  between  the  arrivals 
of  vessels,  the  stringent  lack  of  "  terminal  facilities  "  did  not  have  much 
effect  on  the  commercial  prosperity  of  the  place.  Peter  Gordon's  map 
of  Savannah  as  it  was  in  1734,  locates  the  crane  at  a  point  on  the  bluff 
about  mid- way  between  Bull  and  Whitaker  streets. 

Year  after  year  went  by,  and  the  colonists  did  not  always  produce 
enough  to  maintain  themselves.  Supplies  were  obtained  from  Carolina 
and  England.  This  state  of  affairs  lasted  until  toward  the  close  of  the 
first  decade  of  Savannah's  history  when  a  change  for  the  better  began  to 
take  place.  The  settlers  gradually  accumulated  a  little  surplus.  In  1744 
a  modest  store  and  commission  house  was  started.  Charles  Harris  and 
James  Habersham  were  the  founders,  and  theirs  is  the  credit  of  having 
estabhshed  the  first  commercial  house  in  Georgia.      Harris  &  Habersham 


46o  History  of  Savannah. 

was  the  name  of  the  new  firm.  Their  unpretentious  place  of  business 
was  under  the  blufif,  by  the  water's  edge,  in  the  rear  of  the  building  on 
the  Bay,  which,  for  many  years  was  occupied  by  Robert  Habersham  & 
Company's  commission  house.  At  first  the  settlers  were  opposed  to  mid- 
dlemen, but  they  soon  found  that  the  new  firm  afforded  them  many  con- 
veniences which  they  had  not  previously  enjoyed.  Thomas  Causdon  had 
kept  the  public  store  and  illy  kept  it  according  to  the  best  accounts. 
Harris  &  Habersham  gave  great  encouragement  to  the  planters  from 
whom  they  bought  lumber,  poultry,  deer,  hogs,  skins  and  whatever  pro- 
duce the  farmers  had.  Before  long  the  public  store  was  discontinued. 
All  this  time  the  trustees  were  trying  to  make  a  success  of  the  silk  and 
wine  culture.  Neither  proved  profitable.  Finally,  about  1748,  the  trus- 
tees got  hold  of  a  letter  written  by  James  Habersham,  who  spoke  of  the 
adaptability  of  Georgia  for  general  agriculture.  Thereafter  the  trustees 
allowed  the  colonists  to  spend  the  appropriations  for  other  purposes  than 
the  cultivation  of  the  grape  and  the  mulberry. 

Properly  speaking,  the  year  1749  may  be  said  to  mark  the  beginning 
of  Savannah's  commerce.  It  was  in  that  year  the  first  vessel  was  loaded 
with  a  cargo  in  the  Savannah  River  and  shipped  abroad.  Harris  &  Hab- 
ersham were  the  exporters.  They  loaded  a  small  vessel  with  lumber, 
skins,  hogs  and  other  produce  of  the  infant  Georgia,  and  consigned  the 
$10,000  cargo  to  a  London  firm.  This  was  the  first  effort  to  establish  a 
foreign  trade.  In  those  days,  and  for  years  after,  it  was  customary  for  a 
vessel  to  take  on  whatever  was  offered  at  Savannah,  then  to  proceed  to 
Charleston  and  perhaps  take  on  more  freight.  Then  if  the  vessel  was 
not  filled  it  would  go  on  to  New  York  and  complete  its  cargo  for  Eng- 
land. 

The  trustees  had  great  faith  in  the  ultimate  success  of  silk  culture, 
la  1750  another  effort  was  made  to  encourage  the  enterprise.  A  year 
later  a  filature,  or  house  for  manufacturing  the  raw  silk  was  built  on  the 
west  side  of  Reynold's  square.  By  this  time  it  was  apparent  that  Savan- 
nah was  in  a  fair  way  to  have  a  commerce  of  imposing  value.  Some 
assistance  was  needed.  Therefore,  when  the  first  General  Assembly  of 
Georgia  met,  which  was  in  Savannah  January  15,  175 1,  a  paper  was  pre- 
sented to  the  body  declaring  that  a  proper  pilot  boat  was  needed  and 
that  permission  was  desired  to  erect  a  building  under  the  bluff  for  the 


Commerce  and  Manufactures.  461 

convenience  of  the  boats'  crews.  The  memoriahsts  further  set  forth  the 
want  of  standard  weights  and  measures  and  scales.  An  appropriation 
was  also  asked  for  making  a  survey  of  the  river.  One  other  want  recited 
was  an  order  to  prevent  masters  of  vessels  from  throwing  ballast  over- 
board into  the  river.  And  still  another  want,  though  hardly  a  long  felt 
one,  was  a  commissioner  of  pilotage.  The  colony  was  now  nearing  the 
end  of  its  second  decade.  A  small  measure  of  success  attended  the  per- 
sistent efforts  of  the  silk  growers.  In  1757,  I1O50  pounds  of  cocoons 
were  received  at  the  filature.  Unfortunately,  the  building  was  burned 
the  following  year,  and  7,040  pounds  of  cocoons  besides  a  large  quantity 
of  manufactured  silk  were  destroyed.  The  filature  was  rebuilt  and  was 
used  for  the  manufacture  of  silk  for  several  years,  after  which  it  was  used 
as  a  city  hall  and  public  house.  In  1839  it  was  again  burned  and  was 
never  rebuilt. 

Savannah  has  passed  through  many  a  crisis,  but  the  port's  commer- 
cial interests  have  never  had  a  more  trying  year  than  1757.  Governor 
Henry  Ellis  arrived  here  in  February,  to  take  control  of  the  colonial 
government.  He  soon  became  impressed  with  the  idea  that  Hardwicke, 
which  stood  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ogeechee,  in  Bryan  county,  should  be 
made  the  capital  of  Georgia.  He  took  the  ground  that  Hardwicke  was 
more  centrally  and  favorably  situated  than  Savannah ;  that  the  water 
was  deeper  and  that  lying  farther  from  Charleston  would  enjoy  a  better 
commerce. 

This  step  h^d  been  talked  of  before.  Governor  Reynolds,  who  pre- 
ceded Ellis,  had  suggested  it,  and  aroused  strong  opposition.  Ellis  made 
himself  unpopular  by  advocating  the  removal.  Uncertain  as  to  the  fate 
of  the  town,  the  citizens  who  feared  that  it  would  be  deserted  lost  interest 
to  some  extent  in  the  development  of  their  homes  and  neglected  to  im- 
prove them.  Though  the  project  was  not  carried  into  effect,  Savannah 
suffered  by  reason  of  the  agitation.  During  the  first  quarter  of  a  century 
of  the  colony's  history  little  was  done  to  encourage  commerce.  Up  to 
1759  not  a  wharf  had  been  built.  Those  few  vessels  which  visited  the 
port  sailed  as  near  the  shore  as  they  could  and  threw  the  lighter  articles 
on  the  bank,  landing  the  heavier  ones  in  small  boats.  This  was  primitive 
and  tedious,  and  in  the  twenty-.seventh  year  after  Oglethorpe's  landing 
the  construction  of  a  wharf  was  undertaken,  at  a  point  under  the  bluff 


462  History  of  Savannah 

near  the  crane.  Thomas  Eaton  was  the  builder.  He  worked  under  the 
direction  of  John  G.  William  De  Brahm,  the  surveyor-general  of  the 
southern  provinces  of  North  America.  Wharf  building  was  a  far  differ- 
ent art  at  that  time  from  what  it  is  now.  The  wharves  which  were  built 
for  several  years  thereafter  were  constructed  on  the  same  general  plan,  an 
idea  of  which  may  be  obtained  from  a  synopsis  of  the  specifications. 
The  builder  was  advised  to  drive  two  rows  of  piles  as  far  asunder  as  he 
desired  his  wharf  to  be  wide  and  as  far  toward  the  river  as  low  water 
mark.  Then  he  was  to  secure  their  tops  with  plates  and  to  trunnel  planks 
within  on  the  piles.  This  done  he  was  to  brace  the  insides  with  dry 
walls  of  stone,  intermingled  with  willow  twigs.  In  the  same  manner  he 
was  to  shut  up  the  ends  of  the  two  rows  with  a  like  front  along  the 
stream,  to  build  inside  what  cellars  he  had  occasion  for,  then  to  fill  up 
the  remainder  with  the  sand  nearest  at  hand  out  of  the  bluff  or  the  high 
shore  of  the  stream  under  the  Bay.  One  chronicler  has  remarked  that 
the  construction  of  this  wharf  greatly  benefited  the  town,  for  during  the 
following  year  41  vessels  were  entered,  many  more  than  ever  before,  and 
during  the  year  1766,  six  years  after,  171  were  entered. 

Governor  Wright,  who  succeeded  Governor  Ellis,  wrote  of  Georgia 
about  the  year  1760  that  it  was  the  most  flourishing  colony  on  the  con- 
tinent. As  yet  there  were  no  manufactures  in  the  colony,  for  they  were 
rigorously  disallowed  in  all  the  provinces,  but  commerce  and  agriculture 
were  carried  on  with  much  zeal  and  success.  In  a  letter  to  the  Earl  of 
Hillsborough,  Governor  Wright  said  :  "  It  is  certain  beyond  a  doubt  that 
this  province  has,  must,  and  will  make  a  rapid  progress,  and  in  a  few 
years  will  make  as  considerable  a  figure  as  most  on  the  continent." 

Savannah's  population  m  1760  was  9,700,  of  whom  6,100  were  whites. 
In  that  year  the  rice  exported  amounted  to  3,283  barrels,  besides  208 
barrels  of  paddy. 

In  the  entire  commercial  history  of  Savannah  there  is  no  single  event 
of  greater  interest  or  importance  than  one  which  occurred  in  the  decade 
between  1760  and  1770.  That  event  was  the  first  foreign  shipment  of 
cotton  made  from  the  United  States.  Hitherto  historians  have  sought 
in  vain  for  the  port  which  exported  the  first  bale.  It  has  long  been  well 
known  that  the  first  foreign  shipment  of  what  is  now  the  great  Southern 
staple  was  made  in  1764.      In  that  year  William  Rathbone,  an  extensive 


Commerce  and  Manufactures.  463 

American  merchant  in  Liverpool,  received  from  Mr.  James  Habersham 
of  Savannah,  a  consignment  of  eight  bags  of  cotton.  On  its  arrival  in 
Liverpool  this  cotton  was  seized  by  the  custom  house  officials  on  the 
allegation  that  so  much  cotton  could  not  have  been  grown  in  the  Ameri- 
can colonies,  and  that  it  was  liable  to  seizure  under  the  shipping  act,  not 
having  been  imported  in  a  vessel  belonging  to  the  country  of  the  cotton's 
growth. 

This  consignment  was  the  first  attempt  at  exporting  cotton  from 
America.  It  was  sent  from  here  to  Liverpool  through  one  Dillon,  who 
was  Mr.  Habersham's  agent  in  New  York.  A  matter  of  additional  in- 
terest in  this  connection  is  the  fact  that  the  original  manifest  of  this  ship- 
ment was  preserved  for  exactly  a  century.  Along  with  a  mass  of  other 
papers  it  was  sent  to  a  point  in  inferior  Georgia  for  safe  keeping  during 
the  war.  In  1864  Sherman's  looters  burned  it.  Although  this  city  was 
the  first  American  port  to  begin  the  trade,  it  was  not  kept  up  here. 
Charleston,  on  the  other  hand,  quickly  discovered  that  the  trade  would 
be  a  valuable  one  and  cultivated  it. 

This  same  year  15,212  pounds  of  cocoons  were  delivered  at  the  fila- 
ture. Over  one  -half  of  the  silk  was  received  from  the  Salzburgers  who 
were  settled  at  Ebenezer.  The  silk  industry  was  growing  steadily  and 
there  was  an  encouraging  prospect  of  its  ultimate  success.  Two  years 
later  the  production  of  silk  reached  its  height  in  Georgia,  and  thereafter, 
despite  the  encouragement  of  parliament,  it  continued  to  decline  until  it 
was  finally  abandoned  in  1771,  operations  at  the  filature  being  discon- 
tinued in  that  year.  In  1765  Savannah's  commercial  men  were  thrown 
into  a  high  state  of  excitement  by  the  passage  of  the  obnoxious  stamp 
act.  The  commerce  of  the  town  had  grown  to  large  proportions.  When 
the  stamps  arrived  in  December  there  were  between  sixty  and  seventy 
sail  in  port  waiting  to  be  cleared.  The  people  consented  that  the  stamps 
might  be  used  for  this  purpose,  but  for  no  other.  This  was  done  and  the 
port  was  opened.  The  other  colonies  took  offense  at  this,  and  South 
CaroHna  was  especially  indignant.  Her  citizens  resolved  that  they  would 
not  ship  provisions  here,  and  they  called  Georgia  an  "infamous  colony." 
It  was  further  resolved  that  whosoever  should  traffic  with  Georgians 
should  be  punished  with  no  less  a  penalty  than  death,  and  every  vessel 
trading  here  was  to  be  burnt.     The  Carolinians  were  in  a  hot  temper,  and 


464  History  of  Savannah. 

two  vessels  on  their  way  to  Savannah  were  seized  before  clearing  Charles- 
ton bar,  and  with  their  cargoes  were  destroyed.  Six  months  later  the 
excitennent  ceased  when  it  was  learned  that  the  objectionable  act  had 
been  repealed.  Up  to  that  time  all  the  supplies  of  silks,  linens,  woolens, 
shoes,  stockings,  nails,  hinges,  and  tools  of  every  sort  came  from  Eng- 
land. Rice,  indigo,  corn,  peas,  a  small  quantity  of  wheat  and  rye,  pitch, 
turpentine,  shingles  and  staves  were  the  chief  products.  Considerable 
attention  was  paid  to  stock  raising,  and  Governor  Wright  hoped  to  make 
some  slight  essay  at  raising  hemp  the  next  year.  In  1768  the  filature 
sent  to  London  1,048  pounds  of  raw  silk,  "  equal  in  goodness  to  that 
manufactured  in  Piedmont."  Import  duties  were  not  acceptable,  and  on 
September  16,  1769,  Savannah's  merchants  met  at  Alexander  Creigh- 
ton's  house  and  adopted  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  any  person,  or 
persons,  whatsoever  importing  any  of  the  articles  subject  to  the  new  rate 
of  duties,  after  having  it  in  their  power  to  prevent  it,  ought  not  only 
to  be  treated  with  contempt,  but  deemed  as  an  enemy  to  their  country. 
Pretty  much  the  same  relation  existed  between  patriotism  and  the 
pocket-book  that  is  declared  to  exist  now.  Almost  to  a  man  the  im- 
porters were  against  any  interruption  of  business,  while  the  consumers 
were  for  resistance.  Affairs  ran  on  in  an  unsatisfactory  way  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolution.  The  town  grew,  but  there  was  a  feel- 
ing of  uneasiness.  In  1773  the  exports  were  valued  at  $379,422,  very 
nearly  double  the  value  of  the  exports  ten  years  before.  A  bill  passed 
by  the  General  Assembly  early  in  1774  indicates  that  the  trade  of  the 
city  was  enlarging,  for  it  explains  that  "  whereas  the  increase  of  trade 
and  quantity  of  produce  brought  for  sale  to  the  several  ports  of  this 
province  requires  a  regulation  in  the  rates  of  wharfage  and  storage,  and 
the  number  of  vessels  resorting  to  the  said  ports,  and  in  particular  to 
the  port  of  Savannah,  makes  it  necessary  to  have  some  person  appointed 
to  overlook  and  regulate  such  vessels  while  in  the  said  port." 

By  this  act  owners  and  lessees  of  wharfs  were  allowed  to  charge  and 
demand  certain  fees  which  were  then  fixed.  On  rice  the  wharfage  charge 
was  one  penny  per  half  barrel.  On  rosin,  turpentine,  tar  and  beef  the 
charge  was  one  penny  per  barrel.  Mahogany  and  logwood  were  im- 
ported largely,  and  staves,  rice,  turpentine,  rosin  and  hides  were  exported. 

Throwing  ballast  or  rubbish  in  the  river  was  forbidden  and  made 


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Commerce  and  Manufactures.  465 

punishable  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  i^ioo  a  short  time  before  the  out- 
break of  the  Revolution.  The  long  war  for  independence  blighted  com- 
merce. A  part  of  the  time  the  English  had  possession  of  the  city  and 
trade  was  practically  at  a  stand  still.  Almost  in  the  very  middle  of  the 
war  South  Carolina  offered  to  annex  Georgia.  An  inducement  held  out 
to  Savannah  was  that  the  country  along  the  river  above  the  city  would 
be  cleared  and  settled,  and  an  amazing  increase  of  produce  and  river 
navigation  would  follow  and  would  center  here.  On  the  other  hand  if 
Georgia  persisted  in  remaining  in  a  state  of  separation  from  Carolina  a 
town  would  rise  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  and  would  draw  not  only 
the  business  on  its  own  side  of  the  stream,  but  would  in  time  draw  the 
greater  part  of  the  trade  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  in  which  event 
there  could  be  but  one  result,  the  commercial  ruin  of  Savannah.  The 
proposition  was  declined,  the  town  of  prophecy  never  rose,  and  Savan- 
nah, far  from  being  ruined,  is  to-day  a  more  important  port  than  Caro- 
lina's metropolis. 

Peace  brought  back  a  revival  of  trade  and  a  new  era  of  commercial 
prosperity  began.  The  recovery  of  lost  commerce,  however,  was  slow. 
Practically,  there  was  little  capital.  Private  fortunes  had  shrunk  during 
the  seven  years  of  hostilities.  Five  years  after  the  war,  in  1786,  the  ex- 
ports were  only  $321,377,  which  was  $58,000  less  than  the  value  of  the 
exports  in  1773,  two  years  before  the  war  started.  A  little  cotton  had 
been  planted  every  year,  and  in  1788  Thomas  Miller,  who  probably  knew 
of  Charleston's  trade  in  the  article,  grew  some  and  bought  more  and 
made  a  shipment  to  England.  There  are  still  living  some  old  citizens 
who  knew  "Cotton  Tom"  Miller,  as  he  was  familiarly  styled.  Miller 
has  been  given,  erroneously,  the  credit  of  having  exported  the  first  bale  of 
cotton  from  Savannah.  This  is  a  mistake  which  has  long  been  accepted 
as  a  part  of  true  history.  As  heretofore  mentioned,  Mr.  James  Haber- 
sham had  exported  eight  bales  twenty-four  years  before  Miller  shipped 
his  first  bale  abroad.  It  is  true  that  Miller  developed  the  trade.  Ark- 
wright's  improvements  in  cotton  spinning  machinery  were  revolutioniz- 
ing that  industry. 

Another  interesting  and   important  event,  linking  Savannah  more 
closely  to  the  history  of  the  cotton  trade,  was  the  invention  of  the  cotton- 
gin  by  Eli  Whitney,  in  1793.    This  Yankee  school-teacher  set  up  his  first 
59 


406  History  of  Savannah. 

machine  on  his  aunt's  place,  General  Nathanael  Green's  plantation  near 
Purysburgh,  a  few  miles  up  the  river.  The  young  New  Englander's  in- 
vention was  as  great  a  factor  in  the  development  of  cotton  raising  as  Ark- 
wright's  inventions  were  in  its  manufacture.  Whitney  is  still  remembered, 
too.  For  a  long  time  after  those  days,  communication  between  Savan- 
nah and  the  North  was  by  sailing  vessels,  and  there  are  old  citizens  who 
when  young  men  were  fellow-travellers  by  sea  jvith  the  inventor,  then 
well  advanced  in  years,  however. 

The  gin  acted  as  a  great  stimulus  to  cotton  planting.  This  machine 
did  away  with  the  tedious  and  unsatisfactory  hand  method.  Almost  im- 
mediately the  acreage  in  cotton  was  increased  largely  by  the  planters,  who 
now  saw  in  the  culture  of  the  plant  a  profitable  crop.  Charleston  had 
early  taken  hold  of  cotton  culture  and  was  shipping  it  in  considerable 
quantities  to  England  before  Miller  became  an  exporter.  His  foreign 
trade  did  not  grow  rapidly  at  the  start.  In  fact  Savannah  handled  very 
little  cotton  until  after  Whitney  constructed  the  gin.  And  indeed,  al- 
though Charleston  did  pride  herself  on  being  the  largest  cotton  port,  it  is 
certain  that  previous  to  1794,  the  year  after  the  gin  proved  a  success,  the 
annual  amount  of  cotton  produced  in  North  America  was  comparatively 
inconsiderable.  This  is  true  even  in  the  face  of  the  declaration  contained 
in  the  pamphlet  entitled  "  A  State  of  the  Province  of  Georgia  attested 
upon  oath  in  the  Court  of  Savannah,"  published  in  1740,  and  in  which  it 
was  averred  of  cotton  that  "  large  quantities  have  been  raised,  and  it  is 
much  planted  ;  but  the  cotton  which  in  some  parts  is  perennial,  dies  here 
in  the  winter;  which,  nevertheless,  the  annual  is  not  inferior  t»  in  good- 
ness, but  requires  more  trouble  in  cleansing  from  the  seed." 

Two  important  facts  connecting  this  city  with  the  history  of  cotton 
have  already  been  mentioned.  There  is  still  another.  Savannah  has  not 
only  the  credit  of  having  exported  the  first  bag  of  cotton  ever  sent  from 
America  and  of  the  invention  of  the  gin,  but  it  was  near  here  that  the 
first  Sea  Island  cotton  evei"  raised  in  this  country  was  grown.  The  seed 
of  the  Sea  Island  was  originally  obtained  from  the  Bahama  Islands  about 
1785.  It  was  known  in  the  West  Indies  as  the  "  Anguilla  cotton."  The 
first  experiments  with  its  culture  on  the  American  continent  were  made 
by  Jo.siah  Tattnall  and  Nicholas  Turnbull,  on  Skidaway  Island  Subse- 
quently James  Spaulding  and  Alexander  Bisset  planted  the  long  staple 
on  St.  Simon's  Island,  and  Richard  Leake  planted  some  on  Jekyl  Island. 


Commerce  and  Manufactures.  467 

The  establishing  of  a  cotton  trade  was  the  keystone  of  Savannah's  com- 
mercial prosperity.  Even  for  several  years  after  the  culture  of  the  crop 
became  general  in  the  country  around  this  city,  Charleston  continued  to 
overshadow  her  efforts  at  advancement.  The  older  city  by  her  enterprise 
and  greater  wealth  controlled  a  large  portion  of  the  valuable  Sea  Island 
cotton  trade  and  all  of  Florida's  business.  More  than  this,  Charleston 
became  a  closer  competitor,  as  she  penetrated  through  the  inland  route 
to  the  rice  fields  in  the  very  neighborhood  of  Savannah,  and  secured  a 
part  of  that  crop.  Toward  the  close  of  the  century  this  city  became  a 
heavy  importer  of  wines  and  rum.  Through  the  merchants  here,  the 
wealthy  planters  along  the  coast  and  inland  and  a  great  many  of  the  Car- 
olina planters  obtained  from  Europe  the  choicest  vintages.  Madeira  was 
the  favorite,  and  many  and  many  a  hogshead  of  it  was  brought  here. 
By  no  means  is  it  to  be  inferred  that  anything  like  all  of  it  was  sent  out 
of  the  city.  There  were  famous  cellars  in  Savannah  even  then,  nearly  a 
century  ago  now,  and  there  is  wine  down  in  some  of  them  to-day  that 
was  brought  over  in  the  last  century. 

By  the  fire  of  1796  the  city,  which  was  then  flourishing,  received  a 
set  back  from  which  recovery  was  slow.  Notwithstanding  this  the  year 
1800  found  Oglethorpe's  colony  grown  into  a  town  of  over  seven  thou- 
sand population,  of  whom  not  over  five-  hundred  were  blacks.  That 
year  the  exports  were  valued  at-over  two  million  dollars. 

Statistics  of  the  port's  commerce  for  the  succeeding  twenty-five  years 
are  difficult  to  collate.  Everywhere  though  on  the  records  there  is 
abundant  evidence  that  business  steadily  increased.  There  were  periods 
of  unusual  activity  and  years  of  depression,  as  during  the  second  war  with 
Great  Britain.  Cotton  and  rice  were  the  leading  articles  of  export. 
Sugar,  molasses,  salt  and  wines  were  imported  largely.  From  i8l2  to 
181 5  the  city's  commerce  shrank  woefully.  By  1818  the  exports  ex- 
ceeded $14,000,000  in  value,  a  remarkable  expansion  of  six  hundred  per 
cent. 

Steam  first  became  a  factor  in  Savannah's  commerce  about.1817.  In 
that  year  there  was  a  Savannah  steamboat  company,  but  there  is  very 
little  written  history  of  the  corporation  during  the  first  few  years  of  its 
existence.  Within  two  or  three  years  there  was  a  steamboat  plying 
regularly  between  Charleston  and  Savannah.     Then  it  ran  farther  down 


468  History  of  Savannah. 

the  coast,  and  as  the  years  went  by  the  number  of  steam  vessels  coming 
here  increased  steadily.  One  of  the  early  lines  was  ■  from  Savannah  to 
Augusta,  but  in  this  instance  the  steamboat  was  used  for  towing  flats  and 
barges  between  the  two  cities.  Between  1840  and  i860  a  large  part  of 
the  commerce  was  carried  by  steam  vessels  running  regularly  to  North- 
ern and  European  ports. 

The  year  18 19  is  a  red  letter  one  in  the  world's  commercial  calendar, 
for  it  was  in  that  year  that  steam  navigation  of  the  ocean  was  proved  to 
be  possible.  Savannah  furnished  that  proof,  for  she  sent  the  first  steam- 
ship across  the  Atlantic.  Among  this  city's  chiefest  honors  is  that  of 
having  been  the  pioneer  in  steam  navigation  of  the  ocean.  In  1818, 
Messrs.  Dunning,  Scarborough,  Sturges,  Burroughs,  Henry,  McKenna 
and  other  leading  business  men  here,  at  the  suggestion  of  Captain  Moses 
Rogers,  had  constructed  in  the  North  a  combination  steam  and  sailing 
vessel  to  ply.  between  Savannah  and  Liverpool.  The  contract  called  for 
a  vessel  of  300  tons  burden.  When  completed  she  was  a  full  rigged 
clipper  ship,  fitted  with  engines  and  sidewheels.  These  wheels  were 
made  of  wrought  iron,  were  not  covered  and  were  so  constructed  that 
they  could  be  folded  over  on  the  ship's  deck.  The  supposition  was  that 
when  the  vessel  had  a  good  wind  she  would  not  need  steam  and  a  der- 
rick was  arranged  to  lift  the  wheels  out  of  the  water  and  take  them  in 
when  not  in  use.  The  vessel  was  christened  the  Savannah.  She  sailed 
from  this  port  May  20,  18 19,  bound  for  Liverpool.  Pitch  pine  was  used 
lor-  fuel.  -As  the  supply  was  not  inexhaustible  it  was  husbanded.  The 
wheels  were  used  eighteen  days  out  of  twenty-two  on  the  eastern  voy- 
age. The  sails  were  used  on  eight  days.  Steam  vessels  were  rare  in  those 
days.  The  English  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  the  vessel  when  she 
approached  their  coast  with  wheels  revolving  rapidly  and  her  canvas  set. 

When  the  Savannah  arrive(5  off  Cape  Clear  she  was  signalled  to 
Liverpool  as  a  vessel  on  fire  and  a  cutter  was  sent  from  Cork  to  assist 
her.  The  people  crowded  the  Mersey's  banks  filled  with  "  surprise  and 
admiration  when  she  entered  the  harbor  of  Liverpool  under  bare  poles, 
belching  forth  smoke  and  fire,  yet  uninjured."  The  Savannah  remained 
at  Liverpool  about  a  month  and  was  visited  by  thousands  of  the  curious. 
Captain  Rogers  was  at  liberty  to  sell  his  vessel,  but  he  secured  no  offer 
which   he   would   accept.     From    Liverpool   he   took   his   vessel   to   St. 


Commerce  and  Manufactures.  469 

Petersburg,  where  the  Savannah  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Czar. 
On  November  20,  she  steamed  up  the  Savannah  River,  after  a  passage  of 
twenty-five  days,  on  nineteen  of  which  she  had  used  steam.  She  had  ex- 
perienced not  a  httle  rough  weather,  but  she  rode  all  of  it  out  safely  with- 
out an  accident. 

This  first  ocean  steamer  did  not  pay  and  the  Savannah  company  sold 
her  to  New  York  parties,  who  took  out  her  steam  engine  and  made  a 
packet  vessel  of  her.  She  foundered  off"  Long  Island  in  a  heavy  storm 
a  few  years  later.  The  Savannah' s  log-book  and  the  cylinder  from  her 
engine  are  on  exhibition  in  London. 

At  the  close  of  the  second  decade  of  this  century  Savannah  was  on 
the  threshold  of  an  immense  trade.  Her  commerce  had  grown  rapidly, 
her  merchants  were  prosperous,  many  of  them  were  wealthy  for  those 
days,  and  the  city  began  to  show  the  effect  of  the  general  prosperity. 
Her  citizens  who  had  laid  up  fortunes  lived  royally  and  entertained 
handsomely.  On  the  sideboard  were  the  finest  wines,  and  the  stranger 
who  came  properly  vouched  for,  was  apt  to  be  as  mellow  as  the  vintages 
before  he  departed.  Luxury  is  prima  facie  evidence  of  easy  circum- 
stances. It  was  about  this  time  that  the  people  first  knew  the  luxury — 
ice.  Charleston  had  a  large  ice-house,  and  in  1818  the  company  estab- 
lished a  branch  here.  In  18 19  a  company  was  organized  to  bring 
Northern  ice  to  this  port.  An  old  advertisement  in  a  paper  of  1 819 
mentions  that  ice  is  highly  desirable  for  cooling  water,  milk  and  wine. 
A  decanter  especially  designed  for  the  use  of  ice  is  advertised  and  recom- 
mended. At  retail  the  ice  was  to  be  supplied  for  6\  cents  a  pound. 
Regular  patrons  could  get  special  rates,  but  the  price  was  so  high  that  it 
is  safe  to  say  the  traffic  was  not  large  for  years  afterwards. 

The  year  1 820  was  a  sad  one.  Early  in  the  first  month  a  disastrous  fire 
destroyed  $4,000,000  of  property.  This  was  a  most  serious  blow.  But 
it  was  not  the  only  one  nor  was  it  the  worst.  Sporadic  cases  of  yellow 
fever  had  appeared  from  year  to  year,  and  in  May,  1820,  there  was  a  case. 
Not  until  September,  however,  did  the  plague  become  alarming.  Sailors 
from  a  vessel  just  arrived  from  the  West  Indies  introduced  a  few  cases 
into  the  city,  which  had  a  population  of  7,500.  Of  these  6,000  fled. 
Although  there  were  less  than  250  deaths  during  September  and  Octo- 
ber, and  the  first  week  in  November,  when  the  disease  was  checked,  busi- 


470  History  of  Savannah. 

ness,  which  had  been  paralyzed,  was  slow  in  recovering.  The  next  year 
the  exports  fell  off  to  $6,032,862,  not  one-half  so  much  as  they  had  been 
three  years  before.  In  1818  the  imports  were  valued  at  $2,976,257  and 
in  1 82 1  at  only  $865,146.  Not  until  six  years  after  the  visitations  of 
fire  and  fever  did  commerce  begin  to  attain  its  former  proportions.  In 
1825  the  cotton  shipments  coastwise  and  foreign  amounted  to  137,895 
bags.  The  next  year  the  shipments  jumped  to  190,578  bags.  A  quar- 
ter of  a  century  later  the  exports  scarcely  exceeded  in  value  those  of 
1818.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  city  has  ever  had  an  era  when  her  future 
looked  brighter  than  in  those  two  years  (1818  and  18 19),  which  saw  the 
theater,  the  Independent  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  world's  first  ocean 
steamship,  the  Savannah,  completed.  When  Savannah  rounded  her  first 
century  she  was  a  thriving  little  city,  after  many  mishaps  once'more  en- 
joying a  good  measure  of  prosperity.  Cotton  and  rice  continued  to  be 
the  chief  articles  of  commerce.  Cotton  lead  and  was  easily  "  king." 
The  planters  were  the  wealthy  and  aristocratic  class,  outnumbering  the 
merchants.  And  this  condition  prevailed  up  to  the  war.  During  the 
quarter  of  a  century  between  the  port's  entry  on  its  second  century  and 
the  great  civil  conflict  Savannah's  commerce  flourished.  It  grew  slowly, 
to  be  sure,  but  steadily.  There  were  bad  years  and  good  years,  just  as 
in  the  history  of  every  city.  As  a  rule  the  dull  years  were  more  than 
offset  by  the  seasons  when  crops,  shipments  and  prices  were  fair  and 
good.  In  1 841  the  cotton  shipments  dropped  off  largely,  but  there  was 
a  heavy  lumber  trade.  The  next  year  there  was  a  large  cotton  trade  and 
the  lumber  shipments  fell  off.  In  1845  the  exports  went  away  ahead  of 
any  previous  year,  with  the  cotton  shipments  coastwise  and  foreign 
amounting  to  304,544  bags.  About  this  time  the  lumber  trade  was  a 
very  valuable  part  of  the  commerce  and  in  1847  it  threatened  to  displace 
rice  and  take  second  place  itself  The  commercial  prosperity  of  the 
decade  between  1850  and  i860,  the  last  one  prior  to  the  war,  was  marred 
in  one  year,  1854,  by  another  epidemic  and  by  a  violent  storm.  The 
latter  caused  almost  a  total  ruin  to  the  rice  crop  and  the  fever  unsettled 
every  line  of  trade.  Not  until  the  following  year  did  the  statistics  show 
how  business  had  been  affected.  Then  it  was  seen  that  the  rice  shipmenst 
had  shrunk  almost  entirely  away  and  the  lumber  trade  had  dwindled 
fifty  per  cent.     This  bad  year  was  quickly  recovered  from  and  not  even 


Commerce  and  Manufactures. 


471 


the  re- appearance  of  the  plague  two  years  later  hurt  the  commerce 
materially.  The  year  1858  was  a  poor  year  but  the  succeeding  one  was 
especially  prosperous,  469,053  bales  of  cotton  alone,  being  exported. 
Uneasiness  as  to  the  political  future  had  its  effect  on  the  business  of  Sa- 
vannah. Gathering  clouds  threatened  a  coming  storm.  He  was  obtuse 
indeed,  who  saw  not  that  the  commercial  and  financial  pulse  of  the  coun- 
try was  keenly  susceptible  to  the  tension  to  which  it  was  subjected. 
Even  a  four  months'  presidential  canvass  in  these  piping  times  of  peace 
unsettles  trade  for  upwards  of  a  twelvemonth.  What  wonder  then  that 
in  i860  and  the  few  years  immediately  preceding.  Savannah's  commerce 
did  not  take  the  leaps  forward  it  had  done  in  former  years  ! 

The  opening  of  the  Central  Railroad  to  Macon  in  1843  had  been  fol- 
lowed by  the  development  of  the  country  along  its  line.  New  trade  came 
to  Savannah,  and  vi^ith  the  building  of  the  railway,  which  is  now  known  as 
the  Savannah,  Florida  and  Western,  another  large  territory  was  put 
within  easy  communication.  Again  when  the  city  was  on  the  eve  of 
what  seemed  to  be  a  magnificent  future,  fate  stretched  out  her  hand  and 
stayed  the  increased  prosperity  which  was  ready  to  pour  itself  over  the 
State's  metropolis. 

The  following  table  gives  the  exports,  foreign  and  coastwise  con- 
solidated, of  cotton,  rice  and  lumber  for  a  period  of  twenty  years  prior 
to  the  war  : 


1839 
1840 
1841 
1842 

1843 
1844 

1845 
1846 
1847 

1854 
1855 
1856 
1857 
1858 
1859 

i860 


COTTON,  BAGS.  RICE,  TIERCES.  LUMBER,  FEET, 


199,176 
284,249 
147,280 
222,254 
280,826 
244.575 
304.544 
186,306 
234,151 

317,471 
388,375 
393.092 
327,658 
292,829 
469.053 

for'gn  only 

314,084 


21,321 

24,392 
23.587 

22,064 
26,281 

28543 

29,217 

32,147 

3'.739 

CASKS. 

30,748 
8,220 
29,907 
27,536 
31,345 
38.130 

for'gn  tier. 

6,790 


14,295,200 
8,490,400 

7.529.550 
5.923.251 

8,270,582 
18,585,644 

54.731,385 

49,85  i;,7oo 
25.500,000 
34,887,500 
44,743,070 
28,365.656 
38,928,084 

FOREIGN. 
20,723,350 


472  History  of  Savannah. 

Four  years  of  war  came  and  once  more  business  was  practically  sus- 
pended. 

In  1 86 1,  1862,  1863  and  1864  the  port  was  blockaded,  consequently 
there  were  no  exports  or  imports  during  these  years  excepting  what  was 
run  through  the  blockade,  of  which  no  account  can  be  given.  In  1865, 
exports  (the  property  of  the  Confederate  States  and  of  the  citizens  of  Sa- 
vannah) were  carried  on  exclusively  by  the  officers  and  men  of  the  United 
States  government  in  its  ships.  Late  in  December,  1864,  Sherman 
seized  all  the  cotton  and  numerous  other  articles.  The  cotton  he  shipped 
to  New  York,  where  it  brought  a  high  price.  Commerce,  which  had 
been  practically  suspended  for  four  years,  now  began  to  be  resumed. 
Sherman  had  destroyed  the  railroads,  and  the  State  had  been  reduced 
from  wealth  to  poverty.  Men  whose  private  fortunes  had  been  swept 
away  went  to  work  to  build  up  anew.  The  younger  men  too  entered 
business  for  themselves,  thus  setting  the  precedent  which  has  given 
Savannah  to-day  probably  the  youngest  set  of  successful  business 
men  to  be  found  in  any  city.  The  high  prices  obtained  for  cotton  led 
the  planters  to  increase  their  acreage,  and  the  receipts  here  jumped 
up  to  over  half  a  million  bales  in  1867,  and  to  three  quarters  of  a  mil- 
lion in  1870.  Since  that  year  the  receipts  have  reached  900,000  bales, 
and  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  they  will  turn  the  one  milHon 
point. 

The  opening  of  the  Alabama  Midland  through  a  rich  cotton  belt 
in  Alabama  is  bringing  the  products  of  that  section  here.  The  com- 
pressing of  cotton  has  been  an  important  business  for  years.  Six 
powerful  hydraulic  presses  handled  6,900  bales  a  day  in  the  busiest  sea- 
sons. 

Up  to  1882  New  Orleans  was  the  only  port  which  received  more  cot- 
ton than  Savannah.  Since  that  year  Galveston  has  held  second  place. 
This  year  Bay  street's  merchants  are  resolved  to  send  Savannah's  re- 
ceipts to  the  million  bales  mark.  The  heaviest  receipts  on  any  one  day 
were  15,000  bales  in  October,  1889. 

The  exports  of  cotton  since  the  war  have  been  : 


Commerce  and  Manufactures. 


473 


YEAR. 


1865 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 

1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 

1882 

1883  , 

1884 

1885 

1886  , 

1887 


FOREIGN. 


UP- 
LAND. 


SEA 
ISLAND. 


60, 1 44 
101,737 
286,671 
164,674 
260,366 
478,941 
289,000 
373.793 
373.730 
426,090 
420,881 
368,844 
298,546 
348,596 
458,208 
423,896 

498.551 
336,648 

418,385 
358.150 
389,290 
400,437 

485.999 
384,440 

320.343 


3,89' 
8.137 
6,467 

3.329 
6,488 
2,568 
1,061 

2.395 
2,165 

3.472 

2.354 
1.374 
1. 219 

2,939 
1.784 
796 
5,836 
2,137 

613 
1,649 
1,568 
1.483 
1.744 
1,386 

3.536 


COASTWISE. 


UP- 
LAND. 


159,298 
140,396 

234,434 
184,690 

197.033 
248,326 

151.335 
224,048 
234,299 
222,073 
190,023 
165,900 
186,284 
261,742 

234.474 
305,059 

381,911 
394.833 
394,658 
296,345 
317.874 
383.316 
289,828 

478,935 
476,803 


SEA 
ISLAND. 


3,648 
6.700 

5.195 
3,298 
7,696 

4.424 
4,306 

5.307 
5,341 
4.480 
5,821 
5.516 
5,001 
8,430 
7,019 
10,480 
8,003 

I  5.404 

11,442 

7,606 

■7.515 
21.307 
26,195 
22,647 
25,846 


An  important  line  of  trade  with  a  unique  history,' is  the  naval  stores 
business.  Naval  stores  in  the  commercial  world,  means  spirits  of  turpen- 
tine and  rosin,  the  product  of  the  pine  tree.  Up  to  1870  Georgia's  forests 
were  a  mine  of  undeveloped  natural  wealth,  as  rich  as  a  Comstock  lode. 
And  the  former  were  above  ground  in  plain  view  and  known  to  hun- 
dreds of  thousands.  In  1883  the  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade  wrote  : 
"  Twelve  years  ago  a  barrel  of  rosin  or  spirits  of  turpentine  was  scarcely 
known  in  this  market,  while  to-day  Savannah  is  known  as  the  largest 
naval  stores  market  in  the  world,  our  receipts  for  the  past  fiscal  year  be- 
ing 133,139  barrels  of  spirits  and  564,026  barrels  of  rosin,  the  aggregate 
value  of  which  is  about  $4,000,000,   ranking  second  to  cotton  in  value." 

A  North  Carolina  farmer  or  two  were  the  pioneers  in  developing  the 
naval  stores  trade  of  Georgia.  Their  own  State  was  exhausted  and  they 
sought  new  fields.  Georgia  offered  them  the  richest  pine  forests  on  this 
continent.  From  those  forests,  men  who  came  to  Savannah  fifteen  and 
twenty  years  ago  with  a  few  hundred  dollars  capital  have  made  hand- 


474 


History  of  Savannah. 


some  fortunes,  and  retired  from  business.  The  history  of  commerce 
ofifers  few  cases  which  can  parallel  that  of  the  naval  stores  industry  for 
quick  money  making.  Savannah  is  likely  to  continue  to  be  the  chief 
naval  stores  port  of  the  world  for  several  years  to  come.  The  time  must 
come,  however,  when  the  vast  forests  will  be  worked  out. 

In  the  year  which  ended  March  31,  1888,  the  receipts  of  turpentine 
were  in  round  numbers  170,000  barrels.  During  the  year  which  closed 
March  31,  1889,  the  receipts  fell  off  about  10,000  barrels,  but  that  was 
due  to  the  voluntary  shortening  of  the  crop  by  the  manufacturers  who 
hoped  to  realize  good  prices  thereby,  and  they  succeeded. 

Here  is  a  table  showing  the  growth  of  the  trade  for  fifteen  years,  back 
of  which  the  business  was  comparatively  small : 


1874- 
1876 

•  877 

1878 

1879 

1880 

1 88 1 

1882, 

1883 

1884 

1885 


1889. 


75 


spt's  terpentine. 

ROSIN. 

9.555 

41.707 

15.521 

59.792 

19,984 

98,888 

3'. 138 

177,104 

34,368 

177.447 

46,321 

231,421 

54.703 

282,386 

77.059 

309,834 

1 16,127 

444.873 

I  2  1 ,000 

486,961 

111.447 

452,370 

127,785 

476,508 

1 64, 1 99 

609,025 

162,237 

639.933 

■73,863 

610,302 

The  history  of  the  rice  and  lumber  trades  has  been  sketched  in  connec- 
tion with  the  growth  of  the  port's  general  commerce.  As  already  men- 
tioned, rice  was  the  principal  article  of  export  in  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, 2,996  barrels  being  shipped  in  1753,  and  7,500  barrels  in  1763.  Lum- 
ber did  not  become  an  important  article  of  export  until  1841.  Since  that 
date,  however,  this  trade  has  been  most  important.  The  Vale  Royal  lum- 
ber manufacturing  mills  west  of  the  city  have  a  history  running  back  half  a 
century.  The  rice  mills  are  but  little  younger  than  the  culture  of  the  cereal. 

Another  business  which  has  grown  rapidly  and  has  a  promising  future 
is  the  fertilizer  trade.  Savannah  was  for  years  a'  mere  buyer  and  seller, 
a  middleman  pure  and  simple.      Recently  local  firms  have  gone  into  the 


Commerce  and  Manufactures. 


4^5 


manufacture  of  fertilizers  from  the  South  CaroHna  rock,  and  the  city's 
trade  is  about  $2,500,000  a  year. 

The  shipment  of  fruits  and  vegetables  is  no  small  item  in  the  commerce 
of  the  port.  During  the  spring  and  summer  vast  quantities  of  fruits,  melons 
and  vegetables  are  shipped  north  and  west.  The  coffee  importing  trade, 
which  amounted  to  $200,000  a  year,  has  declined  owing  to  quarantine  reg- 
ulations. Salt,  coal,  tropical  fruits,  hides,  wool,  fish,  oysters,  pig  iron,  yarns 
and  domestics  form  important  articles  of  export  and  import.  Professional 
hunters  come  here  every  winter  and  trap  game  for  the  pelts.  Oysters  and 
fish  are  shipped  away  in  large  quantities.  The  pig  iron  comes  chiefly  from 
the  Alabama  mines.  A  fact  not  generally  known  is  that  the  "  wire- grass" 
wool  is  the  finest  clip  shorn  in  America.  It  is  free  from  dirt  and  oil,  and 
brings  the  highest  price.  Engaged  in  bringing  and  carrying  away  Savan- 
nah's imports  and  exports  are  three  railroad  lines,  and  regular  steamship 
lines  to  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore.  The  steamships 
and  sailing  vessels  which  come  here  go  to  every  port  in  the  world. 

The  statistics  given  below  represent  the  value  of  the  exports  and  im- 
ports by  water  alone  for  a  period  of  sixteen  years  : 


Exports  for  Year  End- 
ing August  31. 

\ 

1887.    ■ 

1886. 

1885. 

1884. 

$  39.378,480 

3,296,788 

1,094,318 

271,142 

653.940 

174,647 

1,723,723 

1,649,000 

6.522,044 

i  38.807.726 

3,296.503 

1,01 5,580 

210,367 

193,835 

2 1 2  304 

1,834,713 

3-334,950 

2,127,212 

*  36,191,441  1 
2,944,326 

9 '4,535 

344.232 

186,504 

228.606 

1,767,852 

3.500,620 

2,225,100 

33,221,875 

3,278,296 

924,454 

S55-937 

175,612 

215,314 
1,790.210 

3-757,311 
2,206,504 

Naval  Stores .'. 

Lumber  and  Timber       

Rice      

Pig;  Iron 

Hides  and  Wool 

Fruits  and  Vegetables 

Yarns  and  Domestics 

Miscellaneous    

Total  Exports 

$  54,764.082 

$  51,028.190 

$  48.313,216    $ 

46,425.513 

Imports.— Fertilizers 

Coal 

Hay  and  Grain 

Salts 

Coffee ■ 

Miscellaneous   

2,460,752 
354,740 
350,635 
215,325 
487.319 
48,790.462 

2,238,654 
224  340 
318,250 
1 26.0CO 
512,000 
47,699.280 

2,709.511 
196.870 

350,419 

125,000 

500.000 

45.999,280 

1,626.601 
201,200 
346,550 
125,000 
500.000 
46,312,965 

Total  Imports 

$  52,659,233 

$  51-118,524 

$  49,881,080 

$    49,112.316 

$107,423,315 

$102,146,714 

$  98,194,296 

*    95,537,829 

476 


History  of  Savannah. 


Exports  for  Year  End- 
ing August  31. 

1883. 

1882. 

1881. 

1880. 

Cotton           

$  41-773,265 
2,821,106 

949,031 

582.624 

173,560 

254,296 

1,512,302 

3,860,450 

1,989,300 

$  40,495,221 

2,065,848 

1.047,524 

914905 

145,900 

241,660 

1,460,205 

3,625,460 

2,007,525 

$  48,019,799 

2,072,291 

835,176 

879,480 

158,760 

225,390 

1,200,150 

3,729,605 

1,865,250 

$     38,233.425 

Naval  Stores  ....             

Lumber  and  Timber 

Rice          

877,248 

PjCT  Iron                   

133,312 

Hides  and  Wool 

240,700 

Fruits  and  Vegetables 

Yarns  and  Domestics 

1,140625 
3.312,412 
•,750,775 

1  53,915,934 

$  52,004,248 

$  58,985,901 

«  47,836,411 

Imports. — Fertilizers   

Coal 

Hay  and  Grain 

Salts 

2,270.455 
210,015 
333,476 
125,000 
500,000 
44,260,850 

2,370,985 
219.650 
360,525 
125,000 
500,000 
42.375^945 

2,870,545 

200,440 

385-415 

100,000 
400.000 

44,760,500 

3,838,058 
198,360 
395,212 
100,000 

Coffee 

Miscellaneous 

400,000 
40,590,850 

Total  Imports 

f  47,699,796 

S  45.952,105 

$  48,716,900 

$    45,522,480 

1101,615.730 

%  97,956,353 

$107,702,801 

1    93-358,891 

Exports  for  Year  End- 
ing August  31. 


1879- 


1878 


1877- 


1876. 


Cotton 

Naval  Stores    

Lumber  and  Timber   . 

Rice  

Pig  Iron 

Hides  and  Wool 
Fruits  and  Vegetables 
Yarns  and  Domestics. 
Miscellaneous 


32.525,777 
998,682 
669,064 
685,728 
125,200 
240,915 
890.220 
2,998,510 
1,767,325 


'$  3 


.993,123 
774,207 
772.057 
581,436 
106,210 
228,656 
847,512 
2.912,367 
1.813.420 


Total  Exports S  40,901,421   ||  39,978,988 


25,691,547 

577,988 

671,863 

465,990 

95.300 

206, 5  50 

628  005 

2,166,400 

1,600,210 


$  32,103,853 


32,817,572 
208.176 
661,562 

650,337 

65,250 

219,400 

512,940 

2,349,672 

1,400,555 


$     38,885  464 


Imports.— Fertilizers 

Coal 

H^y  and  Grain 

Salts 

Coffee   

Miscellaneous     

2.784,667 
209,840 

360,555 

100,000 

400.000 

39,209,410 

3,116,788 

187,350 
382,012 
100,000 
400,000 
38,762,315 

2,715,728 
190,525 
400,880 
1 00,000 
400,000 
32,500775 

2,091,902 

175,450 

393.765 

80.000 

300,000 

34,650,850 

Total  Imports 

$  43064,472 

$  42,948,465 

$  36,307,908 

$    37,691,967 

1  83,965,893 

$  82.927,453 

$  68,411,761 

1     76,577,431 

Commerce  and  Manufactures. 


477 


Exports  for  Year  End- 
ing August  31 


Cotton 

Naval  Stores   

Lumber  and  Timber.. . 

Rice   

Pig  Iron 

Hides  and  Wool 

Fruits  and  Vegetables 
Yarns  and  Domestics . 
Misellaneous 


'875. 


Total  Exports  , 


44,005,476 

110,964 

660,582 

646,360 

66,310 

197,320 

468,500 

2,606,450 

1,520,320 


1874. 


$  47.774,638 

59,029 

667,189 

531.796 

51,500 
190,206 
451,680 

2.897,315 
1,638,200 


1873- 

61,314.818 

45,144 

562,740 

208,250 

40,615 

175-550 

410,790 

3,148,167 

1,920,325 


$  50,282,282    $  54,261,553    $  67,826,399    $    39.509.716 


1872. 


$    34,266,847 


548,895 

187,649 

25,500 

170,410 

492,015 

2,405,960 

1,412,440 


I  MPORTs. — Fertilizers 

Coal ....  

Hay  and  Grain 

Salts 

Coffee 

Miscellaneous 

Total  Imports  .  .  . 


1,338.509 

182,300 

406,550 

80,000 

275,000 

38,790,400 


1,545.860 

170,325 

408,975 

80,000 

275,000 

35,890,525 


$  41,072,759    $  38,370,685 

1 

$  91.355,041   ,$  92,632,238 


1,624.427 

175,255 

396,210 

80,000 

250  000 

35,609490 


1,692,601 

160,105 

390  400 

80,000 

250,000 

30,274,950 


$  38,135,382  i$     32,849,056 


$105,961,781  ;|    72,358,772 


The  above  statement  does  not  include  receipts  and  shipments  by  rail, 
nor  does  it  include  the  value  of  domestic  traffic,  local  manufactures,  bank- 
ing,  etc.,  but  is  confined  strictly  to  value  of  exports  and  imports  which 
have  a  direct  bearing  upon  our  water- wfays  transportation.  While  values 
have  decreased  during  the  past  fifteen  years  about  one-third,  the  values 
in  1886,  compared  with  1872  in  volume,  are  nearly  50  per  cent,  greater. 
This  is  due  to  the  large  increase  in  tonnage.  The  item  of  "  miscellane- 
ous "  in  imports  embraces  bagging,  iron  ties,  tobacco,  boots  and  shoes. 
bacon,  dry  goods,  hats,  clothing,  drugs,  furniture,  hardware,  crockery, 
sugar,  flour,  cigars,  canned  goods,  and  manufactured  articles  generally. 

During  the  Revolutionary  War  the  river  was  so  obstructed  by 
wrecks  and  otherwise  that  at  the  close  of  hostilities  it  became  abso- 
lutely necessary  that  the  obstructions  should  be  removed  or  Savannah 
would  not  have  any  commerce.  So  in  1787  an  act  was  passed  by  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  State  "  levying  a  tax  of  3  pence  per  ton  on  all 
shipping  entering  the  port  of  Savannah,  the  same  to  be  appropriated 
and  set  apart  as  a  fund  for  clearing  the  river  of  wrecks."  In  1822 
steam  passenger  vessels  were  exempted  from  this  tax,  and  the  next  year 


478 


History  of  Savannah. 


it  was  repealed.  In  1772  there  were  entered  and  cleared  at  the  custom 
house  161  sail  of  vessels.  The  imports  for  that  year  were  valued  at 
;^8io,  and  the  exports  at  ;£^ 2,963,  a  total  of  £z<77'i-  In  1872,  a  cen- 
tury later,  the  entrances  alone  were  1,156  vessels,  and  the  exports  and 
imports  were  valued  at  more  than  $72,000,000. 

The  magnitude  of  the  shipping  is  shown  by  the  statistics  which  fol- 
low and  which  are  for  the  year  1888 : 


VESSELS. 

■I-ONS. 

CREW. 

American  vessels  entered 

American  vessels  cleared 

P'oreign  vessels  entered ' 

Foreign  vessels  cleared    

8 

8 

229 

233 

3.560 

2.583 
146,075 
167,836 

I  1  I 

63 
3,288 

3,557 

Total 

478 

411 
382 

320,054 

7,019 

Entered  coastwise 

539.576 
507,075 

14.907 
14,231 

Cleared  coastwise 

Total    .' 

793 

478 
793 

1,271 

1,046,651 

29.138 

Total  foreign    .  .  .  . ' ; 

Total  coastwise 

320,054 
1,046,651 

1,306,705, 

7,019 
29,138 

Grand  total 

36.157 

Savannah  has  never  had  much  to  boast  of  in  the  way  of  manufactures 
outside  of  the  rice  mills  and  usual  flour  mills,  foundries,  machine  shops, 
and  such  industries  of  that  kind  as  are  found  in  every  city.  Within  a 
few  years  past,  however,  the  manufactures  have  grown  and  not  slowly. 
Planing  and  saw  mills,  furniture  factories,  fertilizer  and  chemical  works 
for  the  manufacture  of  sulphuric  acid,  a  cotton  mill  and  cotton  seed  oil 
mill  are  the  most  important  works.  Cigarstare  made  in  large  quantities, 
and  a  brewery  is  in  successful  operation.  An  artificial  ice  factory  is  one 
of  the  most  novel  as  well  as  useful  industries. 

The  Savannah  Board  of  Trade  was  organized  in  April,  1883.  It  was 
the  successor  of  the  Naval  Stores  Exchange  of  which  Mr.  C.  S.  Ellis  was 
president,  and  which  changed  its  charter  and  its  name  and  became  the 
Board  of  Trade.  This  organization  is  composed  of  business  men,  the 
most  of  whom  are  engaged  on  the  Bay,  Congress  and  Broughton  streets. 
At  the  Board  rooms  telegraphic  reports  of  the  naval  stores,  grain  and 
provision  markets  are  received  and  posted.     Statistics  are  there  kept  of 


Railroads.  479 


the  yearly  transactions  of  the  port  in  the  various  trades  represented  by 
the  board.  The  first  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade  was  H.  Fraser  Grant. 
His  successors  have  been  James  K.  Clarke,  Fred  M.  Hull,  (two  years) 
and  John  R.  Young,  who  is  now  serving  his  second  term.  The  superin- 
tendents have  been,  R.  M.  Rieves,  George  P.  Walker,  John  Henderson, 
and  S.  McA.  White. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

RAILROADS  AND  FINANCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  OF  SAVANNAH. 

Central  Railroad  and  Banking  Company — History  of  its  Organization  and  Growth 
— Ocean  Steamship  Company — Savannah,  Florida  and  Western  Railway— Savannah 
and  Tybee  Railroad— Central  Railroad  Bank — Merchant's  National  Bank — Savannah 
Bank  and  Trust  Company— Southern  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia — National  Bank  of 
Savannah — The  Oglethorpe  Savings  and  Trust  Company— Citizen's  Bank— Title  Guar- 
antee and  Loan  Company  —  Building  and  Loan  Associations. 

THE  relations  of  a  city  to  its  radiating  lines  of  travel  will  always  indi- 
cate the  measure  of  its  present  and  future  prosperity.  Georgia  was 
one  of  the  first  States  in  the  Union  to  encourage  railway  enterprise,  and 
it  is  a  notable  fact  that  her  pioneer  road,  the  Central,  made  Savannah  its 
starting  point.  The  progress  of  this  road  is  inseparably  connected  with 
the  history  of  Savannah,  and  not  only  shows  the  city's  advancement  but 
that  of  the  State  as  well.  Its  history  is  full  of  interest  and  instruction, 
and  is  well  worthy  of  consideration. 

The  Central  Railroad  was  chartered  December  14,  1835.  Colonel 
Crugar  made  the  first  experimental  survey  in  1834,  at  the  cost  of  the 
city  of  Savannah.  In  1835  the  Central  Railroad  and  Banking  Company 
was  organized  with  W.  W.  Gordon,  the  originator  of  the  scheme,  as  ptes- 
ident.  In  1836  it  began  work,  and  on  October  13,  1843,  the  road  was 
completed  to  Macon,  Ga.,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  ninety  miles,  on 
which  day  a  train  passed  over  the  whole  line  to  the  depot  at  Macon.  L. 
O.  Reynolds  was  chief  engineer  of  construction.  In  July,  1838,  passen- 
ger trains  began  running  regularly  the  first  twenty-six  miles.     In  1838 


48o  History  of  Savannah. 

the  charter  of  the  branch  road  to  Augusta  was  granted,  and  Savannah 
subscribed  $100,000  to  construct  it. 

During  the  year  1842  Mr.  W.  W.  Gordon,  the  projector  and  genius 
of  this  enterprise,  died,  and  Mr.  R.  R.  Cuyler  was  elected  president. 
Forty  years  later  the  Central  Railway  Company,  in  grateful  recognition 
of  Mr.  Gordon's  great  service,  erected  a  beautiful  monument  to  his  mem- 
ory in  the  Court  House  Square  on  Bull  street.  No  stronger  tribute  could 
be  uttered  to  his  memory  than  the  words  used  by  Chief  Engineer  Rey- 
nolds in  his  official  report  for  the  year  1842.  "  The  steadiness  and  deter- 
mination with  which  he  pursued  the  great  object  of  benefiting  his  native 
State  and  this  city,  and  promoting  their  prosperity,  ought  to  give  his 
name  a  place  among  the  most  distinguished  of  public  benefactors.  It 
was  an  object  which  was  remembered  in  his  latest  aspirations  to  heaven, 
but  a  few  moments  before  he  yielded  up  his  spirit  to  Him  who  gave  it." 

In  April,  1845,  the  railroad  owed  $440,095  of  bonds.  Its  stock  had 
risen  from  $20  a  share  to  $50,  and  its  bonds  from  75  cents  to  $1.00  value. 
This  year  the  Macon  and  Western  Railroad  was  completed.  The  neces- 
sity of  the  connection  with  Augusta  and  Columbus  was  strongly  pressed. 
The  Central  Railroad  subscribed  $250,000  to  the  Southwestern  Railroad 
Company.  In  1849  William  M.  Wadley  became  superintendent,  suc- 
ceeding Mr.  Reynolds.  The  Southwestern  was  opened  from  Macon  to 
Oglethorpe  in  July,  1850.  The  Central  Company  invested  in  1850,  $20,- 
000  in  the  Milledgeville  and  Gordon  Railroad,  $95,000  in  the  Augusta 
and  Waynesboro,  and  $100,000  in  the  Fort  Valley  and  Columbus  Rail- 
road. The  first  named  road  was  opened  to  Midway  in  October,  185 1  ; 
the  Augusta  Railroad  to  Station  i  in  November,  185 1  ;  the  Fort  Valley 
and  Columbus  in  185  i. 

In  1 85 1  the  capital  stock  of  the  Central  was  $3,000,000,  of  which 
$205,000  was  appropriated  to  banking,.  The  road  was  valued  at  more 
than  $3,000,000. 

In  1853  Mr.  William  M.  Wadley  resumed  control  as  superintendent. 
In  this  yeai  the  reports  show  for  the  first  time  the  statements  of  kiftds  of 
freights.  The  road  carried  1 19,019  bushel  of  corn  ;  2,709,863  pounds  of 
copper  ore,  and  77,983  hides. 

Although  yellow  fever  desolated  Savannah  in  1854,  but  a  single  trip 
was  lost  on  the  line  of  this  road,  the  company  having  at  this  time  283 


Railroads.  481 

miles  of  road  on  a  capital  of  $5,382,000,  including  the  leased  branches  of 
the  Augusta  and  Milled^eville  roads.  The  year  1865  witnessed  a  re- 
markable growth  of  business.  The  reserve  fund  had  grown  to  $578,260. 
The  cotton  freights  more  than  doubled,  reaching  390,485  bales  ;  hides, 
179.374;  copper  ore,  14,348,146  pounds  ;   wheat  427,358  bushels. 

In  1856  the  Central  yielded  up  the  lease  of  the  Augusta  and  Waynes- 
boro road.  In  1857  the  Southwestern  Road  was  completed  to  Albany, 
in  which  the  Central  had  $318,000  of  stock.  The  Mobile  and  Girard 
Railroad  and  the  Charleston  and  Savannah  Railroad  were  both  under 
way.  The  Memphis  and  Charleston  was  finished,  which  gave  the  Central 
737  miles  of  connection  with  the  Mississippi  at  Memphis. 

Emerson  Foote  became  superintendent  of  the  Central  in  1857,  but  in 
1858  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  George  W.  Adams.  In  1857  the  Central 
took  stock  in  the  New  York  and  Philadelphia  steamship  companies,  thus 
beginning  the  policy  it  has  so  largely  carried  out.  This  was  both  a  bold 
and  politic  stroke  of  financial  management.  In  1 859  this  steamship  in- 
vestment was  increased  to  $280,000.  This  year  the  company  carried 
96,000  bales  of  cotton  in  one  month,  and  made  its  first  engine  in  its  own 
works,  and  built  its  first  passenger  car. 

Up  to  the  close  of  the  year  1859  the  Central  Railroad  Company  had 
done  a  great  work,  not  only  in  the  construction  of  its  own  lines,  but  in 
aiding  to  build  the  railroad  system  of  the  State.  It  had  paid  nearly  half 
a  million  to  the  Southwestern  Railroad  ;  $100,000  to  the  Augusta  and 
Savannah  Railroad ;  $30,000  to  the  Montgomery  and  West  Point  Rail- 
road, subscribed  all  of  the  iron  used  in  building  the  Gordon  and  Eaton- 
ton  Railroad,  paid  mostly  for  the  steamship  lines,  and  granted  nearly 
$400,000  of  endorsement  to  the  Western  Railroad,  the  Columbus  Rail- 
road, and  the  Mobile  and  Girard  Railroad. 

The  year  i860,  the  last  year  before  the  war,  demonstrated  a  magnifi- 
cent culmination  of  prosperous  progress.  The  consolidated  wealth  of 
the  road  was  [$6,590,173  ;  railroad  capital,  $4,366,880;  bank  matters, 
$1,236,018  ;  bonds  and  stocks  in  other  companies,  $928,441  ;  reserve 
fund,  $1,221,095  ;  outstanding  bonds  only  $86,067  ;  income  from  rail- 
road, $1,696,998  ;  income  from  bank,  $113,371  ;  railroad  expenditures, 
$950,450;  dividends,  $458,340;  carried  to  reserve  fund,  $377,050;  cot- 
ton shipments,  bales,  413,314;  way  cotton  shipments,  bales,  129,405  ;  pas- 

61 


482  History  of  Savannah. 

sengers,  105,823;  lumber  shipments,  feet,  8,170,378  ;  fertilizer  shipments, 
pounds,  18,540,980  cars,  729  ;  engines,  59. 

The  war  put  its  destructive  hand  on  this  great  railroad.  Its  income 
was  reduced  atone  stroke  $657,385,  or  over  one-third.  It  carried  freight 
for  the  Confederate  government  at  fifty  per  cent,  under  its  regular  rates, 
and  took  into  its  treasury  $342,600  of  Confederate  treasury  notes.  In 
1862  it  leased  the  Augusta  and  Savannah  Railroad  and  patriotically 
subscribed  to  various  charitable  and  war,  funds.  The  transportation  of 
troops  was  the  principal  business,  and  the  cotton  fell  off  almost  to  nothing. 

The  year  1864  was  a  particular  severe  one  to  the  company.  From 
Gordon  to  Savannah  139  miles  of  the  railroad  was  destroyed  by  Sher- 
man's army,  and  for  forty  miles  wide  its  line  was  devastated.  The  pres- 
ident. Colonel  R.  R.  Cuyler,  died,  and  W.  B.  Johnston  was  elected  in  his 
place.  The  latter  served  for  one  year  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Colonel 
William  M.  Wadley. 

At  the  time  President  Wadley  assumed  charge,  but  little  had  bee  n 
done  to  put  the  road  in  running  order.  He  immediately  started  ener- 
getically upon  the  rehabilitation  of  the  road. 

The  year  1867  saw  the  Central  Railroad  well  re-established.  Its 
capital  stock  was  $4,661,800,  representing  the  railroad  and  its  appurten- 
ances, worth  $4,472,000  and  $869,803  of  stocks  and  bonds  in  other  com- 
panies. The  loss  by  war  in  bank  operations  had  been  $485,055.  The 
expenditure  in  renewing  the  railroad  was  $1,357,140.  The  cotton  busi- 
ness grew  to  272,427  bales. 

Seeing  in  the  construction  of  rival  lines  and  the  loss  of  through  busi- 
ness by  competition  injury  to  his  road,  Mr.  Wadley  began  that  far- 
reaching  plan  of  expansion,  which  has  resulted  in  the  present  massive 
and  profitable  railway  and  steamship  scheme  of  transportation.  It  is  at 
once  the  pride  of  Georgia,  and  has  maintained  against  all  encroachments 
the  commercial  supremacy  of  Savannah  as  a  great  cotton  port.  Mr. 
Wadley  projected  with  a  broad  generalship,  and  his  successors  have 
carried  out  his  grand  ideas.  In  1868  he  invested  in  the  Montgomery  and 
West  Point  Railroad,  the  Western  Railroad  from  Montgomery  to  Selma 
and  the  Mobile  and  Girard  Railroad,  and  a  through  freight  system  with 
the  New  York  steamers  was  established.  In  1869  the  Central  Railroad 
leased  the  Southwestern  Railroad,  and  bank  agencies  were  established  at 


Railroads.  483 


Macon  and  Columbus  as  well  as  at  Albany.  In  1870  Mr.  Wadley 
bought  for  the  company  the  Vale  Royal  Pkiitation,  on  the  canal  next  to 
the  river,  where  the  splendid  wharves  of  the  road  now  lie.  This  year 
the  guano  business  ran  to  90,000,000  pounds.  In  1871  Mr.  Wadley 
leased  the  Macon  and  Western  Railroad  as  another  protective  measure 
in  his  broad  plan  of  development.  He  also  began  branches  to  Blakely 
and  Perry.  In  1872  Mr.  Wadley  bought  six  steamships,  paying  $600,- 
000  in  bonds.  In  March  of  this  year  Captain  W.  G.  Raoul  became  as- 
sistant roadmaster  of  the  company. 

In  1875  the  Western  Railroad  of  Alabama  was  bought  by  the  Cen- 
tral Railroad  and  Georgia  Railroad  for  $1,643,128  each.  This  year  the 
Ocean  Steamship  Company  was  chartered  and  organized  with  a  capital 
stock  of  $800,000,  and  the  Central  Railroad  sold  to  this  company  its  six 
steamships  and  wharf  property.     Mr.  Wadley  was  elected  president. 

In  1876  the  Southern  Railway  and  Steamship  Association  was  or- 
ganized with  Mr.  Virgil  Powers  as  general  commissioner.  Captain  W.  G. 
Raoul  was  made  superintendent  of  the  Southwestern  Railroad.  The  Cen- 
tral had  a  prosperous  line  of  steamers  on  the  Chattahoochee  River. 
During  this  year  Savannah  was  visited  by  a  yellow  fever  pestilence  which 
desolated  the  city  and  cut  down  the  receipts  of  the  road.  The  road 
never  stopped  a  day. 

The  year  1878  was  signalized  by  the  resumption  of  dividends  which 
had  not  been  paid  in  three  years.  Four  new  steamships  were  bought 
and  put  on  the  line.  The  capital  stock  of  the  steamship  company  was 
increased  to  $800,000,  while  its  property  was  worth  $1,300,000. 

In  1879  the  Central  obtained  a  controling  interest  in  the  Vicksburg 
and  Brunswick  Railroad  Company  and  the  Montgomery  and  Eufaula 
Railroad  Company.  In  1880  Captain  W.  G.  Raoul  was  made  vice-pres- 
ident of  the  company  as  the  assistant  of  the  president. 

In  1 88 1  the  board  issued  $3,000,000  of  debentures,  or  certificates  of 
indebtedness,  to  the  stockholders.  The  Ocean  Steamship  Company  had 
grown  until  its  earnings  ran  to  $466,442,  netting  $301,121.  Four  new 
steamers  were  bought  this  year,  making  the  investment  in  steamships 
$1,598,734.  A  line  of  steamers  was  bought  to  run  to  Philadelphia.  It 
had  built  a  cotton  press,  $60, 000 ;  an  elevator,  $23,254,  and  a  ware- 
house, $18,268.     Among  its  purchases  was  the  famous  steamer  Dessoug. 


484  HisTOKY  OF  Savannah. 


which  had  brought  the  ObeHsk  from  Alexandria  in  Egypt  to  New  York, 
This  year  Mr.  Wadley  effected  the  lease  of  the  Georgia  Railroad  at  a 
rental  of  $600,000  a  year. 

On  the  loth  day  of  August,  1882,  the  genius  of  this  magnificent  Cen- 
tral system,  Colonel  William  M.  Wadley,  died  at  Saratoga,  in  the  sixty- 
ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  in  his  seventeenth  year  as  president  of  the 
company.  General  E.  P.  Alexander  was  elected  president.  His  report 
summarizes  the  condition  of  the  road  :  Mikages — 1,1 50  miles,  main  sys- 
tem ;  estimating  steamship  company  at  250  miles  ;  connecting  system, 
458  miles;  total,  .1,608  miles;  capitalized  at  $25,995,150  and  stocked 
at  $7,500,000,  making  an  aggregate  of  $33,495, 1 50,  or  $20,830  per  mile. 
The  458  miles  connecting  system  were  the  Central's  proportion  in  857 
miles  of  railway,  making  the  whole  mileage  it  influenced  2,009. 

The  growth  of  the  great  corporation  has  been  constant.  At  the  close 
of  the  year  1888  the  mileage  of  the  road  was  as  follows:  Central  Rail- 
road proper  and  branches,  333  miles;  Savannah,  Griffin  and  North  Ala- 
bama Railroad  60  miles  ;  Upson  County  Railroad,  16  miles;  Southwest- 
ern Railroad  and  branches,  334  miles;  Montgomery  and  Eufaula  Rail- 
road, 80  miles  ;  Columbus  and  Western  Railroad,  157  miles  ;  Mobile  and 
Girard  Railroad,  85  miles;  Columbus  and  Rome  Railroad,  50  miles; 
East  Alabama  Railroad,  37  miles;  Eufaula  and  East  Alabama  Railroad, 
40  miles  ;  Eufaula  and  Clayton  Railroad,  21  miles;  Port  Royal  and  Au- 
gusta Railroad,  112  miles;  Port  Royal  and  Western  Carolina  Railroad, 
229  miles;  Augusta  and  Savannah  Railroad,  53  miles;  Buena  Vista  and 
Ellaville  Railroad,  30  miles;   total,  1,637  niiles. 

Its  lines  cover  Georgia  and  Eastern  Alabama  with  a  net-work  of  steel, 
and  run  through  South  Carolina  from  seaboard  to  mountains,  worth  al- 
together nearly  $50,000,000,  and  giving  employment  to  thousands  of 
men.     , 

The  freighting  facilities  of  this  road  are  unsurpassed,  and  a  visit  to  the 
company's  yard  and  wiiarves  will  reveal  a  wonderful  scene  of  activity 
.and  interest.  In  the  Central's  yards  in  Savannah  are  11  miles  of  track, 
two  warehouses  (800  and  300  feet  in  length  respectively),  and  a  cotton 
platform  capable  of  holding  20,000  bales  of  cotton.  The  company's 
wharves  are  a  revelation  of  enterprise,  and  constitute  a  scene  of  business 
activity  not  to  be  excelled  anywhere.     There  are  upon  the  wharf  prem- 


Railroads.  485 


ises  30  acres  of  improvements,  viz.,  10  acres  of  platforms  on  piles,  10 
acres  undercover  of  sheds,  5,700  feet  of  wharf  front,  including  700  feet 
of  lumber  wharves,  5  acres  of  naval  stores  wharves,  wharf  room  for  50,- 
000  bales  of  cotton,  storage  houses  for  100,000  tons  of  fertilizers,  10 
miles  of  track,  4  great  cotton  warehouses,  with  a  capacity  of  30,000  bales, 
a  grain  elevator  capable  of  holding  270,000  bushels,  a  cotton  compress 
compressing  3,200  bales  of  cotton  per  diem,  and  numerous  platform  and 
track  scales.  The  working  force  at  the  wharves  (full  complement)  is 
80Q  men  and  18  special  policemen,  commanded  by  a  sergeant,  who  is  also 
assisted  by  numerous  watchmen,  assuring  perfect  order  throughout  ail 
the  departments. 

The  Ocean  Steamship  Company,  which  forms  such  an  important  part 
of  the  Central  Railroad  system,  has  a  fleet  of  ten  magnificent  steamships 
plying  between  Savannah  and  the  Northern  ports,  making  regular  sched- 
ules from  this  city  to  New  York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia.  The  follow- 
ing steamships  compose  the  fleet :  Nacoochee,  City  of  Savannah,  City  of 
Augusta,  Tallahassee,  Chattahoochee,  City  of  Macon,  Gate  City,  Dessoug, 
City  of  Birmingham  and  Kansas  City. 

The  City  of  Birmingham  was  added  to  the  line  in  1889,  and  was 
built  at  Roach's  ship-yard  Chester,  Pa.,  for  this  company.  She  has 
triple  expansion  engines  of  1,500  horse-power.  Her  cargo  capacity  is 
about  2,400  tons  on  a  draft  of  17  1-2  feet.  She  carries  7,000  bales  of 
cotton. 

The  Kansas  City  made  her  first  trip  about  the  beginning  of  the  pres- 
ent year.  She  is  the  fastest  and  finest  steamship  in  the  Atlantic  coast 
trade. 

The  steamers  of  the  fleet  carry  5,000  to  7,000  bales  of  cotton  each, 
and  100  or  more  first-class  passengers,  and  have  long  been  known  to  the 
traveling  public  as  unsurpassed  in  safety,  speed',  comfort  and  elegance. 

The  Ocean  Steamship  Company  contemplates  building  two  additional 
steamers  for  t'.ie  line,  and  in  the  comparatively  near  future  a  daily  line  of 
steamers  will  doubtless  be  in  operation  between  Savannah  and  New  York. 

The  line  formed  by  the  Ocean- Steamship  Company  and  the  Central 
Railroad  and  connections  is  already  carrying  a  large  freight  traffic  be- 
tween the  east  and  Memphis,  Kansas  City,  and  other  points  west,  actu. 
ally  competing  successfully  in  rates  and  time  with  the  all  rail  routes. 


486  History  of  Savannah. 


General  G.  M.  Sorrel  is  general  manager  of  the  Ocean  Steamship 
Company.  The  general  officers  of  the  system  are  as  follows :  President, 
E.  P.  Alexander ;  cashier,  T.  M.  Cunningham  ;  general  manager,  Cecil 
Gabbett ;  general  manager  Ocean  Steamship  Company,  G.  M.  Sorrel  ; 
comptroller,  Edward  Mclntyre  ;  traffic  manager,  W.  F.  Shellman  ;  gen- 
eral freight  agent,  G.  A.  Whitehead  ;  general  passenger  agent,  E.  T. 
Charlton;   general  counsel,  Pat  Calhoun. 

The  Central  Rail  Road  and  Banking  Company  is  the  greatest  single 
instrumentality  of  advancement  in  this  section  of  the  country,  and  its 
splendid  ocean  steamships,  extensive  wharves,  elevators,  compresses,  ter- 
minal facilities  and  banking  houses,  are  magnificent  monuments  to  the 
wisdom  of  its  founders.  Savannah  has  a  particular  reason  to  be  proud 
of  the  "old  Central,"  through  whose  achievements  in  no  little  degree  is 
due  her  present  wealth  and  population. 

Sava7tnah,  Florida  and  Western  Railway,  a  worthy  contemporary  of 
the  Central,  was  first  known  as  the  Savannah  and  Albany  Railroad. 
Under  this  title  a  charter  was  secured  and  an  organization  effected  in 
1853.  Dr.  John  P.  Screven  was  the  president  of  the  company  until  his 
death,  and  to  his  foresight  and  energy  the  State  of  Georgia  and  the  city 
of  Savannah  are  in  a  great  measure  indebted  for  this  enduring  monument 
of  his  public  skill  and  wisdom.  With  Dr.  Screven  were  associated  Col- 
onel Nelson  Tift,  the  earliest  projector  of  railroads  in  Northern  Georgia, 
John  Stoddard,  Hiram  Roberts,  William  Duncan,  H.  D.  Weed,  and  Dr. 
R.  D.  Arnold. 

In  1854  the  name  of  the  company  was  changed  to  the  Savannah,  Al- 
bany and  Gulf  Railroad  Company.  The  importance  of  securing  for  the 
city  of  Savannah  the  business  of  southern  Georgia  and  Florida  was  per- 
ceived by  the  citizens  of  Savannah,  and  a  subscription  of  one  million  dol- 
lars was  obtained  from  the  city  toward  building  the  road.  About  this 
time  a  charter  was  obtained  by  another  company  named  the  Atlanta  and 
Gulf  Railroad  Company  for  the  construction  of  the  line  west  of  Screven 
station,  sixty-eight  miles  from  Savannah,  for  which  State  aid  was  obtained 
amounting  to  one  million  dollars,  while  the  city  of  Savannah  also  sub- 
scribed two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  latter  company,  however, 
consolidated  with  the  Savannah,  Albany  and  Gulf  Railroad  Company  in 
1863. 


Railroads.  487 


The  road  was  completed  to  Thomasville  when  the  war  began,  when 
further  progress  was  arrested  until  1867  when  it  was  opened  to  Bain- 
bridge.  During  the  period  of  the  war  the  company  derived  no  profit  from 
the  property,  and  when  the  Confederacy  terminated,  the  road  was  almost 
a  ruin.  For  nearly  one-third  of  its  length  the  track  was  torn  up  and  the 
depots  and  bridges  burned.  The  work  of  re-construction,  however,  be- 
gan soon  after  the  war  closed,  and  the  road  was  opened  for  business  in 
March,  1866.  In  the  same  year  it  was  connected  with  the  Florida  Rail- 
road at  Lawton. 

For  some  years  after  the  war  the  road  proved  an  unprofitable  invest- 
ment. The  impoverished  condition  of  the  territory  through  which  it  then 
passed  as  well  as  unwise  management,  threatened  its  very  existence.  At 
this  critical  period  Mr.  H.  B.  Plant,  with  some  other  capitalists,  bought 
the  property,  and  under  his  management  it  has  become  a  giant  in  the 
railroad  world.  After  its  purchase  by  its  present  owners  its  name  was 
changed  to  the  Savannah,  Florida,  and  Western  Railway  Company,  but 
is  best  known  as  the  "  Plant  system." 

The  policy  of  its  management  has  been  comprehensive,  far-seeing  and 
sagacious,  and  it  is  now  one  of  the  best  equipped  railroads  in  the  coun- 
try. It  has  made  connections,  opened  up  new  industries,  tapped  fresh 
regions  of  trade  and  created  remunerative  business.  The  line  runs  from 
Charleston  through  Savannah  to  the  Chattahoochee  river,  and  to  Jack- 
sonville, with  branches  to  Albany,  Bainbridge,  Gainesville,  Brunswick, 
Port  Tampa,  Thomasville  and  Monticello,  with  a  steamship  line  from 
Tampa  to  Havana  and  Key  West.  Its  own  proprietary  and  leased  lines 
make  more  than  eight  hundred  miles  under  one  management. 

The  business  in  naval  stores  was  the  creation  of  this  company.  A 
few  years  ago  the  State  of  Georgia  did  little  in  this  line,  and  to-day  it  is 
the  largest  naval  stores  market  in  the  world.  In  1873  the  production  of 
naval  stores  was  19,000  barrels.  In  1884  it  was  425,761  barrels,  and  in 
1887  it  was  787,337  barrels. 

One  of  the  most  important  enterprises  of  the  company  was  to  build  a 
short  line  from  Waycross  to  Jacksonville,  seventy-six  miles,  which  re- 
duces the  distance  by  rail  from  Savannah  to  Jacksonville,  to  172  miles. 
This  line  is  known  as  the  Waycross  and  Florida  Railroad  Company,  and 
is  under  separate  management,  but  belongs  to  the  "  Plant  System."     H. 


488  History  of  Savannah. 


S.  Haines  is  president  of  the  road,  and  William  P.  Hardee  is  secretary 
and  treasurer.  Another  bold  and  progressive  step  of  this  company  was 
the  extension  of  the  road  from  Bainbridge  Junction  to  Chattahoochee, 
linking  it  to  the  great  west  by  a  connection  at  Chattahoochee  with  the 
Pensacola  and  Atlantic  Railroad,  making  a  shorter  route  from  the  sea 
coast  cities  to  Pensacola,  Macon  and  New  Orleans, 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Savannah,  Florida  and  Western  Railway  has 
done  a  wonderful  work.  Aside  from  its  local  traffic  in  the  orange  Eldor- 
ado of  the  world,  that  wonderful  sanitarium  of  the  invalid,  it  is  now  the 
vital  part  of  a  great  trunk  line  and  the  channel  for  foreign  travel.  Its 
officers  are :  H.  B.  Plant,  president ;  W.  S.  Chisholm,  vice-president ; 
R.  B.  Smith,  secretary  ;  H.  S.  Haines,  general  manager ;  R.  G.  Fleming, 
superintendent;  A.  A.  Aveilhe,  assistant  superintendent;  W.  B.  McKee, 
comptroller ;  W.  P.  Hardee,  general  freight  and  passenger  agent ;  J.  M. 
Lee,  treasurer ;  W.  W.  Dowell,  cashier ;  O.  W.  Jackson,  master  trans- 
portation ;   C.  D.  Owens,  traffic  manager. 

The  Savannah  and  Tybee  Railroad  Company  was  incorporated  in  No- 
vember, 1885.  The  construction  of  the  road  from  Savannah  to  Tybee 
Beach,  a  distance  of  nineteen  miles,  was  commenced  in  August,  1886, 
and  completed  in  April,  1887.  To  Captain  D.  G.  Purse,  the  president 
of  the  company,  must  be  given  principal  credit  for  the  accomplishment 
of  this  long  desired  road.  Mr.  Purse's  grandfather  Thomas  Purse,  was 
prominently  identified  with  the  construction  of  the  first  railroad  in  Geor- 
gia Since  the  construction  of  the  Tybee  Railroad,  Tybee  Island  has  be- 
come easy  of  access,  and  is  now  the  most  popular  resort  of  Savannahians. 

Banks. 

Savannah  passed  through  the  monetary  troubles  incident  to  the  disas- 
ters of  the  War  of  18 1 2,  the  bankruptcies  of  1837,  the  monetary  troubles 
of  1842,  and  the  national  panic  of  1857  with  unusual  credit.  But  during 
the  late  civil  war  all  of  the  Savannah  banks  invested  in  Confederate  bonds 
and  currency,  and  when  the  war  ended  all  except  the  Central  Railroad 
Bank  were  obliged  to  suspend.  Besides  the  Central  there  were  in  success- 
ful operation  previous  to,  and  during  the  war,  the  Bank  of  the  State  of 
Georgia,  Planters,  Farmers  and  Mechanic's,  Marine,  Bank  of  Commerce, 
and  the  Bank  of  Savannah. 


s^^^' 


^•y  %-^ajQ,r-„,^^j:  c-i^- 


Banks.  489 

The  oldest  bank  in  Savannah  is  that  of  the  Central  Rail  Road  and 
Banking  Company.  It  was  incorporated  in  1836.  It,  in  connection 
with  the  railroad  has  had  a  most  prosperous  career.  The  policy  of  the 
bank  has  always  been  a  conservative  one,  and  it  has  thus  been  enabled 
to  withstand  the  storms  of  severe  crises  and  panics.  The  capital  of  the 
company  is  $7,500,000.  The  officers  of  the  bank  are:  E.  P.  Alexander, 
president;  T.  M.  Cunningham,  cashier;  A.  G.  Ulmer,  assistant  cashier; 
directors,  E.  P.  Alexander,  S.  M.  Inman,  C.  H.  Phinizy,  E.  M.  Greene, 
J.  C.  Calhoun,  A.  Vetsburg,  H.  T.  Inman,  P.  Calhoun,  J.  K.  Garnett,  Joe 
Hull,  Evan  P.  Howell  and  James  Swan.  The  bank  building  is  located  at 
No.  1 1 5  Bay  street. 

The  Merchants  National  Bank  was  incorporated  in  i866.  Its  present 
capital  is  $500,000.  This  was  one  of  the  first  banks  of  Savannah  to  re- 
sume business  after  the  war.  It  is  located  on  the  northeast  corner  of 
Drayton  and  St.  Julian  streets.  The  officers  are:  J.  L.  Hammond,  pres- 
ident; S.  P.  Hamilton,  vice-president;  Thomas  Gadsden,  cashier;  direct- 
ors, M.  Maclean,  F.  M.  Bloodworth,  G.  L.  Cope,  S.  P.  Hamilton,  S. 
Guckenheimer,  S.  Herman  and  J.  L.  Hammond. 

The  Savannah  Bank  and  Trust  Company  was  organized  in  1 869,  and 
has  a  capital  of  $400,000,  Its  officers  are:  J.  D.  Weed,  president:  J. 
C.  Rowland,  vice-president;  James  H.  Hunter,  cashier;  directors,  J.  L. 
Hardee,  R.  G.  Irwin,  J.  D.  Weed,  C.  A.  Reitze,  D.  C.  Bacon,  J.  C.  Row- 
land, J.  Lyons,  M.  Y.  Maclntyre,  W.  Conly,  Isaac  G.  Haas,  Edward  Ka- 
row,  of  Savannah,  and  W.  Walter  Phelps,  of  New  York. 

The  Southern  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia  was  organized  in  1870. 
Its  capital  is  $500,000.  The  present  officers  are:  John  Flannery,  presi- 
dent; Horace  A.  Crane,  vice-president;  James  Sullivan,  cashier;  direct- 
ors, Eugene  Kelly,  of  New  York,  E.  A.  Weil,  John  Flannery,  J.  B.  Duck- 
worth, S.  B.  Palmer,  Lee  Roy  Myers,  Horace  A.  Crane. 

The  National  Bank  of  Savannah  was  incorporated  in  October,  1885, 
and  commenced  business  with  a  capital  of  $250,000.  It  is  located  at 
120  Bryan  street.  The  officers  are:  Herman  Myers,  president;  Will- 
iam Garrard,  vice-president;  T.  F.  Thompson,  cashier;  A.  L.  Rees, 
assistant  cashier;  directors,  Herman  Myers,  William  Garrard,  Joseph  J. 
Dale,  A.  A.  Einstein,  William  E.  Guerard,  Henry  Bendheim,  George 
J.  Baldwin,  Jesse  P.  Williams,  Frank  X.  Douglass,  S.  A.  Woods,  and  A. 
Backer.  en 


40O  History  of  Savannah. 

The  Oglethorpe  Savings  and  Trust  Company  was  organized  in  1887, 
and  has  a  paid  up  capital  of  $125,000  and  an  authorized  capital  of  $500,- 
000.  The  officers  are:  J.  J.  Dale,  president;  Herman  Myers,  vice- 
president;  James  Sullivan,  cashier;  directors,  J.  J.  Dale,  W.  Garrard,  H. 
Myers,  J.  Lyons,  W.  E.  Guerard,  A.  Hanley,  S.  Meinhard,  J.  P.  Will- 
iams, G.  J.  Baldwin,  L.  Kayton,  C.  C.  Schley. 

The  Citizens  Bank  on  the  corner  of  Drayton  and  Bryan  streets,  was 
opened  January  3,  1888.  It  has  an  authorized  capital  of  $500,000,  but 
the  present  working  capital  is  $200,000.  The  officers  are :  William 
Rogers,  president;  C.  H.  Dorsett,  vice-president;  G.  C.  Freeman,  cashier; 
directors,  William  Rogers,  C.  H.  Dorsett,  G.  N.  Nichols,  J.  H.  Estill,  D. 
Wells,  J.  R.  Young,  H.  C.  Cunningham,  D.  R.  Thomas. 

The  Title  Guarantee  and  Loan  Company  of  Savannah  has  by  its 
charter  banking  priviliges.  Its  authorized  capital  is  $500,000.  George 
H.  Stone,  is  president;  Isaac  Beckett,  secretary  ;  E.  L.  Hackett,  cashier, 
and  M.  J.  Solomons,  treasurer. 

The  private  bankers  are  Charles  H.  Olmstead  &  Co.,  (Charles  H. 
Olmstead,  Henry  Hull  and  Francis  S.  Lathrop)  and  Henry  Blun. 

Savannah  has  several  loan,  savings  and  building  associations  which 
have  had  a  most  salutary  bearing  on  the  financial  history  of  the  city  for 
the  last  few  years.  They  have  been  the  means  of  encouraging  small  sav- 
ings and  the  excellent  manner  in  which  they  have  been  managed  has 
made  them  profitable  to  all  interested  in  them. 

Among  the  oldest  of  these  associations  is  the  Jasper  Mutual  Loan 
Association  which  was  organized  in  1882.  P.  W.  Meldrim,  is  president 
and  secretary.  The  directors  are,  J.  C.  Rowland,  H.  Myers,  Thomas 
Daniel,  J.  S.  Wood,  George  Turner,  R.  B.  Reppard. 

The  Railroad  Loan  Association  was  organized  in  1883.  The  officers 
are,  William  Rogers,  president;  R.  E.  Mimms,  treasurer;  H.  C.  Cunning- 
ham, secretary  and  solicitor;  the  directors  are,  A.  R.  Lawton,  jr.,  George 
N.  Nichols,  H.  C.  Cunningham,  H.  F.  Train,  E.  Mclntyre,  W.  S.  King, 
W.  W.  Rogers,  William  Kehoe. 

The  Chatham  Real  Estate  and  Improveinent  Company  was  organized 
in  June,  1885.  Its  present  capital  is  $300,000  but  its  authorized  capital 
is  $500,000.  The  officers  of  the  company  are,  J.  H.  Estill,  president; 
C.  H.  Dorsett,  vice-president ;  M.  J.  Solomons,  secretary  and  treasurer ; 


Loan  Associations.  491 


A.  R.  Lawton  jr.,  attorney;  directors,  C.  H.  Dorsett,  Lee  Roy  Myers, 
M.  J.  Solomons,  W.  P.  Schirm,  H.  P.  Smart,  H.  C.  Cunningham,  C.  S. 
Connerat,  William  Kehoe,  W.  G.  Cooper,  F.  H.  Thompson. 

The  Catholic  Library  Hall  Association  was  organized  in  1887.  The 
capital  stock  is  $20,000.     The  officers  are,  John  Flannery,  president ;  P. 

F.  Gleason,  vice-president;  William  Kehoe,  treasurer;  directors,  A. 
Hanley,  P.  F.  Gleason,  J.  F.  McCarthy,  W.  J.  Harty,  A.  Fernandez,  M. 
A.  O'Bryne,  P.  J.  O'Connor,  J.  F.  Harty,  J.  Flannery. 

The  Metropolitan  Savings  and  Loan  Company  was  organized  in  1887 
and  has  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000.  The  officers  are:  W.  B.  Stillwell, 
president;  A.  P.  Solomon,  vice-president;  W.  L.  Gignilliat,  secretary; 
W.  L.  Wilson,  treasurer;  directors,  W.  B.  Stillwell,  B.  A.  Denmark,  J. 
P.  Williams,  M.  Y.  Maclntyre,  G.  W.  Allen,  C.  H.  Wilson,  J.  R.  Young, 
A.  P.  Solomon,  E.  F.  Bryan,  W.  J.  Lindsey,  H.  M.  Hutton,  I.  G.  Haas. 

The  remaining  associations  of  this  character  are  : 

The  Equitable  Bicilding  and  Loan  Association. — J.  S.  Collins,  presi- 
dent; W.  K.  Wilkinson,  treasurer;  J.  L.  Whatley,  secretary. 

Excelsior  Loan  and  Savings  Company. — R.  F.  Harmon,  president; 
W.  A.  Walker,  treasurer ;  S.  L.  Lazaron,  secretary ;  directors,  R.  F. 
Harmon,  W.  F.  Chaplin,  W.  A.  Walker,  S.  L.  Lazaron,  W.  T.  Leopold, 
J.  T.  Wells,  B.  C.  Wright,  H.  S.  Dreese,  C.  E.  Broughton,  G.  M.  Ryals, 
W.  F.  Hogan. 

Franklin  Savings  and  Security  Company. — C.  P.  Miller,  president; 

G.  H.  Miller,  vice-president  and  secretary;  directors,  Levi  Hege,  R.  S. 
Mell,  A.  J.  Miller,  J.  O.  Morse,  C.  F.  Snedeker. 

Pulaski  Loan  Association. — R.  D.  Walker,  president ;  G.  Bourquin, 
treasurer ;  William  Garrard,  secretary ;  directors,  A.  L.  Hartridge,  A.  B. 
La  Roche,  G.  S.  Haines,  N.  O.  Tilton,  I.  A.  Solomon,  R.  F.  Harmon. 

Southern  Mutual  Loan  Association. — M.  J.  Solomon,  president;  C. 
S.  Hardee,  treasurer,  W.  D.  Harden,  secretary  and  attorney;  directors, 
R.  B.  Reppard,  A.  S.  Bacon,  J.  H.  Estill,  J.  C.  Rowland,  C.  H.  Dorsett, 
J.  W.  Fretwell. 

The  Merchants  and  Mechanics  Loan  Association. — D.  G.  Purse,  presi- 
dent;  A.  Wylly,  treasurer;  J.  Lawton  Whatley,  secretary;  directors,  J. 
C.  Rowland,  B.  H.  Levy,  S.  J.  Wheaton,  H.  J.  Reiser,  G.  F.  Byrnes,  M. 
Helmken. 


492  History  of  Savannah. 

The  Workman's  and  Traders'  Loan  and  Building  Association. — 
George  W.  Lamar,  president ;  W.  L.  Wilson,  treasurer ;  J.  L.  Whatley, 
secretary;  directors,  V.  S.  Studer,  S.  J.  Wheaton,  C.  A.  Fleming,  J. 
Asendorf,  William  Scheihlng,  L.  Alexander. 


CHAPTER  XXXn. 

CHURCHES  OF  SAVANNAH. 

First  Religious  Instructors — Careers  of  the  Wesleys  in  Savannah — Work  of  George 
Whitefield — Christ  Church — St.  John's  Church — Congregation  Mickva  Israel— B'Nai 
B'reth  Jacob  Synagogue — Lutheran  Church — Independent  Presbyterian — First  Pres- 
byterian— IVEethodist  Churches — Baptist  Churches — Roman  Catholic  Churches — Col- 
ored Churches. 

AMONG  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  persons  who,  in  1733,  ac- 
companied Oglethorpe  and  assisted  him  in  founding  Savannah,  was 
a  minister  of  the  Church  of  England,  by  the  name  of  Henry  Herbert,  to 
whom  was  entrusted  the  spiritual  guidance  of  .this  little  flock,  all  of  whom 
were  believers  in  the  Christian  religion,  as  one  of  the  conditions  of  their 
becoming  colonists  was  that  they  should  take  the  oath  against  the  doc- 
trine of  transubstantiation.  Catholics,  consequently  were  excluded,  and 
were  not  admitted  in  Georgia  until  it  became  a  royal  province  in  1752. 
Henry  Herbert  organized  the  first  Episcopal  congregation  in  Georgia, 
and  for  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  years  Christ  Church,  which  he  founded, 
has  had  an  existence  in  Savannah.  Services  were  held  in  Oglethorpe's 
tent,  or  in  open  air,  as  the  weather  permitted,  until  late  in  1733,  when 
a  court-house  was  erected  on  Bull  street,  at  what  is  now  the  northeast 
corner  of  Bay  lane,  in  which  services  were  held  until  1750. 

In  1736  the  little  hamlet  of  Savannah  was  increased  in  population  by 
the  arrival  of  three  hundred  settlers,  among  whom  were  two  remarkable 
men,  Charles  and  John  Wesley,  whose  subsequent  careers  have  influ- 
enced the  theologies  of  England  and  America  in  a  wonderful  manner. 
The  vessel  carrying  them  cast  anchor  off  Tybee  Island  on  the  5  th  of  Feb- 


Churches.  493 

ruary,  and  early  in  the  morning  of  the  following  day  the  voyagers  landed 
on  Coxspur  Island,  where,  surrounded  by  his  fellow-passengers,  John 
Wesley,  the  father  of  Methodism,  first  lifted  his  voice  in  prayer,  in  a  land 
where  the  present  generation  sees  his  followers  exceeding  in  numbers 
those  of  any  other  Christian  denomination. 

John  Wesley  had  been  appointed  by  the  society  for  propagating  the 
gospel  in  foreign  parts.  On  the  7th  of  March,  1736,  he  preached  his  first 
sermon  in  America  upon  the  text  from  the  Thirteenth  Chapter  of  St. 
Paul,  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  "  Christian  charity,"  the  service  be- 
ing held,  so  tradition  says,  on  the  site  of  Andrew  Hanley's  paint  store  on 
Whitaker  street.  Thus,  through  the  Wesleys,  is  Savannah  inseparably 
linked  with  the  rise  of  Methodism  in  America,  which  is  further  proved  by 
Wesley  himself  who  says:  "The  first  rise  to  Methodism  was  in  1729, 
when  four  of  us  met  together  in  Oxford.  The  second  was  in  Savannah 
in  1736,  when  twenty  or  thirty  met  at  my  house." 

Another  instance  in  the  religious  history  of  Savannah  which  gives 
peculiar  prominence  tt)  t-he  place  was  the  establishment  of  a  Sunday- 
school  in  the  parish  of  Christ  ChTir-ch  by  Rev.  John  Wesley,  which  was 
without  doubt  the  first  attempt  in  this  manner  to  instruct  the  young  in 
biblical  truths  in  the  world.  This  occurred  nearly  fifty  years  before  Rob- 
ert Raikes  began  this  form  of  Sunday  instruction  in  Glouctster,  Eng., 
and  eighty  years  before  the  first  school  was  established  in  New  York. 
The  Sunday-school  started  by  Wesley  was  continued  by  Whitefield  at 
Bethesda,  and  is  still  carried  on,  being  the  oldest  Sunday-school  in  the 
world.  Nor  does  this  finish  the  identification  of  John  Wesley  with  Sa- 
vannah. Here  his  first  book  of  hymns  was  written,  which  was  printed  in 
Charleston  in  1737.  But  one  volume  has  survived.  It  is  a  small  book 
of  some  seventy- four  pages,  bearing  a  title  page  as  follows  :  "  A  collec- 
tion of  psalms  and  hymns,  Charleston,  printed  by  Timothy  Lewis,  1737." 

The  mission  of  the  Wesleys  proved,  however,  unfortunate  and  brief 
Their  religious  zeal  outran  their  discretion,  and  they  were  soon  embroiled 
in  conflicts  with  the  authorities  and  the  people  whom  they  did  not  un- 
derstand. There  were  faults  on  both  sides.  In  the  summer  of  1736 
Charles  was  sent  back  to  England  with  dispatches  by  Oglethorpe,  who 
followed  him  soon  after,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  2nd  of  December, 
1737,  John  Wesley  "  Shook  off,"  as  he  said,  "  the  dust  off  my  feet  and 


494  History  of  Savannah. 

left  Georgia,  after  having  preached  the  gospel  there  (not  as  I  might,  but 
as  I  was  able)  one  year  and  nearly  nine  months."  Embarking  from 
Charleston  about  the  15th  of  December,  John  Wesley  arrived  in  the 
Downs  in  February,  1738,  passing  his  friend  and  brother  Methodist  of 
Oxford,  George  Whitefield,  outward  bound  for  Georgia,  neither  knowing 
the  other's  proximity. 

Whitefield  nrrived  in  Savannah  May  7,  1738,  and  having  more  tact 
and  worldly  wisdom  than  the  Wesleys,  and  from  his  parentage  and  early 
associations  better  adapted  to  cope  with  the  rude  minds  of  which  the 
colony  was  chiefly  composed,  he  succeeded  where  they  had  failed  and 
laid  in  Savannah  the  foundation  of  his  subsequent  American  reputation 
as  an  earnest  pastor,  teacher,  and  eloquent  pulpit  orator.  The  announce- 
ment of  his  death  in  Newburyport,  Mass  ,  in  July,  1770,  was  received  in 
Savannah  with  profound  sorrow.  A  clergyman  of  that  day  writing  to  a 
brother  clergyman  in  England,  said  :  "You  can  have  no  conception  of 
the  effect  of  Mr.  Whitefield's  death  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  province 
of  Georgia.  All  the  black  cloth  in  the  stores  was  bought  up.  The  pul- 
pit and  desks  of  the  church,  the  benches,  the  organ-loft,  the  pe\vs  of  the 
governor  and  council,  were  covered  with  black.  The  governor  and  coun- 
cil, in  deep  mourning,  convened  at  the  State  house,  and  went  in  proces- 
sion to  church,  and  were  received  by  the  organ  playing  a  funeral  dirge. 
The  Presbyterian  church  was  also  draped  in  mourning,  and  its  pastor. 
Rev.  Dr.  Zubley,  preached  an  appropriate  sermon  on  his  death,  from  the 
third  verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Daniel,  '  They  that  be  wise  shall 
shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament,  and  they  that  turn  many  to 
righteousness  as  the  stars  forever  and  ever.'  " 

Much  relating  to  the  early  religious  history  of  Savannah  and  the  State 
of  Georgia,  has  been  recorded  in  the  preceding  chapters  of  this  volume, 
and  "  It  furnishes,''  says  William  B.  Stevens,  in  his  History  of  Georgia  "  a 
striking  group  of  facts,  that  John  Wesley,  the  leader  of  the  greatest  reli- 
gious movement  of  the  eighteenth  century  ;  that  Charles  Wesley,  the 
purest  and  most  popular  hymnist  of  the  age ;  that  George  Whitefield, 
•whom  Christian  and  infidel  pronounced  the  greatest  preacher  of  his  gen- 
eration ;  that  James  Oglethorpe,  one  of  the  noblest  philanthropists  of  his 
country  ;  that  Christian  Gottlieb  Spangenburg,  the  first  Moravian  bishop 
in  America,  and  David  Nitschman,  the  founder  of  the  settlement  of  Beth- 


Churches.  495 


lehem,  in  Pennsylvania,  were  all  personally  and  intimately  connected  with 
Georgia,  and  contributed  to  shape  its  character  and  its  institutions." 

In  the  following  pages  we  have  attempted  to  give  as  full  a  history  of 
each  religious  denomination  of  Savannah  as  is  possible  in  a  work  of  this 
kind. 

Christ  Church. — The  history  of  this  church  dates  from  July  7,  1733, 
when  the  lot  upon  which  the  present  edifice  stands  was  laid  out,  but  no 
attempt  was  made  to  build  upon  it  until  in  1740  when  a  frame  building 
was  commenced.  Six  years  later  it  was  still  in  an  unfinished  condition 
as  President  Stephens  at  that  time  wrote  of  it:  "The  roof  of  the  church 
is  covered  with  shingles,  but  as  to  the  sides  and  ends  of  it,  it  remains  a 
skeleton."  It  was  not  completed  until  1750  when  on  the  7th  of  July  of 
that  year,  it  was  formerly  dedicated.  The  great  fire  of  1796  reduced  it 
to  ashes,  after  which  it  was  rebuilt  but  was  greatly  damaged  by  the  gale 
of  1804.  The  present  church  built  after  the  Grecian  Ionic  order  of  arch- 
itecture was  commenced  in  1838,  the  corner-stone  being  laid  on  the  26th 
of  February,  of  that  year.  Upon  the  stone  the  following  inscription 
was  placed. 

I.  H.  S. 

Glory  to  God.     Christ  Church. 

Founded  in  1743.     Destroyed  by  fire  1796. 

Refounded  on  an  enlarged  plan  in  1803. 

Partially  destroyed  in  the  hurricane  of  1804. 

Rebuilt  in  1810.     Taken  down  in  1838. 

The  corner-stone  laid  (February  26,  1838)  of  a  new  edifice  to  be  erected  (according  to 
a  plan  furnished  by  James  Hamilton  Grouper,  esq.,  of  Georgia)  by  Amos  Scudder, 
mason,  and  Gilbert  Butler,  carpenter,  under  the  direction  of  William  Scarborough, 
William  Thorne  Williams,  Robert  Habersham,  William  P.  Hunter,  Dr.  F.  Bartow, 
building  committee. 

Rev.  Edward  Neufville,  pastor. 

George  Jones,  M.D.,  William  Thorne  Williams,  Robert  Habersham,  William  Scar- 
borough, R.  R.  Cuyler,  William  P.  Hunter,  and  P.  M.  Kallock,  M.D.,  vestrymen. 

Rev.  Henry  Herbert  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  congregation  who  as 
previously  stated  came  to  Georgia  with  Oglethorpe  in  1733.  He  was 
however  soon  succeeded  by  Rev.  Samuel  Quincy  who  remained  until 
173s  when  Rev.  John  Wesley  became  pastor.  The  latter's  pastorate  was 
brief,  as  in  1736  Rev.  William  Norris  succeeded  him,  Rev.  William  Metcalf 


496  History  of  Savannah, 

was  next  appointed,  but  he  died  before  he  entered  upon  his  duties,  and  his 
place  was  filled  by  Rev.  Mr.  Orton  who  died  in  1 742.  The  next  pastor  was 
the  renowned  Rev.  George  Whitefield  under  whose  pastorate  the  church 
greatly  flourished,  and  he  may  be  almost  regarded  as  the  founder  of  the 
church  as  under  him  the  parish  was  regularly  ordained  in  1 843  and  the 
first  church  building  erected.  Rev.  T.  Bosomworth  who  succeeded 
Whitefield  was  displaced  and  Rev.  Bartholomew  Zouberbuhler  was  ap- 
pointed. The  latter  remained  in  charge  until  1763,  and  during  his  rec- 
torship Colonel  Barnard  presented  the  church  with  the  first  organ  ever 
seen  in  Georgia.  From  1763  to  1768  and  from  1775  to  18 10,  and  from 
1815  to  1820  there  is  no  record  to  show  who  were  the  rectors  in  charge. 
Rev.  Hadden  Smith  was  rector  in  1774.  He  was  a  pronounced  loyalist 
and  his  views  gave  great  offense  to  the  Liberty  party.  In  July,  1775, 
he  was  forbidden  to  officiate  in  Georgia  and  the  doors  of  Christ  Church 
were  closed  against  him.  The  Savannah  Gazette  declared  him  an  enemy 
to  America,  and  so  excited  was  the  popular  feeling  against  him  that  he 
was  forced  to  flee  from  the  city  with  his  family.  Services  were  discon- 
tinued during  the  early  period  of  the  war  but  were  resumed  after  the 
capture  of  the  city  by  the  British. 

From  1810  to  1814  Rev.  John  V.  Bartow,  officiated  as  rector.  Dur 
ing  his  pastorate  the  church  was  rebuilt.  In  1815  the  first  confirmation 
services  in  Georgia  were  held  in  this  church  by  Bishop  O'Hara  of  South 
Carohna,  sixty  persons  being  presented  by  the  pastor  Rev.  Mr.  Cranston. 
Rev.  A.  Carter  who  succeeded  Mr.  Cranston,  died  in  1827.  He  was 
followed  by  Rev.  Edward  Neufville  who  died  in  185 1,  after  having  filled 
his  responsible  position  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  "  He  was," 
says  Bishop  William  Bacon  Stevens,  "  a  charming  man,  a  loving,  tender 
pastor  and  was  respected  by  the  entire  community.  Never  have  I  heard 
our  litany  read  with  more  unction  and  effectiveness  than  by  him,  while 
his  reading  of  the  Bible  was  like  an  illuminated  exposition  of  it,  so  ex- 
quisite were  his  modulations  and  so  sweet  and  musical  his  voice."  He 
was  succeeded  by  Rev.  A.  B.  Carter  who  remained  only  a  short  time, 
when  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Stephen  Elliott  became  pastor.  The  latter  re- 
signed charge  of  the  church  temporarily  in  November,  1859,  and  Rev.  x 
Dr.  J.  Easter  was  in  charge  for  a  short  time  prior  to  the  arrival  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Batch  in  February,  i860.     Bishop  Elliott  resumed  the  rectorship  in 


Churches.  497 


1861  when  Rev.  Charles  H.  Coley  was  called  to  assist  him.  Bishop 
Elliott  died  in  1866.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  mental  attainments,  of  great 
piety,  and  thoroughly  beloved  for  his  exalted  Christian  character. 

Rev.  Mr.  Coley  remained  in  charge  of  Christ  Church,  after  Bishop 
Elliott's  death,  until  the  fall  of  1868  when  he  accepted  a  call  to  another 
field  of  labor.  The  church  was  temporarily  supplied  for  some  months 
thereafter,  when  Rev.  J.  M.  Mitchell  was  ordaineid  rector.  The  present 
pastor  of  the  church  is  Rev.  Robb  White. 

St.  John's  Church. — St.  John's  parish  was  organized  in  1840  and  for 
some  time  services  were  held  in  a  building  on  South  Broad  street  west  of 
Barnard  street.  This  church  is  contemporaneous  with  the  creation  of  the 
Episcopate  of  Georgia,  and  was  consecrated  on  the  28th  of  February, 
1841,  five  weeks  after  the  consecration  of  the  first  bishop  of  Georgia, 
Rev.  Stephen  Elliott,  who  became  the  first  pastor  of  the  church.  The 
present  church  building  was  erected  in  1853  and  dedicated  by  Bishop 
Elliott.  It  is  a  gothic  structure,  built  after  the  style  which  prevailed 
in  England  in  the  thirteenth  century  of  the  Christian  era.  During  the 
war  the  members  of  this  church  were  particularly  active  in  benevolent 
work.  St.  John's  Aid  Society  being  organized  in  December,  1861,  and 
St.  John's  Hospital  being  opened  in  January,  1862,  the  latter  being  the 
first  in  the  city  to  receive  sick  and  wounded  Confederate  soldiers.  The 
following  rectors  have  officiated  in  this  church  :  Revs.  Rufus  M.  White, 
George  H.  Clarke,  C.  F.  McRae,  and  Samuel  Benedict.  The  present 
pastor,  Rev.  Charles  H.  Strong  became  rector  in  1878,  and  under  his 
labors  the  church  has  enjoyed  a  remarkable  degree  of  prosperity.  There 
are  nearly  five  hundred  families  in  the  congregation  and  about  the  same 
number  of  communicants  making  St.  John's  the  largest  Episcopal  parish 
in  the  State  and  one  of  the  largest  in  the  South. 

Congregation  Mickva  Israel. — A  few  days  after  Oglethorpe's  arrival 
on  the  site  of  Savannah,  thirty  or  forty  Israelites  arrived  direct  from 
London.  Most  of  them  a  few  years  later  departed  for  the  older  and 
more  prosperous  town  of  Charleston.  But  three  of  the  original  families 
remained,  the  Minis,  Sheftall  and  DeLyon  families.  This  small  number  of 
Jews  however  brought  with  them  two  scrolls  of  the  Law  and  the  Ark,,  and 
soon  after  organized  the  congregation  of  Mickva  Israel.  It  is  impossible 
to  ascertain  with  reasonable  certainty  the  exact  spot  where  the  Hebrews 


498  History  of  Savannah. 

first  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  divine  worship,  but  tradition  has  it 
that  a  room  near  the  market  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bay  street  lane  was 
the  place.  Here  they  worshipped  until  the  congregation  was  tempor- 
arily dissolved  by  the  removal  of  most  of  the  Hebrew  families  to  Charles- 
ton in  1740  or  1 74 1.  Several  years  later  an  effort  was  made  to  reorgan- 
ize the  congregation.  Mordecai  Sheftall  fitted  up  a  room  in  his  own 
house  on  Broughton  street  where  services  were  held  until  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  caused  their  suspension.  In  1786  the  congregation  was  re- 
established and  two  years  later  a  charter  of  the  congregation  was 
granted  by  Governor  Edward  Telfair. 

It  was  not  until  181 5  that  the  first  synagogue  was  erected  on  the  site 
of  the  present  building  on  the  corner  of  Liberty  and  Whitaker  streets. 
The  lot  was  granted  by  the  city  council  for  the  purpose.  In  1829  this 
wooden  structure  of  small  dimensions  was  destroyed  by  fire,  but  fortu- 
nately the  building  was  insured,  and  the  Seraphim  and  Ark  were  saved 
from  injury.  A  brick  building  was  erected  on  the  same  site  in  1838  and 
here  the  congregation  continued  to  worship  until  the  present  Gothic 
temple  was  erected.  During  the  early  history  of  the  congregation  no 
regular  clergyman  was  engaged  to  perform  divine  services  which,  added 
to  the  fact  that  the  laws  of  the  congregation  prevented  foreign  Jews  be- 
coming members,  caused  the  organization  to  make  little  progress. 
When  the  latter  restriction  was  removed  in  the  middle  of  the  present 
century,  new  life  was  infused  into  it.  In  1852  Rev.  Jacob  Rosenfeld 
the  first  regular  minister  was  appointed.  He  continued  until  1861,  when 
he  resigned  and  the  congregation  was  again  without  a  minister  until 
1867,  when  Abraham  Einstein  having  been  called  to  the  presidential 
chair,  Rev.  R.  D'C.  Lewin  was  secured.  Rev.  Isaac  P.  Mendes  the 
present  pastor  belongs  to  a  family  of  ministers,  his  uncle  Abraham  P. 
Mendes  presiding  over  the  Hebrew  congregation  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  and 
his  cousin  H.  Pereira  Mendes  over  that  of  Shearith  Israel,  New  York 
city.  The  present  pastor  of  Mickva  Israel  began  his  labors  in  Savannah  in 
1877,  and  has  been  very  successful  in  promoting  the  interest  of  the  con- 
gregation. 

The  Congregation  of  B'nai  B'rith  Jacob  was  founded  in  September 
i860,  and  owes  its  origin  to  a  society  bearing  the  name  of  B'nai  B'rith 
which   existed  prior   to  the  formation  of  the  "congregation.      In  1861  it 


Churches.  49$ 


was  chartered  and  commenced  holding  services  in  Armory  Hall.  The 
first  president  was  Rev.  J.  Rosenfeld  who  officiated  as  minister  until 
1865  when  Mr.  Simon  Gertsman  commenced  officiating  as  lay  reader. 
In  1867  the  corner-stone  of  the  present  building  was  laid  by  Rev.  R. 
D'C.  Lewin,  and  in  September  of  the  following  year  the  synagogue  was 
dedicated.  In  January,  1868,  Rev.  J.  Rosenfeld  was  elected  the  first 
paid  minister  of  the  congregation. 

The   Congregation  of  Chebrah    Talmud  Torah  was  organized  in  re- 
cent years.      B.  M.  Garfunkel  is  president. 

Lutheran  Church. — The  early  population  of  Savannah  was  largely 
composed  of  Salzburgers,  who  during  the  period  between  1736  and  1744 
fled  to  Georgia  to  avoid  religious  persecution.  Those  who  remained  in 
Savannah  formed  the  nucleus  of  a  church  organization  in  1744.  For 
several  years  the  members  had  no  regular  minister  and  only  occasional 
services  were  held.  A  small  church  was  built  on  the  site  of  the  present 
church  on  the  eastern  side  of  Wright  square,  where  in  1759  Revs.  Raben- 
horst  and  Wattman  officiated.  Some  time  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  War 
Rev.  Mr.  Bergman  took  charge  of  the  church.  In  1787  the  church  was 
reorganized,  but  the  services  were  conducted  in  the  German  language  of 
which  the  younger  portion  of  the  congregation  was  ignorant  and  in  con- 
sequence a  want  of  interest  was  manifested,  and  the  church  was  closed. 
No  effort  was  made  to  revive  the  organization  until  1824  when  Dr.  Back- 
man  of  Charleston  gathered  the  families  of  the  Lutheran  faith  and  suc- 
ceeded in  resuscitating  the  congregation.  Rev.  Stephen  A.  Mealy  took 
charge  of  the  congregation  in  this  year  and  conducted  the  services  in 
English.  He  remained  until  1839  when  he  accepted  a  call  to  Philadel- 
phia and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  N.  Aldrich  in  1840.  In  1843  a  brick 
edifice  was  erected,  upon  the  site  of  the  original  church  at  a  cost  of  $15,- 
000.  In  the  last  few  years  a  new  church  building  has  been  erected, 
which  is  the  third  edifice  built  on  the  same  site.  In  the  .rear  of  the  pul- 
pit is  a  memorial  window  to  Thomas  Purse,  a  member  of  the  church  for 
more  than  half  a  century  and  one  of  Savannah's  most  respected  citizens. 
In  1850  Mr.  Aldrich  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  A.  J.  Karn  who  remained 
until  1859,  from  which  time  the  church  was  closed  until  1861,  when  Rev. 
J.  Hawkins  took  charge,  but  he  remained  only  a  few  months.  After  his 
departure  the  church  was  again  closed  until  June,  1863,  when  Rev.  D.  M, 


Sop  History  of  Savannah 

Gilbert  was  installed  pastor.     The  present  pastor  is  Rev.  W.  S.  Bowman 
under  whose  efforts  the  church  has  become  much  strengthened. 

Independent  Presbyterian  Church. — The  following  history  of  this 
church  is  compiled  from  a  sketch  which  appeared  in  the  May  number  of 
the  Old  Homestead:  "  The  congregation  of  this  church  it  is  reasonable 
to  suppose  was  organized  some  time  previous  to  1756,  as  in  this  year  it 
is  ascertained  the  congregation  obtained  a  grant  of  a  lot  upon  which  to 
build  a  church  from  the  Colonial  government  trustees.  The  grant  was 
made  to  James  Powell,  Robert  Bolter,  James  Miller,  Joseph  Gibbons, 
William  Gibbons,  Benjamin  Farley,  William  Wright,  David  Fox,  and 
James  Fox.  This  lot  upon  which  the  first  church  was  built  is  between 
Bryan  and  St.  Julian  streets,  facing  west  on  Market  square  and  extend- 
ing east  to  Whitaker  street.  After  the  completion  of  the  church,  a  brick 
edifice,  a  call  was  extended  to  Rev.  John  J.  Zubly  who  accepted  and  re^ 
mained  pastor  until  1778.  He  took  charge  of  the  church  in  1760  and  in 
1770  the  degree  of  D.D.  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  college  in  New 
Jersey. 

"  After  Dr.  Zubly,  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  Rev.  Mr.  Phillips  until 
1790,  and  by  Rev.  Mr.  Johnston  until  1793.  Both  of  these  gentlemen 
were  sent  out  to  Savannah  by  Lady  Huntingdon,  to  have  especial  charge 
of  the  orphan  asylum  established  by  herself  and  Whitefield  at  Bethesda, 
whose  one  hundred  and  thirty-ninth  anniversary  was  celebrated  Tues- 
day, April  23,  1889.  Rev.  Mr.  McCall  was  called  in  1794,  but  died  in 
1796.  Rev.  Walter  Monteith  came  in  1797,  and  left  in  1799,  but  it  is 
uncertain  whether  he  was  the  regular  pastor  or  not.  During  his  stay, 
in  1796,  the  church  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  until  anew  one  was  built 
the  congregation  worshiped  in  the  Baptist  church,  the  Baptist  congrega- 
tion having  no  pastor  until  they  called  Dr.  Holcombe ;  after  which  the 
Presbyterian  congregation  used  the  Baptist  church  half  of  each  Sunday 
until  the  new  church  was  finished,  in  the  year  1800. 

"  This  second  church  was  built  on  a  lot  purchased  by  the  congrega- 
tion and  situated  on  St.  James  square  or  Telfair  place,  between  York 
and  President  streets.  It  was  a  frame  building  and  was  blown  down 
during  the  great  storm  in  1804. 

"In  1800  Rev.  Robert  Smith  was  called  to  take  charge  of  the  church. 
He  died  in  1803  and  wa§  succeeded  by  Rev.  Robert  Kerr  who  also  died 


Churches.  go' 


soon  after.  Rev.  Samuel  Clarkson  then  discharged  the  duties  of  pastor 
until  1806. 

"  In  1806  all  the  original  trustees  being  dead  the  Legislature  passed 
another  act  chartering  the  church  and  appointed  nine  new  trustees.  In 
the  fall  of  this  year  Rev.  Henry  Kollock  became  pastor.  This  distin- 
guished divine  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1778  and  at  the  early  age  of 
thirteen  was  licensed  to  preach.  Under  the  administration  of  Dr.  Kol- 
lock the  congregation  grew  rapidly  and  in  18 17  the  corner  stone  of  a  new 
church  was  laid  and  two  years  later  the  building  was  completed.  This 
edifice,  recently  destroyed  by  fire,  stood  on  the  corner  of  South  Broad 
and  Bull  streets.  It  was  one  of  the  handsomest  in  an  architectural  sense 
in  the  country.  It  was  described  '  as  a  poem  in  architecture,  a  dream 
in  stone,  and  a  petrified  religion.'  The  total  cost  of  the  building,  not 
including  the  five  lots,  was  $96,io8.67-j.  The  proposed  width  of  the 
middle  aisle  was  12  feet,  but  was  afterwards  reduced  to  11.  The  side 
aisles  were  5-^  feet,  the  width  of  pews  on  broad  aisle  3  feet  2  inches, 
length  12  feet;  width  of  pews  on  side  aisles,  next  the  wall,  6  feet  4 
inches,  length  5  feet  6  inches,  being  nearly  square,  with  seats  on  two 
sides.  The  other  pews  on  the  side  aisles  were  9  feet  long  and  3  feet  2 
inches  wide.  The  galleries  were  13  feet  wide.  The  size  of  the  main 
building  was  80  by  100  feet,  and  accommodated  1,350  people.  The 
height  of  the  steeple  from  the  ground  to  the  top  of  the  lightning-rod  was 
223  feet.  Inside  the  building,  from  the  center  of  the  dome  to  the  floor 
was  44  feet. 

"  Notwithstanding  the  large  capacity  of  the  building,  old  members 
of  the  congregation  say  that  during  the  services  held  by  Dr.  Kollock  the 
building  could  not  comfortably  contain  the  congregation.  John  H. 
Green,  of  New  York,  was  the  architect,  and  for  grandeur  of  design  and 
neatness  of  execution  it  was  not  surpassed  by  any  in  the  United  States. 

"  On  May  11,  18  r  8,  the  pews  on  the  lowest  floor  were  sold  at  public 
auction  for  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  that  same  year  the  church  raised 
Dr.  Kollock's  salary  to  four  thousand  dollars  and  sent  him  to  Europe  for 
the  summer.  In  May,  18 19,  the  church  was  finished,  and  the  services 
were  deeply  and  solemnly  impressive. 

"On  December  29,  18 19,  Dr.  Kollock  died  very  suddenly  at  the  par- 
sonage, aged  forty- one  years.     His  remains  were  surrendered  to  the 


502  History  of  Savannah. 

trustees  at  their  earnest  solicitation  by  his  widow,  on  condition  that  her 
body  should  be  placed  by  his  at  her  death.  A  vault  was  erected  in  the 
old  cemetery,  in  which  his  remains  were  deposited.  A  monument  was 
placed  over  the  vault,  surrounded  by  an  iron  railing.  The  memorial 
tablet  placed  in  the  church  was  destroyed  by  the  recent  fire.  At  the 
death  of  this  great  man  the  city  was  draped  in  mourning,  the  stores  were 
closed,  and  universal  grief  expressed.  All  the  city  officers,  members  of 
the  bar,  societies,  judges,  children  of  the  schools,  and  citizens  generally 
attended  his  funeral. 

"The  organ  was  finished  in  1820,  at  a  cost  of  $3,500,  and  Lowell 
Mason,  the  well  known  composer  of  church  music,  was  engaged.  It  was 
during  this  engagement  of  Lowell  Mason's  that  he  composed  the  well- 
known  tune  of  '  Missionary  Hymn,'  and  set  it  to  the  words  of  the  hymn 
'  From  Greenland's  Icy  Mountains,'  written  by  Bishop  Heber,  for  use 
at  a  missionary  meeting  in  the  church  where  it  was  sung  for  the  first 
time. 

"After  the  death  of  Dr.  Kollock  the  pulpit  was  supphed  by  Rev. 
William  Wallace  and  Rev.  Mr.  Capers  for  one  year.  In  January,  1821, 
Rev.  Mr.  Otterson  was  engaged  to  supply  the  pulpit,  at  a  salary  of  $125 
per  month,  and  after  him  Rev.  Mr.  Magee  preached  for  a  short  time. 
Rev.  Daniel  Baker  was  called,  but  declined.  Rev.  Dr.  Snodgrass  was 
called  January,  1822,  from  North  Carolina  as  regular  pastor,  at  a  salary 
of  $2,500,  but  remained  only  until  June,  1823.  The  Rev.  Samuel  B. 
Howe  D.D.,  of  New  Brunswick,  was  then  called  and  remained  until  the 
summer  of  1827. 

"  Rev.  Dr.  Baker  temporarily  filled  the  pulpit  after  Dr.  Howe's  death 
until  the  winter  of  1831,  when  Dr.  Willard  Preston  was  called  from  Mad- 
ison, Ga.  He  was  a  Congregational  minister,  who  never  had  any  con- 
nection with  the  presbytery.  He  preached  his  first  sermon  on  Christmas, 
1831,  and  received  his  call,  at  a  salary  of  twenty- five  hundred  dollars,  on 
January  14  following.  He  found  two  hundred  and  sixty-eight  commu- 
nicants when  he  took  charge. 

"  The  old  organ,  upon  which  large  sums  had  been  expended,  was 
ruined  by  the  great  storm  of  September  8,  1854,  and  it  was  concluded  to 
procure  a  new  one  by  subscription.  It  was  finished  in  1856,  at  a  cost  of 
$6,000.  In  this  same  year  a  furnace  was  placed  in  the  church  at  a  cost 
of  $522.     Previously  the  church  had  never  been  heated. 


Churches.  503 


"  Dr.  Preston's  health  being  very  fcible  at  this  time,  he  applied  for 
leave  of  absence,  stating  that  he  had  served  the  church  for  twenty- four 
years  and  had  been  absent  but  four  times.  Leave  was  granted,  and  $650 
raised  to  defray  his  expenses.  His  health  declined,  and  on  April  26, 
1856,  he  died,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two,  having  been  pastor  for  over 
twenty- five  years.  A  tablet  to  his  memory  was  placed  in  the  church, 
and  a  monument  to  his  name  in  Laurel  Grove  cemetery.  In  1857  a  lot 
was  purchased  in  this  cemetery  to  be  kept  as  a  burial  spot  for  the  pas- 
tors of  the  church  who  die  in  its  service. 

"  After  the  death  of  Dr.  Preston  several  ministers  preached  at  different 
times.  Those  who  remained  the  longest  were  Rev.  W.  M.  Baker,  from 
August  3,  1856,  for  six  weeks;  Rev.  D.  H.  Porter,  pastor  of  the  First 
Church,  for  three  months.  That  church  was  unfinished  then.  Dr.  Har- 
denberg,  of  New  York,  filled  the  pulpit  from  November,  1856,  until  June. 
1857;  Rev.  C.  W.  Rogers  from  June,  1857,  until  November,  1857,  at 
which  time  Rev.  I.  S.  K.  Axson,  D.D.,  was  called  from  Greensboro,  Ga., 
at  a  salary  of  three  thousand  dollars.  He  accepted  the  call  in  Novem- 
ber. In  1863,  on  account  of  the  fabulously  high  prices  caused  by  the 
war,  the  congregation  presented  him  with  $1,000,  and  in  1864  with  $3,- 
500  more.  In  the  latter  year  the  trustees  added  $1,500  to  this  amount, 
in  addition  to  his  regular  salary.  In  1866  Dr.  Axson's  life  was  insured 
for  $5,000  by  the  trustees,  for  the  benefit  of  his  family. 

"  As  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  following  are  all  the  legacies  which 
have  been  left  the  church:  In  1841  Mr.  James  Wallace  left  the  church 
$2,000  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  an  iron  railing  about  the  lot.  In  1855 
the  church  became  residuary  legatee  under  the  will  of  Mrs.  Martha  Wil- 
liams, and  though  not  yet  in  possession  of  the  property,  receives  there- 
from a  nice  annuity.  In  i860  Mrs.  Susan  Couster  left  half  of  her  prop- 
erty to  the  church  and  half  to  her  son,  but  the  trustees  decUned  to  re- 
ceive it,  reUnquishing  all  claim  in  favor  of  the  son.  In  1861  Mr.  Hut- 
chinson left  $1,000  to  the  church.  Miss  Mary  Telfair,  who  died  in  1875, 
left  the  church  the  building  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Bull  and  Brough- 
ton  streets,  with  the  stipulation  that  the  church  should  care  for  her  lot  in 
the  cemetery,  give  $1,000  every  year  towards  the  support  of  feeble  Pres- 
byterian Churches  in  Georgia;  that  the  lot  on  which  are  now  the  ruins 
of  the  Presbyterian  Sunday  school  should  never  be  sold,  and  that  neither 
the  pulpit  or  galleries  in  the  church  should  ever  be  materially  altered. 


504  History  ok  Savannah. 


"  In  1833  the  lot  was  purchased  on  the  corner  of  Bull  and  Hull  streets, 
on  which  are  now  the  ruins  of  the  once  handsomest  Sunday-school  build- 
ing in  the  south.  A  commodious  structure  was  erected  in  that  year,  and 
Mr.  James  Smith  succeeded  Mr.  Coe  as, superintendent.  He  in  turn  was 
followed  by  Captain  Bee,  in  1835.  The  latter  died  in  1844,  and  Captain 
John  W.  Anderson  served  as  superintendent  until  his  death,  in  1866. 
John  D.  Hopkins  served  from  1867  to  1874,  during  which  year  William 
H.  Baker  was  chosen.  He  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  John  I.  Stoddard,  the 
present  superintendent.  In  1884  a  new  Sunday-school  building,  a  source 
of  pride  to  the  people  and  a  credit  to  the  church,  was  erected,  at  a  cost 
of  about  $27,000.  It  was  built  from  the  accumulations  of  dividends 
made  available  under  the  Telfair  will. 

"In  1886,  on  account  of  the  failing  health  of  its  beloved  pastor,  the 
congregation  made  Dr.  Axson  pastor  emeritus,  and  called  Rev.  Leonard 
W.  Bacon,  of  New  York,  to  the  pastorate.  He  accepted  and  served  one 
year,  from  December,  1886,  to  December,  1887.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Rev.  Allan  F.  DeCamp,  who  acted  as  pastor  for  several  months  during 
1888,  and  on  February  of  this  year  Rev.  J.  Frederick  Dripps,  of  Phila- 
delphia, was  called  He  began  his  pastorate  on  Sunday,  March  31,  and 
occupied  the  pulpit  but  once  before  an  event  took  place  that  fills  a  page 
in  the  history  of  the  church  and  marks  an  epoch  that  will  never  be  for- 
gotten. 

"  On  Saturday,  6th  of  April,  1889,  a  fire  broke  out  \n  the  city,  at  a 
point  quite  remote  from  the  church.  No  one,  at  first,  thought  for  a  mo- 
ment that  the  old  structure  could  be  menaced  or  imperiled  by  the  flames. 
The  building  in  which  the  fire  originated  was  several  blocks  away,  and 
wide  streets  and  a  large  open  square  intervened.  The  wind  was  high, 
and  the  fire  department  being  powerless,  embers,  sparks,  cinders,  and 
other  burning  material  were  carried  across  the  area  and  lodged  on  the 
projecting  works  of  the  church's  tower.  No  one  was  expecting  a  hap- 
pening of  this  character,  and  no  one  was  ready  to  extinguish  it  when  a 
trifling  blaze  was  kindled.  When  first  noticed  the  blaze  was  so  small 
that  a  cupful  of  water  could  quench  it,  but  that  small  amount  was  not 
ready,  and  the  flames  gradually  crept  up  the  tower,  growing  greater  in 
volume  and  intensity  each  moment,  greedily  and  hungrily  environing  it 
in  their  baleful  embraces  and  spreading  out,  over,  around,  and  under  it 


Churches.  5A5 


and  the  roof,  wrapped  the  sacred  edifice  in  their  destructive  coils.  The 
old  bell,  which  for  many  years  called  the  people  to  prayer  and  praise, 
rang  out  a  mournful  signal  to  the  community,  and  the  hearts  of  thou- 
sands of  people  who  looked  helplessly  on  were  filled  with  an  inexpressi- 
ble sadness. 

"The  fire  soon  devoured  the  tower,  which,  tottering  fell,  and  the  old 
bell  in  its  descent  rang  out  its  last  plaintiff  note,  which  was  human- like 
in  its  pitiful  tones.  The  falling  timber  communicated  its  combustible 
material  to  the  interior  of  the  church,  and  the  flames  remorselessly  swept 
on,  leaping  from  pews  to  pulpit,  from  walls  to  dome,  filling  the  stately 
edifice  with  an  indescribable  awe  and  horror.  The  old  church  was 
doomed,  and  in  an  inconceivably  short  time  the  stately  edifice  was  a  mass 
of  ruins.  Its  old  inahogany  pulpit,  its  richly  stained  windows,  its  memo- 
rial tablets,  its  baptismal  fonts,  its  magnificent  organ,  its  records,  and 
other  things  inseparably  associated  with  it  for  years,  were  destroyed. 

"  The  destruction  of  this  church,  while  altogether  inevitable  under  the 
circumstances,  was  a  public  calamity.  It  entailed  a  loss  on  the  congre- 
gation of  near  $150,000,  and  while  it  maybe  rebuilt  in  exact  conformity 
with  the  original  plans,  yet  the  old  associations,  the  venerable  history, 
and  the  well  remembered  mahogany  pulpit  will  not  be  there. 

"  The  handsome  Sunday-school  building  was  also  destroyed.  That 
was  another  great  loss ;  not  so  much  in  the  money  value,  not  so  much 
for  the  intrinsic  worth,  but  it  severed  what  might  have  been  a  connect- 
ing link  which  would  inseparably  keep  up  the  history  of  the  church  if  the 
school  had  been  saved  and  the  church  lost.  The  loss  on  this  building 
and  furniture  was  $35,000.  The  only  insurance  on  all  the  property  was 
$39,000,  and  that  amount,  with  other  available  means  on  hand,  will  leave 
the  trustees  with  about  $55,000  as  a  nucleus  for  a  building  fund. 

"The  following  is  a  complete  Hst  of  the  pastors  who  have  served  the 
church  : 

"  Rev.  John  Joachim  Zubly,  D.D.,  called  in  1760,  left  in  1778;  Rev. 
M.  McCall,  called  in  1794,  died  in  1796;  Rev.  Robert  Smith,  called  in 
1800,  died  at  the  north  in  1803  ;  Rev.  Henry  Kollock,  D.D.,  called  in 
1806,  died  in  1819;  Rev.  W.  D.  Snodgrass,  D.D.,  called  in  1822,  resigned 
in  1823  ;  Rev.  Samuel  B.  Howe,  D.D,  called  in  1823,  left  in  1827  ;  Rev. 
Willard  Preston,  D.D.,  called  in  1831,  died  in  1856;  Rev.  I.  S.  K.  Ax- 


5o6  History  of  Savannah. 

son,  called  in  1857,  made  pastor  emeritus  in  1886  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard  W. 
Bacon,  called  November,  1886,  resigned  November,  1887;  Rev.  J.  Fred- 
erick Dripps,  called  in  February,  1889,  installed  April  21,  1889.  Rev.  N. 
P.  Quarterman,  assistant  pastor,  called  in  1869,  resigned  in  1873.  Rev. 
E.  C.  Gordon,  junior  pastor,  called  in  1875,  resigned  in  1880;  Rev.  Rob- 
ert P.  Kerr,  junior  pastor,  called  in  1881,  iresigned  November,  1882. 
The  pulpit  in  the  interim  from  this  date  until  the  installation  of  Dr. 
Dripps  was  temporarily  filled  by  several  clergymen. 

"  The  early  records  of  session  having  been  lost,  all  the  elders  who 
served  from  the  organization  of  the  church  are  not  known.  Thomas 
Young  was  an  elder  during  the  year  1800,  and  subsequently  John  Gib- 
bons, John  Bolton,  John  Hunter,  Edward  Stebbins,  and  George  Handle 
were  elected.  In  Dr.  KoUock's  time  John  Millen,  Dr.  John  Gumming. 
Benjamin  Burroughs,  and  Moses  Cleland  served  the  church.  Afterwards, 
and  prior  to  1829,  George  W.  Coe,  John  Lewis,  and  George  W.  Ander- 
son were  elected,  and  since  then  the  following  served  :  Judge  Law,  James 
Smith,  Captain  Benjamin  G.  B.  Lamar,  John  Stoddard,  G.  B.  Gumming, 
John  W.  Anderson,  John  Hopkins,  Charles  Green,  William  H.  Baker,  C. 
H.  Olmstead,  T.  H.  Harden,  Randolph  Axson,  Joseph  Clay,  W.  L.  Wake- 
lee,  and  D.  R.  Thomas." 

The  congregation  of  the  Independent  Presbyterian  Church  have  for- 
mally resolved  to  undertake  the  restoration  of  their  church  building  to  its 
original  form,  and  the  people  of  Savannah  are  promptly  responding  to 
the  appeals  of  the  committee  authorized  to  solicit  funds  for  this  purpose. 

First  Presbyterian  Church. — In  1827  George  G.  Faires,  Lowell  Ma- 
son, Edward  Coppee  and  Joseph  Gumming  withdrew  from  the  Indepen- 
dent Church,  and  with  a  few  others  organized  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Savannah.  Services  were  first  held  in  the  old  Lyceum  Hall, 
on  the  corner  of  Bull  and  Broughton  streets.  In  1833  the  congregation 
took  possession  of  a  small  wooden  structure  on  the  south  side  of  Brough- 
ton street,  between  Barnard  and  Jefferson  streets,  where  they  worshiped 
until  1856.  The  present  church  edifice  on  Monterey  square  was  com- 
menced in  1856,  but  was  not  completed  until  June,  1872,  when  it  was 
.formally  dedicated.  The  following  have  officiated  as  pastors  of  this 
church :  Revs.  Mr.  Bogg,  James  C.  Stiles,  C.  C.  Jones,  Mr.  Holt,  C. 
Blodgett,  J.   L.  Merrick,  T.   F.  ^cott,  J.   L.  Jones,  B.  W.  Palmer,  J.  B. 


Churches.  507 


Ross,  John  Jones,  C.  B.  King,  David  H.  Porter,  and  the  present  pastor, 
J.  W.  Rogan. 

Anderson  Street  Church  completes  the  list  of  Presbyterian  churches. 
It  is  of  comparatively  recent  origin.     Rev.  R.  Q.  Way  is  pastor. 

The  first  preacher  sent  to  Savannah  to  propagate  the  doctrines  of 
Methodism  was  Rev.  Beverly  Allen,  who  came  in  1785.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  Revs.  Hope  Hull,  Thos.  Humphries,  John  Major,  John  Craw- 
ford, Phillip  Mathews,  Hezekiah  Arnold,  Wheeler  Grisson,  John  Bonner, 
Jonathan  Jackson,  John  Garvin,  and  Samuel  Dunwoody.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  efforts  of  these  worthy  men,  Methodism  made  slow  progress,  and 
it  was  not  until  1806  that  Samuel  Dunwoody  succeeded  in  organizing  a 
Methodist  society.  Meetings  were  held  in  the  houses  of  the  members, 
and  for  a  few  years  Rev.  Hope  Hull  preached  in  a  cabinet-maker's  shop. 
In  18 13,  while  the  congregation  was  under  charge  of  Rev.  James  Rus- 
sell, a  house  of  worship  was  commenced  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Lin- 
coln and  South  Broad  streets.  It  was  completed  in  18 16  and  was  called 
Wesley  Chapel.  After  being  enlarged,  remodeled  and  repaired  several 
times  it  was  sold  in  1866  and  converted  into  a  private  residence.  The 
congregation  then  purchased  the  building  at  the  corner  of  Wayne  and 
Drayton  streets,  formerly  belonging  to  the  German  Lutheran  congrega- 
tion. This  was  used  for  nearly  eleven  years.  During  this  time  the  con- 
gregation was  largely  increased,  and  a  more  commodious  building  be- 
came a  necessity.  The  erection  of  the  Wesley  Monumental  Church  was 
then  undertaken,  the  corner-stone  being  laid  in  1872  by  the  late  Dr. 
Lovick  Pierce.  The  church  is  now  nearly  completed,  and  will  be  one  of 
the  most  imposing  church  edifices  in  Savannah.  It  is  intended  as  a 
monument  to  John  Wesley,  the  father  of  Methodism,  and  will  be  built 
from  the  united  contributions  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  throughout 
America,  England  and  Canada. 

Some  of  the  greatest  preachers  in  the  South  have  been  pastors  in 
charge  of  old  Wesley  Chapel,  among  them  being  Revs.  William  Capens, 
James  O.  Andrew,  and  Geo.  F.  Pierce,  all  of  whom  were  afterward  elected 
bishops  ;  Ignatius  A.  Few,  the  first  president  of  Emory  College  ;  Elijah 
Sinclair,  founder  of  the  Wesleyan  Female  College  ;  Daniel  Curry,  James 
Sewell,  Lovick  Pierce,  E,  H.  Myers,  R.  J.  Corley,  all  noted  preachers, 
were  pastors   of  Wesley  Chapel,   or  Trinity  Church,   and  did   much  to 


So8  History  of  Savannah. 

strengthen  the  hold  Methodism  has  taken  in  Savannah.  Rev.  A.  M. 
Wynn,  the  present  pastor  of  Wesley  Monumental  Church  has  been  in 
charge  since  1874. 

Trinity  Methodist  Church  on  the  west  side  of  St.  James  square  was 
commenced  in  1848,  during  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Alfred  T.  Mann,  and 
completed  in  1850.  It  is  a  plain  structure,  entirely  unornamented,  and 
unpretending  in  its  architectural  details,  but  is  one  of  the  most  commo- 
dious churches  in  Savannah,  having  a  seating  capacity  for  two  thousand 
in  the  auditorium  and  gallery.  In  members  it  is  one  of  the  strongest 
churches  in  the  city. 

New  Houston  M.  E.  Church  was  organized  a  few  years  ago.  Its 
pastor  is  Rev.  J.  W.  Simmons. 

Baptist  Church.-^ About  the  year  1795  a  Baptist  house  of  worship 
was  erected  on  Franklin  square  by  different  denominations  both  here  and 
in  South  Carolina.  In  1799  Rev.  Henry  Holcombe  was  chosen  pastor 
of  the  congregation,  and  on  April  17th  of  the  following  year  the  church 
was  dedicated.  The  lot  upon  which  it  was  located  was  conveyed  to  the 
church  in  fee  simple  by  the  corporation  of  Savannah.  The  charter  of 
the  incorporation  was  granted  in  180 1.  It  was  drawn  up  by  Hon.  John 
McPherson  Berrien  and  signed  by  Governor  Josiah  Tattnall.  Services 
were  held  in  the  Franklin  square  church  until  1833,  when  the  congrega- 
tion moved  to  the  new  brick  edifice  on  Chippewa  square,  which  is  still 
used  by  the  congregation.  The  Church  was  enlarged  in  1839  during  the 
ministry  of  Rev.  J.  G.  Binney,  who  died  some  years  later  while  homeward 
bound  from  Burmah,  India,  where  he  had  been  laboring  as  a  missionary. 

Rev.  Henry  Holcombe,  the  first  pastor  of  this  church,  served  for 
twelve  years.  He  was  the  author  of  the  first  literary  work  published  in 
Georgia  called  the  "  Georgia  Analytical  Repository."  In  the  order 
named  the  following  served  as  pastors  of  this  church  after  Mr.  Holcombe: 
W.  B.  Johnson,  D  D.,  Benj.  Scriven,  James  Sweat,  Thomas  Meredith, 
Henry  O.  Wyer,  Josiah  S.  Law,  Charles  B.  Jones,  J.  G.  Binney,  and  Al- 
bert Williams. 

It  was  during  the  pastorate  of  the  last  named  minister  in  1847  that 
the  church  divided  into  two  branches,  known  as  the  First  and  Second 
Baptist  congregation,  although  the  former  never  changed  its  corporate 
name.     The  Second  congregation  purchased  the  building  then  owned  by 


Churches.  509 


the  Unitarians,  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Bull  and  York  streets,  where 
they  continued  to  worship  until  February  6,  1859,  when  they  dissolved 
and  a  reunion  of  the  Baptists  of  Savannah  occurred.  The  pastors  of  the 
Second  Church  were  Revs.  Henry  O.  Wyer,  J.  P.  Tustin,  and  M.  Winston. 

Rev.  Joseph  T.  Roberts  succeeded  Mr.  Williams  as  pastor  of  the  First 
Church  in  1847.  Rev.  Thomas  Rambant  became  pastor  in  1849  ^^^  ^^- 
mained  in  charge  until  1855,  when  Rev.  J.  B.  Stiteler,  after  one  year's  ser- 
vice, was  followed  by  Rev.  S.  G.  Daniel.  Rev.  Sylvanus  Landrum  be- 
gan his  pastorate  in  1859  and  remained  several  years.  The  present  pas- 
tor is  Rev.  J.  E.  L.  Holmes. 

The  building  of  the  Second  Church  was  sold,  and  with  the  proceeds 
a  lecture  and  school  room  was  built  in  the  basement  of  the  First  Church 
building  in  1861,  and  in  1862  the  former  parsonage  on  the  corner  of 
Jones  and  Drayton  streets  was  purchased. 

Recently  a  wooden  structure  has  been  built  on  Duffy  street,  known 
as  the  Duffy  Street  Baptist  Church,  where  Rev.  W.  S.  Royal  officiates  as 
pastor. 

The  CathoHc  religion  was  established  in  Savannah  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  preceding  century.  The  first  church  building  was  erected  in 
Liberty  square  and  was  known  as  St.  John  the  Baptist.  The  first  priest 
to  officiate  here  was  a  Frenchman  by  the  name  of  L'Abbe  de  Mercier. 
His  successor  was  of  the  same  nationahty,  L'Abbe  Cavi.  In  1838  the 
congregation  had  so  much  increased  as  to  render  necessary  a  larger 
church  edifice,  and  in  1839  a  new  building  was  erected  on  the  southeast 
corner  of  Drayton  and  McDonough  streets,  now  the  present  Catholic 
Library  Hall.  The  Rev.  J.  F.  O'Neill  was  the  presiding  priest  at  this 
time. 

TAe  Cathedral  of  St.  John  on  the  east  side  of  Abercorn,  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Harris  street,  is  a  magnificent  and  capacious  edifice.  It  is  in 
charge  of  Bishop  Becker,  Rev.  Edward  Cafferty,  vicar  general,  assisted 
by  Rev.  T.  M.  Reilly  and  Rev.  J.  F.  Colbert. 

St.  Patrick's  parish  was  organized  in  1865.  An  old  cotton  ware- 
house was  soon  after  converted  into  a  church  by  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Ferat, 
but  afterwards  was  torn  down  and  rebuilt  by  Bishop  Gross  at  an  expense 
of  $60,000.      Rev.  Father  McMahon  is  in  charge  of  the  parish. 

The  parish  of  the  Church  of  the  Sacred  Heart  was  formed  in  recent 


5IO  History  of  Savannah. 

years.  The  church  edifice  is  located  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  city 
and  the  congregation  is  under  the  care  of  the  Benedictine  Fathers,  the 
Rev.  William  Meyer,  O.  S.  B.  being  the  pastor.  These  three  parishes 
have  a  membership  of  about  five  thousand. 

The  Catholic  diocese  of  Savannah  comprising  the  entire  State  of  Geor- 
gia was  establiahed  in  1853.  Right  Rev.  Thomas  A.  Becker  is  bishop 
in  charge,  and  Very  Rev.  Edward  Cafferty  is  vicar-general. 

A  church  was  erected  on  Bay  street  near  Lincoln  street  for  seamen 
in  183 1  by  Joseph  Penfield  and  named  in  his  honor  Penfield  Mariner' s 
Church  It  afterwards  came  under  the  management  of  the  Savannah 
Port  Society,  which  was  organized  in  1843  "for  the  purpose  of  furnish- 
ing seamen  with  regular  evangelical  ministrations  of  the  gospel,  and  such 
other  religious  instructions  as  may  be  found  practicable."  John  Lewis,  W. 
W.  Wash,  Asa  Holt,  Robert  M.  Goodwin,  John  Ingersoll,  William  Duncan, 
Robert  Lewis,  Samuel  Philbrick,  S.  Goodall,  Benjamin  Snider,  J.  R.  Wil- 
der, Thomas  Clark,  Michael  Dillon,  Charles  Green,  Rev.  P.  A.  Strobel, 
Rev.  E.  F".  Neufville,  Rev,  W.  Preston,  William  Crabtree,  Joseph  Felt, 
John  Stoddard,  Joseph  George,  Edward  Wiley,  Green  Fleetwood,  Edward 
Padelford,  Joseph  Gumming,  John  J.  Maxwell,  Mathew  Hopkins,  J.  C. 
Dunning,  and  D.  B.  Williams,  were  among  the  founders.  The  church 
on  Bay  street  was  subsequently  sold  and  the  purchase  money  applied  to 
the  erection  of  a  church  building  on  the  west  of  Franklin  square  between 
Congress  and  St.  Julian  streets,  where  services  were  regularly  continued 
for  some  years. 

First  African  Baptist  Church. — This  is  without  doubt  the  first  body 
of  Christians  wholly  of  the  negro  race  organized  in  this  country.  A 
church  organization  was  perfected  in  1788,  when  Andrew  Bryan,  a  man 
of  pure  negro  blood,  was  ordained  as  the  pastor  by  Abraham  Marshall,  a 
white  Baptist  minister.  A  church  edifice  was  built  on  Bryan  street  near 
Farm,  and  here  the  present  large  brick  house  of  worship  stands.  It  is  a 
commodious,  neat  structure,  comfortably  furnished  and  recently  made  at- 
tractive by  the  additions  of  stained  glass  memorial  windows.  It  was  in 
this  church  that  the  Rev.  Andrew  Marshall,  a  celebrated  colored  preacher, 
ministered  for  several  years  before  the  civil  war,  commanding  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  white  and  blacks.  Born  a  slave  and  twice  sold,  Rev. 
Marshall  purchased  his  freedom  from  his  third  master  and  became  a  free- 


Churcijes.  511 


man  by  his  own  exertions.  In  the  pastorate  of  this  church  he  was 
earnest,  devoted,  and  inteUigent,  educating  himself,  and  exercising  a  great 
moral  influence.  He  possessed  great  natural  eloquence  and  a  cultivation 
of  delivery  acquired  by  association  with  his  masters,  who  were  gentlemen 
of  education  and  refinment.  The  whites  went  frequently  to  hear  him. 
His  funeral  in  1856  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  impressive  known  to 
Savannah ;  whites  and  blacks  joining  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  respect  to 
the  memory  of  a  truly  good  and  able  man.  The  present  pastor  of  this 
church  is  Rev.  U.  L.  Houston. 

Another  colored  church  organization  worthy  of  mention  is  the  Episco- 
pal Parish  of  St.  Stephens,  the  outgrowth  of  the  Savannah  River  Mission, 
which  in  1855  was  inaugurated  by  Rev.  S.  W.  Kennedy  under  the 
direction  of  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Elliott.  When  Mr.  Kennedy  began  his 
labors,  there  were  only  five  colored  persons  in  the  city  who  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Episcopal  Church.  In  three  years  fifty  communicants  had 
been  secured-.  The  congregation  has  now  expanded  into  a  large  one  and 
is  now  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  Rev.  J.  S.  Andrews 

The  remaining  religious  organizations  not  already  rnentioned  are  of 
comparative  recent  organization.  They  include  :  Christian  Church  on 
the  southeast  corner  of  Bolton  and  Howard,  Rev.  T.  E.  White,  pastor ; 
the  Congregational  Church  on  Taylor  street,  and  the  New  Church  society. 

The  colored  population  of  Savannah  is  well  supplied  with  churches. 

Those  of  the  Baptist  denomination  are  as  follows  :  Bethlehem   Church, 

north  side  of  New  Houston,  west  of  Cuyler  street ;   First  African,  corner 

of  Price  and   Harris  streets  ;   First  Church,  corner  of  Montgomery  and 

Byran  streets  ;  Mount  Zion,  West  Broad  street ;   Second  Byran,  corner  of 

Waldburg  and    West    Broad   streets ;    Second   Church,    Houston   street. 

The   Methodist   Churches   are :    Asbury    Church,  Gwinnett,   near   West 

Broad   street ;  Bethlehem    Church,    East  Broad,    near   Gwinnett   street ; 

Mount  Zion  Church,  West  Broad,  near  Gaston  street;  Noah's  Ark  Church, 

corner  of  Third  and  Drayton  streets ;   St    James   Tabernacle,  corner  of 

Randolph  and  Perry  streets  ;   St.  Phillip's  Church,  New  street,  near  West 

Broad. 

Academies  and  Schools. 

That  the  first  school-house  erected  in  Georgia  was  for  the  instruction 
of  Tomo-chi-chi's  Indians  is  a  historical  fact  of  more  than  casual  interest. 


5 12  History  OF  Savannah. 

Down  on  the  west  side  of  Savannah,  in  what  is  known  now  as  Yamacraw. 
the  Moravian  missionaries  put  up  a  small  building  which  they  called  the 
Irene.  The  old  mico  of  the  Yamacraws  took  a  deep  interest  in  the 
school  and  watched  its  progress  day  by  day.  This  institution  was  a 
religious  school,  and  the  savages  were  instructed  in  the  tenets  of  Christi- 
anity quite  as  freely  as  in  the  English  tongue. 

At  fi'rst  there  were  few  children  in  the  infant  colony  to  teach.  The 
same  building,  which  was  utilized  as  church  and  court-house,  did  service 
from  time  to  time  as  a  school-house.  Catechisms  and  primers  and  tes- 
taments seem  to  have  been  the  chief  text-books.  A  list  of  the  books 
donated  and  bought  for  the  children  of  the  colony  of  Georgia  makes  al- 
most amusing  reading  in  this  age. 

In  1737  Delamotte  was  teaching  between  thirty  and  forty  children 
to  read,  write  and  "  cast  accounts,"  and  John  Wesley  catechised  them 
every  Saturday  and  Sunday  afternoon.  Of  the  early  teachers  George 
Whitefield  was  by  far  the  best.  One  of  the  Wesleys  in  his  diary  refers  to 
Whitcfield's  successful  labors  as  a  pedagogue. 

It  was  Charles  Wesley  who  impressed  upon  Whitefield  the  necessity 
of  founding  an  orphan  school  and  home  in  Georgia.  An  application 
made  by  Whitefield  to  the  Georgia  trustees  for  assistance  was  met  by  a 
grant  of  five  hundred  acres  of  land  as  a  home  for  the  proposed  institu- 
tion. Funds  were  needed  to  erect  buildings,  and  Mr.  Whitefield  went 
zealously  to  work  in  England  to  raise  money,  and  he  was  siiccessful  in 
this  too.  He  preached  out  in  the  open  fields,  and  "  so  wonderful  were 
these  open  air  ministrations,  so  eloquent  was  he  in  utterance,  and  so  pow- 
erful in  thought  and  argument  that  multitudes  flocked  to  him."  White- 
field  had  been  in  Savannah  about  1736.  When  he  returned  in  1740  he 
had  one  thousand  pounds  sterling  toward  his  orphans  home.  In  March 
of  this  last  mentioned  year  Mr.  Whitefield  laid  the  first  stone  of  the  home. 
Though  Bethesda,  which  is  the  name  given  the  home,  is  several  miles  out 
of  the  city,  it  is  fully  as  much  a  Savannah  institution  as  though  it  were 
within  the  limits.  This  was  the  first  effort  on  a  large  scale  in  Georgia 
to  care  for  the  young  generation's  education.  Bethesda  has  ever  done  a 
great  work,  and  the  horizon  of  its  usefulness  is  steadily  extending.  In 
the  meantime  the  Moravian  school  had  gone  down  and  the  missionaries 
moved  to  Pennsylvania.    Whitcfield's  "house  of  mercy"  grew  so  rapidly 


Academies  and  Schools.  513 

that  in  1764  the  founder  petitioned  for  the  authority  to  convert  his  in- 
stitution into  a  college.  This  request  was  refused,  so  he  made  it  an  acad- 
emy, and  in  1769,  when  he  visited  it,  he  found  the  school  in  every  re- 
spect exceeded  his  most  sanguine  expectations.  After  the  great  preach- 
er's death  fire  and  financial  distress  and  a  hurricane  followed  each  other 
in  close  succession  and  the  home  went  down.  Of  late  years  the  Union 
Society  has  had  control  of  Bethesda  and  has  restored  it  in  a  great  meas- 
ure to  the  condition  in  which  its  founder  had  left  it. 

Prior  to  the  Revolutionary  War  Savannah's  educational  advantages 
were  the  finest  in  the  colony,  but  they  were  necessarily  meager.  Private 
schools,  something  hke  the  parish  schools  of  to-day,  offered  about  all 
there  was  to  be  had  here  in  the  way  of  instruction.  The  best  teachers, 
generally,  were  the  clergymen.  While  the  great  war  was  in  progress  all 
efforts  for  education  were  relaxed  and  absolutely  nothing  was  done  dur- 
ing the  distractions  of  the  period.  Peace  was  followed  by  public  schools, 
which  had  been  provided  for  in  the  constitution  of  1777,  one  section  of 
which  said  that  schools  should  be  erected  in  every  county,  and  main- 
tained out  of  the  income  of  the  State.  Savannah's  chief  educational  in- 
stitution for  a  century  past,  the  Chatham  Academy,  was  established  by 
act  of  February  i,  1788.  This  institution  and  the  academies  of  Effing- 
ham, Liberty  and  Glynn,  were  endowed  from  the  proceeds  of  confiscated 
property  and  amercements  of  the  estates  of  British  loyalists.  There  were 
not  many  of  these  latter  to  be  sure,  but  those  whose  estates  were  taken 
owned  valuable  property.  Governor  Wright  and  Lieutenant-Governor 
Grahame  were  in  this  number. 

For  the  next  half  century  the  high  schools  of  Georgia  were  limited  to 
the  academies  of  a  few  counties  and  the  colleges  to  the  single  one  Frank- 
lin, at  Athens,  now  the  State  University.  The  acaden^ies  of  the  low  or 
seacoast  country  were  those  of  Chatham,  Effingham,  Liberty  and  Glynn 
counties.  Before  matriculating  at  Franklin  College,  the  Savannah  boys 
had  to  travel  more  than  200  miles  by  stage  or  private  conveyance.  So 
inconvenient  was  this  journey  that  many  youths  from  the  coast  country 
went  by  sailing  vessels  to  New  York  and  Boston  and  entered  Princeton, 
Yale,  Harvard  and  Brown.  Now  and  then  one  would  cross  to  Liver- 
pool and  complete  his  education  in  an  English  school  or  university.  The 
few  Savannah  boys  who  received  a  collegiate  education  were,  as  a  rule, 


514  History  of  Savannah. 

prepared  at  the  Chatham  Academy.  Those  who  received  what  was 
termed  an  academic  course  were  considered  fortunate.  Many  of  the 
brightest  minds  in  the  State  could  not  reach  even  that,  says  one  writer, 
and  they  had  to  be  content  with  private  country  schools,  generally  called 
"  old  field  schools." 

In  those  old  days  back  in  the  thirties  Chatham  Academy  was  for  the 
times  and  the  community  a  fine  institution.  The  building  was  large,  and 
its  style  of  architecture,  while  possessing  little  that  was  especially  strik- 
ing, gave  the  institution  "  an  air  of  consequence  and  gentility,"  as  has 
been  aptly  remarked  of  it. 

For  many  years  Rev.  George  White,  a  native  of  Charleston,  ruled 
over  this  school.  He  had  half  a  dozen  assistants,  each  with  a  room  and 
from  30  to  50  scholars  to  himself.  The  average  roll  at  this  period  was 
250  boys  and  girls.  Pure  democratic  principles  governed  the  institution, 
and  pupils  attended  without  regard  to  sex  or  social  condition.  The  poor- 
est and  the  richest  sent  their  children  there.  Dr.  White's  discipline  over 
teacher  and  scholar  was  rigid.  He  was  firm,  industrious  and  faithful. 
His  fundamental  principle  in  teaching  was  to  thoroughly  "ground"  the 
pupil.  Reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  or  "the  three  r's,"  were  the 
foundations,  and  he  sought  to  have  them  laid  well.  Then  he  aimed  to 
have  all  his  pupils  excel  in  reading  and  elocution,  and  the  boys  he  drilled 
in  military  tactics.  It  was  not  the  principal's  fault  if  his  pupils  did  not 
spell,  read,  and  declaim  well  when  they  left  school.  He  had  a  room  with 
some  of  the  more  advanced  scholars,  but  he  gave  his  personal  supervision 
to  all  of  the  classes.  He  knew  personally  every  pupil,  studied  the  dispo- 
sition of  each  one,  and  kept  the  relative  advancement  of  all  in  his  mind. 
No  assistant  was  allowed  to  chastise.  That  privilege  was  reserved  by 
the  principal.  The  strap  was  his  favorite  for  correcting,  and  he  applied 
it  frequently  but  rarely  severely.  Solomon's  maxim  of  "  spare  the  rod 
and  spoil  the  child"  he  took  literally.  Therein  though,  he  was  not  dif- 
ferent from  the  other  teachers  of  his  day  who  had  a  similar  belief 

It  is  recorded  that  toward  the  close  of  his  life,  when  it  was  too  late  to 
be  appreciated  by  the  majority  of  the  boys  who  were  Dr.  White's  pupils, 
his  views  on  corporal  punishment  underwent  a  change,  and  he  regretted 
having  formerly  put  such  a  strict  construction  upon  the  maxim.  The 
strap  was  an  instrument  of  punishment  reserved  exclusively  for  the  boys. 


Academies  and  Schools.  §15 

When  the  girls  violated  a  rule  they  were  crowned  with  the  peaked  cap. 
A  pretty  story  told  by  an  old  pupil  is  to  this  effect :  On  one  occasion 
a  girl  was  sent  by  her  teacher  to  Dr.  White's  room  for  punishment.  She 
was  a  little  beauty  that  all  the  boys  loved,  and  the  doctor  too.  He 
either  felt  that  she  deserved  extreme  punishment  or  he  desired  her  to 
escape  any  punishment.  So  he  inquired  what  boy  would  take  a  whipping 
for  her.  Many  were  ready  for  the  sacrifice,  but  Milton  Luffburrow  was 
the  quickest,  and  he  won  the  honor.  The  little  beauty  was  Miss  Valeria, 
one  of  the  daughters  of  Captain  Merchant,  of  the  U.  S.  A. 

Dr.  White  was  the  author  of  the  "  Statistics  of  Georgia,"  and  the 
"  Historical  Collections"  of  Georgia.  After  teaching  for  several  years  he 
gave  up  the  principalship  of  the  academy,  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
ministry. 

From  Dr.  White's  day  to  the  present  the  Chatham  Academy  has 
maintained  a  high  reputation.  Its  corps  of  teachers  have  usually  been 
efficient,  and  the  thousands  of  men  and  women  in  Savannah  who  never 
enjoyed  other  advantages  than  those  afforded  by  this  school  attest  its 
thoroughness.  It  is  a  part  of  the  public  school  system,  and  is  the  city's 
high  school  for  boys  and  girls.  Of  all  its  teachers  not  one  has  imparted 
instruction  as  Mr.  Bogart,  who  retired  from  the  profession  in  July,  1889, 
after  being  connected  with  the  school  for  more  than  thirty  years.  Sa- 
vannah's public  schools  have  now  an  attendance  of  4,500  children,  3,000 
whites,  and  1,500  blacks. 

In  addition  to  the  public  schools  are  many  private  schools,  including 
two  academies  for  boys  and  two  for  girls.  The  Savannah  and  The  Acad- 
emy for  Boys,  Oglethorpe  Seminary  and  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  Academy. 
This  last  named  school  was  organized  in  1844  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy 
and  is  still  conducted  by  that  order. 


Si6  History  of  Savannah. 


CHAPTER  XXXni. 
HISTORY  OF  JOURNALISM. 

THIS  is  emphatically  the  age  of  the  printing  press  and  it  may  be  said 
that  the  character  of  a  community  is  known  and  best  represented 
by  its  newspapers.  Savannah  has  always  given  a  liberal  support  to  its 
newspapers,  and  journalism  here  has  been  conspicuous  for  its  strong, 
and  conservative  character.  For  more  than  a  century  and  a  quarter  the 
city  has  not  been  without  a  newspaper.  Four  morning  and  two  after- 
noon papers  have  existed  at  one  time,  and  there  has  never  been  a  time 
within  the  past  fifty  years  that  the  city  has  not  had  at  least  two  daily 
papers — either  two  morning  papers  or  a  morning  and  an  afternoon 
paper. 

The  first  paper  published  in  Savannah  was  the  Georgia  Gazette  which 
made  its  appearance  on  the  7th  of  April,  1763.  This  was  the  eighth 
newspaper  to  appear  in  the  Colonies,  and  was  edited  by  Mr.  James  John- 
son. It  flourished  as  a  weekly  until  1799  when  it  was  suspended.  This 
pioneer  journal  of  Georgia  was  a  great  undertaking  at  the  time  even  if  it 
did  compare  unfavorably  with  the  more  pretentious  papers  of  to-day. 
Local  news  was  confined  to  marriages,  deaths,  and  arrival  of  vessels,  and 
most  of  the  reading  matter  pertained  to  political  affairs. 

The  Georgia  Republican  was  the  second  newspaper  to  enter  the  field 
of  Savannah  journalism.  The  first  number  appeared  on  the  1st  of  Janu- 
ary, 1802,  as  a  semi- weekly,  edited  and  owned  by  John  F.  Everett, 
under  whose  name  it  continued  until  March  10,  1807,  when  John  J. 
Evans  became  associated  with  Mr.  Everett  under  the  firm  name  ot  Ev- 
erett &  Evans.  Under  the  new  proprietors  it  was  changed  to  a  tri- 
weekly issue  and  the  name  of  The  Republican  and  Savannah  Evening 
Ledger  was  adopted.  In  June,  18 10,  Mr.  Evans  assumed  entire  control, 
and  continued  its  publication  alone  until  January  i,  18 14,  when  Frederick 
S.  Fell  became  editor  and  proprietor.  Mr.  A.  Mclntyre  became  a  co- 
partner in  March,  18 17,  under  the  firm  name  of  F.  S.  Fell  &  Co.  and  a 
few  months  later  the  paper  was  enlarged  in  size  and  changed  to  a  daily 


The  Press.  517 


and  continued  as  such  during  the  fall  and  winter  months  when  it  re- 
turned to  tri- weekly  issues. 

Several  changes  occurred  in  the  proprietorship  of  the  Republican 
from  1817  to  1831,  but  during  these  years  Mr.  Fell  continued  as  sole  or 
part  owner,  his  connection  with  the  paper  terminating  with  his  death  in 
the  year  last  named.  Emanuel  De  La  Motta  continued  its  publication, 
ilone  from  1831  to  June  i,  1837,  when  I.  Cleland  became  associated 
with  him  under  the  firm  name  of  De  La  Motta  &  Cleland.  Mr.  De  La 
Motta  withdrew  in  1839,  and  in  the  year  following  William  Hogan 
joined  Mr.  Cleland  as  partner.  A  few  months  later  Mr.  Cleland  with- 
drew and  Charles  Davis  became  part  proprietor  with  Mr.  Hogan.  Under 
these  proprietors  the  Republican  began  active  advocacy  of  Whig  princi- 
ples :  Adopting  as  a  motto  "  Union  of  the  Whigs  for  the  sake  of  the 
Union,"  and  was  changed  from  an  afternoon  to  a  morning  issue. 

In  August,  1849,  Mr.  Hogan  disposed  of  his  interest  to  Joseph  L. 
Locke,  when  the  latter  became  senior  editor  and  Mr.  Davis  commercial 
editor  and  business  manager.  Mr.  Davis's  health  having  become  im- 
paired he  sold  his  interest  in  the  paper  to  Francis  J.  Winter  in  1847, 
but  the  latter's  death  in  1848  left  Mr.  Locke  sole  proprietor. 

Mr.  Locke  sold  his  interest  to  his  editorial  associate  P.  W.  Alexander 
in  1853  who  in  connection  with  A.  W.  Moore  published  the  Republican 
under  the  firm  name  of  P.  W.  Alexander  &  Co.  This  copartnership 
continued  for  two  years  when  Mr.  Moore  retired  and  James  R.  Sneed 
became  a  partner  with  Mr.  Alexander.  The  latter  withdrew  in  1856 
and  sold  his  interest  to  Mr.  Sneed  and  F.  W.  Sims.  Mr.  Sneed  disposed 
of  his  interest  in  1858,  but  continued  as  editor  until  the  capture  of  the 
city  by  General  Sherman. 

The  Republican  office  and  its  contents  were  taken  possession  of  by 
military  authority  in  December,  1864,  under  the  direction  of  General 
Sherman,  for  the  purpose  of  publishing  a  paper  in  the  interest  of  the 
Federal  government.  John  E.  Hayes,  the  war  correspondent  of  the 
New  York  Tribune,  who  had  been  following  General  Sherman's  army, 
was  installed  as  editor.  He  continued  in  the  position  of  editor  and  pro- 
prietor up  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  September,  1868.  At  the  death  of 
Mr.  Hayes  the  paper  was  sold  at  public  auction  to  James  R.  Sneed  its 
former  editor  and  proprietor,  who  conducted  it  about  a  year  when  it  was 


5i8  History  of  Savannah. 

sold  to  Colonel  William  A.  Reed.  At  the  end  of  a  few  months  Colonel 
Reed  announced  its  suspension.  It  was  again  revived  by  Messrs.  Scud- 
der  &  Hardee,  who  after  a  year's  trial  disposed  of  it  to  the  Advertiser,  a 
new  paper  started  in  1868,  which  then  appeared  under  the  name  of  the 
Advertiser  and  Republican.  Success  did  not  attend  the  enterprise  and  in 
1875  the  subscription  was  sold  to  the  Morning  News. 

Besides  the  editors  and  proprietors  named  in  the  foregoing  pages 
there  were  connected  with  the  Republican  as  associate  editors  during  its 
prosperous  years  from  1845  to  the  last  year  of  the  war:  S.  T.  Chapman, 
Edward  DeLean,  Thomas  H.  Harden,  and  Thomas  W.  Lane.  The  dis- 
tinguished writer  Dr.  William  A.  Caruthers  also  contributed  to  its  pages. 
During  the  first  twenty  years  of  its  existence  the  Republican  took  sides 
with  the  then  Republican  or  Jeffersonian  party,  and  warmly  sustained 
General  Jackson  for  the  presidency  in  1828.  It  subsequently  became  a 
whig  organ  and  throughout  the  existence  of  that  party  was  loyal  to  that 
organization,  but  did  not  support  General  Scott  for  the  presidency. 
When  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States  was  proposed  it  vigorously 
opposed  the  idea,  but  when  Georgia  seceded  it  allied  itself  with  her  des- 
tiny and  until  its  voice  was  silenced  by  Federal  power  was  foremost  in 
giving  encouragement  to  the  aims  and  council  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  Savannah  Georgian  commenced  publication  on  the  25th  of  No- 
vember, 18 18,  edited  by  Dr.  John  M.  Harney.  Dr.  Harney's  connec- 
tion with  Savannah  journalism  was  brief  He  was  a  man  of  considerable 
literary  attainments,  but  an  erratic  character,  and  whose  management  of 
the  Georgian  did  not  meet  with  the  approval  and  support  of  the  people 
of  the  city.  He  became  disgusted  with  his  failure  to  receive  encourage- 
ment, and  after  two  years  trial  sold  his  paper  to  I.  K.  Tefft  and  Harry 
James  Finn.  He  was  the  author  of  the  well-known  poem,  in  which  in 
bidding  farewell  to  Savannah  he  heaps  curses  upon  the  city.  Mr.  Finn 
was  not  long  connected  with  the  paper.  He  came  to  Savannah  in  18 18 
when  he  appeared  as  an  actor  at  the  opening  of  the  Savannah  theater. 
After  his  newspaper  venture  he  returned  to  the  stage,  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death  a  few  years  later  he  had  won  wide  fame  as  one  of  the  best  rep- 
resentatives on  the  American  stage  in  the  role  of  light  comedy. 

Mr.  Tefft  edited  the  paper  for  some  time  when  he  sold  it  to  George 
Robertson,  who  associated  his  brother  William  Robertson  with  him.     Dr. 


"'-■(l^r-nM^.^C"  Ny 


The  Press.  519 


R.  D.  Arnold  and  William  H.  Bullock  became  joint  editors  and  proprie- 
tors in  1832.  In  183s  Mr.  Bullock  purchased  Dr.  Arnold's  interest,  and 
conveyed  it  to  Henry  R.  Jackson  and  Philip  J.  Punch,  who  subsequently 
admitted  S.  S.  Sibley  as  a  partner.  When  General  Jackson  retired  P.  B. 
Hilton  became  part  owner  with  Messrs.  Punch  &  Sibley.  After  this  sev- 
eral changes  in  proprietors  occurred,  until  the  Journal  and  Courier  were 
merged  with  it,  when  it  came  under  the  control  of  Albert  R.  Lamar  and 
a  few  years  later  in  1859  its  publication  was  suspended. 

The  Savannah  Museum  appeared  in  1820  as  a  daily  edited  by  Kep- 
pel  &  Bartlett.  It  was  in  existence  for  some  years,  but  it  failed  to  find 
the  road  to  success,  and  was  discontinued. 

The  Morning  News  made  its  first  appearance  on  January  15,  1850. 
It  was  issued  from  the  premises  ill  Bay  street,  where  it  had  its  quarters 
until  it  moved  to  where  it  is  now  published.  The  gifted  and  lamented 
Colonel  W.  T.  Thompson  was  its  first  editor,  and  held  that  position,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  months  during  the  occupation  of  the  city  by  the 
Federal  army,  until  he  was  called  to  his  reward  in  1882.  It  was  a  vig- 
orous paper  from  the  first,  maintaining  then,  as  it  does  to-day,  the  stand- 
ard of  honest  Democracy,  independent  of  the  dictation  of  politicians.  It 
passed  through  the  great  struggle  of  1861-65,  ^'^^  came  out,  like  all 
other  Southern  newspapers,  in  a  rather  dilapidated  condition.  In  June, 
1867,  the  present  proprietor.  Colonel  J.  H.  Estill,  purchased  an  interest 
in  the  Morning  News,  and  the  following  year  he  bought  out  the  other 
owners,  since  which  time  he  has  retained  the  sole  control. 

Through  the  trying  years,  from  1865  to  1870,  the  Morning  News 
maintained  its  position  as  a  defender  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  then 
threatened  by  carpet-baggers.  It  battled  against  those  Radical  leaders 
and  their  negro  cohorts,  who,  with  the  aid  of  Federal  bayonets,  had 
seized  the  governments  of  the  Southern  States.  It  never  compromised 
itself  by  in  any  way  indorsing  the  rule  of  those  plunderers  or  by  recog- 
nizing their  leaders.  With  the  restoration  of  the  government  of  the 
Southern  States  to  the  control  of  their  people,  Georgia  became  prosper- 
ous, and  at  once  took  her  position  as  the  Empire  State  of  the  South. 
The  State  had  passed  from  under  the  Confederate  rule  to  that  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  army  being  disbanded  the  people  supposed  peace 
was  restored.     A  provisional  governor  (Johnson)  was  appointed  by  Pres- 


S20  History  of  Savannah. 

ident  Johnson.  Then  an  election  was  held,  and  the  people  called  that 
pure  statesman,  the  late  Charles  J.  Jenkins,  to  the  gubernatorial  chair. 
He  was  removed  and  General  Ruger,  an  army  officer,  was  made  military- 
governor.  Under  this  bayonet  government  Bullock  was  forced  upon  the 
people.  Legislatures  chosen  by  the  people  were  repeatedly  dissolved  or 
disbanded  by  the  rough  hand  of  despotism.  At  last,  in  1 870,  Bullock 
fled  the  State.  Georgia  was  reconstructed  for  the  fifth  time,  but  this 
time  on  the  basis  of  free  government. 

These  facts  are  only  mentioned  as  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  Morn- 
ing News.  Its  fearless  course  during  those  trying  years  gave  it  a  place 
close  to  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

In  addition  to  its  political  course  it  was  a  newspaper  without  a  rival 
as  a  news- gatherer.  No  other  paper  in  the  South  had  as  yet  awakened 
to  the  importance  of  furnishing  live  news.  It  organized  the  first  system 
of  special  correspondents,  and,  for  several  years,  was  the  only  Southern 
paper  that  kept  a  regular  correspondent  at  Washington  and  New  York 
the  year  round.  The  Morning  News  has  never  turned  aside  from  its 
line  of  duty  as  a  newspaper  to  engage  in  personal  controversies,  but  has 
never  hesitated  to  defend  the  right  or  attack  the  wrong.  It  has  always 
been  its  aim  to  furnish  the  latest  news  in  the  most  acceptable  form  to 
its  readers,  and  discuss  all  matters  open  to  discussion  in  a  fair  and  impar- 
tial manner.  It  has  never  believed  that  a  newspaper  was  a  place  wherein 
any  and  every  man  should  be  permitted  to  vent  his  undigested  and  often 
prejudiced  views  on  important  public  questions,  but  has  asserted  its  right 
to  be  its  own  judge  of  what  should  go  in  its  columns  and  what  should 
not. 

In  this  progressive  age  there  is  probably  no  business  that  has  under- 
gone such  great  changes  or  has  so  much  improved  within  the  past  twenty 
years  as  that  of  publishing  a  daily  newspaper.  A  few  years  since  a 
journal  in  the  South  that  was  provided  with  what  is  technically  called  a 
fast  single-cylinder  printing  machine,  of  a  capacity  of  1,500  to  1,800 
sheets  per  hour,  was  considered  a  well-equipped  establishment.  But  few 
were  provided  with  a  machine  for  folding  papers.  In  1869  the  Morning 
News  introduced  the  first  folding  machine  ever  put  to  work  in  a  daily 
paper  office  in  Georgia,  and  it  was  considered  by  many  a  piece  of  reck- 
less extravagance.     Now  the  humblest  of  the  dailies  in  the  South  folds 


The  Press.  52* 


its  issues  by  machinery.  About  the  same  time  the  machine  for  putting 
the  addresses  of  the  subscribers  on  papers  was  introduced  into  the  Morn- 
ing  News  office.  This  was  the  first  mailer  used  in  Georgia  if  not  in  the 
entire  South.  The  addressing  of  papers  with  a  pen  or  pencil,  the  same 
names  written  day  after  day,  was  one  of  the  bugbears  of  a  newspaper 
office.  A  mail  writer  who  would  not  occasionally  miss  a  page  or  two  of 
the  mail  book  was  a  rara  avis.  If  a  subscriber  failed  to  get  his  mail  it 
was  impossible  to  say  whether  it  was  the  neglect  of  the  newspaper's  mail 
clerk,  or  the  carelessness  of  the  post  office  officials.  The  mailing  ma- 
chine and  the  daily  register  of  all  mail  sent  out,  is  an  unimpeachable 
witness  as  to  who  is  at  fault  if  a  paper  is  not  duly  received.  These  fa- 
cilities for  publishing  a  newspaper  came  none  too  soon,  as  the  pressure  of 
the  increasing  telegraphic  service,  and  the  demand  of  the  public  for,the 
latest  news  was  already  being  felt  by  the  newspapers. 

A  very  radical  change  had  also  taken  place  in  the  editorial  depart- 
ment during  the  period  referred  to.  Before  the  construction  of  the 
Charleston  and  Savannah  Railroad  the  fast  mail  from  the  North  came  by 
steamer  from  Charleston.  The  steamers  rang  their  bells  as  they  passed 
by  the  Exchange  building  on  their  way  to  the  wharf  at  the  foot  of  West 
Broad  street.  The  telegraphic  service  in  those  days  was  very  limited, 
and  the  live  news  was  gleaned  from  Northern  papers.  The  editors  of 
the  Savannah  dailies — there  were  three  at  that  time — agreed  that  if  the 
steamer's  bell  rung  after  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  they  would  not  take 
their  Northern  papers  out  of  the  post-office  until  the  following  morning. 
At  the  time  we  speak  of,  however,  fifteen  years  ago,  many  of  the  morn- 
ing papers  "closed, up  "  their  forms  by  10  to  12  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
except  on  extra  important  occasions. 

One  to  two  columns  of  telegraph  news  was  considered  a  full  service. 
With  many  it  was  supposed  the  zenith  of  newspaper  publishing — at  least 
in  the  smaller  cities — had  been  attained.  It  was  generally  supposed  that 
the  limit  of  judicious  expenditure  had  been  reached.  It  had  been  with 
many  newspapers.  There  was  a  remarkable  decrease  in  the  number  of 
papers  in  the  principal  cities.  The  increased  expenses  could  not  be  met 
by  an  augmented  income,  and  the  question  was  solved  by  the  death  of 
many  old-time  journals.  The  "  fittest  survived."  The  demand  for  later 
news  caused  the  single-cylinder  presses  to  give  way  to  the  double-cyhn- 


S22  History  of  Savannah. 

ders.  Provision  was  made  against  accidents,  and  duplicate  presses,  fold- 
ing machines,  engines  and  boilers  were  added  to  the  costly  "equipments.- 
The  telegraph  service  increased  gradually  from  i,8oo  words  per  day  un- 
til it  reached  6,000.  These  improvements  were  gradual.  Two  years 
ago,  with  one  step  almost,  an  immense  advance  was  made  in  Southern 
journalism.  This  change  was  necessitated  by  the  fast  mails,  which 
placed  the  large  dailies  of  the  North  and  West  on  the  news  stands  in 
many  of  the  Southern  cities  some  time  during  the  day  after  their  publi- 
cation. 

The  newspapers  had  been  improving,  but  the  people's  desire  for  news 
was  still  ahead  of  the  supply.  The  first  move  to  meet  the  new  state  of 
affairs  was  an  increase  in  the  service  of  the  Associated  Press.  The  quota 
of  words  per  day  was  increased  to  almost  double  what  it  had  been,  and 
a  better  system  of  gathering  news  established.  Publishers  a  few  years 
ago  growled  when  their  assessment  for  telegraphing  was  $50  per  week. 
The  cost  of  this  service  increased  tenfold,  and  where  a  column  or  two  of 
freshly-gathered  news  sufficed,  a  page  and  more  now  scarcely  supplies 
the  demand.  The  Morning  News,  for  instance,  in  the  place  of  a  few  ir- 
regular correspondents,  has  now  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  accredited 
correspondents.  To  keep  pace  with  these  improvements  the  entire  in- 
ternal arrangements  of  the  newspaper  had  to  be  changed.  Ways  and 
means  for  a  quicker  handling  of  the  immense  amount  of  news  accumu- 
lating after  9  o'clock  in  the  evening  had  to  be  devised,  and,  instead  of  a 
paper  going  to  press  at  midnight,  the  working  hours  were  advanced  clear 
into  the  morning.  Four  o'clock  in  the  morning  became  the  closing 
hour.  Here  another  difiiculty  presented  itself —  that  of  how  to  begin 
printing  the  edition  of  a  morning  paper  at  that  hour  and  deliver  it  to  all 
of  its  subscribers  at  the  usual  time.  Everybody  wants  the  latest  news, 
and  wants  it  at  as  early  an  hour  as  possible.  A  paper  must  not  only  be 
printed  on  time,  but  delivered  on  time,  for  the  average  reader  of  city 
papers  would  as  soon  go  without  his  breakfast  as  without  his  favorite  pa- 
per. The  question  of  purchasing  new  and  expensive  machinery  to  over- 
come the  time  lost  in  waiting  for  the  latest  news  was  the  next  to  present 
itself  to  the  newspaper  people.  Some  were  in  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  investing  a  large  sum  of  money  in  a  perfecting  press,  which  might 
scarcely  be  put  in  operation  before  a  better  one  was  invented. 


The  Press.  523 


The  price  of  the  improved  machines  ranged  from  $30,000  to  $50,000. 
The  increasing  circulations  of  the  papers  of  the  Northern  and  Western 
cities  had  long  since  developed  the  necessity  for  faster  machines  even 
than  the  immense  eight  and  ten  cylinder  presses  then  used  to  print  the 
metropolitan  dailies,  and  as  "  necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention,"  the 
perfecting  press  was  evolved  from  the  thoughts  of  many  brains.  The 
web  perfecting  press,  developed  new  and  presumably  undreamed  of  fa- 
cilities. 

These  machines  print  from  an  endless  web  of  paper,  which  once 
started  into  the  machine  runs  along,  as  it  were,  of  its  own  accord.  This 
dispenses  with  the  "  feeders,"  and  permits  of  the  papers  being  printed  on 
both  sides  at  the  same  time.  The  idea  of  printing  from  a  long  roll  of 
'  paper  seems  to  have  occurred  to  manufacturers  years  before  it  was  suc- 
cessfully applied.  The  question  of  original  invention  is  somewhat  dis- 
puted. A  perfecting  press  was  patented  by  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  the  famous 
advocate  of  cheap  postage  in  England  in  1835,  but  never  came  into  prac- 
tical use.  Wilkinson,  of  New  York,  added  various  improvements  to  the 
Hill  machine  between  1842  and  1859.  In  1849  Jacob  Worms,  of  Paris, 
patented  a  small  machine  for  book  work,  in  which  he  used  curved  stereo- 
type plates  cast  from  matrixes  made  of  papier  mache.  This  invention 
made  the  perfecting  press  practicable. 

Worms'  machine,  however,  was  not  a  success,  because  it  could  not 
dehver  the  sheets  after  they  were  printed.  In  1853  Victor  Beaumont, 
of  New  York,  patented  an  effective  cutting  blade,  which  made  the  deliv- 
ery of  the  sheet  possible.  This  invention  is  now  used  in  all  web  presses. 
In  1858  Bullock  invented  the  press  called  by  his  name,  making  at  that 
time  a  model  from  which  fair  work  was  obtained.  This  model  was  fed 
by  rolls  of  paper  at  each  end,  double  lines  of  paper  passing  each  other  at 
the  center,  but  no  machine  was  ever  built  on  this  plan.  In  1859  Augus- 
tus Applegate,  a  well-known  English  mechanic  invented  a  press  some- 
thing like  a  Bullock,  but  made  no  provision  for  delivering  the  sheet.  No 
machine  was  ever  built  on  this  plan.  Bullock  in  the  meantime  had  not 
been  idle,  and  in  1861  put  up  his  first  press  in  Cincinnati.  It  was 
not  a  perfect  machine,  but  it  was  a  step  to  the  right  direction,  and  he 
finally  improved  it  so  that  his  press  printed  and  delivered  8,000  sheets 
per  hour.     Messrs.  R.  Hoe  &  Co.  had  not  been  idle.     Taking  advantage 


524  History  of  Savannah. 

of  the  experiments  of  others,  and  with  their  thorough  knowledge  of  what 
was  needed  by  newspapers,  they  set  to  work  and  produced  a  thoroughly 
satisfactory  and  rapid  perfecting  press,  which  for  speed,  economy,  sim- 
plicity and  good  workmanship  excelled  all  other  machines  then  in  exist- 
ence. 

The  smaller  newspapers  looked  on  amazed  at  the  increasing  demands 
upon  their  capital  to  meet  the  expense  of  such  machines.  The  price 
simply  placed  them  beyond  reach.  The  few  newspaper  men  of  this  class 
who  had  enough  money  to  buy  one  were  more  inclined  to  retire  from 
business  than  to  spend  their  all  for  a  press.  However,  their  hopes  of  a 
cheaper  perfecting  press,  one  suitable  to  the  wants  of  the  lesser  dailies, 
were  realized  when  a  few  years  ago  Hoe  &  Co.  invented  the  perfecting 
press  to  print  from  movable  type.  This  machine,  costing  about  $30,000,  • 
was  at  once  put  into  a  number  of  offices.  In  1884,  however,  the  same 
firm  invented  a  new  machine,  to  print  from  stereotype  plates,  of  much 
more  simple  mechanism.  But  three  of  these  presses  had  been  built 
when  one  was  ordered  from  Messrs.  Hoe  &  Co.  for  the  Morning  News. 
The  introduction  of  the  web  perfecting  press  marked  a  new  era  in  the 
newspaper  business  in  Savannah. 

The  Morning  News  building  is  six  stories  high  (with  a  well- lighted 
basement),  and  is  surmounted  by  a  two-story  tower. 

The  first  floor  of  the  building  on  the  corner  of  Whitaker  street  and 
Bay  lane  is  used  exclusively  for  the  business  department.  The  space  in 
front  of  the  counter  is  paved  with  colored  tiles.  A  neat  iron  railing  en- 
closes two-thirds  of  the  floor,  and  inside  is  divided  into  the  cashier's,  the 
subscription  clerk's  and  the  advertising  departments.  In  the  rear  is  the 
proprietor's  private  office  and  another  room  for  business  purposes. 

Just  here  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  state  that  the  Morning  News 
consists  of  the  two  distinct  establishments  under  one  name,  and  one  man- 
agement, namely  the  Morning  News  newspaper  and  the  Morning  News 
Steam  Printing  House.  To  those  who  are  not  familiar  with  its  businesses 
it  appears  to  be  all  one  homogeneous  concern,  but  to  those  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  wo.rkings  it  is  distinctly  and  positively  two  businesses. 
One  half  of  the  building,  namely,  on  the  corner  of  Bay  lane,  is  almost 
exclusively  used  for  the  purpose  of  publishing  and  printing  the  Daily  and 
Weekly  Morning  News,  while  the  other  half  is  entirely  devoted  to  book 
and  job  printing,  lithographing  and  blank  book  manufacturing. 


The  Press.  525 


The  room  next  to  the  business  office  is  the  headquarters  of  the  job 
departments.  Reams  of  papers  of  all  kinds,  and  the  variety  is  legion, 
are  piled  upon  the  tables  and  shelves — cards  and  card  boards,  envelopes, 
and  everything  needed  in  a  business  which  includes  the  printing  of  a 
visiting  card  to  a  big  three-^heet  poster,  or  from  a  city  directory  to  a 
mammoth  ledger. 

Speaking  tubes  connect  this  floor  with  each  workroom,  and  an  Otis 
passenger  and  freight  elevator  gives  ready  communication  with  the  floors 
above  and  below.  Speaking  tubes  and  a  dumb  waiter  also  give  ready 
means  of  communication  between  the  counting  room  and  the  editorial, 
reportorial  and  newspaper  composing  rooms. 

The  Savannah  Daily  Times  which  is  the  first  successful  evening  daily 
ever  published  in  Savannah,  was  founded  December  i,  1882,  by  Richardr 
son  &  McNulty.  Mr,  B.  H.  Richardson  had  been  connected  with  the 
Morning  Neivs  for  several  years,  most  of  the  time  as  city  editor.  Alexis 
McNulty  had  been  bookkeeper  for  the  publisher  of  the  same  paper. 
They  started  by  issuing  a  four-page,  six- column  paper.  The  first  of  the 
year  they  increased  the  number  of  columns  to  seven.  Afterwards  it  was 
enlarged  to  an  eight-column  paper.  In  the  course  of  a  year  or  two  Mr. 
Richardson's  name  appeared  alone  as  the  publisher,  his  associate  having 
retired.  E.  M.  W.  Johnston,  a  briUiant  young  writer  occupied  the  chief 
editorial  chair  for  a  year  or  more,  and  then  Captain  W.  T.  Waller  filled 
it,  Mr.  Richardson  acting  as  business  manager  and  managing  editor. 
After  changing  the  form  of  the  paper  to  eight  pages,  six  columns  to  a 
page,  and  publishing  it  in  that  form  for  two  years  he  sold  his  interest  and 
Gazaway  Hartridge,  esq,  took  charge  on  January  i,  1887.  Mr.  Hart- 
ridge  is  managing  editor  and  president  of  the  Savannah  Times  Publish- 
ing Company.  The  Sunday  morning  edition  of  the  Times  was  discon- 
tinued in  1885. 

Under  its  present  management  the  Times  has  been  markedly  im- 
proved. It  is  Democratic  and  has  a  reputation  for  reliability,  impartialty 
and  independence.  The  measure  of  its  prosperity  may  be  judged  by 
the  fact  that  within  fifteen  months  after  it  passed  into  the  control  of  the 
present  management,  it  had  built  a  handsome  new  home,  three  stories 
high,  on  Bryan  street,  near  Drayton,  and  was  fitted  out  with  new  presses, 
new  type  and  new  machinery,  so  that  it  is  now  fully  equipped.     It  receives 


526  History  of  Savannah. 

the  United  Press  dispatches  and  has  the  largest  city  circulation  of  any- 
paper  daily  or  weekly. 

For  over  thirty  years  William  T.  Thompson  was  editor  of  the  Morn- 
ing News.  He  was  a  man  of  well-known  literary  ability  and  author  of 
"  Major  Jones'  Courtship."  Associated  with  him  at  different  periods  as 
editorial  writers  were  Major  T.  A.  Burke,  E.  O.  Withington,  J.  N.  Car- 
doza,  Dr.  James  S.  Jones  and  Z.  W.  Mason.  For  a  number  of  years 
Joel  Chandler  Harris  of  world-wide  reputation  as  a  humorist,  was  associate 
editor  upon  the  News. 

The  Evening  Journai  made  its  appearance  in  1851,  edited  by  J.  B. 
Cubbidge.  The  following  year  the  Savannah  Daily  Courier  was  started 
by  S.  T.  Chapman,  and  the  Evening  Mirror  by  W.  B.  Harrison.  The 
Mirror  had  but  a  brief  existence,  and  the  Jonrnal  and  Courier  were 
merged  into  one  paper,  known  as  the  Journal  and  Courier  and  published 
by  Chapman  &  Cubbidge.  Mr.  Chapman  died  in  1854,  when  the  paper 
was  suspended  for  a  short  time  until  it  was  purchased  by  R.  B.  Hilton. 
In  1857  it  w^s  merged  in  the  Georgian  and  the  consolidated  papers  were 
published  under  the  name  of  the  Georgian  and  Journal. 

In  1859  the  Evening  Express  was  started  by  Ambrose  Spencer  and 
J.  H.  Estill.     Its  publication  discontinued  in  i860. 

The  Daily  Advertiser,  a  free  circulating  journal  was  first  isBued  in 
September  1865,  by  Theodore  Hamilton  and  M.  J.  Divine.  George  N. 
Nichols  soon  after  purchased  the  paper,  and  under  his  management  it  was 
twice  enlarged.  In  January  1868,  it  was  again  enlarged  and  changed  to 
a  subscription  paper  under  the  editorial  management  of  S.  Yates  Levy. 
Mr.  Levy  was  a  bold  and  vigorous  writer  and  during  the  reconstruction 
period  so  keen  were  his  articles  upon  the  tyrannical  action  of  the  military 
that  an  order  was  sent  from  General  Meade  to  either  suppress  the  paper 
or  moderate  the  tone  of  its  editorials.  Soon  after  Mr.  Levy  was  obliged 
through  military  pressure  to  retire  from  the  editorial  chair.  Edward  L. 
Beard  and  George  G.  Kimball  then  took  control  of  the  paper  and  con- 
ducted it  for  a  short  time  as  a  free  journal. 

The  Georgia  Fatnilien  Journal  is  an  eight  page  German  weekly. 
It  is  published  every  Saturday,  and  has  a  large  circulation  in  Georgia, 
North  and  South  Carolina,  Florida  and  Alabama. 

The  Savannah  Local  was  first  issued  as  a  free  journal  in  1877,  by  Mr. 


Public  Libraries.  527 


Ely  Otto.  In  1878  its  name  was  changed  to  the  Penny  Local,  when 
it  became  a  subscription  paper.  In  January,  1885,  its  name  was  changed 
to  the  Savannah  Local.  It  is  published  weekly  as  an  independent  family 
journal,  but  favors  the  prohibition  cause.  Ely  Otto  is  editor  and  pro- 
prietor. 

The  other  newspapers  of  Savannah  are  the  Savannah  Independent 
and  Brotherhood  and  the  Savannah  Tribune.  Both  are  weekly  publica- 
tions. The  former  is  devoted  to  secret  society  news  and  is  published  by 
W.  Orr  &  Co.  ;  the  latter  is  published  in  the  interest  of  the  colored 
people. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

LITERARY,  ART  AND  SCIENTIFIC  INSTITUTIONS  AND  SPECIAL  FEAT- 
URES OF  ATTRACTION. 

Georgia  Historical  Society  —  Catholic  Library  Association — Telfair  Academy,  Arts 
and  Sciences — Savannah  Parks  and  Suburban  Attractions — Forsyth  Park  —  Parade 
Ground — Beaulieu — Tybee  Island — Thunderbolt — Isle  of  Hope — Jasper  Springs — Dau- 
fuskie  Island — Bonaventure — Laurel  Grove  Cemetery — Cathedral  Cemetery — Greene, 
Confederate,  Gordon  and  Jasper  Monuments. 

JUST  eighty  years  ago,  on  January  6,  1809,  a  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Exchange  attended  by  men  of  all  professions  and  callings — the  law- 
yer, the  physician,  the  minister,  the  merchant,  the  plain  citizen — called 
together  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  public  library  in  Savannah. 
There  were  seventy-one  gentlemen  present,  among  them  we  find  the 
names  of  Rev.  Henry  Kollock,  Dr.  Lemuel  Kollock,  John  M.  Berrien, 
Dr.  J.  Bond  Read,  James  M.  Wayne,  Charles  Harris,  Dr.  John  Gum- 
ming, Dr.  John  Grimes,  George  Woodruff,  William  T.  Williams,  Alex- 
ander Telfair,  James  Bilbo,  Dr.  J.  E.  White,  William  B.  Bulloch,  George 
Jones,  A.  G.  Oemler,  D.  T.  Bartow,  Alfred  Cuthbert,  John  Bolton,  Will- 
iam Gaston,  A.  Low,  J.  P.  Williamson,  Dr.  William  Parker,  Hugh  Mc- 
Call,  Thomas  Young.  These  names  are  intimately  associated  with  Sa- 
vannah history.     They,  as  well  as  the  remainder  of  the  seventy-one, 


528  History  of  Savannah. 

have  all  passed  away  but  the  work  they  inaugurated  has  been  fruitful  for 
good  beyond  the  power  of  calculation.  The  assemblage  of  such  a  num- 
ber of  prominent  citizens  out  of  as  small  a  population  as  Savannah  then 
possessed  is  a  proof  of  an  interest  in  literary  matters  at  that  period,  which 
it  is  doubtful  has  grown  with  the  city's  growth  and  strength. 

This  meeting  was  the  initiatory  step  toward  the  formation  of  the  Sa- 
vannah Library  Society,  and  at  a  subsequent  meeting  held  on  the  6th 
of  March,  following,  a  constitution  and  by-laws  were  adopted.  Dr.  John 
Gumming  was  elected  chairman,  A.  G.  Oemler,  librarian,  and  the  name 
of  the  Savannah  Library  Society  was  adopted.  A  room  in  the  second 
story  of  the  Chatham  Academy  was  secured  for  library  purposes  which 
they  were  permitted  to  use  free  of  charge. 

Hon.  John  MacPherson  Berrien  succeeded  Dr.  John  Gumming  chair- 
man, in  1810  by  the  title  of  president  and  continued  in  that  office  until 
1818  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Kollock.  After  the 
death  of  Dr.  Kollock,  the  presidents  were  in  succession,  Alexander  Tel- 
fair, John  G.  NicoU,  R.  W.  Habersham,  A.  Telfair,  W.  W.  Gordon,  Dr. 
Gosmo  P.  Richardsone,  M.  H.  McAllister. 

The  society  did  not  flourish.  In  1837  it  nearly  collapsed.  In  1838 
a  new  impetus  was  given  it  principally  through  the  exertions  of  Gaptain 
William  Grabtree,  jr.,  and  Homes  Tupper.  In  the  latter  year  the  follow- 
ing officers  were  elected:  President,  H.  M.  McAllister;  vice-president, 
William  Grabtree,  jr., ;  secretary  and  treasurer,  W.  Morel;  managers. 
Rev.  George  White,  R.  W.  Pooler,  A.  G.  Oemler,  R.  D.  Arnold,  Homes 
Tupper. 

In  1838  Mr.  William  Morel  resigned  as  secretary,  treasurer  and  libra- 
rian and  Gaptain  William  Bee  was  elected  in  his  place.  In  1839  the 
same  officers  were  elected,  except  that  J.  Wray  was  substituted  as  man- 
ager in  place  of  Rev.  George  White. 

Georgia  Historical  Library. — It  was  in  the  spring  of  1839  that  a  new 
movement  was  inaugurated  to  establish  another  society  for  the  purpose 
of  rescuing  from  oblivion  the  records  of  the  past  and  furnishing  authen- 
tic data  for  the  history  of  Georgia.  The  origin  of  this  society  is  given 
in  the  second  volume  of  the  "Georgia  Historical  Gollections,"from  which 
the  following  is  quoted  : 

"  The  necessity  of  some  historical  institution  had  long  been  felt  by 


Georgia  Historical  Society.  529 

literary  mea,  but  no  effort  had  ever  been  made  for  its  establishment. 
The  splendid  autographical  collection  of  I.  K.  Tefft,  esq.,  together  with 
the  many  valuable  documents  in  his  possession  pertaining  to  the  colonial 
and  revolutionary  history  of  Georgia,  suggested  the  importance  of  such 
a  society  and  it  was  immediately  determined  by  Mr.  Tefft  and  Mr.  Will- 
iam B.  Stevens  to  proceed  witliout  delay  to  its  formation.  This  measure 
was  first  decided  on  toward  the  close  of  April,  1839,  and  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Mr.  Tefft,  the  latter  endeavored  to  prepare  the  way  and  awaken 
attention  to  the  subject  by  two  articles  on  this  topic,  which  appeared  in 
the  Savannah  Georgian  of  May  following.  These  individuals  were 
now  joined  by  a  third,  Richard  D.  Arnold,  M.D." 

On  May  24,'  1839,  a  meeting  was  held  at  the  Savannah  Society  room 
in  pursuance  of  a  call  signed  by  I.  K.  Tefft,  R,  D.  Arnold  and  W.  B. 
Stevens.  At  an  adjourned  meeting  held  on  June  4,  following,  the  society 
was  fully  organized  by  the  adoption  of  a  constitution  and  by-laws,  and 
the  election  of  the  following  officers  :  President,  Hon.  John  McPherson 
Berrien  ;  vice-presidents,  Hon.  James  W.  Wayne,  Hon.  W.  B.  Bulloch ; 
corresponding  secretary,  I.  K.  Tefft ;  recording  secretary,  William  Bacon 
Stevens;  treasurer,  George  W.  Hunter;  hbrarian,  Henry  Kirk  Preston; 
curators,  William  Thorne  Williams,  Charles  S.  Henry,  John  C.  Nicolls 
William  Law,  Richard  D.  Arnold,  Robert  M.  Charlton,  Mathew  Hall 
McAllister. 

At  the  session  of  the  Georgia  Legislature  of  1839  the  society  was 
duly  incorporated,  and  it  was  made  the  custodian  of  the  copies  of  the 
manuscript  in  the  State  paper  office  at  London,  relating  to  the  history  of 
Georgia  which  has  been  transcribed  by  the  Rev.  C.  W.  Howard  as  agent 
of  the  State. 

In  the  act  of  incorporation  the  following  names  appear  as  the  origi- 
nal incorporators  of  the  society:  J.  M.  Berrien,  James  M.  Wayne,  M.  H. 
McAllister,  I.  K.  Tefft,  Wm.  B.  Stevens,  Geo.  W.  Hunter,  H.  K.  Pres- 
ton, Wm.  T.  Williams,  C.  S.  Henry,  J.  C.  Nicoll,  Wm.  Law,  R.  M. 
Charlton,  R.  D.  Arnold,  A.  A.  Smets,  J.  W.  Anderson,  Wm.  B.  Bulloch, 
J.  H.  Burroughs,  J.  Balfour,  Wm.  H.  Bulloch,  T.  B.  Bartow,  James  Barn- 
ard, Morgan  Brown,  G.  B.  Gumming,  Solomon  Cohen,  Joseph  Gum- 
ming, D.  C.  Campbell,  J.  H.  Couper,  W.  A.  Caruthers,  W.  H.  Cuyler, 
Edward  Coppee,  Wm.  Crabtree,  jr.,  Arichibald  Clarke,  Wm.  Duncan, 


530  History  of  Savannah. 

Wm.  C.  Daniell,  Geo.  M.  Dudley,  J.  De  La  Motta,  jr.,  J.  S.  Fay,  S.  H. 
Fay,  W.  B.  Fleming,  J.  F.  Griffin,  Robert  Habersham,  W.  Neyle  Haber- 
sham, J.  C.  Habersham,  E.  J.  Harden,  S.  L.  W.  Harris,  Geo.  Jones,  J. 
W.  Jackson,  P.  M.  Kollock,  G  J.  Kollock,  Ralph  King,  T.  B.  King, 
Wm.  McWhir,  J.  B.  Mallard,  John  Millen,  W.  H.  Miller,  J.  S.  Morel,  M. 
Myers,  J.  F.  O'Neill,  E.  Neufville,  E.  A.  Nisbit,  A.  Porter,  Thos.  Paine, 
Willard  Preston,  Edward  Padelford,  Thos.  Purse,  R.  W.  Pooler,  Wm. 
Robertson,  L.  O.  Reynolds,  J.  Bond  Read,  R.  H.  Randolph,  F.  M. 
Robertson,  George  Schley,  James  Smith,  Wm.  H.  Stiles,  B.  E.  Stiles,  J. 
L.  Shaffer,  Chas.  Stephens,  Wm.  P.  White,  John  E.  Ward,  George 
White. 

The  Georgia  Historical  Society  and  the  Savannah  Library  Society 
continued  to  occupy  the  same  room  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Bay  lane 
and  Whitaker  street,  but  maintained  separate  organization,  until  in  June, 
1S47,  when  a  union  was  effected,  by  which  the  Georgia  Historical  be- 
came the  possessor  of  the  books — some  2,500 — and  other  property  of 
the  Savannah  Library  Society. 

In  June,  1849,  the  society  took  possession  of  quarters  on  Bryan 
street  in  a  building  erected  for  its  use  by  private  donation  and  the  liber- 
ality of  the  city  council.  In  this  building,  which  still  stands,  the  upper 
story  was  devoted  to  library  purposes  while  the  lower  floor  was  occupied 
by  the  Farmers'  and  Mechanics'  Bank  until  the  close  of  1865. 

The  present  home  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society  is  located  on  the 
corner  of  Whitaker  and  Gaston  streets,  fronting  on  Forsyth  park.  It  is 
known  as  Hodgson  Hall.  This  fine  building  was  erected  by  Mrs.  Mar- 
garet Telfair  Hodgson  (ttee  Telfair)  as  a  memorial  to  her  husband,  Mr. 
William  B.  Hodgson,  who  was  an  active  member  of  the  society  during 
his  life  in  Savannah.  Th°  building  94x41  feet  was  begun  in  1873,  but 
Mrs.  Hodgson  dying  without  making  formal  provision  for  its  construc- 
tion, her  elder  sister.  Miss  Mary  Telfair,  took  up  the  work  and  being 
Mrs.  Hodgson's  residuary  legatee,  made  a  deed  in  trust  of  the  lot  and 
building  thereon,  the  residuary  estate  being  charged  with  the  expense  of 
completing  the  structure.  Miss  Telfair  died  in  1874,  but  the  work  was 
carried  on  agreeably  to  the  legal  term  of  the  deed  and  in  September, 
1875,  the  library  of  the  society  occupied  Hodgson  Hall.  The  formal 
dedication   took  place  on  the  thirty- seventh  anniversary  of  the  society, 


Georgia  Historical  Society.  531 

February  14,  1876,  upon  which  occasion  was  unveiled  the  full  length 
portrait  of  Mr.  Hodgson  which  was  painted  by  Mr.  Carl  L.  Brandt. 

The  society  has  some  16,000  volumes  and  has  published  several  his- 
torical works  of  value  relating  to  Georgia  and  the  city  of  Savannah. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  officers  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society, 
from  its  organization,  June  4,  1839. 

Presidents. — Hon.  John  M.  Berrien,  June  4,  1839,  to  February  12, 
1841,  and  February  13,  1854,  to  January  i,  1856;  Hon.  James  M. 
Wayne,  February  12,  1841,  to  February  13,  1854,  and  February  12, 
1856,  to  February  17,  1862;  Hon.  Charles  S.  Henry,  February  17, 
1862,  to  August  19,  1864;  Right  Rev.  Stephen  Elliott,  D.U.,  Septem- 
ber 12,  1864,  to  December  21,  1866;  John  Stoddard,  esq.,  February  12, 

1867,  to  February    12,    1868;   Hon.   Edward  J.  Harden,    February   12, 

1868,  to  April  19,  1873  ;  George  W.  J.  DeRenne,  esq.,  June  2,  1873,  to 
March  2,  1874;   Hon.  Henry  R.  Jackson,  elected  March  2,  1874. 

First  Vice-Presidents — Hon.  James  M.  Wayne,  June  4,  1839,  to 
February  12,  1841  ;  Matthew  H.  McAllister,  esq.,  February  12,  i84i,to 
February  12,  1851;  Hon.  Charles  S.  Henry,  February  12,  1851,  to  Feb- 
ruary 17,  1862;  Right  Rev.  Stephen  Elliott,  D.D.,  February  17,  1862, 
to  September  12,  1864;  John  Stoddard,  esq.,  September  12,  1864,  to 
February  12,  1867;  Hon.  Solomon  Cohen,  February  12,  1867,  to  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1868;  William  M.  Charters,  M.D..  February  12,  1868,  to  Jan- 
uary 6,  1883;  General  G.  Moxley  Sorrel,  February  12,  1883,  to  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1889;  Colonel  John  Screven  elected  February  12,  1889. 

Second  Vice-Presidents. — William  B.  Bulloch,  esq.,  June  4,  1839,  to 
February  12,  1841;  Hon.  William  Law,  February  12,  1841,  to  February 
12,  1853;  Right  Rev.  Stephen  Elliott,  D.D.,  February  12,  1853,  to  Feb- 
ruary 17,  1862  ;  John  Stoddard,  esq.,  February  17,  1862,  to  September 
12,  1864;  Hon.  Solomon  Cohen,  September  12,  1864,  to  February  12, 
1867;  Hon.  Edward  J.  Harden,  February  12,  1867,  to  February  12, 
1868;  General  Alexander  R.  Lawton,  February  12,  1868,  to  February 
14,  1870;  Juriah  Harriss,  M.D.,  February  14,  1870,  to  November  7, 
1876;  General  G.  Moxley  Sorrell,  February  12,  1877,  to  February  12, 
1883  ;  General  Alexander  R.  Lawton,  February  12,  1883,  to  February 
12,  1888;  Colonel  John  Screven,  February  12,  1888,  to  February  12, 
1889;  Colonel  C.  H.  Olmstead,  elected  February  12,  1889. 


532  History  of  Savannah. 

Corresponding  Secretaries. — Israel  K.  Tefift,  esq.,  June  4,  1839,  to 
December  12,  1853,  and  February  13,  1854,  to  June  30,  1862;  Alexan- 
der A.  Smets,  esq.,  December  12,  1853,  to  February  13,  1854;  Colonel 
Charles  C.  Jones,  jr.,  July  14,  1862,  to  February  12,  1866;  Richard  D. 
Arnold,  M.D.,  February  12,  1866,  to  February  14,  1870;  William  Gray- 
son Mann,  esq.,  February  14,  1870,  to  July  4,  1881;  William  W.  Paine, 
February  13,  1882,  to  August  5,  1882;  Captain  Robert  Falligant, 
elected  February  12,  1883. 

Recording  Secretaries. — Right  Rev.  William  Bacon  Stevens,  D.D., 
June  4,  1839,  to  February  12,  1842  ;  Henry  K.  Preston,  esq.,  February 
12,  1842,  to  February  12,  1844;  Richard  D.  Arnold,  M.D.,  February 
12,  1844,  to  February  13,  1854;  Rev.  J.  P.  Tustin,  February  13,  1854, 
to  February  12,  1855  ;  William  S.  Basinger,  esq.,  February  12,  1855,  to 
February  12,  1856;  R.  C.  Mackall,  M.D.,  February  12,  1856,  to  No- 
vember 10,  1856;  Easton  Yonge,  M.D.,  November  10,  1856,  to  Febru- 
ary 15,  1880;  Samuel  B.  Adams,  esq..  May  3,  1880,  to  February  12, 
1884;  William  N.  Holt,  esq.,  February  12,  1884,  until  his  death;  Chas. 
N.  West,  March  1887,  to  February  £2,  1889;  Beirine  Gordon,  esq., 
elected  February  12,  1889. 

Treasurers. — George  Wallace  Hunter,  esq,  June  4,  1839,  ^  Febru- 
ary  12,  1841 ;  Hon.  Solomon   Cohen,  February    12,  1841,  to  February 

12,  1844;  Hon.  Edward  J.  Harden,  February  12,  1844,  to  February  13, 
1854;  William  S.  Basinger,  esq.,  February  13,  1854,  to  February  12, 
1855  ;  Alexander  A.  Smets,  esq.,  February  12,  1855,  to  May  9,  1862; 
William  S.  Bogart,  esq.,  elected  July  14,  1862. 

Librarians. — Henry  K.  Preston,  esq.,  June  4,  1839,  to  February  12, 
1842,  and  February  12,  1844,  to  February  12,  1847;  Right  Rev.  Will- 
iam Bacon  Stevens,  D.D.,  February  12,  1842,  to  February  13,  1843  ; 
Alexander  A.  Smets,  esq.,  February  13,  1843,  to  February  12,  1844  ; 
Robert  H.  Griffin,  esq.,  February  12,  1847,  to  February  12,  1848  ;  Rich- 
ard D.  Arnold,  M.D.,  February  12,  1848,  to  February  12,  1849;  Chas. 
E.  Tefft,  esq.,  February  12,  1850,  to  February  12,  185 1  ;  Louis  Knorr, 
M.D.,  March  12,  1 851,  to  February  12,  1853;  John  B.  Mallard,  esq.,  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1853,  to  February  13,  1854;  Rev.  William  Epping,  February 

13,  1854,  to  February  12,  1857;  James  F.  Cann,  esq.,  February  12,  1857, 
to  February  12,  1868;  John  S.  F.  Lancaster,  esq.,  February  12,  1868, 
to  July  5,  1869;  William  Harden,  esq.,  elected  July  5,  1869. 


The  Telfair  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.         533 

Savannah  has  two  other  Hbrary  associations,  the  Catholic  Library 
Association  and  the  Youths'  Historical  Society.  The  former  was  or- 
ganized in  1877  and  has  a  library  of  1,000  volumes  and  a  membership 
of  125.  The  officers  are:  P.  F.  Gleason,  president;  W.  P.  Dowling, 
vice-president;  J.J.  Gleason,  financial  secretary;  J.  F.  Harty,  recording 
secretary ;  J.  P.  Doolan,  secretary.  The  library  hall  is  located  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  Drayton  and  McDonough. 

The  Youths'  Historical  Society  was  organized  in  1874  and  has  a  li- 
brary of  about  1,500  volumes.  The  officers  are  :  M.  S.  Herman,  presi- 
dent; H.  H.  Hayms,  treasurer;   A.  E.  Dryfus,  librarian. 

The  Telfair  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  is  comparatively  a  new 
factor  in  the  artistic  and  scientific  life  of  Savannah,  and  owes  its  existence 
to  the  public  spirit  and  liberality  of  Miss  Mary  Telfair,  who  died  in  1874. 
At  her  death  she  left  it  in  trust  to  the  Georgia  Historical  Society,  the 
family  homestead,  with  her  books,  pictures,  and  statuary,  for  a  perpet- 
ual art  and  science  academy.  The  will  was  contested  and  several  years 
were  passed  in  litigation  over  the  matter,  but  its  validity  was  finally  es- 
tablished, and  on  the  3d  of  May,  1886,  the  home  of  the  Telfair  family  in 
Savannah  was  dedicated  and  opened  as  the  Telfair  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Science.  It  is  located  on  Telfair  place  formerly  known  as  St.  James 
square.  It  is  a  handsome  building,  with  ample  room  and  finely  adapted 
to  the  purposes  intended.  Although  in  comparative  infancy,  it  has  been 
enriched  with  many  fine  paintings  and  products  of  the  sculptor's  art.  It 
is  under  the  control  and  management  of  a  special  committee  of  the 
Georgia  Historical  Library,  and  since  it  was  opened  Carl  L.  Brandt,  an 
artist  of  decided  ability,  has  been  its  director.  Mainly  through  Mr. 
Brandt's  efforts  it  may  truthfully  be  said  the  academy  has  made  more 
than  a  fair  beginning  towards  making  Savannah  one  of  the  art  centers  of 
the  country. 

Forsyth  Park,  the  principle  pleasure  ground  in  Savannah,  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  parks  in  the  United  States,  and  one  of  which  the  citizens 
are  especially  proud.  It  was  laid  out  by  the  city  council,  in  185  i,  and 
was  named  in  honor  of  John  Forsyth,  at  that  time  minister  to  Spain,  but 
who  had  previously  served  the  Commonwealth  of  Georgia  in  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  and  as  governor.  The  park  contains  about 
twenty  acres  which- are  laid  off  in  serpentine  walks  and  grass-plots,  inter- 


534  History  of  Savannah. 

spersed  with  clumps  of  flowers,  fanciful  mounds  and  structures  of  ivy  and 
other  luxuriant  runners  and  climbers.  The  forest  of  stately  pines  con- 
trasting charmingly  with  the  variety  of  trees  of  smaller  growth  and  na- 
tive scrubs,  is  perhaps  the  most  pleasing  feature  of  the  park.  A  neat  iron 
fence  incloses  the  grounds.  The  main  gates,  fronting  on  Bull  street,  are 
capped  with  unexploded  shells,  memorials  of  the  civil  war,  and  open 
upon  the  broad  walk,  guarded  at  the  entrance  by  sphinxes,  which  leads  to 
the  artistic  fountain  that  graces  the  center  of  the  park.  This  fountain  is 
said  by  some  to  have  been  modeled  after  the'  design  that  took  the  prize 
at  the  first  international  exhibition  at  London  in  1844,  while  others  claim 
it  to  be  a  copy  of  the  fountain  in  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  Paris.  The 
basin  of  the  fountain  bears  the  broad,  verdant  leaves  of  water  lilies  upon 
its  bosom,  the  whole  encircled  by  a  partej-re  of  exquisite  flower  bearers, 
within  an  abundant  well-kept  hedge  of  enonymus,  sustained  by  a  solid 
iron  railing. 

The  main  plan  of  the  park  was  designed  by  William  Bischoff,  a  dis- 
tinguished landscape  gardener  in  his  native  country,  Bavaria.  John  B. 
Hogg  somewhat  altered  and  modified  the  original  plans,  and  to  the  skill 
and  taste  of  both  of  these  gentlemen  the  city  is  indebted  tor  the  pleasing 
effect  the  park  presents,  its  greatest  charm  being  its  modesty,  simplicity, 
and  the  unique  conservation  of  the  native  forest  pine. 

South  of  Forsyth  Park  is  the  "extension"  or  parade  ground  of  the 
volunteer  soldiery  of  Savannah,  containing  about  thirty  acres  which  are 
yet  unadorned  except  by  a  few  trees  and  the  Confederate  monument. 
The  boundaries  of  Forsyth  Park  and  extension  are  Gaston  street  on  the 
north,  Drayton  on  the  east,  New  Houston  on  the  south,  and  Whitaker 
on  the  west. 

The  country  around  Savannah  is  beautiful  in  its  peculiarities  of  land- 
scape, com>posed  of  forest,  swamp,  highland  and  lowland,  all  richly  dressed 
in  luxuriant  green  of  many  shades,  lighted  here  and  there  with  the  va- 
ried brilliant  colors  of  leaves  and  flowers.  It  is  in- the  main  a  flat  country, 
but  its  majestic  oaks,  magnolias,  towering  pines,  and  an  underwood  of  un- 
surpassed variety  and  beauty  of  foliage,  furnish  pictures  of  exquisite  soft- 
ness and  hue.  Savannah  is  therefore  fortunate  in  her  suburban  relations. 
Bonaventure,  Beaulieu,  Daufuskie  Island,  White  Bluff",  Bethesda,  Thun- 
derbolt, Isle  of  Hope,  Jasper  Spring,  Battery  Park,  and  Tybee  Island,  all 


Suburban  Resorts.  535 


of  easy  access  from  the  city,  present  many  attractions  to  the  tourist,  in- 
dependent of  their  historical  associations. 

BeauHeu,  a  charming  spot  on  the  Vernon  River,  only  a  few  miles  from 
Savannah,  was  originally  a  plantation  of  five  hundred  acres,  granted  to 
William  Stevens,  president  of  the  colonial  council,  and  confirmed  by  Gen- 
eral Oglethorpe.  He  gave  it  the  present  name  on  account  of  the  fancied 
resemblance  of  the  place  to  Beaulie,  a  manor  of  His  Grace,  the  Duke  of 
Montgomery.  By  some  the  name  was  spelled  Biewly ;  how  it  was 
changed  to  Beaulieu  is  not  ascertained.  Upon  Steven's  settlement  of 
the  place,  the  few  residents  were  constantly  annoyed  by  predatory  at- 
tacks from  the  Indians  and  Spaniards,  and  were  compelled  to  fortify  their 
huts  in  order  to  retain  possession.  The  place  was,  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  occupied  by  a  small  force  of  British  troops.  On  Sunday, 
the  1 2th  of  September,  1779,  Colonel  Thomas  Pinckney,  with  a  com- 
mand of  1,200  men  sent  from  the  fleet  of  Count  D'Estaing  in  long 
boats,  landed  at  Beaulieu,  the  British  troops  to  the  number  of  thirty  re- 
tiring upon  their  approach.  It  is  stated,  owing  to  the  men  under  Pinck- 
ney being  exposed  in  the  boats,  that  had  this  little  handful  of  "  red  coats" 
made  any  resistance,  a  landing  could  not  have  been  effected  without 
very  serious  loss,  and  possibly  the  patriot  forces  might  not  have  been  en- 
abled to  accompHsh  their  object  at  all.  Several  skirmishes  between  the 
opposing  forces  subsequently  took  place  at  and  around  Beaulieu. 

The  place  is  delightfully  located,  and  is  now  the  site  of  a  number  of 
beautiful  residences:  It  is  about  seven  miles  from  the'  ocean,  and  is  in 
every  respect  a  most  charming  location.  The  surroundings  of  the  place 
are  picturesque,  and  elicit  admiration  of  all  visitors. 

Tybee  Island  has  become  the  most  popular  and  valuable  resort  near 
the  city.  It  is  an  ocean-washed  island  at  the  entrance  of  the  Savannah 
harbor.  The  recently  completed  Savannah  and  Tybee  Railroad,  by 
means  of  which  the  island  is  easily  reached,  has  had  a  powerful  effect  in 
popularizing  the  place.  It  is  one  of  the  chains  of  islands  extending, 
along  the  sea-coast  from  Charleston,  South  Carolina  to  Fernandina,  Flor- 
ida, and  on  its  lovely  beach,  four  miles  long,  the  waves  of  the  Atlantic 
roll  up  in  gentle  surf  inviting,  to  safe  and  delightful  bathing.  Near  the 
light-house  on  the  north  end  of  the  island,  is  the  Martello  Tower,  a  not- 
able object  of  interest  to  tourists.     It  is  supposed  to  have  been  built  by 


536  History  of  Savannah. 

the  Spaniards  who  visited  the  island  before  Oglethorpe's  time.  Tybee 
Island  is  noted  in  American  history  as  the  scene  of  the  first  capture  of 
a  British  vessel  by  an  American  commissioned  man-of-war  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  while  it  was  an  important 
point  during  the  late  civil  war.  In  the  last  few  years  many  improve- 
ments have  been  made  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  thousands  who  visit  the 
island  in  summer,  and  there  are  now  to  be  found  comfortable  hotels  on 
the  front  beach,  in  immediate  sight  of  the  ocean.  Several  residences 
and  cottages  in  addition  give  the  place  the  appearance  of  a  first-class 
sea-side  village. 

Thunderbolt  another  popular  resort  with  the  citizens  of  Savannah,  is 
situated  on  the  branch  of  the  Warsaw  River,  about  four  miles  from  the  city. 
It  is  reached  by  the  coast-line  railroad  of  which  it  is  the  terminus,  or  by 
the  shell  road.  It  is  a  small  village,  with  nothing  particularly  striking 
about  the  place  other  than  its  invigorating  sea  breeze,  fine  oaks,  delight- 
ful shade,  and  excellent  fish  and  oysters.  It  is  the  main  source  of  the 
supply  of  fish  and  oysters  for  the  Savannah  market.  According  to  local 
tradition,  the  place  received  its  name  from  the  fall  of  a  thunderbolt  and 
the  gushing  forth  of  a  spring  from  the  spot  where  the  bolt  struck.  The 
spring  is  pointed  out  with  faith  and  pride  by  the  old  inhabitants. 

Isle  of  Hope  is  a  pleasant  seacoast  village  on  the  Skidaway  River, 
six  and  a  half  miles  from  Savannah,  and  is  reached  by  railroad.  Its 
early  settlement  dates  back  to  1737.  Henry  Parker,  John  Fullafield  and 
Noble  Jones  were  the  first  settlers  and  proprietors,  the  last  of  whom  had 
a  fine  residence  at  the  south  end  known  as  "  Wormsloe,"  of  which  the 
ruins  can  yet  be  seen.  The  island  is  in  the  shape  of  a  horseshoe  and 
from  any  prominent  position  on  its  bluff,  overlooking  the  river,  a  good 
view  of  the  surrounding  country  may  be  had.  The  waters  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  abound  in  fish,  crabs  and  oysters,  and  it  is  considered  one 
of  the  most  healthful  resorts  on  the  coast.  • 

Jasper  Springs  is  located  on  the  Augusta  road,  about  two  miles  from 
the  city  and  is  noted  as  being  the  scene  of  the  bold  exploits  of  Sergeants 
Jasper  and  Newton,  previous  to  the  siege  of  Savannah.  Sergeant  Jas- 
per, after  his  gallantry  at  Fort  Moultrie,  was  granted  a  roving  commission 
by  Colonel  Moultrie,  commanding  the  Second  South  Carolina  Regiment, 
with  the  privilege  of  reforming  his  own  command.     The  scouts  of  Jas- 


-  V --i-;}  r (;r.Karn-py.  i> 


Suburban  Resorts.  537 


per's  were  of  great  assistance  to  the  American  army,  frequently  obtained 
valuable  information,  which  could  not  be  procured  in  any  other  way. 
At  one  time  Jasper  came  into  Savannah,  and  remained  here  several  days, 
during  which  time  he  collected  valuable  information  concerning  the  num- 
ber and  position  of  the  British  forces,  and  furnished  it  to  General  Lin- 
coln. On  one  occasion  Jasper  met,  near  Ebenezer,  a  lady  named  Mrs. 
Jones,  who  was  in  great  distress  about  her  husband.  He  had  taken  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  British  Government;  afterwards  joined  the 
American  army,  and  was  captured  by  the  British,  who  determined  to 
hang  him,  with  others  who  were  to  be  carried  to  Savannah,  in  fact  were 
then  on  the  way  to  the  city  for  that  purpose.  Jasper's  sympathies  were 
aroused,  and  he  promised  to  rescue  Jones  if  it  were  possible.  He  con- 
sulted Sergeant  Newton,  who  was  with  him,  but  no  definite  plan  was  ar- 
ranged, though  they  decided  to  follow  the  guard,  and  take  advantage  of 
what  opportunity  offered  for  accomplishing  their  purposes.  Early  the 
next  morning,  after  the  interview  between  Jasper  and  Mrs.  Jones,  a  guard 
of  British  soldiers,  comprising  a  sergeant,  a  corporal  and  eight  men,  left 
Ebenezer  for  Savannah,  with  the  prisoners  in  irons.  The  wives  and  chil- 
dren of  two  or  three  of  the  prisoners  followed.  Jasper  and  Newton  kept 
on  the  trail  of  the  party,  and  upon  coming  near  the  Spring,  got  ahead  of 
them  and  hid  in  the  bushes,  presuming,  as  the  sequel  proved  correctly, 
that  the  guard  would  halt  to  get  water,  and  a  chance  to  rescue  the  pris- 
oners would  be  presented.  Upon  reaching  a  point  in  the  road  opposite 
the  Spring,  which  was  pleasantly  located  in  the  grove,  the  guard  halted 
and  stacked  arms,  two  men  being  left  with  them  in  charge  of  the  pris- 
oners. The  rest  of  the  guard,  not  apprehending  the  slightest  danger, 
went  to  the  Spring.  Jasper  and  Newton  were  not  slow  to  appreciate  the 
situation,  and  creeping  up  to  the  sentinels  shot  them  down,  secured  the 
stack  of  muskets  and  called  on  the  guard,  (who  returned  hastily  from  the. 
Spring  upon  hearing  the  fire)  to  surrender.  The  Britishers  perceiving 
that  they  were  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  two  determined  men  con- 
cluded discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor  and  surrendered.  The 
irons  were  knocked  off  the  prisoners  and  placed  upon  the  soldiers  who 
were  conducted  to  the  American  camp  at  Purysburg.  The  Spring  is 
visited  every  year  by  hundreds  of  strangers  for  its  Iristorical  interest. 
The  water  is  pure  and  cool. 

68 


538  History  of  Savannah. 

Battery  Park  was  opened  in  the  summer  of  1880,  and  is  a  resort 
established  by  private  enterprise.  It  is  at  the  terminus  of  a  street  rail- 
way line  within  the  suburb  known  as  Brownville.  The  grounds  occupy 
a  portion  of  the  breastwork  for  a  battery  thrown  up  during  the  late  civil 
war  for  the  defense  of  Savannah.  Within  this  park  picnics  and  social 
parties  meet  during  the  summer.  Attached  to  the  grounds  is  a  good 
rifle  range  with  the  conveniences  for  target  shooting. 

Daufuskie  Island,  a  somewhat  historic  place,  is  another  point  of  in- 
terest on  the  coast  and  is  a  favorite  spot  for  excursion  parties.  The  island 
is  some  six  miles  in  length  and  has  ever  been  noted  for  the  abundance 
of  fish,  oysters,  crabs,  etc.,  to  be  obtained  in  the  waters  surrounding  it. 
Daufuskie  is  the  Indian  name  and  it  is  presumed  from  the  number  of 
mounds,  tomahawks  and  arrowheads  that  have  been,  discovered  that  it 
was  a  favorite  resort  of  the  red  men.  One  portion  of  the  island  is  known 
as  "Bloody  Point"  for  which  name,  tradition  thus  accounts:  The  mas- 
sacre of  Bloody  Point  was  previous  to  the  Revolutionary  War.  The 
islands  of  Port  Royal  and  St.  Helena  were  pretty  thickly  settled  with 
white  population  when  Hilton  Head,  Daufuskie,  Pinckney,  and  the 
other  neighboring  islands  were  held  in  possession  by  a  few  isolated 
Indians,  or  were  altogether  uninhabited ;  they  formed  a  kind  of  neutral 
ground  between  the  white  and  red  men.  The  Indians  from  Georgia 
were  in  the  habit  of  making  frequent  inroads  upon  the  white  settlements, 
killing  the  inhabitants,  and  carrying  off  whatever  plunder  they  could 
gather,  to  their  remoter  homes  in  the  further  south — they  formed  large 
war  parties,  and  would  proceed  as  far  north  as  Hilton  Head,  where  they 
would  skulk  about  until  a  fair  chance  offered,  when  they  would  cross 
Broad  River,  and  ravage  the  neighboring  settlements — hence  the  name 
Skulk  Creek,  (and  not  Skull  as  is  now  written.) 

The  Indians  were  in  the  habit  of  returning  to  Skulk  Creek  after  these 
invasions,  and  would  elude  pursuit  among  its  numerous  nooks  and  wind- 
ings. Upon  one  of  these  occasions,  after  having  committed  a  number  of 
murders,  and  having  loaded  their  canoes  with  whatever  plunder  they 
could  collect,  and  having  secured  a  quantity  of  "  fire  water,"  it  is  pre- 
sumed from  the  sequel,  they  passed  through  Skulk  Creek  on  their  return 
south  without  stopping  at  their  old  haunts,  and  never  halted  until  they 
reached  Daufuskie,  where  they  thought  they  would  be  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  whites. 


Cemeteries.  539 


A  very  strong  and  determined  party  of  whites  went  in  pursuit  of 
them.  On  reaching  Hilton  Head,  they  learned  from  a  few  Indians,  of  a 
friendly  tribe,  that  their  enemies  had  not  halted,  but  had  proceeded  on 
south.  Having  induced  these  friendly  Indians  to  join  them  as  guides, 
they  continued  their  pursuit  further  south ;  when  they  had  gone  as  far 
as  Daufuskie,  they  discovered  from  the  smoke  of  their  camp,  that  the 
Indians  had  halted  at  the  southeast  point  of  the  island,  and  had  put  all 
their  boats  a  short  distance  up  what  now  is  known  as  New  River,  to  avoid 
the  surf  which  breaks  at  that  point ;  and  when  the  whites  landed  at  the 
northeastern  portion  of  the  island,  the  red  devils,  at  the  extreme  south- 
east point,  were  enjoying  themselves  in  an  unwonted  round  of  convivialty 
and  feasting.  Having  effected  a  safe  landing,  the  whites  moved  cau- 
tiously and  stealthily  around  .the  island,  until  they  got  between  the  In- 
dians and  their  boats,  thus  effectually  cutting  off  the  retreat  of  the  sav- 
ages. The  first  intimation  the  Indians  had  of  the  presence  of  the  aven- 
gers, was  a  shower  of  bullets;  they  were  shot  down,  bayonetted,  sabered 
and  were  finally  driven  into  the  sea. 

The  surprise  was  complete — the  massacre  was  dreadful — the  white 
sands  were  crimson  with  blood,  and  the  earth  was  strewn  with  wounded, 
dying  and  dead,  and  almost  a  whole  tribe  had  been  wiped  out  of  exis- 
tence in  a  few  minutes.  A  few,  very  few,  escaped  by  swimming,  some 
to  the  opposite  marsh,  and  one  swam  to  Tybee,  a  distance  of  three  miles. 
From  the  dreadful  carnage  at  this  spot,  it  received  the  name  of  "Bloody 
Point,"  which  it  still  retains  at  this  time,  it  being  the  extreme  southeast- 
ern point  of  South  Carolina. 

Among  the  cemeteries  of  Savannah  the  old  or  brick  cemetery  on 
South  Broad  street,  stands  first  in  age.  Here  were  interred  the  remains 
of  the  early  settlers  of  Savannah  and  of  their  posterity  until  sanitary  rea- 
sons required  in  1852,  that  it  should  be  closed,  and  another  site  for  sep- 
ulture provided  further  removed  from  the  dwellings  of  the  living.  The 
old  vaults  and  tombs  are  left,  though  their  contents,  the  hallowed  rem- 
nants of  mortality,  have  been  transferred  to  the  other  cemeteries  of  lat- 
ter date.  A  few,  however,  still  repose  undisturbed,  and  the  cemetery  is 
preserved  in  reverence. 

Evergreen  Cemetery,  better  known  as  Bonaventure,  famous  for  its 
magnificent  avenues  of  stately  live  oaks  is  almost  an  ideal  resting  place 


540  History  of  Savannah. 

of  the  silent  dead.  It  is  historic  ground  and  the  following  description  of 
the  place  was  written  by  the  late  Commodore  Josiah  Tattnall,  the  gallant 
hero-sailor  who  sleeps  beneath  the  moss  covered  branches  of  the  oaks, 
near  the  spot  where  he  was  born. 

" Bonaventure. — This  beautiful  tract  of  land  bearing  this  name,  and 
enclosing  the  Evergreen  Cemetery  was  first  settled  in  or  about  the  year 
1760,  by  Colonel  John  Mulryne,  who  came  to  this  country  from  Eng- 
land, and  removed  from  Charleston,  S.  C,  to  Geofgia. 

"  The  high  ground,  an  extended  river  view,  etc.,  made  it  one  of  the 
choicest  sites  near  the  city  of  Savannah  and  the  first  house — a  large  brick 
one — was  erected  at  that  time,  facing  the  center  walk  of  the  old  garden. 
This  garden  extended  in  terraces  from  the  plateau  to  the  river,  the  ter- 
races being  supported  by  blocks  of  tabby  (a  concrete  of  shell  and  lime) 
that  yet  remain  in  tolerable  preservation.  This  house  was  destroyed  by 
fire  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  during  a  dinner  entertainment. 

"In  1 76 1  this  property  came — by  the  marriage  of  Josiah  Tattnall,  of 
Charleston,  S  C,  with  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Mulryne, 
into  the  possession  of  the  Tattnall  family.  Governor  Tattnall  (of  Georgia) 
being  born  there  in  1765. 

"  This  marriage  is  of  peculiar  interest  in  the  history  of  Bonaventure, 
since  from  it,  date  the  avenues  of  magnificent  trees  which  form  the  pride 
and  chief  feature  of  interest  of  the  place.  They  were  planted  at  that 
time,  and  tradition  has  it,  in  the  forms  of  the  letters  M  and  T,  the  initials 
of  the  families  of  Mulryne  and  Tattnall.  The  majority  of  these  trees 
were  of  the  live  oak  species  others  being  mingled  with  them.  These  lat- 
ter the  hand  of  time,  and  the  gales  of  the  Atlantic  have  long  ago  laid 
low,  while  the  sturdy  live  oaks  with  their  hoary  heads  of  moss,  still  defy 
the  wintry  blasts,  and  their  rustling  leaves  whisper  a  ceaseless  lullaby 
over  the  quiet  and  peaceful  sleepers  at  their  feet. 

"In  the  year  1847  this  property  passed  (by  purchase)  into  the  hands 
of  Captain  P.  Wiltburger,  who  had  long  associated  the  quiet  and  peace 
of  the  place,  its  patriarchal  trees,  and  their  deep,  solemn  shade,  its  calm 
and  seclusion,  as  a  fit  receptacle  for  the  departed  of  this  earth,  as  a  resting- 
place  for  the  weary  pilgrims  of  life.  With  him  originated  the  idea  of  de- 
voting Bonaventure  to  its  present  and  final  use,  and  his  remains  sleep 
under  the  foliage  of  its  trees. 


Cemeteries.  541 


"  Circumstances  prevented  for  a  time  the  execution  of  this  wish,  but 
it  was  taken  up  by  his  son,  Major  W.  H.  Wiltburger,  and  the  formation 
of  the  present  Evergreen  Cemetery  Company  was  the  result  of  his  efforts. 
In  this  connection  it  niay  be  interesting  to  notice  that  the  first  adult 
buried  at  Bonaventure  was  the  wife  of  Governor  Tattnall,  who  died  there 
in  1803,  being  soon  followed  to  the  grave  by  her  honored  husband. 
Previous  to  that  time  several  children  of  the  family  had  been  buried 
there." 

Bonaventure  came  under  the  control  of  the  Evergreen  Cemetery  Com- 
pany in  1849.  It  is  located  about  three  and  a  half  miles  from  the  city 
and  contains  one  hundred  and  forty  acres.  It  contains  many  fine  speci- 
mens of  mortuary  architecture,  which  time  has  invested  with  hallowed 
remembrances.  Lofty  oaks,  draped  with  weeping  festoons  of  moss,  whose 
luxuriant  growth  makes  the  shade  impenetrable  to  the  sun's  rays,  have 
made  this  silent  city  of  the  dead  a  peerless  combination  of  the  sublime 
and  picturesque. 

Laurel  Grove  Cemetery,  although  not  as  grandly  beautiful  as  the  fa- 
mous Bonaventure,  is  nevertheless  an  attractive  "  resting  place  of  the 
dead."  The  history  of  this  cemetery  is  as  follows :  On  the  9th  of  May, 
1853,  Hon.  R.Wayne,  mayor  of  Savannah,  in  accordance  with  ordinance 
previously  adopted  by  council,  issued  his  proclamation  closing  the  old  or 
brick  cemetery  on  South  Broad  street,  as  a  burial  ground,  on  the  first  of 
July  ensuing. 

The  ordinance  adopted  the  3d  of  June,  1852,  set  apart  a  tract  of  land 
on  Springfield  plantation  belonging  to  the  city,  as  a  public  cemetery, 
and  conferred  upon  it  the  title  "  Laurel  Grove."  The  place  was  en- 
closed with  a  neat  railing,  connecting  with  a  pillar  of  granite  at  each  of 
the  corners.  The  interior  was  laid  out  in  avenues,  walks,  and  lots ;  the 
plan  of  the  same  being  furnished  by  James  O.  Morse,  civil  engineer. 

The  estabhshment  of  this  cemetery  was  rendered  necessary  by  the 
crowded  state  of  the  old  cemetery,  a  small  area  of  ten  acres,  which  had 
been  a  place- of  sepulture  for  more  than  one  hundred  years.  The  rapid 
extension  of  the  city  limits,  made  that  cemetery  almost  a  central  position, 
and  on  the  score  of  health,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  provide  another 
place  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  city  for  the  repose  of  the  dead. 

On  the  loth  of  November,  1852,  the  cemetery  was  formally  dedicated 


S42  History  of  Savannah. 

with  imposing  ceremonies.  The  services  were  opened  by  a  prayer  from 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Willard  Preston,  of  the  Independent  Presbyterian  Church, 
Hon.  R.  M.  Charlton  recited  an  eloquent  and  appropriate  original  poem, 
which  was  followed  by  a  chaste  and  beautiful  address  by  Hon.  Henry  R. 
Jackson.  The  ceremonies  were  then  closed  by  an  impressive  prayer  from 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce,  of  the  IVTethodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  first  interment  was  made  in  October,  1852.  Besides  the  many 
beautiful  and  artistic  monuments  and  tombs  which  mark  the  graves  of 
loved  ones,  there  is  an  inclosure  in  the  cemetery  that  attracts  attention, 
the  lots  in  which  are  deposited  the  remains  of  the  Confederate  dead. 
Here  repose  nearly  fifteen  hundred  heroes  of  the  civil  war,  who  have 
been  gathered  from  the  distant  battlefields  on  which  they  fell  and  had  a 
soldier's  burial.  This  noble  work  was  accomplished  by  the  Ladies'  Me- 
morial Association  of  Savannah,  which  with  sacred  care  has  watched  over 
their  graves,  and  on  each  recurring  JVIemorial  day  decorates  them  with 
the  bright  flowers  of  spring  and  early  summer.  A  marble  statue  repre- 
senting Silence,  which  originally  stood  in  the  Park  Extension,  keeps 
guard  over  the  bivouac  of  the  heroic  dead.  Each  grave  is  marked  by  a 
neat  marble  headstone. 

The  Cathedral  Cemetery ,  or  Roman  Catholic  burial  ground,  is  situ- 
ated on  the  Thunderbolt  road,  two  miles  from  the  city.  It  was  opened 
in  August,  1853.  Right  Reverend  F.  X.  Gartland,  the  first  bishop  of 
the  diocese  of  Savannah,  and  Bishop  Barron,  of  a  foreign  diocese,  were 
buried  here,  both  victims  of  the  yellow  fever  in  1854.  Right  Reverend 
John  Barry,  another  bishop  of  the  diocese  lies  buried  in  this  cemetery. 

The'  Jewish  cemetery  adjoins  Laurel  Grove. 

No  single  feature  of  Savannah  more  favorably  impresses  the  stranger 
than  the  monuments  to  heroic  characters  which  grace  the  public  squares 
of  the  city.  The  oldest  of  these  is  the  Greene  monument  which  stands 
in  Johnson  Square.  It  was  erected  as  a  tribute  of  gratitude  to  the  dis- 
tinguished Revolutionary  hero,  General  .Nathanael  Greene.  The  corner- 
stone of  the  monument  was  laid  by  General  Lafayette  in  March,  1825, 
but  the  monument  was  not  finished  until  1829.  It  is  a  plain  marble 
shaft,  on  one  side  of  which  is  an  appropriate  inscription,  and  on  the  other 
a  medallion  of  General  Greene  in  bronze.  \ 

At  the  same  time  General  Lafayette  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the 


Public  Monuments.  543 


Greene  monument,  he  performed  a  similar  service  to  a  proposed  monu- 
ment to  Count  Casimir  Pulaski,  which  was  to  have  been  erected  in  Chip- 
pewa Square.  This  stone,  laid  in  Chippewa  Square,  together  with  an- 
other of  equal  size  united  to  it  by  copper  bands,  and  containing  the  re- 
cords of  the  day,  was  relaid  in  Monterey  Square  in  October,  1853,  when 
the  corner-stone  of  the  present  Pulaski  monument  was  laid  with  impres- 
sive ceremonies,  the  military  under  command  of  Colonel  (now  General) 
A.  R.  Lawton,  the  various  Masonic  bodies  and  the  citizens  en  masse  par- 
ticipating. The  shaft  is  fifty  feet  high,  and  is  surmounted  by  a  statue 
of  Liberty,  holding  the  banner  of  the  stars  and  stripes  ;  on  the  front  in 
relievo,  is  the  statue  representing  Count  Pulaski  after  he  received  his 
mortal  wound,  in  the  act  of  falling  from  his  horse,  still  grasping  his 
sword.     The  date  of  the  event,  October  9,  1779,  is  recorded  above. 

The  Confederate  monument  which  stands  in  the  Park  extension  was 
completed  in  April,  1875,  by  the  Ladies'  Memorial  Association  of  Sa- 
vannah, and  unveiled  shortly  after,  with  imposing  ceremonies,  the  entire 
volunteer  military  of  the  city,  civic  societies  and  associations  participating, 
an  appropriate  address  being  delivered  by  Hon.  Julian  Hartridge. 

The  corner-stone  of  this  monument  was  laid  on  the  16th  of  Juj: 
1874,  with  Masonic  ceremonies,  the  military  being  present  in  forpe;^'l"he 
ceremonies  were  opened  by  prayer  from  Grand  ChapIaiTTIRIchard  Webb, 
Grand  Master  Irwin  laying  the  stone.  Art  address  was  delivered  by 
Col.  George  A.  Mercer,  and  the  ceremonies  were  closed  by  a  salute  of 
eleven  guns,  fired  by  the  Chatham  Artillery,  the  oldest  military  organi- 
zation in  the  State  of  Georgia. 

The  monument  cost  $25,000,  and  is  built  according  to  a  design  fur- 
nished by  Mr.  Robert  Reid,  of  Montreal,  Canada.  In  style,  the  design 
is  modern  Italian,  and  stands  about  fifty  feet  in  height  from  the  base  to 
the  crown  of  the  marble  figure,  by  which  it  is  surmounted.  The  monu- 
ment sets  on  a  terrace  of  earth  work  six  feet  high,  by  forty  feet  square, 
and  surrounded  by  a  stone  coping ;  the  terrace  being  reached  by  stone 
steps  from  either  of  the  four  facings.  On  the  corners  are  pedestals  which 
stand  out  from  the  Monument  proper,  and  are  each  graced  by  a  life  size 
marble  statue  of  a  soldier  on  duty. 

On  the  base  of  the  pilasters  are  appropriate  mottoes.  The  front 
panel  on  the  first  stage  shows  a  figure  in  alto  relievo,  representing  the 


544  History  of  Savannah. 

South  mourning ;  the  reverse  panel  shows  another  figure  idso  in  alto  re- 
lievo, of  a  military  character.  The  two  sides  or  lateral  panels,  bear  in- 
scriptions, one  of  which  is 

"  To  THE  Confederate  Dead ;  " 
the  other, 

''  Come  from  the  four  winds,  O  Breath,  and  breathe  upon 
THESE  Slain,  that  they  may  live." — Ezek.  xxxii,  9. 

The  shaft  is  capped  by  a  bronze  statue  of  a  Confederate  soldier  at 
"  parade  rest,"  the  generous  gift  of  G.  W.  J.  DeRenne,  esq.  Ease,  grace 
and  manliness  distinguish  the  figure,  and  the  accessories  of  musket,  worn 
hat  and  tattered  clpthmg  are  true  to  the  life,  reproducing  with  wonderful 
exactness  the  rents,  patches,  darns  and  rude  sewing  that  betray  the  hard- 
ship and  deprivations  the  Southern  Confederate  soldiers  had  to  endure  in 
their  gallant  but  painful  struggle  of  four  years  of  unsuccessful  warfare. 

The  Gordon  Monument  which  stands  in  Chippewa  Square  was  erected 
by  the  Georgia  Central  Railroad  and  Banking  Company  in  honor  of  W. 
W.  Gordon,  the  first  president  of  the  company,  a  man  of  exalted  charac- 
ter, and  one  who  did  much  to  advance  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
State. 

The  Jasper  monument  in  Madison  Square  was  unveiled  on  the  22d 
of  February,  1888.  The  occasion  was  a  memorable  one  in  the  history 
of  the  city.  The  president  of  the  United  States,  Grover  Cleveland,  and 
party.  Governor  John  B.  Gordon  and  staff,  were  among  the  notable  per- 
sons present.  A  heroic  bronze  figure  of  Sergeant  Jasper  surmounts  a 
pedestal  holding  aloft  the  flag.  The  poise  of  the  figure  is  magnificent, 
and  has  been  greatly  admired.  It  is  the  work  of  Mr.  Alexander  Doyle, 
a  sculptor  who  at  an  early  age  has  achieved  great  success  in  his  art. 


Benevolent  Organizations.  545 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

BENEVOLENT  ORGANIZATIONS  AND  HOSPITALS  — SOCIAL  AND 
SECRET  SOCIETIES. 

NO  city  in  the  country  according  to  its  population  is  better  supplied 
with  societies  for  the  amelioration  of  the  wants  of  the  poor  and  dis- 
tressed and  for  the  purpose  of  fostering  fraternal  relations  than  Savannah. 
This  speaks  stronger  than  anything  else  could  of  the  natural  kindness  of 
heart  of  the  people,  and  is  a  characteristic  which  has  been  prominent 
from  the  time  the  first  settlement  was  made  on  the  site  of  Savannah. 

The  renowned  divine  George  Whitefield  is  prominently  associated 
with  Savannah  as  being  the  founder  of  Bethesda  Orphan  House.  The 
project  was  suggested  to  him  by  General  Oglethorpe  soon  after  his  ar- 
rival in  1738,  and  enlisted  the  full  energies  of  his  active  and  powerful  na- 
ture. He  secured  from  the  trustees  a  grant  of  five  acres  of  vacant 
ground  anywhere  he  might  select.  With  the  aid  of  James  Habersham 
a  site  was  selected  about  ten  miles  from  Savannah  on  a  branch  of  the 
west  fork  of  Burnside  River.  In  1740  the  erection  of  the  Orphans' 
House  was  begun.  He,  Whitefield,  named  it  Bethesda  and  in  behalf  of 
his  beloved  enterprise  he  awakened  by  his  eloquence  the  interest  of  the 
people  of  two  continents. 

Whitefield's  Orphan  House  had  a  somewhat  varied  career.  In  1750 
we  find  Whitefield  laboring  to  expand  his  noble  charity  into  a  college, 
and  endeavoring  to  enlist  the  governor  in  the  project.  He  was  not 
successful,  but  nineteen  years  later  he  succeeded  in  converting  Bethesda 
into  an  academy  with  the  idea  of  making  it  similar  in  design  to  the  one 
in  Philadelphia.  The  capacity  of  the  house  was  increased  by  the  erec- 
tion of  two  wings,  each  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length.  At  the 
first  religious  services  held  in  the  chapel  of  the  new  Orphan  House 
Academy,  the  governor,  Sir  James  Wright,  the  council  and  assembly 
were  invited  to  attend.  The  Georgia  Gazette  of  January  ^i,  1770,  in 
giving  an  account  of  the  services  says  :  "  Last  Sunday,  His  Excellency 
the  Governor,  Council  and  Assembly,  having  been  invited  by  the  Rev- 

69 


54^  History  of  Savannah. 

erend  George  Whitefield,  attended  divine  service  in  the  Chapel  of  the 
Orphan  Home  Academy,  when  prayers  were  read  by  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Ellington,  and  a  very  suitable  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Whitefield  from  Zachariah,  fourth  chapter,  ninth  and  tenth  verses 
to  the  general  satisfaction  of  his  auditory.  After  divine  service  the 
Company  were  very  politely  entertained  with  a  plentiful  and  handsome 
dinner,  and  were  greatly  pleased  to  see  the  useful  improvements  made 
in  the  house  in  so  much  forwardness,  and  the  whole  executed  with  taste 
and  In  a  masterly  manner  ;  and  being  "sensible  of  the  truly  generous  and 
disinterested  benefactions  afforded  to  the  province,  through  his  means, 
they  expressed  their  gratitude  in  the  most  respectful  terms." 

Whitefield's  death  which  occurred  in  July,  1770,  was  a  severe  blow 
to  this  long  fostered  and  cherished  institution.  After  his  death  the 
Home  passed  to  the  care  of  Lady  Huntingdon  to  whom  Whitefield  in  his 
will  bequeathed  the  charge  in  the  following  words:  "'  I  will  and  bequeath 
the  Orphan  House  in  Bethesda  and  likewise  all  buildings,  lands,  books, 
and  furniture  belonging  thereto,  to  that  lady  elect,  that  Mother  in  Israel, 
that  mirror  of  true  and  undefiled  religion,  the  Right  Honorable  Selina, 
Countess  of  Huntingdon.  In  case  she  should  be  called  upon  to  enter 
upon  her  glorious  rest  before  my  decease,  to  Honorable  James  Haber- 
sham a  merchant  of  Savannah." 

Lady  Huntingdon  had  only  fairly  begun  her  active  charge  of  the 
Home  when  all  the  buildings  were  destroyed  by  lightning  just  previous 
to  the  War  of  Independence.  This  misfortune,  together  with  the  bloody 
struggle  between  the  Colonies  and  the  Mother  Country  was  almost  a 
death  blow  to  this  great  charity.  After  the  destruction  of  the  buildings 
by  fire.  Lady  Huntingdon  contributed  largely  from  her  private  means  to 
restore  them. 

In  1788  another  effort  was  made  to  make  Bethesda  what  Whitefield 
had  labored  so  zealously  to  accomplish,  and  in  the  Georgia  Gazette  of 
June  3d  of  this  year  appears  the  following  notice  :  "  To  the  public. 
Bethesda  College  near  Savannah  instituted  by  the  Reverend  G.  White- 
field,  Chaplain  to  the  Right  Honorable  the  Countess  Dowager  of  Hunt- 
ingdon, is  to  be  opened  the  twenty- fourth  instant  under  the  patronage 
of  her  Ladyship,  whose  warm  zeal  to  promote  the  happiness  of  mankind 
in  spreading  religion  and  learning  in  this  State,  is  above  praise,  and  by 


Benevolent  Organizations.  547 

whose  authority  and  appointment,  the  Reverend  David  Phillips,  late  from 
England,  anxious  to  carry  her  Ladyship's  pious  designs  into  the  fullest 
execution,  solicits  the  attention  of  such  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  and 
Guardians  of  Youth,  as  are  desirous  of  sending  young  gentlemen  for  in- 
struction in  every  branch  of  useful  and  polite  literature,  comprehending 
English  grammatically,  Writing  and  the  use  of  Figures,  and  every  branch 
of  the  Mathematics,  the  use  of  the  Globes,  Latin,  Greek  and  French  in- 
cluding Board,  Washing,  etc.,  in  the  following  terms,  viz.  thirty  guineas 
per  annum  for  each  student  without  distinction  of  age,  or  class  of  educa- 
tion. Punctuality  is  expected  in  four  quarterly  payments.  A  line  for 
admission  to  the  Reverend  David  Phillips,  Superintendent,  or  the  Rev- 
erend Benjamin  Lindsay,  Rector  of  Christ  Church  Savannah,  Classical 
Tutor  of  the  said  College,  will  have  immediate  attention  from  their  de- 
voted much  obliged  humble  servant,  David  Phillips." 

This  last  attempt  to  make  Bethesda  an  educational  institution  was 
not  successful,  and  after  various  vicissitudes  the  property  was  sold  under 
an  act  of  Legislature,  passed  December  23,  1808,  and  the  proceeds  di- 
vided as  follows  :  one-fifth  to  the  Savannah  Poor  House  and  Hospital 
Society  and  the  remainder  equally  between  the  Union  Society  and  Chat- 
ham Academy. 

Union  Society. — ^This  benevolent  society  is  nearly  contemporaneous 
with  Bethesda  Orphan  House  founded  by  Whitefield.  In  1750  five  large- 
hearted  men,  of  five  different  religious  denominations,  formed  themselves 
into  a  charitable  club  with  the  particular  purpose  of  caring  for,  and  main- 
taining orphan  children  and  relieving  distressed  widows.  They  styled 
themselves  the  St.  George's  Club  as  there  was  already  in  existence  an 
association  of  Scotch  emigrants  confined  exclusively  to  Scotchmen.  At 
what  time  the  "  St.  George's  Club"  was  transformed  into  the  Union  So- 
ciety does  not  precisely  appear,  as  the  rec  jrds  of  the  society  were  de- 
stroyed by  the  British  troops  when  they  evacuated  Savannah  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1782.  The  a.ssumption  of  its  new  name  was  an  expression  and 
a  proof  of  a  liberality  of  sentiment  and  feeling  most  honorable  to  its 
founders  and  their  early  associates,  who  laid  aside  distinctions  of  faith 
when  so  noble  an  object  for  combined  effort  was  presented.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that,  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  records,  we  are  able  to 
give  the  names  of  only  three  of  the  original  five  members :  Benjamin 


548  History  of  Savannah. 

Sheftall,  a  Jew ;  Peter  Tondee,  a  Catholic,  and  Richard  Milledge,  an 
Episcopalian.  Each  member  contributed  two  pence  weekly  to  carry  out 
the  object  of  the  organization.  Three  members  formed  a  quorum  for 
regular  meetings,  and  the  23d  of  April,  the  calendar  da^  of  the  canoni- 
zation of  England's  patron  saint,  St.  George,  was  the  occasion  of  the  an- 
niversary celebration. 

During  the  Revolution  the  society  had  a  remarkable  experience. 
When  Savannah  was  captured  by  the  British  in  December,  1778,  a  large 
number  of  the  citizens,  among  whom  were  four  members  of  the  Union 
Society,  were  arrested  and  sent  on  board  the  prison  ships.  Some  days 
afterwards,  the  prisoners  holding  office  in  the  American  army  were  sent 
on  parole  to  Sunbury  a  few  miles  south  of  Savannah,  on  the  sea  coast, 
and  among  these  were  the  four  members  of  the  Union  Society — Morde- 
cai  Sheftall,  John  Martin,  John  Stirk,  and  Josiah  Powell.  They  were 
retained  here  for  four  years,  during  which  time  they  held  their  meetings 
and  observed  the  anniversary  of  their  society,  John  Powell  having  been 
elected  president  and  John  Martin  secretary.  At  the  first  anniversary 
April  23,  1779,  an  entertainment  was  provided  for  the  society  by  a  num- 
ber of  British  officers,  who  participated  in  it.  The  toasts  and  sentiments 
expressed  mark  the  high-toned,  chivalric  courtesy  of  that  period.  The 
first  was,  the  "  Union  Society"  by  the  president ;  the  second  was  "  Gen- 
eral George  Washington  "  by  a  British  officer  ;  the  third,  "  The  King  of 
Great  Britain,"  by  an  American  officer. 

These  four  gentlemen  preserved  the  existence  of  the  society,  which 
in  1786  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  with  the  title 
of  the  Union  Society.  In  1854  the  board  of  managers  of  the  society 
purchased  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres  of  the  Bethesda  estate  and 
erected  buildings  for  the  accommodation  of  the  orphans  under  its  charge 
and  removed  them  thither.  The  civil  war  again  necessitated  the  tem- 
porary abandonment  of  Bethesda  and  it  was  occupied  first  by  Confeder- 
ate and  subsequently  by  Federal  soldiers.  With  the  return  of  peace  it 
was  again  restored  to  the  uses  to  which  it  had  been  originally  dedicated 
in  the  incipiency  of  the  Colony.  In  1870  the  main  building  was  begun 
but  was  not  finished  for  several  years  after.  It  stands  near  the  site  of 
Whitefield's  "  Big  House  of  Mercy,"  a  monument  to  that  great  philan- 
thropist. The  tree  under  which,  it  is  said,  Whitefield  preached  to  the 
Indians  is  pointed  out. 


Benevolent  Organizations.  549 

On  the  23d  of  April,  1888,  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-eighth  annual 
report  of  the  society  was  submitted  by  the  president,  in  which  it  was 
stated  that  of  the  one  hundred  and  six  boys  under  the  care  of  the  society 
during  the  year,  eighty- nine  were  still  in  the  institution. 

The  following  list  embraces  the  presidents  of  the  society  so  far  as 
known.  From  1750  to  1778  there  is  no  record  to  show  who  filled  the  re- 
sponsible position.  In  1779  Josiah  Powell  was  president,  in  1786  Will- 
iam Stevens,  in  1790  Noble  Wimberly  Jones,  from  which  year  to  the 
present  the  following  have  respectively  held  the  position :  Joseph  Clay, 
Joseph  Habersham,  William  Stevens,  George  Jones,  James  P.  Young, 
Mathew  McAllister,  Joseph  Habersham,  Charles  Harris,  General  David 
B.  Mitchell,  William  B.  Bulloch,  William  Davis,  J.  McPherson  Berrien, 
James  Johnston,  Dr  Moses  Sheftall,  John  Hunter,  Richard  W.  Haber- 
sham, Steele  White,  Thomas  Polhill,  Dr.  R.  D.  Arnold,  Solomon  Cohen, 
Edward  Padelford,  Joseph  S.  Foy,  Robert  D.  Walker,  John  M.  Cooper, 
William  M.  Wadley,  Abram  Minis,  J.  H.  Estill. 

St.  Andrew's  Society,  an  association  of  Scottish  sons,  was  organized 
about  1790,  and  in  point  of  age  it  ranks  second  to  the  Union  Society. 
By  some  it  is  claimed  to  be  of  equal  age.  The  exact  date  of  its  birth  is, 
however,  uncertain.  Its  first  president  was  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh, 
with  Sir  George  Houstoun  as  vice-president.  The  purpose  of  the  society 
is  stated  to  be  "  to  cherish  the  recollections  of  our  homes  and  the  birth- 
place of  our  fathers  ;  to  promote  good-fellowship  among  Scotchmen  and 
their  descendants  in  this  adopted  country ;  and  to  extend  to  unfortu- 
nate Scotchmen  and  their  families  assistance  and  counsel  in  case  of  neces- 
sity." 

During  the  War  of  18 12  it  seems  the  society  was  not  maintained,  as 
we  find  no  record  of  its  meetings.  It  was  reorganized  in  18 19.  In  1849, 
or  1850,  the  society  purchased  the  lot  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Brough- 
ton  and  Jefferson  streets  and  erected  a  commodious  hall.  During  the 
late  war  the  society  became  financially  involved  and  was  obhged  to  dis- 
pose of  the  property.  Its  fortunes  were  revived  soon  after  the  war,  and 
the  society  is  now  in  a  flourishing  condition.  Meetings  are  held  in 
Knights  of  Pythias'  Hall.  The  present  officers  are  P.  M.  Dougan,  presi- 
dent;  Thomas  Ballantyne,  first  vice-president ;  J.  M.  Lang,  second  vice- 
president  ;   H.  A.  McLeod,  secretary  and  treasurer  ;  W.  W.  Eraser,  cor- 


550  History  of  Savannah. 

responding  secretary  ;  J.  Malloch,  William  Falconer,  and  D.  G.  Alexan- 
der, stewards. 

Female  Orphan  Asylum. — When  the  Union  Society  was  organized  in 
1750,  the  purpose  of  the  organization  was  the  care  and  education  of  or- 
phans and  destitute  children,  without  distinction  of  sex.  In  1801  a  sep- 
aration was  suggested  by  Rev.  Henry  Holcombe,  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  in  Savannah,  which  gave  rise  to  the  Female  Orphan  Asylum. 
The  first  board  of  directors  was  composed  of  the  following  ladies  :  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Smith,  Mrs.  Ann  Clay,  Mrs.  Jane  Smith,  Mrs.  Sarah  Lamb, 
Mrs.  Margaret  Hunter,  Lady  Ann  Houstoun,  Mrs.  Holcombe,  Mrs.  Han- 
nah McAllister,  Mrs.  Susannah  Jenkins,  Mrs.  Ann  Moore,  Mrs.  Moore, 
Miss  Rebecca  Newell,  Mrs.  Mary  Wall,  and  Mrs.  Martha  Stephens.  The 
Legislature  of  Georgia  granted  an  act  of  incorporation  in  18 10,  and  for 
the  first  thirty-seven  years  of  its  existence  the  work  of  the  society  was 
confined  to  the  eastern  portion  of  the  city.  The  scope  of  the  work  grad- 
ually increased,  and  in  1838  the  necessary  funds  to  erect  the  building  on 
the  corner  of  Bull  and  Charlton  streets  were  secured  by  Mrs.  M.  Marshall 
and  Mrs.  M.  Richardsone.  The  present  board  is  composed  of  the  fol- 
lowing ladies  :  Mrs.  A.  Minis,  president;  Mrs.  John  Hardee,  treasurer; 
Miss  L,  Gilmer,  secretary  ;  Mrs.  Charles  Lamar,  Mrs.  George  L.  Cope, 
jr.,  Mrs.  W.  J.  Sams,  Mrs.  C.  F.  Mills,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Lathrop,  Mrs.  Wood, 
Mrs.  Smith,  Mrs.  Whitehead,  Mrs.  Bowman,  Mrs.  Maclntyre,  Mrs.  Van 
Vorst,  Mrs.  Hull,  Miss  Saussy,  Miss  Read,  Miss  Anderson. 

The  Hibernian  Society — The  oldest  Irish  organization  in  Georgia  was 
organized  on  March  17,  1812,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present  has 
served  a  most  honorable  purpose  in  promoting  harmony  and  sociability 
among  its  members  and  in  works  of  benevolence.  Among  the  first  mem- 
bers were  John  Cumming,  Zachary  Miller,  John  Dillon,  David  Bell,  Isaac 
Minis,  T.  U.  P.  Charlton  and  James  Hunter.  The  rules  of  the  society 
limit  the  number  of  its  active  members  to  one  hundred,  which  is  re- 
stricted to  those  of  Irish  birth  or  extraction.  A  constitutional  obli- 
gation has  rested  on  the  members  to  dine  together  on  each  anniver- 
sary, and  this  obligation  has  been  faithfully  observed,  except  on  the  an- 
niversary of  1863,  when  the  condition  of  the  country  from  the  effects  of 
the  war  precluded  the  idea  of  a  convivial  celebration.  The  present  offi- 
cers of  the  society  are  P.  W.  Meldrim,  president ;  John  R.  Dillon,  vice- 


Benevolent  Organizations.  551 

president;  J.  F.  Brooks,  treasurer;  Charles  F.  Prendergast,  recording 
secretary ;  J.  M.  Hogan,  corresponding  secretary  ;  J.  Ward,  standard- 
bearer. 

The  Savannah  Widow's  Society  was  organized  in  1822  by  a  number 
of  ladies  of  the  city  for  the  purpose  of  affording  relief  to  indigent  widows 
with  families,  and  other  destitute  women.  The  work  was  sustained  for  sev- 
eral years  by  annual  subscription  and  voluntary  donations.  In  1834  the 
city  council  gave  to  the  society  two  lots  on  South  Broad  street,  whereon 
a  row  of  small  wooden  houses  was  erected  to  serve  as  an  asylum  for  aged 
pensioners.  These  quarters  were  used  until  1859  when  the  society, 
through  the  bequest  of  Mrs.  Doratha  Abraham,  came  into  possession  of 
the  building  now  used  on  the  corner  of  Broughton  and  East  Broad  streets. 
This  has  since  been  known  as  the  Abraham's  Home,  so  named  in  honor 
of  the  doner.  It  is  used  as  a  home  for  aged  women  without  regard  to 
religious  sect  or  nationality.  The  present  officers  of  the  society  are  Mrs. 
J.  W.  Lathrop,  president;  Mrs.  Octavus  Cohen,  vice-president;  Mrs.  J. 
Champion,  secretary  ;   Miss  Susan  Tufts,  treasurer. 

The  Hebrew  Benevolent  Society  was  organized  mainly  through  the  ef- 
forts of  Rudolpe  Einstein,  Abraham  Einstein  and  Solomon  Cohen  in  185 1, 
when  eighty-one  members  were  enrolled.  The  object  of  the  society  is 
to  minister  to  the  necessities  of  indigent  persons  of  the  Jewish  faith.  J. 
Kohn  is  president  of  the  society. 

The  Savannah  Benevolent  Association  was  organized  on  October  12, 
1854,  to  meet  the  cases  of  distress  occasioned  by  the  yellow  fever  epidemic 
of  that  year.  The  organization  did  a  grand  work  in  this  trying  period  of 
the  city's  history,  and  has  ever  since  been  maintained.  The  present  offi- 
cers are  J.  I.  M.  Solomons,  president ;  G,  C.  Freeman,  treasurer ;  J.  M. 
Lewis,  secretary  ;  directors,  W.  W.  Gordon,  J.  H.  Johnston,  J.  L.  Warren. 

The  Mary  Telfair  Home  is  a  benevolent  institution  for  the  reception 
of  widows  with  families  of  small  children.  The  home  consists  of  four 
brick  buildings  on  President  street,  the  gift  of  Miss  Mary  Telfair.  They 
were  first  used  in  1883.  To  each  family  is  given  a  flat  of  three  rooms, 
with  partial  support  in  health,  and  additional  aid  in  time  of  sickness. 
The  home  is  under  the  management  of  the  Savannah  Widow's  Society. 

The  Industral  Relief  Society  and  Home  for  the  Friendless  owes  its 
origin  to  the  exertion  of  Mrs,  George  W.  Wylly,  Mrs.  Kollock,  Mrs.  L. 


552  History  of  Savannah. 


J.  Rosenfeld,  Mrs.  Thomas  Purse,  Mrs.  Robert  Mclntyre,  Mrs.  Alexan- 
der Campbell,  Mrs.  Luke  Cannon,  who  in  1869  applied  to  the  Superior 
Court  for  a  charter  for  a  charitable  institution  to  be  known  as  The  Refuge 
of  the  Homeless.  The  society  however  was  not  organized  until  February, 
1875,  when  the  present  name  was  adopted.  The  main  object  of  the  so- 
ciety is  to  assist  the  destitute  and  ignorant ;  to  give  them  free  instruction 
in  industrial  pursuits  and  at  the  same  time  to  afford  women  and  girls  a 
temporary  home.  The  society  owns  the  building  where  its  charities  are 
dispensed  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Charlton  and  Drayton  streets.  Its 
present  officers  are  Mrs.  N.  Lovell,  president;  Mrs.  Octavus  Cohen,  first 
vice-president;   Mrs.  Julia  McLeod,  secretary  and  second  vice-president. 

La  Societe  Francaise  de  Bienfaisance  de  Savannah  was  formed  in 
1 87 1  and  two  years  later  was  incorporated.  The  object  of  the  society 
is  to  afford  relief  to  distressed  members  and  Frenchmen  in  need.  Its 
officers  are  A.  Bonnaud,  president ;  A.  L.  Desbouillons,  vice-president; 
and  H.  Thomasson,  treasurer. 

The  Workingmen  s  Benevolent  Association  was  organized  in  1859  ^"^ 
was  chartered  in  January,  1869.  It  has  over  300  members  and  has  been 
instrumental  in  accomplishing  much  good.  T.  Keenan  is  president  and 
J.  F.  Fitzhenry,  secretary. 

Savannah  Hospital. — This  hospital  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  labors  of 
a  few  benevolent  citizens  of  Savannah  who  in  1819  erected  by  private 
subscription  a  commodious  structure  on  Gaston  street,  between  Drayton 
and  Abercorn  street,  which  was  used  for  several  years  exclusively  as  a 
hospital  for  sailors.  In  1830  $18,000  was  left  to  the  institution  by  James 
Wallace  and  Thomas  Young.  In  1835  the  society  was  incorporated  un- 
der the  name  of  The  Poorhouse  and  Hospital  Society,  upon  the  applica- 
tions of  Joseph  Cumming,  S.  C.  Dunning,  R.  King,  John  Gardner, 
Mathew  Hopkins,  William  R.  Waring,  Charles  S.  Henry,  S.  D.  Corbett, 
Samuel  Philbrick,  N.  G.  Beard,  Francis  Sorrell,  R.  D.  Arnold,  and  P.  M. 
Kollock.  The  present  commodious  building,  now  used,  was  erected  on 
the  site  of  the  old  structure  in  1 877  at  a  cost  of  $40,000.  It  is  200  by 
60  feet,  in  dimensions  and  has  accommodations  for  100  patients.  The 
qualifications  for  admission  are  that  the  applicant  shall  be  poor  and  sick, 
irrespective  of  other  circumstances.  Pay  patients  are  received  and  fur- 
nished with  private  rooms  when  desired.     The  Savannah  Hospital,  as  it 


Benevolent  OROANtzATtoNs.  55 j 

is  now  called,  is  complete  in  all  its  appointments ;  its  grounds  are  exten- 
sive and  well  cared  for  and  the  air  of  neatness  and  comfort  pervades  the 
whole  institution.  It  is  under  the  direction  of  a  board  of  seven  managers 
of  whom  George  J.  Mills  is  president,  Dr.  William  Duncan,  superin- 
tendent, and  C.  H.  Colding,  resident  physician.  The  corps  of  physicians 
besides  the  two  named  is  as  follows :  Dr.  J.  D.  Martin,  Dr.  T.  J.  Charlton, 
Dr.  J.  P.  S.  Houstoun,  Dr.  W.  W.  Owens,  Dr.  M.  L.  Boyd. 

The  Savannah  Hospital  is  supported  by  the  interest  upon  its  invest- 
ments, the  moneys  received  from  pay  patients,  and  annual  appropriations 
from  the  city  and  county,, the  former  appropriating  $3,600  and  the  latter 
$1,000.  Several  bequests  and  donations  have  been  made  to  the  hospital, 
the  largest  being  a  donation  of  $100,000  by  Mrs.  Charles  F.  Mills,  ac- 
cording to  an  expressed  wish  of  her  husband  previous  to  his  death. 

The  Georgia  Infirmary  is  a  charity  institution  for  the  support  of  dis- 
abled colored  persons.  It  originated  from  an  endowment  of  Thomas  F. 
Williams,  Richard  F.  Williams  giving  the  land  upon  which  the  building 
was  erected.  It  was  incorporated  by  the  Georgia  Legislature  in  December, 
1832.  The  hospital  building  is  situated  on  the  east  side  of  Bull  street, 
near  the  toll-gate.  The  city  donates  $3,600  annually  to  its  support  and 
the  county  $1,500,  which  with  a  small  amount  from  pay- patients,  in- 
cludes the  revenue  received  for  the  support  of  the-hospital.  It  is  under 
the  direction  of  a  board  of  thirteen  managers,  of  which  John  I.  Stoddard 
is  president. 

St.  Joseph's  Infirmary,  an  eleemosynary  institution  which  was  organ- 
ized in  1875,  is  supported  by  voluntary  contributions  and  pay-patients. 
It  is  under  the  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  Sister  M.  Eulalia  being 
the  Sister  Superior.  The  infirmary  is  located'  on  the  northwest  corner 
of  Taylor  and  Habersham  streets. 

The  Telfair  Hospital  is  of  recent  origin.  It  is  located  on  the  south- 
western corner  of  new  Houston  and  Drayton  streets,  the  fine  brick  build- 
ing and  grounds  used  being  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Margaret  Telfair  Hodgson 
and  Miss  Mary  Telfair.  The  officers  of  the  hospital  are  Mrs.  J.  F.  Gil- 
mer, president;  Mrs.  John  Williamson,  secretary;  and  Mrs.  James  Ran- 
kin, treasurer. 

Little  Minnie  Mission  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Jones  and  Lincoln 
streets,  is  a  home  for  infants  and  is  a  memorial  to  a  child  whose  death 

70 


SS4  History  of  Savannah. 

prompted  the  project  in  behalf  of  the  helpless  little  ones.      Miss  L.  Pitzer 
is  matron  of  the  mission. 

The  Workingmen  s  Literary  and  Relief  Association  was  organized  in 
1877.  Its  objects  are  the  intellectual  advancement  of  its  members  and 
to  afford  relief  in  case  of  accident  or  death.  The  Savannah,  Florida  and 
Western  and  Charleston  and  Savannah  Railroad  Relief  Association  is  an 
organization  of  similar  aims.     The  latter  was  organized  in  1878. 

For  several  years  the  Chatham  Club  was  the  leading  social  organiza- 
tion in  Savannah.  It  ceased  to  exist  a  few  years  ago,  when  most  of  its 
members  united  with  the  Oglethorpe  Club. 

The  oldest  social  club  in  Savannah  is  the  Harmonie  which  was  organ- 
ized in  1865.  It  was  instituted  for  social  and  mental  improvement  and 
made  considerable  progress  under  its  first  president  Mr.  Wolf  St.  An- 
drew's Hall  was  first  used  as  club  rooms  and  here  many  pleasant  balls 
and  social  gatherings  were  held,  which  added  much  to  the  winter  amuse- 
ments of  the  city.  The  club  became  a  chartered  organization  in  1887. 
Its  present  home  is  on  the  corner  of  Bull  and  Jones  streets,  formerly  a 
private  residence.  Emile  Newman  is  president ;  I.  A.  Solomon,  jr.,  vice- 
president  ;  S.  Binswanger,  treasurer ;  A.  S.  Milius,  secretary. 

The  Oglethorpe  Club  was  organized  with  twelve  members  in  1875. 
It  was  first  intended  to  make  it  a  club  with  a  very  limited  membership, 
but  it  has  since  extended  its  membership  to  175.  It  is  in  a  flourishing 
condition ;  is  made  up  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  city  and  has  finely 
furnished  and  equipped  quarters  in  the  second  story  of  the  old  Odd  Fel- 
low's building  on  the  corner  of  Broughton  and  Bull  streets.  The  presid- 
ing officers  of  the  club  are  George  S.  Owens,  president;  T.  M.  Cunning- 
ham, vice-president;  R.  L.  Mercer,  secretary  ;  and  John  Sullivan,  treas- 
urer. 

The  Savannah  Turn  Verein  Club  was  organized  in  1856.  It  is  com- 
posed entirely  of  Germans  and  meetings  are  held  the  first  Sunday  in 
each  month  at  their  hall  No.  187  Broughton  street.  The  officers  are 
John  Wohanka,  president;  Henry  Kolshorn,  vice-president;  J.  G.  C. 
Kriise,  secretary ;   M.  L.  Byck,  treasurer. 

The  Standard  Club  is  a  social  organization  but  recently  organized. 
H.  M.  Boley,  is  president ;  M.  Solomons,  vice-president ;  S.  G.  Lowen- 
thal,  secretary;  and  M.  D.  Hirsch,  treasurer. 


Secret  Organizations.  555 

Savannah  has  three  gun  clubs,  the  Chatham,  Forest  City  and  the  Sa- 
vannah Rifle  Association.  Of  the  first  named  the  officers  are  C.  A. 
Drayton,  president;  H.  W.  Palmer,  vice-president;  W.  H.  Connerat, 
secretary  and  treasurer;   G.  S.  McAlpin,  ordnance  officer. 

Forest  City  Club. —  E.  J.  Kieffer,  president;  J.  Reideman,  vice-presi- 
dent ;  C.  A.  Lament,  secretary  and  treasurer ;  J.  Rocker,  ordnance 
officer. 

Savannah  Rifle  Association. — J.  W.  McAlpin,  president;  R.  Falli- 
gant,  vice-president;  J.  M.  Bryan,  secretary  and  treasurer;  J.  P.  White, 
ordnance  officer. 

The  Savannah  Yacht  Club  was  organized  several  years  ago ;  is  strong 
in  membership  and  one  of  the  most  popular  organizations  in  the  city. 
The  club-house  is  located  near  Thunderbolt,  and  during  the  summer 
months  is  a  favorite  resort.  The  officers  are  G.  A.  Mercer,  commodore; 
F.  S.  Lathrop,  rear-commodore;  T.  L.  Kinsey,  vice- commodore;  W. 
D.  Johnston,  secretary ;  M.  A.  Cohen,  treasurer ;  M.  Henderson,  John 
Screven,  jr.,  S.  P.  Goodwin,  sailing  committee. 

The  history  of  Free  Masonry  is  almost  coeval  with  the  birth  of  the  city. 
Solomon  Lodge  No.  i  was  chartered  in  173S,  only  eighteen  years  after 
the  organization  of  a  Constitutional  Grand  Lodge  in  London.  Although 
Georgia  is  the  youngest  of  the  original  thirteen  States,  it  is  third  in  the 
list  with  chartered  lodges,  only  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania  being 
given  priority  in  this  respect. 

Tradition  has  it  that  Solomon's  Lodge  was  formed  as  early  as  1733, 
but  there  is  Uttle  to  substantiate  this  assertion.  Even  the  place  of  meet- 
ing during  the  earlier  years  of  the  Savannah  Lodge  is  in  doubt,  but  it  is 
probable  that  no  regular  place  was  secured  until  some  years  after  the 
lodge  was  chartered.  Among  those  who  accompanied  Oglethorpe  to  the 
site  of. Savannah  in  1733  there  must  have  been  several  who  were  masons, 
for  at  a  meeting  of  the  Grand  Lodge  in  London  in  the  year  of  the  settle- 
ment of  the  colony,  it  is  recorded  that  "  Deputy  Grand  Master  Batson  re- 
commended the  new  colony  of  Georgia  in  North  America  to  the  benevo- 
lence of  the  particular  lodges." 

Free  Masonry  rapidly  grew  into  a  strong  order  in  Savannah,  and  soon 
occupied  an  important  position  among  the  incorporated  bodies  of  the 
town.     In  1758  Solomon's  Lodge  was  mentioned  as  one  of  the  distin- 


5  56  History  of  Savannah. 

guished  bodies  that  received  Henry  Ellis,  the  royal  governor  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Georgia,  upon  his  arrival  in  the  city.  Most  of  the  prominent  cit- 
izens of  the  city  prior  to  and  after  the  Revolutionary  War,  were  enrolled 
members  of  Solomon's  Lodge.  Among  the  names  found  on  the  records 
were  the  Stephens,  Jackson,  Houstoun,  Stirk,  the  Habershams,  Elbert, 
Cecil,  Hawley,  Walton,  Tatnall,  McAllister,  Shad,  John  Berrien,  the 
Sheftalls,  Bulloch,  Waldburg,  Lillibridge,  Hammonds  and  others,  all  dis- 
tinguished in  the  early  history  of  Georgia. 

The  first  regular  meeting  of  Solomon's  Lodge  of  which  there'  is  any 
written  record,  was  in  January,  1785.  On  December  6,  1786,  the  first 
session  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State  was  held  in  Savannah.  The  Ga- 
zette of  the  State  of  Georgia  of  Thursday,  December  21,  1786,  contains 
the  following  reference  to  this  meeting : 

"Last  Saturday  (Dec.  16),  agreeable  to  notification,  the  different 
lodges,  either  by  deputation  or  representatives,  met  the  Right  Worshipful 
Grand  Lodge  at  their  lodge  room  at  the  Coffee  House,  when  the  perma- 
nent appointments  under  the  provincial  regulations  of  England,  were  by 
the  grand  officers  voluntarily  abolished,  and  annual  elections  adopted. 
It  is  with  regret  to  be  communicated  to  the  Craft  that  the  Right  Worship- 
ful Grand  Master  of  Georgia,  the  Hon.  Major  General  Elbert,  resigned  the 
chair,  when  the  following  Grand  Officers  were  elected  for  the  year  1787  : 

"The  Right  Worshipful  William  Stephens,  Esq.,  Grand  Master. 

"Right  Worshipful  Brigadier  General  James  Jackson,  Deputy  Grand 
Master. 

"The  Worshipful  Sir  George  Houstoun,  Baronet,  Grand  Senior  War- 
den. 

"The  Worshipful  Thomas  Elfe,  Esq.,  Grand  Junior  Warden. 

"The  Worshipful  James  Habersham,  Esq.,  Grand  Treasurer. 

"The  Worshipful  Samuel  Stirk,  Grand  Secretary. 

"The  Grand  Lodge  taking  into  consideration  the  generous  and  Mar 
sonic  behavior  of  the  late  Grand  Master,  Brother  Elbert,  unanimously 
hailed  him  Father  of  Independent  Masonry,  and  appointed  a  committee 
to  present  him  the  thanks  of  the  Masonic  State,  with  a  Past  Grand  Mas- 
ter's emblematical  jewel,  in  testimony  of  their  respect  and  brotherly  af- 
fection. 

"The  different  Lodges  in  the  State  being  thus  cemented   under  one 


Secret  Organizations.  557 


common  head,  the  day  was  celebrated  with  harmony  and  good  fellow- 
ship." 

The  account  does  not  give  the  number  of  lodges  participating  in  the 
meeting.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  Savannah  at  this  time  had  two 
lodges  Solomon's  No.  i,  and  Hiram  No.  2,  for  it  appears  that  five  out  of 
the  six  officers  elected  were  members  of  the  first  named  lodge,  and  the 
remaining  office  junior  grand  warden,  was  filled  by  a  member  of  Hiram 
Lodge.  The  grand  lodge  organized  at  this  time  issued  new  charters  to 
the  two  lodges  named,  and  to  a  number  of  others  soon  after  instituted. 

Masonry  flourished  in  Savannah  under  the  grand  lodge  but  the  same 
prosperity  was  not  enjoyed  by  the  fraternity  at  large.  In  18 18  outside 
of  the  large  towns  the  ancient  institution  had  become  almost  extinct.  In 
that  year  but  ten  lodges  were  at  work,  and  of  these,  three  were  in  Savan- 
nah, viz.:  Solomon  No.  i.  Union  No.  10,  and  L'Esperance  No.  31.  Hi- 
ram Lodge  No.  2,  which  had  been  instituted  immediately  succeeding  the 
war  for  independence,  ceased  to  exist  about  the  beginning  of  the  present 
Century.  It  was  revived  in  1826,  but  became  defunct  a  short  time  after- 
ward. 

"At  the  annual  commiinication  of  the  Grand  Lodge  held  in  Savannah 
in  1820,"  says  Colonel  J.  H.  Estill,  in  his  history  of  the  two  Grand  Lodges, 
"the  movement,  from  which  was  to  result  a  complete  revolution  in  the 
then  existing  system  of  Free  Ma;sonry,  began.  It  was  the  consideration 
of  'the  constitution  or  new  code  of  by-laws  submitted  by  a  committee 
appointed  at  a  previous  communication.'  This  report  was,  after  numer- 
ous alterations,  adopted.  Under  this  constitution  it  was  provided  that 
the  first  two  meetings  in  the  year  (the  Grand  Lodge  then  held  quarterly 
meetings)  namely,  those  in  March  and  June,  should  be  held  in  Savannah, 
and  the  last  two,  those  of  September  and  December,  in  Milledgevilie, 
then  the  capital  of  the  State ;  the  grand  officers  being  elected  in  Savan- 
nah, at  the  March  communication.  This  division  of  honors  was  devised 
for  the  purpose  of  harmonizing  the  conflicting  interests  of  the  upper  and 
lower  portions  of  the  State,  it  being  almost,  if  not  absolutely,  impossible 
for  the  representatives  of  all  the  lodges  to  meet  together  at  either  place 
at  any  time,  owing  to  the  lack  of  facilities  for  quick  transportation,  for 
those  were  the  days  when  steamboats  were  just  beginning  to  plow  the 
waters,  and  railroads  were  still  unknown.     Though  intended  to  better 


558  History  of  Savannah. 

the  condition  of  affairs,  it  virtually  made  two  grand  lodges,  with  different 
officers  and  conflicting  interests."  It  is  not  necessary  in  this  connection 
to  follow  the  history  of  the  two  grand  lodges  which  a  few  years  after  were 
created,  the  one  named  the  Savannah  Grand  Lodge  and  the  other  the 
Milledgeville  Grand  Lodge  ;  but  this  result  was  most  unfortunate  for  the 
advancement  of  Free  Masonry  in  Georgia  for  several  years.  Solomon 
Lodge  No.  I,  Union  No.  3,  and  Hiram  No.  35,  remained  with  the  Savan- 
nah Grand  Lodge,  while  the  L'Esperance  No.  8,  joined  the  Milledgeville 
Lodge. 

Union  Lodge  No.  3  at  this  time  (1827)  was  an  influential  body  of  Ma- 
sons, and  its  membership  included  some  of  the  best  citizens  of  Savannah. 
It  was  in  this  lodge  that  Royal  Arch  Masonry  first  made  its  appearance 
in  Georgia,  and  within  its  portal  was  born  that  flourishing  Masonic  body 
known  as  Georgia  Chapter  No.  3  It  had  an  elegant  room  on  Bull  street; 
corner  of  Bay  lane,  where  the  Grand  Lodge  for  a  time  held  its  quarterly 
session.  It  ceased  to  exist  in  the  great  anti- Masonic  crusade  which  oc- 
curred in  the  United  States  during  the  few  years  following  1826,  shortly 
after  the  alleged  expose  of  Free  Masonry  made  by  William  Morgan  of 
New  York.  During  the  excitement  which  spread  all  over  the  country  at 
this  time,  and  the  warfare  made  upon  the  order,  Hiram,  Union  and  L'Es- 
perance Lodges  of  Savannah  suspended  work,  and  were  never  revived. 
Solomon  Lodge  No.  i,  alone  withstood  the  storm. 

In  1839  a  union  of  the  two  grand  lodges  of  Georgia  was  effected,  and 
from  that  date  the  Masonic  order  in  the  State  has  had  a  most  prosper- 
ous career  From  a  half  dozen  lodges  it  has  grown  to  a  present  list  of 
300  lodges,  and  an  affiliated  membership  of  nearly  15,000  Masons. 

The  first  hall  erected  for  the  meetings  of  the  Savannah  Lodges  was 
situated  on  President  street,  near  St.  James  Square.  It  was  a  two-story 
frame  building,  and  for  many  years  was  used  as  a  private  residence. 
This  building  was  torn  down  in  1888,  and  the  Morning  News  of  March 
28,  1888,  had  the  following  account  of  the  old  landmark.^     The  next 

'  Tearing  Down  the  Old  Masonic  Hall,  an  Historic  Rookery. — The  two- 
story  wooden  building  on  a  brick  basement  fronting  on  President  street  was  erected  by 
the  members  of  Solomon's  Lodge  in  1799,  and  was  used  by  the  Masonic  fraternity  until 
1858,  when  they  removed  to  the  building  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Bull  and  Brough- 
ton  streets,  having  sold  the  old  site  to  the  city  in  1856.  The  city  bought  the  property 
and  that  adjoining  on  the  west,  which  was  at  one  time  the  residence  of  General  Lach- 


Secret  Organizations.  559 

building  used  is  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Broughton  and  Bull  streets, 
which  was  jointly  used  by  the  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows  Lodges  until 
these  two  orders  erected  separate  buildings  of  their  own.  The  present 
Masonic  temple  is  situated  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Liberty  and  Whit- 
aker  streets.  This  is  a  substantial  and  handsome  building.  The  first 
story  is  rented  for  stores.  The  second  story  is  a  fine,  capacious  hall  for 
concerts,  balls,  dramatic  representations,  etc.  The  third  story  contains 
the  chambers  of  the  fraternity. 

At  the  present  time  Savannah  has  five  lodges  of  Master  Masons,  Com- 
manderyof  Knights  Templar,  Council  of  R.  and  S.  M.,  and  a  chapter  of 
the  Royal  Arch  as  follows : 

Palestine  Comniandery  No.  S  was  instituted  on  the  15th  of  April,  1867, 

Ian  Mcintosh  of  the  Revolutionary  Army,  intending  to  erect  thereon  a  guard-house  or 
police  station ;  but  the  people  in  the  neighborhood  objected  to  its  being  used  for  that 
purpose,  and  it  was  sold  to  the  late  John  J.  Kelley  for  one  thousand  dollars.  That  gen- 
tleman on  his  death  bequeathed  the  entire  property  to  the  Union  Society.  The  work- 
men yesterday  pulled  down  the  partitions  that  divided  the  old  lodge-room  into  bed- 
rooms, and  it  once  more  had  the  appearance  of  a  meeting-place  of  the  brethren.  In  the 
arched  ceiling,  almost  obliterated  by  the  numberless  coats  of  whitewash  that  had  been 
put  upon  it  by  people  who  have  occupied  the  premises,  could  be  seen  the  outlines  of  the 
"Blazing  Star."  The  hooks  in  the  walls  and  marks  on  the  floor  indicated  that  Royal 
Arch  Masons  had  there  seen  for  the  first  time  the  '  Sanctum  Sanctorum,'  and  that  they 
had  worked  in  the  quarries  and  showed  evidence  of  their  skill.  It  was  in  that  old  lodge- 
room  that  Honorable  William  Stephens,  General  James  Jackson,  Governor  Josiah  Tatt- 
nall, and  other  illustrious  Georgians  and  Masons  met  in  the  early  days  of  the  then  young 
State.  It  was  there  also  that  the  Cuban  patriot.  General  Lopez,  who  was  soon  after 
garroted  in  Havana,  was  made  a  Mason  in  1850.  There  are  quite  a  number  of  mem- 
bers of  the  fraternity  now  living  who  were  brought  '  to  light '  in  the  old  room,  which  to- 
day will  disappear  forever.  It  is  with  feelings  akin  to  regret  that  we  see  these  venera- 
ble structures  torn  down,  while  yet  their  inner  timbers  appear  to  be  strong  enough  to 
stand  for  centuries.  They,  however,  must  make  way  for  buildings  more  suitable  to  the 
uses  of  the  present  generation.  A  noble  structure,  the  Whitefield  Building,  will  succeed 
the  old  hall,  and  the  site  is  virtually  a  Masonic  contribution  to  that  noble  charity,  the 
Union  Society ;  for  the  land  was  the  gift  of  the  late  John  J.  Kelley,  Past  Master  of  Zer- 
ubbabel  Lodge,  number  fifteen,  and  the  money  with  which  the  new  structure  is  to  be 
erected  is  a  part  of  the  bequest  of  the  late  William  F.  Holland,  Past  Master  of  Ancient 
Landmark  Lodge,  number  two  hundred  and  thirty-one.  The  building  will  be  a  fitting 
memorial  to  George  Whitefield,  the  founder  of  the  Bethesda  Orphan  House,  and  John  J. 
Kelley  and  William  F.  Holland,  two  members  of  the  society  whose  timely  beneficence 
has  added  this  valuable  property  to  the  assets  from  which  is  to  be  derived  an  income 
for  the  support  of  the  orphans  of  the  Union  Society,  the  present  guardian  of  Whitefield's 
sacred  trust  to  the  people  of  Savannah. 


s6q  History  of  Savannah. 

Present  officers :  Thomas  Ballantyne,  T.  C;  W.  A.  Walker,  G.;  J.  A. 
Roberts,  P.;  J.  H.  Cavanaugh,  C.  G.;  R.  R.  Lovell,  T.  J.;  J.  F.  La  Far,  R. 

Georgia  Council  No.  2,  R.  and  S.  M.,  was  established  several  years 
ago.  The  present  officers  are  Thomas  Ballantyne,  III.  M.;  W.  S.  Rock- 
well, 111.  H.  of  T.;  R.J.  Nunn,  111.  H.  A.;  Robert  H.  Footman,  T.;  Henry 
T.  Botts,  R. 

Georgia  Chapter  No.  3,  Royal  Arch,  was  established  in  1818  The 
present  officers  are  Thomas  Ballantyne,  E.  P.  H.;  T.  S.  Haines,  E.  K.; 
J.  H.  Cavanaugh,  E.  S.;  C.  A.  Drayton,  C.  H.;  B  Brady,  P.  S.;  P.  H.Ward, 
R.;   R.  C.  Kennedy,  R.  A.  C;   C.  G.  Anderson,  sentinel. 

The  lodges  of  master  masons  are  as  follows  :  Solomon's  Lodge  No.  i, 
as  previously  stated,  was  chartered  in  1735.  Among  the  treasures  of  the 
lodge  is  an  old  Bible,  presented  by  General  Oglethorpe,  with  writing  on 
the  fly-leaf  The  present  officers  are  W.  B.  Spann,  W.  M.;  E.  E.  Buck- 
ner,  S.  W.;  J.  A,  Thomas,  J.  W.;  H.  S.  Colding,  S.;  R.  H.  Lewis,  T.;  J. 
H.  Fox,  tiler. 

Zerubbabel  Lodge,  No.  15,  was  chartered  on  the  5  th  of  November,  1840. 
The  present  officers  are  W.  A.  Walker,  W.  M.;  J.  Kiley,  S. 

Clinton  Lodge,  No.  54,  was  chartered  on  the  27th  of  October,  1847. 
Its  present  officers  are  J.  P2.  Mallery,  W.  M.;  W.  Russell,  jr.,  S. 

Ancient  Landmark  Lodge,  No.  241,  was  chartered  on  the  15th  of  No- 
vember, 1859.  The  present  officers  are  W.  S.  Rockwell,  W.  M.;  J.  S. 
Haines,  S. 

Landrum  Lodge,  No.  48,  is  the  youngest  of  the  Masonic  lodges  of  the 
city.  Its  officers  are  A.  H.  McDonell,  W.  M.;  S.  P.  Goodwin,  S.  W.; 
J.  W.  Pead,  J.  W.;  H.  E.  Wilson,  S.;  C.  H.  Carson,  T.;  D.  L.  Jackson, 
tiler. 

The  colored  citizens  of  Savannah  are  represented  by  four  Masonic 
lodges,  the  Eureka  Lodge,  No.  i,  Hilton- Lodge,  No.  2,  Mount  Moriah 
Lodge  No.  16,  Pythagoras  Lodge,  No.  14. 

The  society  of  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  has  five  lodges,  an 
encampment,  and  one  canton  of  the  uniformed  division  in  Savannah. 

Oglethorpe  Lodge,  No.  i,  the  first  branch  of  the  order  established  in 
Savannah,  was  instituted  in  1843.  The  officers  are  H.  Emmett  Wilson. 
N.  G;  J.  H.  Osborne,  secretary. 

Live  Oak  Lodge,  No.  3,  was  instituted  in  1 843.  Isaac  Beckett  is  N.  G.; 
John  Houston,  secretary. 


Secret  Organizations.  561 

DeKalb  Lodge,  No.  9,  was  instituted  in  1843.  Its  officers  are  J.  W. 
Smith,  N.  G.;  J.  Riley,  secretary. 

Haupt  Lodge,  No.  57,  was  instituted  in  1869.  Its  officers  are  J.  A. 
Shephard,  N.  G.;    A.  N.  Manucy,  secretary. 

Golden  Rule  Lodge,  No.  12,  was  the  fourth  lodge  instituted  in  Savan- 
nah.    Its  officers  are  T.  Stockton,  N.  G.;   E.  E.  Cheatham,  secretary. 

Magnolia  Encampment,  No.  i,  was  instituted  in  1845.  W.  J.  O'Brien 
is  C.  P.,  and  J.  S.  Tyson,  secretary. 

Chatham  Canton  No.  i  of  the  uniformed  rank  has  the  following  offi- 
cers: J.  W.  Jackson,  commander;  A.  B.  Brook,  lieutenant;  J.  W.  Pear- 
son, ensign  ;  A.  N.  Manucy,  clerk ;   C.  H.  Dorsett,  accountant. 

The  Odd  Fellows  General  Relief  Committee  has  been  a  most  valuable 
auxiliary  in  affording  aid  to  distressed  members  of  the  order.  D.  Morgan 
is  president. 

Odd  Fellows  Hall  was  for  many  years  on  the  northeast  corner  of 
Broughton  and  Bull  streets.  In  1887  a  new  hall  was  completed  on  the 
northwest  corner  of  State  and  Barnard  streets.  This  fine  building  was 
totally  destroyed  by  fire  on  the  evening  of  April  6,  1889.  Efforts  are 
now  being  put  forward  to  secure  the  erection  of  another  building  for  the 
use  of  the  fraternity. 

The  Knights  of  Pythias  have  several  flourishing  branches  in  Savan- 
nah. Among  the  lodges  are  Forest  City  Lodge,  No.  \,  Myrtle  Lodge,  No. 
6,  Teutonia  Lodge,  No.  7,  Excelsior  Lodge,  No.  8,  Calanthe  Lodge,  No. 
28,  Du  Guesclin  Division,  No.  i.  One  branch  of  the  Endowment  rank, 
and  of  the  Uniform  Division.  Knights  of  Pythias'  Hall  is  situated  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  Barnard  and  York  streets. 

Among  the  other  secret  societies  of  Savannah  are  Alliance  Lodge,  No. 
586,  Knights  of  Honor;  and  Savannah  Lodge,  No.  11 83;  Tattnall  Coun- 
cil, No.  884,  American  Legion  of  Honor;  Isondiga  Lodge,  No.  18,  and 
Sheperd  Lodge,  No.  17,  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen;  Branch  No. 
38,  Catholic  Knights  of  America;  Savannah  Lodge,  No.  2,  Golden  Chain; 
Georgia  Lodge,  No.  151,  O.  K.  S.  B.;  Pulaski  Council,  No.  153,  Royal 
Arcanum  ;  Jasper  Council,  No.  10,  Home  Circle  ;  three  branches  of  the 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  ;  two  lodges  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Good  Templars;  one  division  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance;  Geor- 
gia Tent  No.  151,  of  I.  O.  of  R.;    St.  John  the  Baptist  Society,  and  St, 


562  History  of  Savannah. 


Patrick's  Society  oiT-K.  B.;  two  lodges  of  the  I.  O.  B.  B.,  and  one  lodge 
of  the  U.  S.  of  T. 

The  soldiers  who  fought  in  the  Confederate  and  Federal  armies  during 
the  late  civil  war,  have  each  an  organization  in  Savannah,  the  object  of 
which  is  for  social  reunion  and  benevolence.  The  Confederate  Veterans 
Association  was  formed  a  few  years  ago  and  is  in  a  flourishing  condition. 
The  officers  are  L.  McLaws,  president;  H.  R.  Jackson,  W.  W.  Gordon, 
vice-presidents;  J.  K.  P.  Carr,  treasurer;  E.  A.  Silva,  secretary.  The 
organization  composed  of  honorably  discharged  Federal  soldiers  is  known 
as  the  Winfield  Scott  Hancock  Post  No.  48.  Its  officers  are  T.  F.  Gleason, 
commander;  W.  Snow,  senior  vice-commander;  E.  Ybanez,  junior  vice- 
commander  ;  S.  F.  B.  Gillespie,  adjutant. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 
BIOGRAPHICAL. 

ESTILL,  COLONEL  J.  H.  The  story  of  the  life  of  a  self-made  man 
is  almost  always  interesting,  particularly  to  those  who  have  their  way 
to  make  in  the  world.  The  methods  by  which  he  won  distinction,  or  ac- 
quired fortune,  are  eagerly  studied  by  those  who  are  ambitious  and  en- 
terprising, with  the  hope  of  finding  something  that  will  assist  them  in  their 
efforts  to  achieve  success. 

Colonel  John  Holbrook  Estill  is  a  conspicuous  example  of  a  self-made 
man.  He  owes  his  success  in  life  to  his  own  unaided  exertions.  He  be- 
gan at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder,  and  has  climbed  steadily  toward  the  top. 
Indomitable  perseverance,  great  application,  a  high  order  of  executive 
ability  and  excellent  judgment  in  business  matters  are  marked  features  of 
his  character. 

Colonel  Estill  was  born  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  October  28,  1840,  in  a 
building  on  Broad  street  which  subsequently  was  occupied  by  that  cele- 
brated organ  of  secession,  the  Charleston  Mercury.  He  was  one  of  a 
family  of  eleven  children.     William   Estill,  his  father,  who  was  a  book- 


Biographical.  563 


seller,  bookbinder  and  printer,  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty-two,  and  died  in 
Savannah  in  1882.  From  his  earliest  years  Colonel  Estill  has  been  con- 
nected in  one  way  and  another  with  the  printing  business.  His  father 
moved  from  Charleston  to  Savannah  in  1851,  and  at  the  early  age  of 
eleven  years  Colonel  Estill  began  his  career  in  the  office  of  the  Evening 
Journal,  his  first  work  being  setting  type  and  distributing  newspapers. 
During  the  next  five  years  he  was  employed  at  different  times  in  the 
offices  of  the  Savannah  Daily  Courier  and  the  Savannah  Georgian.  In 
1856  he  returned  to  Charleston,  and  served  an  apprenticeship  in  the 
printing  house  of  Walker,  Evans  &  Cogswell.  In  1859  he  was  back  in 
Savannah  assisting  in  the  publication  of  the  Evening  Express. '  The  Ex- 
press was  a  failure,  however,  and  when  the  war  of  secession  began  he  was 
a  pressman  in  a  job  office  which  was  situated  on  the  site  now  occupied  by 
the  Morning  News  building. 

Colonel  Estill  was,  of  course,  in  sympathy  with  the  prevailing  senti- 
ment of  his  State  in  political  matters,  and  promptly  volunteered  when 
troops  were  called  for.  He  was  one  of  those  who  garrisoned  Fort  Pu- 
laski, and  he  went  with  his  company,  the  Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry, 
commanded  by  the  distinguished  Colonel  F.  S.  Bartow,  to  Virginia.  He 
has  always  been  proud  of  the  fact  that  he  was  one  of  "Bartow's  boys." 
He  was  wounded  in  battle,  and  was  discharged  from  the  army  in  1863 
because  of  his  wounds,  but  he  afterwards  served  as  a  volunteer  in  defense 
of  Savannah. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Colonel  Estill  was  penniless  and  without  occu- 
pation. He  was  not,  however,  discouraged.  He  had  confidence  in  him- 
self and  he  was  willing  to  work  at  anything  that  promised  to  yield  him  a 
living.  He  accepted  employment  at  a  dollar  a  day,  but  kept  his  eyes 
open  for  chances  to  improve  his  material  condition.  In  1866,  while  work- 
ing as  pressman  in  the  News  and  Herald  office,  he  purchased  a  small  job 
printing  office,  and  in  1867  he  bought  an  interest  in  the  News  and  Her- 
ald, and  became  its  business  manager.  In  the  following  year  he  secured 
entire  control  of  that  newspaper  and  changed  its  name  to  the  Morning 
News. 

It  was  not  an  easy  matter  to  make  a  newspaper  in  Savannah  pay  at 
that  time.  There  were  two  other  morning  newspapers,  but  the  Morning 
News  quickly  became  the  favorite,  and  in  a  short  time  had  the  field  to 


564  History  of  Savannah. 

itself.  In  1876  the  Morning  News  became  financially  strong  enough  to 
own  a  home  of  its  own,  and  a  four-story  building  was  erected  on  the  pres- 
ent site  of  the  magnificent  Morning  News  publishing  house,  which  was 
built  nine  years  later. 

It  may  be  asserted  without  fear  of  successful  contradiction  that  the 
Morning  News  under  Colonel  Estill's  management,  has  led  the  newspaper 
press  of  the  South  in  every  step  of  its  improvement.  It  used  a  folder 
when  there  was  not  another  in  use  south  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  same  is 
true  with  respect  to  the  mailing  machine.  It  was  the  first  to'  print  from 
stereotype  plates,  and  it  was  the  first  in  Georgia  to  organize  a  regular  sys- 
tem of  correspondence  and  to  use  the  telegraph  extensively  in  its  special 
news  service.  In  the  Mornitig  News  publishing  house  there  is  an  im- 
mense business  carried  on  outside  of  the  publishing  of  a  newspaper.  Job 
printing,  lithographing  and  book-binding  are  done  on  an  extensive  scale. 
The  patrons  of  the  publishing  house  are  found  in  about  every  city  in  the 
South. 

Colonel  Estill  also  owns  the  Macon  Telegraph,  the  leading  newspaper 
of  Middle  Georgia,  and  one  of  the  four  great  dailies  of  the  State.  Outside 
of  his  newspapers  he  has  taken  a  leading  part  in  a  great  many  business 
enterprises,  and  continues  to  do  so.  In  all  undertakings  for  the  benefit  of 
Savannah  he  is  pushed  to  the  front,  and  made  to  shoulder  a  large  share 
of  the  burden.  Within  the  last  few  years  he  has  been  endeavoring  to 
relieve  himself  of  many  of  the  trusts  confided  to  his  care,  but  hp  has  only 
partially  succeeded.  He  is  still,  in  a  very  marked  degree,  a  servant  of  the 
public,  and  doubtless  will  continue  to  be.  Among  the  places  of  trust  and 
responsibility  he  now  fills  are  the  following  :  President  of  the  Union  So- 
ciety, which  includes  the  care  of  the  Bethesda  Orphan  Home,  founded  in 
1740  by  Rev.  George  Whitefield;  President  of  the  Chatham  Real  Estate 
and  Improvement  Company;  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Public  Educa- 
tion, and  a  County  Commissioner.  Besides  these  he  is  either  president 
or  director  in  a  dozen  or  more  corporations.  He  built  one  of  the  street 
railways  of  Savannah  entirely  from  his  own  means,  and  was  the  projector 
of  the  Belt  Line  Railroad.  In  addition  to  the  various  business  enterprises 
to  which  attention  has  already  been  called  he  directs  a  rice  plantation  and 
cattle  ranch  which  he  owns  in  South  Carolina. 

Colonel  Estill  has  never  held  an  elective  political  office,  except  that 


r  '^  ''-lyTG.Zerna-'i^  C°2TY 


Biographical.  565 


of  public  printer,  to  which  he  was  twice  elected.  He  has,  however,  been 
on  the  staff  of  the  governor  for  many  years,  and  is  at  present  the  Geor- 
gia member  of  the  National  Democratic  Committee. 

Colonel  Estill  is  almost  wholly  a  self-educated  man.  He  received 
some  benefits  from  the  public  schools,  but  he  did  not  attend  them  regu- 
larly because  he  was  so  occupied  that  he  could  not.  He  has  been  a  reader 
all  his  life,  however,  and  being  a  thinker,  as  well  as  a  man  of  many  origi- 
nal ideas,  his  want  of  early  educational  advantages  has  not  seriously  in- 
terfered with  his  success  in  life.  He  is  not  contentious,  but  he  adheres 
to  his  opinions  with  great  tenacity  when  once  they  are  formed.  He  yields 
gracefully  when  the  facts  are  against  him,  however,  and  is  quick  to  set 
himself  right  when  he  finds  ihat  he  is  in  the  wrong.  He  is  an  enemy  of 
cant,  hypocrisy  and  humbuggery  in  whatever  shape  they  present  them- 
selves, and  does  not  hesitate  to  show  his  hostility  to  them,  but  he  is  in- 
clined to  treat  leniently  the  faults  and  shortcomings  of  his  fellow  men. 
The  late  Colonel  Thompson,  who  was  the  editor  of  the  Morning  News  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  said  that  had  Colonel  Estill  given  his  undivided  at- 
tention to  editorial  work  he  would  have  made  a  reputation  second  to  that 
of  no  other  editor  in  the  country.  Upon  questions  that  interest  him  he 
writes  with  force  and  clearness.  As  an  "All-around  man"  he  probably 
ranks  with  the  best  of  the  newspaper  men  of  the  country,  as  he  is  equally 
at  home  in  writing  local  matter,  editorials,  or  directing  the  business  de- 
partment. 

HARTRIDGE,  ALFRED  LAMAR,  was  born  in  Savannah,  Febru- 
ary 17,  1837,  the  son  of  Charles  Hartridge,  a  cotton  factor,  a  native 
of  Savannah,  of  Saxon  lineage,  and  was  the  youngest  of  four  brothers, 
Julian,  Algernon  Sidney,  Charles  John,  and  Alfred  Lamar.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  the  Georgia  MiHtary  Institute,  Marietta,  Ga.,  and  was  senior 
captain  of  cadets  when  he  withdrew  from  the  institute  to  enter  commer- 
cial life  in  Savannah  in  October,  1854. 

At  the  time  of  the  secession  of  Georgia  he  was  a  bank  officer  under 
G.  B.  Lamar,  president  of  the  Bank  of  Commerce.  On  the  withdrawal  of 
his  State  from  the  Union  he  joined  the  Chatham  Artillery  as  a  private,  but 
was  soon  afterwards  made  first  lieutenant  of  the  DeKalb  Riflemen,  and  on 
June  7,  1 86 1,  was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  Confederacy  with  his 


S66  History  (")F  Savannah. 

company,  and  ordered  to  Genesis  Point,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Ogee- 
chee  River.  In  August,  1861,  he  was  elected  captain  of  the  DeKalb  Rifle- 
men, and  re-enlisted  with  his  company  in  the  Confederate  service  for  the 
war.  He  built  and  named  Fort  McAllister,  calling  it  after  his  warm  friend, 
Colonel  Joseph  L.  McAllister,  who  was  afterward  killed  in  Virginia  Dur- 
ing his  command  of  this  work  Captain  Hartridge  had  several  engagements 
with  the  enemy,  first  with  one  and  then  with  four  gunboats,  repulsing 
all  attacks. 

In  August,  1862,  he  was  transferred  with  his  company  to  the  First 
Battalion  of  Georgia  Sharpshooters,  under  command  of  Major  Robert  H. 
Anderson,  (afterward  brigadier-general  of  cavalry.)  In  the  spring  of  1863 
he  was  promoted  to  major  of  artillery  C.  S.  A.,  and  placed  in  command 
of  the  heavy  batteries  at  Rosedew,  on  the  Little  Ogeechee  River.  The 
island  of  Rosedew  was  considered  by  General  Beauregard  as  the  strategic 
point  from  which  the  Federals  would  attempt  to  advance  on  Savannah. 
On  November  18,  1864,  Major  Hartridge  was  ordered  by  General  Mc- 
Laws,  then  in  command  of  the  military  district  of  Georgia,  to  take  com- 
mand of  a  force  consisting  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Georgia  Battalion  of 
Infantry,  the  Ashley  Dragoons,  Captain  Heyward,  and  a  section  of  Max- 
well's artillery  under  Lieutenant  Huger,  and  to  proceed  to  the  Central 
Railroad  bridge  over  the  Oconee  River,  to  hold  it  against  what  was  then 
supposed  to  be  a  raiding  party  sent  to  destroy  railroad  communication 
with  Southwestern  Georgia  ;  but  which  in  fact  was  Sherman's  army  ad- 
vancing from  Atlanta.  He  held  this  bridge  and  Ball's  Ferry  for  three 
daj's  against  the  attacks  of  Osterhaus's  division  of  Sherman's  Army,  be- 
ing gallantly  assisted  by  the  Cadets  of  the  Georgia  Military  Institute 
under  the  command  of  Major  F.  W.  Capers,  and  by  other  State  troops 
under  the  command  of  General  H.  C.  Wayne,  adjutant-general  of  the 
State  of  Georgia.  On  the  third  day  Lieutenant-General  W.  J.  Hardie 
visited  this  command,  and  seeing  the  overwhelming  strength  of  the  ene- 
my, ordered  the  troops  to  fall  back  to  Millen. 

On  November  30,  1864,  he  was  placed  in  command  of  that  portion  of 
the  outer  line  of  the  defenses  around  Savannah  at  Monteith,  extending 
from  the  Charleston  and  Savannah  Railroad  bridge  over  the  Savannah 
River  to  the  Central  Railroad,  just  to  the  southwest  of  Harrison's  place. 
The  troops  under  his  command  consisting  of  six  companies  of  the  Twen- 


Biographical.  ^67 


ty-seventh  Georgia  Battalion,  Howard's  Battalion,  a  North  Carolina  Bat- 
talion, two  Cavalry  companies  and  Captain  Abell's  Light  Battery  of  four 
pieces.  On  December  6th  the  advance  of  the  Federals  appeared  in  front 
of  this  line,  md  on  the  day  following  a  general  attack  was  made  by  skir- 
mishers, and  in  the  afternoon  by  heavy  columns.  By  order  of  the  general 
commanding,  the  troops  were  withdrawn  from  this  line  on  the  night  of 
December  7th,  and  Major  Hartridge  was  placed  in  command  of  that  por- 
tion of  the  inner  line  resting  on  the  Williamson  place  on  the  river. 

On  December  13th  Fort  McAllister  was  captured,  and  on  the  14th  Ma- 
jor Hartridge  was  ordered  to  take  command  of  the  Little  Ogeechee  bat- 
teries from  Rosedew  to  the  railroad  bridge  crossing  the  river.  This  line 
he  held  until  the  night  of  December  20th,  when  all  the  lines  around  Sa- 
vannah were  abandoned,  and  the  army  withdrawn  to  the  north  side  of 
the  river,  leaving  Savannah  defenseless  After  the  evacuation  of  Savan- 
nah he  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Georgia  Battalion, 
and  served  in  General  McLaw's  Division  in  South  and  North  Carolina, 
taking  part  in  many  skirmishes,  and  in  the  battles  of  Averysboro  and 
Bentonville.  He  ended  his  war>  record  as  a  colonel  of  infantry  on  April 
19,  1865,  at  Greensboro,  N.  C,  when  General  J.  E.  Johnston  surrendered 
his  army  to  General  Sherman. 

Since  that  year  he  has  been  actively  at  work  in  his  native  city,  en- 
deavoring to  do  his  share  towards  reviving  the  shattered  fortunes  of  his 
section.  In  1876,  during  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  which  devastated 
Savannah,  he  served  as  a  volunteer  in  the  Benevolent  Association,  and 
worked  among  the  sick  and  poor  without  intermission  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  this  fearful  scourge.  Particularly  has  he  been  untiring 
in  his  endeavors  to  aid  those  who  are  developing  the  Central  Railroad 
Company  of  Georgia  into  one  of  the  great  railroad  systems  of  the  coun- 
try, and  in  encouraging  those  who  believe  in  the  future  greatness  of  Sa- 
vannah.   

MERCER,  GEORGE  A.,  born  in  Savannah.  Ga.,  February  9,  1835. 
His  father,  Hugh  W.  Mercer,  was  born  in  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  in 
1808.  His  mother  was  Mary  S.  Mercer,  ;?/^  Anderson.  Hugh  W.Mercer 
was  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1828,  in  the  class  with  Jefferson  Davis, 
and  one  class  behind   Robert  E.  Lee.      He  was  the   intimate,   personal 


S68  History  of  Savannah. 

friend  of  General  Lee.  Lieutenant  Mercer  was  for  several  years  on  the 
personal  staff  of  General  Winfield  Scott.  He  was  sent  to  Savannah  on 
duty  as  an  officer  of  artillery.  General  Lee  came  to  Savannah  at  the  same 
time  as  an  officer  of  the  U.  S.  Engineer  Corps.  In  1833  General  Mercer 
resigned  from  the  army,  settled  in  Savannah  and  married  there  Miss 
Mary  S  Anderson,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  George  Anderson,  a  very  promi- 
nent merchant  and  citizen  of  Savannah.  Hugh  W.  Mercer  became  cashier 
of  the  old  Planter's  Bank  of  Savannah,  and  retained  his  position  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  late  war.  He  was  one  of  the  first  brigadier-generals 
appointed  by  President  Davis,  and  served  throughout  the  entire  war  on 
the  coast  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  and  in  the  army  of  Northern 
Georgia  under  Generals  Joseph  E.  Johnston  and  Hood.  At  the  close  of 
hostilities  General  Mercer  returned  to  Savannah;  then  he  entered  into  a 
banking  and  commission  business  in  Baltimore,  finally  went  to  Europe, 
and  died  at  Baden  Baden,  Germany,  in  1877,  in  his  sixty- ninth  year. 

General  Mercer's  mother,  the  grandmother  of  Colonel  George  A. 
Mercer,  was  the  daughter  of  the  distinguished  Cyrus  Griffin,  of  Virginia, 
the  president  of  the  last  Continental  Congress.  General  Mercer  was  the 
son  of  Colonel  Hugh  Mercer,  of  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  who  was  president 
of  the  old  Farmers'  Bank  of  Fredericksburg  for  many  years.  Colonel 
Hugh  Mercer  was  the  son  of  General  Hugh  Mercer  of  the  Revolutionary 
army,  who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Princeton,  N.  J.  He  was  the  inti- 
mate personal  friend  of  General  Washington. 

Of  the  three  children  now  living  of  Hugh  and  Mary  S.  Mercer,  George 
A.  Mercer  is  the  eldest,  the  other  two  being  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Walker,  wife  of 
General  H.  H.  Walker,  of  the  Confederate  Army,  now  a  resident  of  Mor- 
ristown,  N.  J.,  and  Robert  Lee  Mercer.  George  A.  Mercer  received  his 
preliminary  education  in  Savannah.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  was  sent 
to  the  celebrated  school  of  Mr.  Russell,  in  New  Haven,  Conn.  Upon  his 
return  he  became  a  pupil  of  the  well-known  teacher,  William  T.  Feay, 
who  prepared  him  for  college.  In  August,  1853,  he  entered  the  sopho- 
more class  of  Princeton,  N.  J.,  and  was  graduated  in  1856.  He  attended 
the  law  school  at  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1857.  In  1858  he  went 
to  Europe.  Upon  his  return  to  Savannah  he  entered  the  law  office  of 
Messrs.  Lloyd  and  Owens,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1859.  After 
admission,  he  remained  in  the  law  office  of  Ward,  Jackson  &  Jones  for 


Biographical.  569 


one  year.  Soon  after  he  began  practice,  in  1 860,  he  was  taken  into  co- 
partnership by  George  A.  Gordon,  esq.,  then  counsel  for  the  Central  Rail- 
road and  Banking  Company  of  Georgia.  When  the  war  broke  out  in 
1 861  both  partners  entered  the  Confederate  service,  and  never  resumed 
practice  together.  Colonel  Gordon  after  the  war  moved  to  Huntsville, 
Ala.,  and  died  there.  George  A.  Mercer  during  the  war  married  Miss 
Nannie  Maury  Herndon,  daughter  of  Dr.  Brodie  S.  Herndon,  a  distin- 
guished physician  and  surgeon  in  the  Confederate  Army,  of  Fredericks- 
burg, Va.  George  A.  Mercer  entered  the  war  as  corporal  in  the  Repub- 
lican Blues,  organized  in  1808.  He  was  soon  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy 
in  said  company,  and  in  1861  was  tendered  a  position  in  the  adjutant  and 
inspector  general's  department,  with  the  rank  of  captain  and  assistant- 
adjutant- general.  He  at  first  served  upon  the  staff  of  General  Mercer,  at 
Brunswick,  Savannah,  and  Charleston,  and  along  the  coast  of  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina.  He  was  afterwards  transferred  to  the  Western  Ar- 
my, then  under  command  of  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston.  He  participated 
in  all  the  battles  towards  the  close  of  General  Johnston's  command,  and 
in  those  delivered  by  General  Hood.  Under  Hood  he  was  the  adjutant- 
general  of  Smith's  Brigade  of  Cleburne's  Division.  He  saw  much  of 
General  Cleburne  prior  to  his  death  at  the  battle  of  Franklin,  and  appre- 
ciated and  admired  his  fine  soldierly  qualities.  He  was  ordered  by  the 
war  department,  just  at  the  close  of  the  war,  to  report  to  General  Howell 
Cobb,  at  Macon,  Ga.,  and  was  there  captured  with  the  Confederate  troops 
by  the  forces  under  General  Wilson,  and  paroled.  He  resumed  his  law 
practice  in  Savannah  in  the  fall  of  1865,  as  soon  as  the  courts  were  open, 
and  has  since  continued  to  practice  his  profession.  In  1872  and  1873, 
and  in  1873  and  1874,  he  represented  Chatham  county  in  the  Georgia 
Legislature,  but  has  filled  no  other  political  office.  Upon  the  reorgani- 
zation of  the  Savannah  military,  he  was  chosen  captain  of  his  old  com- 
pany, the  Republican  Blues,  and  remained  in  active  command  for  fifteen 
years,  until  December  27,  1886,  when  he  was  promoted  to  the  colonelcy 
of  the  First  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Georgia,  which  position  he  still  holds. 
He  was  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Savannah  Medical  Col- 
lege. He  is  a  director  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society,  and  of  the  Tel- 
fair Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  He  is  a  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  Chatham  Academy,  and  president  of  the  Board  of  Public 

72 


576  History  of  Savannah. 

Education  for  the  city  of  Savannah  and  county  of  Chatham.  He  is  pres- 
ident for  the  present  year  of  the  Bar  Association  of  Georgia,  and  is  one 
of  the  executive  committee  of  the  American  Bar  Association  of  which  he 
was  one  of  the  organizers. 

Colonel  Mercer  sustained  a  severe  loss  in  the  death  of  his  wife  on  June 
i6,  1885.  Of  the  seven  children  born  of  this  union  five  survive:  George, 
Lewis,  Robert  Lee,  Edward,  and  Nannie  Herndon,  the  only  daughter,  now 
Mrs.  J.  M..  Lang. 

MCMAHON,  CAPT.,  JOHN,  was  born  near  Kilrush,  county  Clare, 
Ireland,  in  March,  181 5,  and  emigrated  with  his  parents  to  America 
in  early  boyhood.  They  settled  in  Meramichi,  N.  B.,  where  he  and  his 
sister,  Mrs.  Edward  Grant,  now  a  resident  of  Iowa,  were  soon  after  left  as 
orphans,  they  being  the  only  children  of  their  deceased  parents.  From 
Meramichi  he  moved  to  Utica,  N.  Y.,  with  his  sister  and  family,  and  con- 
tinued to  reside  there  until  about  1836,  when  he  came  to  Savannah  with 
several  others  under  an  engagement  to  work  in  a  shoe  factory.  Young 
McMahon's  comrades  returned  North  the  following  summer,  but  he  de- 
cided to  remain  here,  and  soon  after  obtained  a  situation  from  Captain 
Wiltberger,  who  was  the  first  to  discover  his  sterling  qualities,  which  in 
after  years  made  him  conspicuous.  Captain  Wiltberger  was  then  propri- 
etor of  the  city  hotel,  which  was  the  principal  hostelry  of  the  city.  Mr. 
McMahon  remained  in  this  position  about  two  years  vyhen  he  with  the 
aid  of  some  friends,  went  into  business  on  his  own  account,  on  Whitaker 
street. 

In  April,  1840,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Kate  Harty,  of  Locust  Grove, 
Taliaferro  county,  Ga.  Her  gentle  manners  and  amiable  disposition  had 
their  influence  in  shaping  his  after  career.  In  November,  1841,  Captain 
Wiltberger  opened  the  Pulaski  House  and  Mr.  McMahon  succeeded  him 
as  proprietor  of  the  City  Hotel,  in  which  position  he  was  both  popular 
and  successful.  He  was  doing  a  good  business  at  the  hotel  in  1846  when 
Georgia  was  called  on  to  furnish  troops  to  serve  in  the  war  with  Mexico. 
Being  an  officer  in  the  "Irish  Jasper  Greens,"  a  company  which  had  vol- 
unteered and  been  accepted  under  the  call  as  Savannah's  quota  to  the 
Georgia  Regiment,  he  turned  his  business  over  to  a  manager,  under  direc- 
tion of  his  estimable  wife,  and  proceeded  with  his  company  to  Columbus, 


Biographical.. 


571 


Ga.,  where  they  were  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States,  June 
I  ith,  for  a  term  of  twelve  months.  Captain  (now  General)  Henry  R.  Jack- 
son, of  the  Greens,  was  elected  colonel  of  the  Georgia  Regiment  on  its 
organization,  and  Lieutenant  McMahon  was  elected  to  succeed  him  as 
captain  on  the  20th  of  June.  The  regiment  left  Columbus  for  the  seat  of 
war  in  Mexico  on  June  28th. 

An  incident  in  Captain  McMahon's  history  at  this  period  may  be  men- 
tioned to  show  the  character  and  determination  of  the  man.  When  the 
Georgia  troops  reached  the  Brazos  they  received  instructions  to  proceed 
up  the  Rio  Grande  to  Camp  Belknap  opposite  Burita,  where  they  remained 
about  two  weeks.  Among  the  troops  there  assembled  was  the  Fourth  Illi- 
nois Regiment  under  command  of  Colonel  Baker.  This  regiment  was  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  finest  from  the  Northwest.  In  consequence  of  the  lim- 
ited facilities  for  transportation  to  Comargo,  where  the  troops  were  subse- 
quently ordered,  it  was  necessary  to  move  only  a  few  companies  at  a  time. 
Four  companies  of  the  Georgia  Regiment  including  the  Jasper  Greens 
and  the  Kenesaw  Rangers  were  left  behind  for  a  few  days,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant- Colonel  Redd.  On  the  evening  of  August  31st  the 
troops  received  orders  to  proceed  to  Comargo,  and  the  Georgia  troops 
were  marched  to  the  river  bank  for  the  purpose  of  taking  the  steamer  Cor- 
vette which  had  just  arrived.  While  waiting  at  the  landing  two  or  three 
sparring  contests  occurred  between  members  of  the  Jasper  Greens  and  of 
the  Kenesaw  Rangers,  which  occasioned  considerable  excitement,  as  the 
friends  of  the  contestants  cheered  them  on  lustily.  Colonel  Baker,  who  was 
aware  that  Colonel  Jackson  had  gone  to  Comargo,  was  returning  to  camp 
with  a  detachment  of  his  men  from  the  funeral  of  a  brother  officer  when 
he  heard  the  noise,  and  imagining  that  there  was  trouble  among  the  sol- 
diers, marched  down  to  the  point  from  whence  the  disorder  proceeded. 
Before  his  arrival,  however.  Captain  McMahon  had  already  interfered, 
stopped  the  sparring,  which  was  becoming  rather  earnest,  and  marched 
his  men  on  board  the  steamer,  and  proceeded  with  them  to  the  hurri- 
cane deck  where  he  was  reprimanding  them  for  their  boisterous  conduct, 
when  Colonel  Baker  hurried  his  men  on  board  the  steamer,  and  rushed  up 
the  stairway  to  this  deck.  Captain  McMahon,  who  was  addressing  his 
men  at  the  time,  had  his  back  turned  to  the  stairway,  and  the  first  inti- 
mation he  had  of  Colonel  Baker's  presence  was  a  peremptory  command 


5/2  History  of  Savannah. 

"Surrender  your  sword."  Captain  McMahon  not  recognizing  the  officer, 
turned  upon  him  and  repHed :  "I'll  cross  swords  with  you  but  will  not 
surrender."  A  fierce  combat  ensued  and  Colonel  Baker  was  being 
worsted,  when  one  of  his  men  seized  him  around  the  waist  and  drawing 
him  back,  said,  "  Colonel,  he's  too  much  for  you,''  and  others  yelled, 
"charge  bayonets,"  "run  him  through,  etc."  The  Illinois  men  at  once 
rushed  forward.  Captain  McMahon  was  knocked  down',  bayoneted  through 
the  mouth,  and  pinioned  to  the  deck.  Some  of  the  Jaspers  perceiving 
this  cried  out,  "Boys  they  have  killed  our  captain,"  and  then  rushed  upon 
the  lUinoisans  killing  some,  seriously  wounding  others,  and  forcing  a 
number  overboard.  The  disturbance  was  soon  over.  Captain  McMa- 
hon was  reported  dangerously  hurt  and  Colonel  Baker  fatally  wounded. 
Both,  however,  recovered.  Colonel  Jackson,  on  hearing  of  the  affair,  or- 
dered Captain  McMahon  and  his  company  under  arrest,  and  had  charges 
preferred  in  order  that  the  matter  might  be  fully  investigated  and  that 
there  should  be  no  misunderstanding  in  the  future  about  the  unfortunate 
affair.  A  court-martial  was  ordered  by  General  Taylor,  and  resulted  in 
the  thorough  exoneration  of  Captain  McMahon  from  all  blame  in  the 
matter.  Early  in  December  Captain  McMahon  obtained  leave  of  absence 
to  attend  to  some  important  business  requiring  his  presence  in  Savannah. 
Soon  after  his  return  to  the  city  his  health  began  to  fail,  as  a  result  of 
exposure,  etc.,  while  in  the  field  with  his  command.  Later  on  finding  that 
he  would  not  be  able  to  resume  active  duty  before  the  "Greens"  term  of 
enlistment  expired,  he  forwarded  his  resignation  as  captain  of  the  corps. 
He  resumed  management  of  the  city  hotel  as  soon  as  his  health  per- 
mitted, but  afterwards — in  the  winter  of  1848-49 — sold  out  his  interest 
and  moved  to  Locust  Grove  where  he  engaged  in  farming  for  two  years, 
after  which  he  returned  to  Savannah.  On  the  1st  of  September,  1851,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Jam'es  Doyle,  under  the  firm  name  of  Mc- 
Mahon &  Doyle,  for  the  carrying  on  of  a  wholesale  grocery  business  on 
Bay  street,  which  business  was  successful  up  to  the  dissolution  of  the  firm 
on  the  1st  of  March,  1858.  After  this  dissolution  he  went  into  the  pro- 
duce commission  business  on  his  own  account.  On  the  30th  of  April, 
1859,  he  formed  a  copartnership  with  Mr.  W.  J.  Harty,  under  the  firm 
name  of  John  McMahon  &  Co.,  which  firm  continued  until  November  30, 
1862.     This  firm  did  a  large  business  in  grain  and  feed  up  to  the  middle 


Biographical.  573 


or  latter  part  of  1861,  when  the  war  practically  brought  the  business  of 
the  firm  to  a  close. 

Captain  McMahon  always  took  an  active  interest  in  military  matters. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  "Phcenix  Riflemen"  before  the  organization  of 
the  "  Irish  Jasper  Greens  "  in  1 842,  and  a  member  of  the  latter  corps  from 
the  date  of  its  organization,  and  held  various  offices  in  it  from  time  to 

time,  including  the  position  of  captain  from  20th  of  June,  1846,  to 

1847;  Juiie — .  1847,  to  December  30,  1848,  and  December  21,  1855,  to 
January  4,  1859.  He  was  presented  with  a  handsome  dress  sword  by 
the  members  of  the  corps  as  a  testimonial  of  their  appreciation  of  his 
services  during  this  latter  term,  on  the  1st  of  May,  1858.  It  was  to  be 
expected  that  he  would  not  be  idle  when  the  war  between  the  States 
commenced.  With  the  same  spirit  that  actuated  so  many  others  of  his 
fellow-citizens  he  promptly  aided  in  organizing  the  Pulaski  Guards  early 
in  1861,  and  entered  the  service  with  that  corps  as  a  lieutenant.  On  the 
expiration  of  the  first  term  of  enlistment  of  that  corps  he  was  elected  cap- 
tain of  the  Washington  Volunteers,  and  re-entered  the  Confederate  service 
with  that  company  as  a  part  of  the  first  volunteer  regiment  of  Georgia. 
He  was  with  this  command  in  Fort  Pulaski  while  it  was  beleaguered  by 
the  Federal  forces,  and  during  the  bombardment  which  led  to  its  surren- 
der in  April,  1862.  As  a  prisoner  of  war  he  with  the  other  members  of 
the  garrison  was  sent  to  Governor's  Island,  N.  Y.,  from  which  point  he 
was  about  two  months  later  transferred  to  Johnson's  Island,  O.,  where  he 
remained  until  late  in  September  When  he  with  a  number  of  others  was 
sent  to  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  to  be  exchanged.  From  this  point  he  returned 
to  Georgia  and  located  in  Milledgevilie  (after  severing  his  connection 
with  the  army  on  account  of  impaired  health)  where  he  remained  until  the 
latter  part  of  1864,  when  he  again  returned  to  Savannah. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war  in  1865  he  again  went  into  business,  this 
time  with  Mr.  E.  Waitzfelder,  of  New  York,  as  a  partner,  under  the  firm 
name  of  John  McMahon  &  Co.,  in  the  wholesale  grocery,  grain  and  feed 
line.  The  business  of  this  firm  was  very  successful,  but  owing  to  Captain 
McMahon's  health  failing  again  it  was  sold  out  to  Dillon  &  Stetson  on  the 
1st  of  January  1869,  a  short  time  after  he  returned  from  a  trip  to  Europe, 
taken  mainly  for  the  benefit  of  his  health.  He  was  out  of  business  from 
this  time  until  November,  1870,  when  in  conjunction  with  Eugene  Kelly, 


574  History  of  Savannah. 

esq.,  of  New  York,  and  John  Flannery  and  others  of  Savannah,  he  organ- 
ized the  Southern  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  became  its  vice-pres- 
ident and  manager.  The  strong  financial  backing  given  the  institution  by 
Mr.  Kelly,  coupled  with  the  ability  and  good  judgment  of  Captain  Mc- 
Mahon  and  the  confidence  of  the  business  community  in  his  integrity, 
gave  the  bank  a  reputation  at  once  for  soundness  and  conservatism  which 
constantly  increased  up  to  the  day  of  his  death,  and  which  continued  to 
grow  after  that  sad  event. 

Captain  McMahon  while  intensely  American  in  his  feelings,  and  while 
ever  ready  to  do  his  duty  to  his  adopted  country,  never  ceased  to  re- 
member the  land  of  his  birth,  and  was  always  in  the  front  rank  when  any 
movement  for  the  benefit  of  Ireland  or  any  of  her  children  was  on  foot. 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Hibernian  Society  in  December,  1839, 
was  chosen  treasurer  in  March,  1855,  served  as  vice-president  from  1859 
to  1869,  and  was  elected  president  in  March,  1873,  and  continued  in  that 
position  up  to  his  death.  He  was  one  of  the  original  thirteen  composing 
the  Jasper  Monument  Association  organized  un  1878,  and  served  as  its 
president  from  that  time  until  his  death.  The  time  and  labor  which  he 
devoted  to  the  patriotic  work  of  perpetuating  the  memory  of  this  "Irish 
American  hero,"  was  the  stepping-stone  to  the  final  success  of  this  work 
some  years  after  he  had  passed  away.  As  chairman  of  the  committer 
under  whose  auspices  the  new  cathedral  on  Abercorn  street  was  built,  he 
rendered  efficient  aid  in  that  project.  As  a  member  of  the  board  of  edu- 
cation he  was  noted  for  the  deep  interest  he  took  in  the  public  schools  and 
in  the  cause  of  education  generally.  He  never  sought  political  honor,  but 
at  the  urgent  request  of  a  large  number  of  his  fellow-citizens,  he  served 
several  terms  as  alderman  of  the  city,  and  was  on  various  occasions  its 
acting  mayor. 

He  died  suddenly  on  the  night  of  the  20th  of  January,  1881.  This 
sketch  may  be  fittingly  closed  with  a  paragraph  taken  from  a  sketch  of  his 
life  in  the  Morning  News  of  the  day  after  the  announcement  of  his  death, 
which  says,  "In  truth  there  are  few  men  who  will  be  more  missed  in  the 
community  than  Captain  John  McMahon,  and  his  death  is  an  affliction  to 
the  city.  He  was  kind  hearted,  genial,  charitable  and  generous,  and 
hundreds  who  have  enjoyed  his  benevolence  will  most  bitterly  mourn 
his  loss."    Captain  McMahon  left  no  children.    His  widow  survived  until 


Biographical.  575 


August  25,  1887,  when  she  died  after  a  short  illness,  while  on  a  visit  to 
Atlanta,  Ga.  Both  are  interred  in  the  Cathedral  Cemetery,  near  Sa- 
vannah. 


LAWTON,  Hon.  Gen.  A.  R.  Alexander  Robert  Lawton  was  born, 
and  reared,  in  St.  Peter's  Parish,  Beaufort  District,  South  Carolina, 
on  the  4th  of  November,  181 8.  His  grandfather  was  an  officer  of  the 
Continental  army,  and  his  father  pursued  the  avocation  of  a  planter.  His 
youth  was  spent  among  the  comforts  and  the  sports  of  a  generous  South- 
ern plantation,  while  his  early  education  was  acquired  at  the  private 
schools  in  the  neighborhood,  established  and  supported  by  contiguous 
planters  intent  upon  the  liberal  instruction  and  intellectual  advancement 
of  their  children.  At  the  early  age  of  sixteen  he  received  an  appoint- 
ment to  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  Graduating 
from  that  institution  in  June  1839  with  the  rank  of  second  lieutenant,  he 
was  assigned  to  the  First  Artillery  and,  for  the  ensuing  eighteen  months 
was  stationed  successively  at  Plattsburg  and  Rouse's  Point,  New  York, 
and  at  Eastport,  Maine.  His  class  at  West  Point,  numbering  eighty- 
three  at  the  beginning,  graduated  only  thirty-one  members,  among  whom 
may  be  mentioned  Generals  Halleck,  Canby,  Burton,  Hunt,  Stevens  and 
Gilmer.  Resigning  his  commission  in  the  army  in  January,  1841,  Lieu- 
tenant Lawton  repaired  to  Cambridge,  Mass.,  where  he  matriculated  as 
a  student  of  Dane  Law  School.  Receiving  his  degree  of  L  L.B.  from  that 
institution  in  June,  1842,  he  returned  home,  and  for  some  six  months, 
continued  his  law  studies  in  the  office  of  the  Hon.  William  F.  Colcock. 
In  December  of  the  same  year,  after  a  thorough  examination  before  the 
Court  of  Appeals  in  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar. 

In  January,  1843,  he  established  his  home  in  Savannah,  Georgia,  and 
entered  regularly  and  very  earnestly  upon  the  practice  of  the  profession 
of  his  choice.  His  marriage,  in  November,  1845,  to  Miss  Sarah  H.  Alex- 
ander, a  daughter  of  that  prominent  Georgian  and  cultivated  gentleman, 
Adam  L.  Alexander,  esq.,  proved  a  source  of  unalloyed  domestic  hap- 
piness. 

Without  in  any  wise  laying  aside  his  professional  employments,  he  ac- 
cepted, in  November,  1849,  the  presidency  of  the  Augusta  and  Savannah 


576  History  of  Savannah. 

Railroad  Company.  This  office  he  retained  until  the  entire  completion 
and  successful  operation  of  that  road  in  1854.  In  its  location,  construc- 
tion, equipment  and  conduct  he  displayed  an  energy,  inteUigence,  fidelity, 
and  ability  worthy  of  every  commendation. 

General  Lawton's  entry  into  political  life  was  as  a  representative  from 
Chatham  County  in  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  during  the  session  of  1855- 
56.  Among  other  important  services  then  rendered  by  him  will  be  remem- 
bered his  framing,  introduction,  and  successful  support  of  the  bill  which 
culminated  in  the  incorporation  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  Railroad  Com- 
pany, a  project  which  enured  to  the  ever-expanding  benefit  of  Southern 
Georgia  and  Florida.  During  those  days  of  excitement  which  rendered 
the  winter  of  1860-61  ever  memorable  in  the  political  history  of  Georgia, 
he  was  a  member  of  the  State  Senate,  and  time  and  again  in  the  chamber 
of  that  body  measured  swords  with  the  famous  Benjamin  H.  Hill,  who 
was  then  the  acknowledged  leader  of  all  opposed  to  the  Secession  Senti- 
ment which  was  agitating  the  public  mind. 

While  absent  from  the  State,  and  entirely  without  solicitation  on  his 
part,  General  Lawton  was  again  called  upon  to  represent  the  county  of 
Chatham  in  the  Lower  House  during  the  legislative  session  of  1874-75. 

Of  the  convention  which  in  1877  formed  the  present  Constitution  of 
Georgia,  and  over  which  the  venerable  and  beloved  Ex-Governor  Charles 
J.  Jenkins  presided,  General  Lawton  was  unanimously  chosen  the  vice- 
president.  As  chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  the  services  rend- 
ered by  him  were  continuous  and  most  valuable.  Of  the  Electoral  Col- 
lege, which  in  1876  cast  the  vote  of  Georgia  for  the  Hon.  Samuel  J. 
Tilden  as  president  of  the  United  States,  General  Lawton  was  the  presi- 
dent. He  was  chairman  of  the  Georgia  delegation,  which  at  Cincinnati 
nominated  General  Hancock  for  president,  and  also  of  the  delegation 
which  at  Chicago  nominated  Grover  Cleveland  for  the  same  exalted 
office. 

Early  in  1885  he  was  nominated  by  President  Cleveland  as  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  to  Russia.  Upon  a  reference  of  this  nomination  to  the 
proper  committee  in  the  Senate,  it  was  claimed  that  General  Lawton  was 
ineligible  to  the  position  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  having  early  in  life 
held  commission  in  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States,  he  had  during 
the  war  between  the  States  accepted  service  as  a  general  officer  in  the 


Biographical.  577 


Confederate  Army.  The  nomination  was  withdrawn  by  President  Cleve- 
land, and  the  special  session  of  the  Senate  was  concluded.  It  was  con- 
ceded on  all  sides  that  the  nominee  was  in  every  respect  well  qualified  to 
represent  the  government  in  the  diplomatic  position  indicated,  and  that  no 
objection  to  his  confirmation  could  be  urged  save  the  technical  one  which 
raised  a  doubt  as  to  his  legal  status  under  the  constitutional  amendment. 
The  question  of  General  Lawton's  eligibility  was  referred  by  the  pres- 
ident to  the  attorney- general,  who,  after  a  careful  examination,  submit- 
ted an  opinion  that  "Mr.  Lawton  is  qualified  to  hold  civil  office  under  the 
government  of  the  United  States."  Before  the  opinion  of  the  attorney- 
general  had  been  communicated  to  General  Lawton,  wishing  to  relieve 
the  president  of  all  embarrassment,  he  addressed  the  following  communi- 
cation to  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation  : 

"Savannah,  Georgia,  April  17,  1885. 

To  his  Excellency  Grover  Cleveland, 

President  of  the  United  States. 

Dear  Sir:  — Since  the  interviews  which  you  were  kind  enough  to 
grant  me  during  the  early  days  of  the  present  month,  I  have  thought 
often  and  earnestly  about  the  relations  which  I  sustain  to  your  adminis- 
tration by  reason  of  my  nomination  to  be  Minister  to  Russia,  and  the 
objections  which  have  been  interposed  to  the  same. 

After  full  consideration  of  the  probable  effects  to  flow  from  your  ad- 
herence to  this  nomination, — or  rather  from  my  appointment  during 
recess, — I  am  constrained  to  believe  that  I  would  become  the  innocent 
cause  of  attacks  annoying,  if  not  virulent,  upon  the  action  of  the  Presi- 
dent. I  have  felt  too  sensibly  the  great  honor  which  has  been  conferred 
upon  me,  and  the  unexpected  manner  in  which  your  kind  intentions  have 
been  hindered,  to  be  willing  that  any  unpleasant  results  should  be 
reached,  if  I  can  prevent  them. 

Permit  me  therefore,  Mr.  President,  to  request  that  my  name  be  no 
longer  considered  by  you  in  connection  with  the  mission  to  Russia,  and 
that  this  high  commission  may  be  bestowed  upon  some  citizen  whose  ap- 
pointment will  produce  harmony  rather  than  discord.  I  cannot  be  blind 
to  the  fact  that  recent  events  in  Europe  must  put  an  additional  pressure 
upon  you  to  have  this  important  position  promptly  and  satisfactorily  filled. 


578  History  of  Savannah. 

I  present  this  request  in  sincerity  and  in  all  good  faith,  with  a  grate- 
ful sense  of  the  high  honor  conferred  upon  me,  and  of  the  over-partial 
estimate  of  my  fitness  for  so  responsible  a  post,  evidenced  by  the  nomi- 
nation already  made.  No  results  that  may  be  reached  in  the  future  can 
deprive  me  of  the  satisfaction  thus  derived. 

While  my  relations  as  a  citizen  to  the  Government  were  under  dis- 
cussion, with  the  probability  of  an  appointment  to  follow,  I  refrained, 
through  motives  of  delicacy,  from  expressing  any  opinion  in  my  own 
case.  But  now  that  I  relieve  the  President  from  all  further  consideration 
of  my  fitness  or  eligibility,  I  beg  leave  to  append  to  this  letter  a  mem- 
orandum giving  reasons  in  brief  for  my  conviction  that  I  labor  under  no 
political  disabilities.  Had  I  entertained  any  doubts  on  the  subject,  I 
would  not  have  been  dealing  fairly  with  an  administration  which  has  so 
honored  me. 

With  sentiments  of  the  highest  respect  and  esteem,  I  am 

Your  most  obedient  servant,  A.   R.   LawtoN." 

To  this  letter  the  President  made  the  following  reply: 

"  Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  April  22,  1885. 
The  Hon.  A.  R.  Lawton,  Savannah,  Ga., 

My  Dear  Sir  : — I  regret  exceedingly  that  for  any  reason  the  ad- 
ministration is  to  be  deprived  of  your  honorable  and  valuable  services  in 
the  mission  to  Russia.  The  opinion  of  the  Attorney- General  upon  the 
question  of  your  alleged  disability  under  the  fourteenth  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  was  so  completely  satisfactory,  and  removed  so  entirely 
from  my  mind  all  doubts  as  to  your  eligibility,  that  upon  reading  it  I  at 
once  decided  to  ask  you  to  accept  the  position,  and  I  learn  from  the 
Secretary  of  State  that  he  telegraphed  you  to  that  effect :  but  it  seems 
that  your  letter  of  April  17th  was  then  on  its  way,  which  was  followed 
by  that  of  April  i8th  affirming  your  decision. 

I  sincerely  regret  this  determination  on  your  part,  so  unselfishly 
formed  and  patriotically  expressed ;  and  whilst  I  must  reluctantly  accept 
it  as  an  announcement  of  your  deliberate  desire  and  personal  wish,  I  can 
but  feel  that  the  Country  is  greatly  the  loser  by  it. 

With  sincere  regard  and  high  respect,  I  am 

Your  obedient  servant,         Grover  Cleveland." 


Biographical.  579 


The  patriotism  which  thus  laid  upon  the  altar  of  Democratic  harmony 
one  of  the  highest  honors  within  the  gift  of  the  administration,  won  for 
him  a  reputation  transcending  any  fame  he  could  have  acquired  by  an 
acceptance  of  the  tendered  mission. 

When  Congress  reassembled  in  December,  1885,  the  first  private  act 
passed  was  one  removing  the  political  disabilities  of  General  Lawton. 
It  received  the  unanimous  vote  of  both  houses. 

In  April,  1887,  President  Cleveland  conferred  upon  him  the  mission 
to  Austria-Hungary.  As  minister  plenipotentiary  to  that  power,  Gen- 
eral Lawton  conducted  himself,  and  maintained  diplomatic  relations, 
with  marked  acceptability  both  to  his  Home  Government  and  to  the 
Austrian  Court.  His  residence  in  Vienna,  which  extended  over  a  period 
of  two  years,  was  entirely  pleasant.  His  resignation  of  this  official  position 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  of  State  prior  to  the  inauguration  of 
President  Harrison ;  although,  by  request,  he  delayed  his  return  home 
until  the  arrival  of  his  successor. 

On  the  evening  of  his  departure  the  Vienna  Weekly  News  thus  spoke 
of  the  American  Minister:  "All  who  have  enjoyed  the  favor  of  General 
Lawton's  acquaintance  can  bear  witness  to  the  amiability  and  dignity 
with  which  he  has  discharged  his  important  duties,  while  those  whose 
relations  with  him  have  been  purely  official,  can  testify  to  his  unfailing 
attention  and  zeal  in  whatever  he  had  to  do.  The  American  Community 
in  Vienna  have  at  all  times  had  in  him  a  valuable  adviser,  as  well  as  a 
keen  and  able  protector  of  their  interests." 

Since  his  return  to  Savannah  General  Lawton  has  not  resumed  the 
practice  of  his  profession  which  he  relinquished  when  he  went  abroad 
upon  the  diplomatic  mission  to  which  we  have  just  alluded. 

He  was  the  first  colonel  of  the  First  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Georgia, 
organized  in  Savannah  in  1 85  2 ;  and,  in  that  capacity,  in  obedience  to  an  or- 
der promulgated  by  the  governor  of  Georgia,  with  a  portion  of  his  com- 
mand took  formal  possession  of  Fort  Pulaski  on  the  morning  of  the  3d  of 
January,  1861.  He  remained  in  command  of  that  post  and  at  Savannah 
until  April  of  that  year  when  he  was  commissioned  as  a  brigadier-gen- 
eral in  Confederate  service  and  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Mihtary 
District  of  Georgia.  With  characteristic  energy  and  acknowledged  abil- 
ity he  expended  every  effort  in  fortifying  the  Georgia  coast,  and  in  con- 


58o  History  of  Savannah. 

centrating  troops  for  the  support  of  the  Confederate  cause.  His  head, 
heart,  sword,  and  purse  were  solemnly  pledged  for  the  maintenance  of 
Southern  independence.  From  the  inception  of  the  contest  he  wavered 
not  in  his  devotion  to  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States,  and  the  susten- 
tation  of  the  Confederacy.  In  June,  1862,  with  a  brigade  of  five  thou- 
sand men — selected  from  a  force  of  thirteen  thousand  then  garrisoning 
the  Georgia  coast,-^he  repaired  to  Virginia  under  orders  from  General 
Robert  E.  Lee,  and  reported  to  General  Thomas  J.  Jackson  in  the  valley. 
With  this  brigade,  then  unattached,  and  the  largest  in  the  army  of  North- 
ern Virginia,  he  quickly  participated  in  the  celebrated  "flank  movement," 
and  in  all  the  battles  constituting  the  "  Seven  Days  Fight  "  around  Rich- 
mond. In  these  bloody  engagements  his  command  performed  brilliant 
service  and  sustained  severe  losses.  Subsequently  he  led  his  brigade, — 
which  afterwards  constituted  a  part  of  Stonewall  Jackson's  Corps, —  in  all 
the  battles  which  culminated  in  the  memorable  engagement  at  Sharps- 
burg.  He  was  then,  and  he  had  been  for  some  time,  in  command  of 
Ewell's  Division.  At  Sharpsburg  his  horse  was  killed  under  him,  and 
he  was  disabled  by  a  painful  and  dangerous  wound  which  for  a  long  time 
seriously  threatened  the  loss  of  his  right  leg.  By  it  he  was  incapacitated 
from  active  service  until  May,  1863,  when,  although  still  lame,  he  deemed 
himself  fit  for  the  field  and  reported  in  person  to  the  adjutant-general  in 
Richmond  for  assignment. 

The  Confederate  Congress  had  recently  provided  additional  rank  for 
the  quartermaster-general,  and  it  remained  with  the  president  either  to 
compliment  the  officer  then  in  charge  of  that  bureau,  or  to  designate 
some  general  officer  for  the  discharge  of  the  duties  incident  to  that  posi- 
tion. President  Davis  and  the  Secretary  of  War  were  of  the  opinion 
that  General  Lawton  should  be  assigned  to  the  station  of  quartermaster- 
general.  When  advised  of  this  determination.  General  Lawton  was 
much  surprised,  and  manifested  a  decided  disinclination  to  enter  upon  a 
discharge  of  the  duties  suggested.  At  the  earnest  request  of  the  presi- 
dent he  finally  yielded,  and  in  August,  1863,  became  the  quartermaster- 
general  of  the  Confederate  States.  This  weighty  position  he  continued 
to  occupy  until  the  termination  of  the  war  and  the  disintegration  of  the 
Confederate  Government.  It  lies  not  within  the  compass  of  this  sketch 
to  allude  to  the  vast  responsibilities  then  assumed,  or  to  enumerate  the 


Biographical.  581 


multiplying  difficulties  by  which  General  Lawton  was  environed  in  his 
efforts  to  equip  and  transport  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy.  It  has 
been  truthfully  stated  that  these  difficulties  were  met  by  General  Law- 
ton  with  wonderful  tact  and  energy,  and  that  while  the  other  supply  de- 
partments of  the  government,  in  their  conduct  and  administration,  were 
frequently  and  severely  criticized,  no  censure  was  passed  upon  the  quar- 
termaster department  while  he  had  charge  of  it. 

It  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  affirm  that  such  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  this  bureau,  under  the  perplexing  circumstances  then  existent, 
could  have  been  accomplished  only  by  an  officer  of  broad  vision,  wise 
forecast,  tireless  energy,  and  superior  capacity.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch,  now  in  the  evening  of  his  busy,  eventful,  and  useful  life,  may,  in 
the  judgment  of  a  friend,  contemplate  with  peculiar  pride  and  satisfaction 
the  conspicuous  labors  performed  by  him  during  this  epoch  of  danger, 
of  embarrassment,  and  of  supreme  trial. 

Soon  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities  General  Lawton  returned  to  Sa- 
vannah and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession.  The  times  were  out 
of  joint,  and  many  questions,  suggested  by  the  abnormal  condition  of 
affairs,  demanded  solution  at  the  hands  of  wise  counselors  and  sagacious 
lawyers.  The.  harvest  was  abundant,  and  claimed  the  attention  of  the 
honest,  intelligent  reaper.  His  professional  employments  at  once  became 
numerous  and  remunerative. 

In  January,  1866,  he  was  elected  chief  counsel  of  the  Central  Rail 
Road  and  Banking  Company  of  Georgia.  This  office  he  continued  to  fill 
without  interruption  until  his  departure  for  Vienna  in  1887.  Various 
and  exacting  as  were  the  duties  appertaining  to  this  position,  they  were 
supplemented  by  engagements  incident  to  a  large  and  constantly  in- 
.  creasing  general  practice.  It  may  be  safely  stated  that  during  the  ensu- 
ing twenty  years  there  was  no  lawyer  within  the  limits  of  Georgia  whose 
time  was  more  fully  occupied,  or  whose  legitimate  professional  income  was 
more  remunerative.  Such  was  his  reputation  for  sound  judgment,  so  strong 
his  sense  of  right  and  equity,  so  able  his  presentation  of  fact  and  argu- 
ment, so  clear  his  conception  of  the  question  at  issue,  so  broad  and  ac- 
curate his  business  views,  so  careful  his  analysis  of  the  situation,  so  relia- 
ble his  legal  examinations,  so  unswerving  his  fidelity  to  the  true  interests 
of  his  clients,  and  so  exalted  his  appreciation  of  right  and  justice,  that 


582  History  of  Savannah. 

his  services  were  eagerly  sought  in  cases  of  moment,  and  in  controver- 
sies involving  matters  of  conscience  and  fair  dealing. 

When  he  became  chief  counsel  of  the  Central  Rail  Road  and  Bank- 
ing Company,  the  property  of  that  corporation  consisted  chiefly  of  a  line 
of  railway  connecting  the  cities  of  Savannah  and  Macon,  and  its  integ- 
rity had  been  sadly  impaired  by  the  desolating  march  of  General  Sher- 
man and  his  forces.  When  he  left  Georgia  to  enter  upon  the  Austrian 
mission,  the  Central  Railroad  system  had  developed  into  the  practical 
control  of  some  twenty-five  hundred  miles  of  railway,  and  the  ownership 
of  an  Ocean  Steamship  Company  operating  three  first- class  lines  of  coast- 
wise steamers  plying  between  Savannah  and  the  ports  of  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  and  Boston.  During  this  period  of  expansion  the  most  im- 
portant charter  rights,  immunities,  and  exemptions  of  this  great  corpora- 
tion were  challenged,  discussed,  and  adjudicated  in  the  courts  of  Georgia, 
Alabama,  and  South  Carolina,  and  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  The  aid  of  Legislatures  was  invoked  in  granting  necessary  cor- 
porate powers,  and  for  the  protection  of  corporate  rights.  Large  con- 
tracts for  construction  and  consolidation  were  moulded  and  consummated. 
Intricate  questions  of  finance  and  damage  were  constantly  demanding 
speedy  solution.  In  all  the  negotiations  connected  with  the  develop- 
ment and  protection  of  this  corporation  General  Lawton  participated. 
All  contracts  affecting  its  existence  and  enlargement  were  submitted  for 
his  judgment  and  reduction  into  legal  shape.  Cases  arising  in  the  courts 
affecting  the  rights  of  this  vast  transportation  system  ware  either  argued 
by  him  and  his  associate  counsel,  or  were  compromised  and  settled  at  his 
instance.  The  labor  was  immense,  and  we  utter  the  language  of  simple 
justice  when  we  declare  that  it  was  performed  with  a  fidelity  and  an  abil- 
ity worthy  of  all  admiration.  Be  it  spoken  in  praise  of  General  Lawton 
and  in  token  of  his  exalted  character,  that  he  never  once  utilized  the 
knowledge, — acquired  by  virtue  of  the  confidential  relation  he  sustained 
toward  this  corporation, — of  its  plans,  inner  workings,  and  purposes,  in 
the  promotion  of  private  benefit  or  for  the  acquisition  of  personal  advan- 
tage. The  commercial  methods  of  the  present,  and  the  prostitution  of 
confidential  information  obtained  in  the  execution  of  a  trust,  found  neither 
countenance  nor  lodgment  in  his  upright  breast.  His  hands  were  always 
clean,  and  his  reputation  is  without  a  stain.  In  all  his  relations  he  has 
ever  been  the  embodiment  of  fidelity,  courage,  probity,  and  honor. 


Biographical.  583 


As  a  corporation  lawyer  he  stands  without  a  superior  in  the  State  of 
Georgia,  and  the  reports  both  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  Common- 
wealth and  of  the  United  States  bear  witness  to  his  industry  and  profi- 
ciency in  this  branch  of  the  profession.  In  illustration  of  his  employ- 
ment in  and  conduct  of  civil  causes  of  magnitude,  we  would  cite  the  Tel- 
fair will  case,  which,  having  passed  through  the  various  legal  tribunals  of 
Georgia,  received  final  adjudication  at  the  hands  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States. 

General  Lawton's  professional  reputation  has  been  recognized  by  his 
brethren  at  large.  He  was  one  of  the  ten  founders  of  the  American 
Bar  Association,  and  he  has  always  exhibited  the  liveliest  interest  in  the 
labors  and  welfare  of  that  organization.  In  August,  1882,  he  delivered 
the  annual  address  before  that  association,  eulogizing  the  lives  and  ser- 
vices of  James  L.  Pettigru,  and  Hugh  S.  Legare.  At  the  same  meeting 
he  was  elected  president  of  the  association,  and  the  next  year  delivered 
the  president's  address.  Both  these  addresses  have  been  rendered  into 
type,  and  were  published  with  the  proceedings  of  the  association.  He 
was  also  largely  instrumental  in  organizing  the  Georgia  Bar  Association. 
Before  that  body  he  delivered  the  first  annual  address  in  August,  1884. 

Among  other  noteworthy  addresses  of  General  Lawton  may  be  men- 
tioned his  eulogy  upon  the  life,  character,  and  services  of  General  Robert 
E  Lee,  delivered  in  Savannah,  Georgia,  in  January,  1871,  at  the  request 
of  the  Common  Council  and  citizens  of  that  municipality:  and  his  oration 
upon  the  occasion  of  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  capitol  of  Geor- 
gia, in  Atlanta,  on  the  2nd  of  September,  1885,  pronounced  by  invitation 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  Georgia  then  in  session. 

In  the  first  he  pays  signal  tribute  to  the  virtues  and  the  valor  of  the 
great  Confederate  Chieftain,  proclaiming  his  "character  so  grand  in  its 
proportions,  so  complete  in  all  its  details,  so  exquisite  in  its  finish,  that 
when  we  contemplate  it,  like  the  visitor  who  first  looks  on  the  Cathedral 
of  St.  Peter,  its  very  perfections,  symmetry,  and  completeness  obscure 
our  capacity  to  appreciate  its  vastness." 

In  the  last,  after  a  historical  sketch  of  the  former  capitols  of  Georgia, 
after  presenting  a  vivid  portraiture  of  the  progress  of  the  Commonwealth, 
the  results  of  the  war,  and  the  dire  calamities  encountered  during  the 
period  of  reconstruction,  with  manly  voice  he  "  ventured  to  assert  that 


5  84  History  of  Savannah. 

the  struggle  was  worth  all  it  cost.  Better  that  a  people,  groaning  under 
conspicuous  wrongs,  should  fight  and  be  vanquished,  than  not  to  fight 
at  all.  In  the  one  case  the  rebound  will  surely  come,  and  the  victor  and 
the  vanquished  may  meet  face  to  face  and  reestablish  their  relations  to 
each  other  with  mutual  respect ;  while  in  the  other  case  the  feeling  of 
degradation  on  the  one  side  and  of  contempt  on  the  other  banishes  all 
hope  for  the  future. 

"  As  Georgians  we  are  also  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  claim 
to  be  now  as  loyal  to  that  great  government  as  any  portion  of  the  Union, 
since  we  are  no  longer  called  upon  to  surrender  our  self  respect,  or  to  do 
violence  to  our  most  sacred  sensibilities  in  making  that  claim.  We  are 
ready  and  willing  to  render  service  to  defend  her  honor,  to  fight  her  bat- 
tles, to  give  every  man  of  every  section  his  just  due.  In  that  sense  we 
know  'no  North,  no  South,  no  East,  no  West.'  But,  thank  Heaven! 
the  time  is  past  when  any  right  thinking  man  of  the  North  expects  that 
we  shall  not  love  our  own  families  and  neighbors  better  than  the  stran- 
ger, our  own  City  better  than  another,  our  own  State  best  of  all  the 
thirty-eight ;  that  in  a  government  covering  such  an  area,  with  so  many 
States  and  Territories  differing  in  climate,  production,  origin,  and  other 
belongings,  there  must  not  also  be  material  differences  in  habits,  temper- 
aments, opinions,  and  utterances,  not  only  to  be  tolerated  but  to  be  ap- 
preciated. Yes,  my  friends,  they  know  and  respect  us  for  it ;  and  while 
we  join  in  good  faith  in  the  tribute  paid  to  the  great  soldier  of  the  United 
States  recently  borne  to  his  tomb  in  Riverside  Park  with  such  displays 
and  demonstrations  as  Roman  Emperor  never  received,  yet  at  our  own 
homes,  in  the  tenderer  moments  of  our  lives,  we  mourn  the  illustrious 
Sons  of  the  South,  who  sleep  in  modest  graves  at  Lexington,  with  a  sor- 
row and  a  pride  which  are  all  our  own." 

This  utterance  is  characteristic,  and  conveys  an  impression  of  the 
manliness  of  General  Lawton,  who  never  speaks  with  an  uncertain  voice, 
stultifies  his  record,  or  hesitates,  on  suitable  occasion,  to  manifest  his 
loyalty  to  the  brave  impulses  and  ennobling  traditions  of  a  Confederate 
past. 

As  a  trustee  of  the  University  of  Georgia,  and  as  an  officer  of  the 
Georgia  Historical  Society,  he  has  long  exhibited  and  still  cherishes  an 


Biographical.  585 


intelligent  and  a  practical  interest  in  the  conduct  and  prosperity  of  these 
institutions. 

Of  medium  height,  with  compact  frame,  active  step,  erect  carriage, 
and  military  bearing — with  a  massive  head  firmly  set  upon  his  broad 
shoulders,  with  a  mouth  indicative  of  determination,  and  an  eye  full  of  light 
and  vivacity — courtly  in  addrfess,  frank  and  generous  in  intercourse, — with 
a  strong,  manly  voice, — bold,  nervous,  and  emphatic  in  public  speech, — 
steadfast  in  his  friendships, — possessing  strong  judgment  and  a  nice  sense 
of  equity, — hospitable  at  home, — independen;t„ high-toned,  public-spirit- 
ed, and  never  a  careless  observer  of  passing  events, — tender  and  true  in  his 
domestic  relations, — and  with  a  genuine  religious  sentiment  vitalizing 
his  daily  walk  and  conversation.  General  Lawton  has  long  been  recog- 
nized as  a  type  of  the  Southern  gentleman,  as  a  citizen  of  the  highest  re- 
pute, as  a  leading  member  of  the  Georgia  Bar,  and  as  a  prominent  par- 
ticipant in  the  political  councils  of  this  Commonwealth.  Of  late  his 
cht^racter  and  reputation  have  been  known  and  honored  by  the  Country 
at  large.     He  is  now  crowning  a  life  of  labor  with  an  age  of  ease. 

He  has  a  wife,  and  three  children —  Louisa  F.  the  wife  of  Mr.  Leon- 
ard C.  Mackall  of  Philadelphia, — Nora,  the  wife  of  Henry  C.  Cunning- 
ham, esq.,  of  Savannah,  and  Alexander  R.  Lawton,  jr.,  who,  at  the  Sa- 
vannah Bar,  is  following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  distinguished  father. 


JONES,  COLONEL  CHARLES  C,  Jr.,  LL.D.I— Charles  Colcock 
Jones,  jr.,  was  born  in  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  the  28th  of  October,  1831. 
He  comes  of  an  old  family,  his  ancestor  in  the  male  line  having  removed 
from  England  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  nearly  two  centuries  ago.  His  great 
grandfather,  John  Jones,  who  was  the  first  of  the  family  coming  from 
South  Carolina  to  Georgia,  was  a  rice  planter  in  St.  John's  Parish.  Dur- 
ing the,  Revolutionary  War  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  patriots,  and,  as 
a  major  in  the  Continental  Army,  fell  before  the  British  lines  around  Sa- 
vannah during  the  assault  by  the  allied  army  under  D'Estaing  and  Lin- 
coln on  the  9th  of  October,  1779.  On  that  meniorable  occasion  he  acted 
in  thecapacity  of  aide-de-camp  to  Brigadier- General  Lachlan  Mcintosh. 
Rev.  Charles  C.  Jones,  D.D.,  father  of  the  historian,  a  distinguished 

'  From  Alden's  Literary  Portraits.     New  York.    1889.    Written  by  Charles  Edge- 
worth  Tones. 

■"  74 


586  History  of  Savannah. 


Presbyterian  divine,  was,  at  the  time  of  his  son's  birth,  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  city  of  Savannah.  Resigning  his  charge  in 
November,  1832,  he  removed  with  his  family  to  his  plantation  in  Liberty 
county,  Ga.,  where  he  devoted  his  energies  to  the  religious  instruction  of 
the  negroes.  He  was  the  apostle  to  that  benighted  people,  and  freely  gave 
his  time,  talents,  and  money  to  their  evangelization,  and  the  improvement 
of  their  moral  and  religious  condition. 

Dr.  Jones  was  a  gentleman  of  liberal  education,  a  wealthy  planter,  an 
eloquent  pulpit  orator,  at  one  time  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  in 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Columbia,  S.  C,  and  for  some  years  occu- 
pied the  position,  at  Philadelphia,  of  Secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Domestic  Missions.  He  was  the  author  of  several  works  on  the  relig- 
ligious  instruction  of  the  negroes,  of  a  catechism  specially  prepared  for 
their  spiritual  enlightenment,  and  of  a  history  of  the  Church  of  God. 

Colonel  Jones'  boyhood  was  spent  at  the  paternal  homes,  Monte- Vi- 
deo and  Maybank  plantations  in  Liberty  county,  Ga.  At  the  former — 
which  was  a  rice  and  sea-island  cotton  plantation  on  North  Newport 
River — the  winter  residence  was  fixed,  while  the  latter — a  sea-island  cot- 
ton plantation — located  on  Colonel's  Island,  lying  between  the  island  of 
St.  Catharine  and  the  main  land,  was  the  summer  retreat.  The  region 
abounded  in  game  and  fish.  An  indulgent  father  generously  supplied  his 
sons  with  guns,  dogs,  horses,  row-boats  and  sail-boats,  and  fishing  tackle. 
As  a  natural  consequence  Colonel  Jones,  at  an  early  age,  became  an  adept 
with  the  fowling-piece,  the  rifle,  the  rod  and  the  line.  This  out-door  ex- 
ercise and  these  field  sports  laid  the  foundations  for  a  fine  constitution, 
and  encouraged  an  ambition  to  excel  in  shooting,  riding,  swimming,  fish- 
ing, and  sailing.  The  opportunity  thus  afforded  for  enjoyment  and  manly 
diversions  was  exceptional,  and  the  training  then  experienced  produced 
a  lasting  impression.  The  civilization  of  the  Georgia  coast  under  the 
patriarchal  system  then  existent  was  refined,  liberal,  and  generous.  The 
school  was  excellent  for  the  development  of  manly  traits. 

The  early  studies  of  Colonel  Jones  were  pursued  at  home,  generally 
under  private  tutors;  occasionally  under  the  immediate  supervision  of 
his  father.  In  1848  he  repaired  to  South  Carolina  College  at  Columbia, 
where  his  Freshman  and  Sophomore  years  were  passed.  That  institu- 
tion was  then  in  the  zenith  of  its  prosperity,  being  presided  over  by  the 


BlOGKAPHICAL.  587 


Hon.  William  C.  Preston,  who  was  assisted  by  such  professors  as  Dr. 
Francis  Lieber  and  Dr.  Thornwell.  Subsequently  matriculated  at  Nas- 
sau Hall,  Princeton,  N.  J.,  in  the  junior  class  in  1850,  Colonel  Jones  at 
once  took  high  rank  among  his  fellows  and,  graduating  with  distinction, 
received  his  A.  B.  diploma  from  this  college  in  June,  1852. 

Selecting  the  law  as  his  profession,  he  went  to  Philadelphia,  and,  as  a 
student,  entered  the  office  of  Samuel  H.  Perkins,  esq.  After  reading  law 
here  for  about  a  year,  he  matriculated  at  Dane  Law  School,  Harvard 
University,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  from  which  institution  he  received  in  1855 
his  degree  of  LL.B.  While  he  was  a  member  of  that  law  school,  Joel 
Parker,  Theophilus  Parsons,  and  Edward  G.  Loring  were  the  professors. 
Besides  taking  his  regular  law  course,  he  attended  the  lectures  of  Pro- 
fessor Agassiz,  Mr.  Longfellow,  Dr.  Wyman,  Professor  Lowell  and  Dr. 
Holmes. 

Returning  home  in  the  winter  of  1854,  he  entered  the  law  office  of 
Ward  &  Owens  in  Savannah,  and  was  called  to  the  bar  in  that,  his  na- 
tive city,  on  the  24th  of  May,  1855.  In  due  course  he  was  admitted  to 
plead  and  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia;  in  the  Sixth  Cir- 
cuit Court  of  the  United  States;  in  the  District  Court  of  the  Confederate 
States ;  and  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

During  the  second  year  of  his  professional  life  he  became  the  junior 
partner  of  the  law  firm  of  Ward,  Owens  &  Jones.  When  Mr.  Ward  went 
abroad  as  United  States  Minister  to  China,  Mr.  Owens  retired  from  the 
firm,  and  the  Hon.  Henry  R.  Jackson,  late  United  States  Minister  to  Aus- 
tria, was  admitted  as  a  member.  The  firm  continued  to  be  Ward,  Jack- 
son &  Jones  until  Judge  Jackson  took  his  seat  upon  the  bench  as  judge 
of  the  District  Court  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  for  the  Dis- 
trict of  Georgia.     The  business  of  this  law  firm  was  large  and  lucrative. 

On  the  9th  of  November,  1858,  Colonel  Jones  married  Miss  Ruth  Ber- 
rien Whitehead,  of  Burke  county,  Ga.  He  was  married  a  second  time 
on  the  28th  of  October,  1863,  to  Miss  Eva  Berrien  Eve,  of  Augusta,  Ga., 
a  niece  of  the  late  Dr.  Paul  F.  Eve,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.  These  ladies  were 
grand-nieces  of  the  Hon.  John  McPherson  Berrien,  attorney- general  of 
the  United  States  during  General  Jackson's  administration,  and  afterwards 
United  States  Senator  from  Georgia. 

In  i859Colonel  Jones  was  chosen  an  alderman  of  Savannah,  and  in  the 


588  History  of  Savannah. 

following  year  he  was,  without  solicitation,  nominated  and  elected  mayor 
of  that  city — a  position,  writes  Governor  Stephens,  seldom  if  ever  before 
conferred  on  one  so  young  by  a  corporation  possessing  so  much  wealth, 
population,  and  commercial  importance.  •  With  the  exception  of  this  po- 
sition of  mayor,  he  has  never  held  public  office  in  his  life,  or  drawn  a  dol- 
lar of  the  people's  money. 

During  the  term  of  his  mayoralty  the  Confederate  Revolution  viras  pre- 
cipitated, and  many  abnormal  questions  arose  demanding  for  their  solu- 
tion serious  consideration  and  prompt  decision.  Colonel  Jones  was  a 
secessionist,  and  it  is  believed  that  one  of  the  earliest  public  addresses  on 
the  situation,  delivered  in  Savannah,  fell  from  his  lips. 

Declining  a  re-election  to  the  mayoralty,  he  joined  the  Chatham  Ar- 
tillery— Captain  Claghorn — of  which  Light  Battery  he  was  the  senior  first 
lieutenant.  He  had  been  mustered  into  Confederate  service  with  that 
battery  as  its  senior  first  lieutenant,  on  the  31st  of  July,  1861,  and  re- 
mained on  leave  until  his  labors  in  the  capacity  of  mayor  were  concluded. 
The  Chatham  Artillery  was  then  stationed  on  the  Georgia  coast. 

In  the  fall  of  1862  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  promoted  to  the 
grade  of  lieutenant-colonel  of  Artillery,  P.  A.  C.  S.,  and  was  assigned  to 
duty  as  chief  of  artillery  for  the  military  district  of  Georgia.  The  assign- 
ment was  important,  and  the  command  extensive,  including  some  eight 
light  batteries  and  nearly  two  hundred  guns  in  fixed  position.  This 
command  was  subsequently  enlarged  so  as  to  embrace  the  artillery  in  the 
third  military  district  of  South  Carolina.  His  headquarters  were  estab- 
lished at  Savannah. 

Colonel  Jones  was  brought  into  intimate  personal  and  military  rela- 
tions with  General  Beauregard,  Lieutenant-General  Hardee,  Major-Gen- 
erals  McLaws,  Gilmer,  Taliaferro,  and  Patton  Anderson,  and  Brigadier- 
Generals  Mercer,  Lawton,  and  others.  He  loved  and  took  a  special 
pride  in  the  artillery  arm  of  the  service,  and  preferred  it  to  any  other 
branch.  In  illustration  of  his  partiality  for  this  arm  of  the  service  it  may 
be  stated  that  at  one  time  a  commission  of  brigadier-general  of  infantry 
was  tendered  him,  which  he  declined.  The  artillery,  both  light  and  heavy, 
in  the  military  district  of  Georgia,  was  remarkable  for  its  proficiency. 

Colonel  Jones  was  chief  of  artillery  during  the  siege  of  Savannah  in 
December,  1864,  which  he  has  so  graphically  described  in  his  work  on 


Biographical.  589 


that  subject,  and  figured  prominently  in  the  defence  of  the  city.  He  was 
at  one  time  in  command  of  the  field  artillery  on  James  Island  during  the 
siege  of  Charleston,  and  at  another  was  chief  of  artillery  on  the  staff  of 
Major-General  Patton  Anderson,  in  Florida.  Upon  the  fall  of  Savannah 
he  was  summoned  by  General  Hardee  to  the  position  of  chief  of  artillery 
upon  his  staff,  and  was  included  in  the  surrender  of  General  Joseph  E. 
Johnston's  army,  which  occurred  near  Greensboro,  N.  C.,  in  April,  1865. 

Late  in  December,  1865,  Colonel  Jones  removed  vijith  his  family  to 
New  York  city  and  there  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession,  which 
had  been  interrupted  by  the  war.  His  success  in  that  new  abode  was 
gratifying,  and  he  continued  to  reside  there  until  his  return  to  Georgia 
in  1877. 

Of  the  pleasure  and  profit  which  he  derived  from  his  sojourn  in  that 
great  city,  and  of  the  broad  and  lasting  influence  exerted  upon  his  intel- 
lectual life,  there  can  be  no  question.  His  association  with  the  literary 
characters  and  societies  of  the  metropolis  was  most  agreeable.  The  scope 
of  his  intellectual  vision  was  enlarged,  and  his  aspirations  were  elevated. 
He  there  enjoyed  opportunities  for  study  and  literary  research  which  he 
could  not  elsewhere  have  so  conveniently  commanded.  Among  the  proofs 
of  the  literary  labor  there  performed  we  may  refer  to  his  historical  sketch 
of  the  Chatham  Artillery  during  the  Confederate  Struggle  for  Independ- 
ence (1867);  Historical  Sketch  of  Tomo-Chi-Chi,  Mico  of  the  Yama- 
craws  (1868);  Reminiscences  of  the  Last  Days,  Death,  and  Burial  of  Gen- 
eral Henry  Lee  (1870);  Casimir  Pulaski  (1873);  Antiquities  of  the  South- 
ern Indians,  particularly  of  the  Georgia  Tribes  (1873);  The  Siege  of  Sa- 
vannah in  1779,  etc.  (1874);  The  Siege  of  Savannah  in  December,  1864, 
etc.  (1874) ;  Sergeant  William  Jasper  (1876);  and  a  roster  of  general  offi- 
cers, heads  of  departments,  'senators,  representatives,  military  organiza- 
tions, ete.,  etc.,  in  the  Confederate  service  during  .the  war  between  the 
States  (1876.) 

Returning  with  his  family  to  Georgia  in  the  spring  of  1877,  Colonel 
Jones  fixed  his  home  at  Montrose,  in  Summerville,  near  Augusta,  Ga., 
where  he  still  resides;  his  law  office   being  in  the  city  of  Augusta. 

Since  his  return  to  his  native  State,  aside  from  his  professional  labors, 
he  has  not  been  unmindful  of  his  historical  researches  and  literary  pur 
suits.     Among  his   later  publications  may  be   mentioned   his   Life  and 


590  HislroRY  OF  Savannah. 

Services  of  Commodore  Josiah  Tattnall  (1878);  Dead  Towns  of  Georgia 
(1878);  De  Soto's  March  through  Georgia  (1880);  Memorial  of  Jean 
Pierre  Purry(i88o);  The  Georgia  Historical  Society:  its  Founders,  Pa- 
trons, and  Friends  (i  881);  The  Life  and  Services  of  ex-Governor  Charles 
Jones  Jenkins  (1884);  Geographical  and  Historical  Sketch  of  Georgia 
(1884);  Sepulture  of  Major- General  Nathanael  Greene,  and  of  Brigadier- 
General  Count  Casimir  Pulaski  (1885) ;  The  Life,  Literary.  Labors,  and 
Neglected  Grave  of  Richard  Henry  Wilde  (1885);  Biographical  Sketch 
of  the  Honorable  Major  John  Habersham  of  Georgia  (1886) ;  Brigadier- 
General  Robert  Toombs  (1886);  The  Life  and  Services  of  the  Honorable 
Samuel  Elbert,  of  Georgia  (1887);  The  English  Colonization  of  Georgia 
(1887);  Negro  Myths  from  the  Georgia  Coast  (1888) ;  .Address  delivered 
at  Midway  Meeting-house,  in  Liberty  county,  Ga.,  (1889);  and  lastly, 
and  more  particularly,  his  History  of  Georgia  (1883) :  a  work  of  which 
the  historian  Bancroft  remarked  that  it  was  the  finest  State  history  he 
had  ever  read,  and  that  its  high  qualities  fairly  entitled  its  author  to  be 
called  the  Macaulay  of  the  South.  This  history  consists  of  two  volumes, 
the  first  dealing  with  the  aboriginal  and  colonial  periods  of  Georgia,  and 
the  second  being  especially  concerned  with  the  Revolutionary  epoch,  and 
a  narrative  of  the  events  which  culminated  in  the  independence  of  the 
colony  and  its  erection  into  the  dignity  of  a  State.  The  volumes  to  which 
we  refer  represent  the  best  work  of  Colonel  Jones  in  the  historical  vein, 
and  embody  results  which  required  years  of  painstaking  study  and  deep 
reflection  to  compass.  ,  In  like  manner  his  Antiquities  of  the  Southern 
Indians,  particularly  of  the  Georgia  tribes,  illustrates  the  chief  fruits  of  his 
labors  in  the  field  of  archeology. 

In  addition  to  the  publications  to  which  we  have  alluded.  Colonel 
Jones  has  printed  addresses  and  discourses  upon  a  variety  of  topics, 
prominent  among  which  are  his  oration  upon  the  unveiling  and  dedica- 
tion of  the  Confederate  Monument  in  Augusta,  Ga.  (1878),  his  funeral 
oration  pronounced  at  the  capital  of  Georgia  over  the  honorable  Alex- 
ander H.  Stephens,  late  governor  of  the  State  (1883);  and  his  address  en- 
titled the  Old  South  (1887).  In  this  connection  also  we  may  mention  the 
addresses  which  he  has  delivered  before  the  Confederate  Survivors'  As- 
sociation of  Augusta,  Ga. — an  organization  of  which  he  is  president. 
Which  was  founded  and  has  been  perpetuated  largely  through  his  instru- 


Biographical.  591 


mentality,  and  which  is  among  the  oldest  associations  of  this  character  in 
the  South.  These  annual  addresses  commenced  on  the  26th  of  April, 
1879 — the  first  anniversary  of  the  association — have  been  regularly  con- 
tinued to  the  present  time.  Including  a  special  address  upon  Post  Bel- 
lum  Mortality  among  Confederates,  they  number  eleven  in  all.  They  are 
for  the  most  part  historical  in  their  character,  and  constitute  calm  and 
impartial  studies  of  military  events  connected  with  Georgia  annals  dur- 
ing the  war  between  the  States.  Among  the  topics  discussed  are  Mili- 
tary Lessons  inculcated  on  the  Coast  of  Georgia  during  the  Confederate 
War  (1883);  General  Sherman's  March  from  Atlanta  to  the  Coast  (1884); 
The  Battle  of  Honey  Hill  (1885) ;  and  the  Evacuation  of  Battery  Wag- 
ner and  the  Battle  of  Ocean  Pond  (1888).  The  last  is  perhaps  the  most 
noteworthy  of  the  series,  and  contains  a  description  of  a  bombardment 
which  for  vividness  and  picturesqueness  of  detail  should  take  rank  among 
the  best  specimens  of  word-painting  in  our  language.  ^ 

Colonel  Jones'  literary  labors  during  the  year  1888,  in  addition  to  the 
two  publications  already  considered,  embrace  two  historical  addresses, 
and  Memorial  Histories  of  the  cities  of  Savannah  and  Augusta,  Ga.,  dur- 
ing the  eighteenth  century. 

He  has  thrice  appeared  in  the  capacity  of  editor  :  first  in  connection 
with  his  father.  Rev.  Dr.  C.  C.  Jones'  History  of  the  Church  of  God  (New 
York,  1867);  again  in  the  publication  of  the  Acts  passed  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia  from  1755  to  1774,  (Wormsloe,  1881); 
and  lastly  in  rendering  into  type  and  annotating  the  Transactions  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia  by  Rt.  Hon.  John  Percival,  first  Earl  of 
Egmont  (Wormsloe,  1886). 

The  truth  is,  while  he  has  in  no  wise  neglected  his  profession,  or  failed 
in  the  discharge  of  duties  appurtenant  to  it,  law  has  never  been  to  him  a 
very  jealous  mistress.  For  him  history,  biography,  and  archeology  have 
presented  enticing  attractions ;  and  in  that  direction  has  he  made  most 
of  his  "  foot-prints  on  the  sands  of  time."  Governor  Stephens  bore  testi- 
mony to  this  fact  when  he  said:  "He  has  not  permitted  the  calls  of  his 
profession,  however,  to  absorb  all  his  time  and  energy.     By  a  method- 

'  Since  the  publication  of  tliis  sketcli  two  additional  Confederate  addresses  by  Colo- 
nel Jones  have  been  published':  viz.,  Georgians  During  the  War  Between  the  States, 
[1889]  and  his  Funeral  Oration  in  Honor  of  President  Jefferson  Davis.  [1889.] 


592  History  of  Savannah. 

ical  economy  in  the  arrangement  of  business  peculiar  to  himself,  he  has, 
even  under  the  greatest  pressure  of  office  duties,  found  leisure  to  contrib- 
ute largely  to  the  literature  as  well  as  science  of  the  country  by  his  pen." 

In  1879  Colonel  Jones  visited  Europe,  and  spent  four  months  pleas- 
antly and  profitably  in  England  and  Scotland  and  upon  the  Continent. 
While  in  England,  where  so  much  that  is  valuable  and  pertinent  to  the 
history  of  the  American  Colonies  is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum 
arid  the  Public  Record  Office,  he  was  enabled  to  make  special  researches 
4nd  gather  additional  material  for  his  History  of  Georgia. 

Erect  in  carriage,  six  feet  high,  powerfully  built,  with  broad  shoul- 
ders surmounted  by  a  massive  head  covered  with  a  wealth  of  ringlets 
sprinkled  with  grey,  with  genial  countenance,  handsome  features,  and  a 
lofty  brow  overhanging  a  pair  of  penetrating  blue  eyes,  Colonel  Jones  is 
at  once  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  and  the  soul  of  courtliness  and 
grace.  Eloquent  in  utterance,  wise  in  counsel,  decisive  in  action,  public- 
spirited,  liberal  to  the  extent  of  his  means,  with  a  charity  and  sym- 
pathy as  broad  as  the  race,  high-toned  in  sentiment  and  act,  and  noble 
and  generous  in  his  impulses,  he  presents  an  attractive  portrait  of  unself- 
ishness and  earnest  devotion  to  duty,  challenging  the  respect  and  confi- 
dence of  all.  To  charming  conversational  powers,  social  qualities  of  a 
high  order,  and  an  affable  address,  he  unites  varied  and  comprehensive 
knowledge,  a  retentive  memory,  a  mind  open  to  all  impressions,  and  an 
interest  in  everything  savoring  of  intellectual  development.  His  energy 
and  activity  are  never  more  apparent  than  when  engaged  upon  any  liter- 
ary composition.  He  then  works  with  great  rapidity,  seldom  revising 
or  reading  his  MS.  until  it  is  finished.  In  proof  of  this  assertion  we  may 
instance  his  Siege  of  Savannah  in  December,  1864,  which  was  written  in 
seven  evenings ;  the  two  volumes  of  his  History  of  Georgia,  which,  ex- 
clusive of  the  preliminary  study  involved,  were  prepared  at  odd  intervals 
during  seven  months;  and  his  Memorial  Histories  of  Savannah,  and  Au- 
gusta, Ga.,  which  were  begun  and  completed  within  less  than  two  months. 
While  possessing  the  ability  of  rapid  composition,  he  also  has  that  other 
desirable  attribute  of  excellent  chirography.  His  penmanship  is  fault- 
less, and  his  bold,  flowing  hand  is  not  only  legible  but  very  attractive. 

Colonel  Jones  has  twice  been  complimented  with  the  degree  of  LL.D., 
and  is  a  member  of  various  literary  societies  both  in  this  country  and  in 


Biographical. 


593 


Europe.  His  Antiquities  of  the  Southern  Indians  was  the  work  which 
first  brought  him  prominently  before  the  attention  of  European  scholars, 
and  introduced  him  to  scientific  circles  abroad.  Since  its  publication  he 
has  been  generally  regarded  as  the  leading  authority  upon  the  subject  of 
which  he  therein  treats.  Alluding  to  his  archaeological  work,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  his  first  important  contribution  to  the  literature  of  his 
State — Monumental  Remains  of  Georgia  (Savannah,  1861) — belongs  to 
this  department  of  his  writings.  Other  works  of  his  in  the  same  field  are 
his  Indian  Remains  in  Southern  Georgia  (Savannah,  1859);  Ancient  Tu- 
muli on  the  Savannah  River  (New  York,  1868);  Ancient  Tumuli  in 
Georgia,  (Worcester,  Mass.,  1869),  and  Aboriginal  Structures  in  Georgia, 
(Washington,  1878.) 

Supplemental  to  the  reputation  which  Colonel  Jones  has  achieved  as 
a  writer  upon  archaeological  subjects,  we  record  the  fact  that  he  possesses 
an  extensive  collection  illustrative  of  the  primitive  manufactures,  per- 
sonal ornaments,  and  customs  of  the  Southern  Indians.  This  collection 
embraces  some  twenty  thousand  objects,  which  are  carefully  numbered 
and  catalogued.  For  the  purposes  of  comparative  study  there  are,  in 
addition,  several  hundred  typical  objects  of  primitive  manufacture  from 
Europe,  Asia,  Central  America,  and  other  localities. 

It  remains  for  us  to  speak  of  Colonel  Jones  as  a  collector  of  auto- 
graphs and  historical  documents.  The  collection  and  arrangement  of  au- 
tograph letters  and  portraits  of  personages  distinguished  in  Revolution- 
ary annals,  or  prominently  associated  with  Georgia  as  a  Colony  and  as  a 
State,  have  afforded  him  pleasant  recreation.  In  the  gratification  of  this 
taste,  he  has  performed  valuable  service.  Among  these  collections  we 
would  refer  to  his  autographs  and  portraits  of  the  members  from  Geor- 
gia of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  of  the  United  States  Senators  from 
Georgia,  Autographs  and  Portraits  of  the  Delegates  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1787,  Rulers  and  Governors  of  Georgia,  the  Georgia  Port- 
folio in  two  volumes,  Autograph  Letters  and  Portraits  of  the  Chief  Jus- 
tices and  Associate  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
and  of  the  Attorneys- General  of  the  United  States,  Autographs  and  Por- 
traits of  the  Presidents  of  the  Continental  Congress,  of  the  Presidents  of 
the  United  States,  and  of  the  Vice-Presidents  of  the  United  States,  Au- 
tograph Letters  and  Portraits  of  the  Signers  of  the  Constitution  of  the 


594  History  of  Savannah. 

Confederate  States,  Autograph  Letters  and  Portraits  of  the  Signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  in  two  volumes,  and  Members  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress — 1775-1789  Vol.  I.  of  this  series  contains  a  second  and 
complete  set  of  the  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Of  the 
Members  of  the  Continental  Congress  there  is  full  representation,  either 
by  autograph  letter  or  document  signed,  with  the  exception  of  some 
twenty  names.  This  series,  like  the  others  alluded  to,  is  inlaid  on  What- 
man paper,  is  accompanied  by  engraved  portraits,  views,  etc.,  wherever 
practicable,  and  will  be  bound  in  five  volumes,  crushed  levant.  Colonel 
Jones's  Confederate  Collection  is  also  very  extensive,  interesting  and  val- 
uable. 

His  library  is  well  selected,  and  consists  of  some  forty  five  hundred 
bound  volumes — over  two  hundred  of  which  have  been  privately  illus- 
trated at  great  expense,  and  in  the  highest  style  of  the  illustrator's  art- 
Fine  specimens  of  binding  are  not  infrequent.  In  works  pertaining  to 
Georgia  and  adjacent  States  his  library  is  especially  rich. 

Colonel  Jones  is  the  eldest  of  the  family,  having  one  brother  and  a  sis- 
ter. The  latter — Mary  Sharpe' — is  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Q.  Mal- 
lard, D.D.,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  resident  of  New  Orleans. 
His  brother  is  Professor  Joseph  Jones,  M.D.,  also  of  that  city,  the  well- 
known  scientist,  chemist,  physician,  and  writer  upon  medical  subjects. 
He  is  at  present  Professor  of  Medical  Chemistry  in  Tulane  University, 
New  Orleans,  and  was  for  several  years  president  of  the  Board  of  Health 
of  the  State  of  Louisiana. 

It  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  affirm  that  Colonel  Jones  is  the  most  pro- 
lific author  Georgia  has  ever  produced,  and  stands  at  the  head  of  the  his- 
torical writers  of  the  South  ot  the  present  generation. 


THOMAS,  DANIEL  R.,  was  born  at  Savannah  August  27,  1843. 
His  father  was  the  late  John  T.  Thomas,  whose  grandparents  were 
among  the  French  Huguenots,  wlio  arrived  in  Charleston  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  last  century  ;  his  maternal  ancestors  were  Salzburgers,  and 
among  the  early  settlers  of  the  colony  of  Georgia.  As  a  child,  a  delicate 
constitution  and  imperfect  sight  interfered  with  his  education. 

'  Departed  this  life  since  this  sltetch  was  prepared. 


~'V'lyTeK:rr..m»  C'T'-^ 


^-^.\^y^iti2^-^^-t^^ 


Biographical.  $9$ 


In  1862  he  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army  with  the  Tattnall  Guards, 
First  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Georgia.  After  prolonged  sickness,  with- 
out solicitation  on  his  part,  he  was,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  post 
surgeon  and  his  commanding  officer  detailed  for  duty  at  district  head- 
quarters and  afterwards  in  the  war  tax  office. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war  Mr.  Thomas  began  business  as  an  in- 
surance agent  at  Macon,  where  he  remained  until  March,  1866.  From 
Macon  he  returned  to  Savannah,  and  in  July  of  the  same  year  associated 
himself  with  Captain  D.  G.  Purse  in  the  commission,  fertilizer  and  coal 
business  which,  by  close  and  undivided  attention  soon  became  large  and 
profitable.  In  December,  1 878,  the  firm  of  Purse  &  Thomas  was  dissolved, 
Mr.  Thomas  continuing  the  coal  trade. 

His  sight  had  become  so  impaired  and  his  suffering  so  great  in  1874, 
that  he  sought  the  aid  of  an  oculist  and  an  optician,  from  whom  he  ob- 
tained such  relief  and  benefit  as  to  greatly  change  his  life  and  interest 
him  in  what  was  transpiring  around. 

In  the  compromise  made  by  the  city  with  the  bond-holders  he  took 
an  active  interest.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Sinking  Fund  Com- 
mission for  ten  years ;  but  after  four  years  efficient  service  he  resigned, 
having  been  elected  an  alderman  in  January,  1883. 

During  the  succeeding  six  years  he  rendered  most  valuable  service 
to  the  city.  He  served  as  a  member  of  the  sanitary  commission,  and 
was  an  active  member  of  many  committees  of  council,  including  those 
on  accounts,  finance  and  streets  and  lanes. 

As  treasurer  of  the  committee  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers  by  the 
Yamacraw  fire  he  devoted  a  great  deal  of  time  to  that  charitable  work. 
In  recognition  of  his  services  in  securing  an  extension  of  the  city  limits 
Thomas  square  was  named  for  him.  During  his  three  terms  in  council 
no  alderman  was  better  acquainted  with  the  details  of  the  city's  affairs 
than  Mr.  Thomas. 

Fully  a  year  before  the  expiration  of  Mayor  Lester's  last  term  public 
sentiment  apparently  crystalized  about  Mr.  Thomas  as  the  best  and  most 
available  successor.  As  the  time  for  the  election  came  on  Mr.  Thomas 
developed  unmistakable  strength,  his  record  in  the  management  of  the 
department  of  streets  and  lanes  had  won  him  the  approbation  of  the  pub- 
lic.    Several  candidates  were  brought  out  but  finally  the  contest  nar- 


Sg6  History  of  Savannah. 

rowed  down  to  three,  then  it  was  a  question  which  one  of  two  of  these 
gentlemen  should  retire. 

At  a  convention  of  the  Democratic  clubs  held  in  the  Masonic  Hall 
January  4,  1889,  Mr.  Thomas  was  nominated  for  mayor.  Another  can- 
didate had  been  in  the  field  for  more  than  a  month.  The  election  came 
on  in  a  few  days,  and  was  a  close  one,  Mr.  Thomas  being  defeated  by 
371  votes.  This  strong  endorsement  of  Mr.  Thomas  is  from  an  editorial 
in  the  Morning  News:  "Mr.  Thomas  is  a  man  of  fine  business  qualifica- 
tions, he  has  proven  himself  to  be  one  of  the  most  competent  and  pro- 
gressive councilman  the  city  has  ever  had.  The  greater  part  of  the  im- 
provements that  have  been  made  within  the  last  few  years  is  the  result  of 
his  earnest  consistent  and  conscientious  work.  He  may  not  have  pleased 
everybody,  but  he  has  done  so  much  better  than  the  most  of  those  who 
preceded  him  in  his  present  position,  that  those  who  have  been  disposed  to 
find  fault  have  not  found  willing  listeners.     He  is  economical  and  careful." 

Mr.  Thomas  is  a  director  in  the  Savannah  and  Western  Railroad  Com- 
pany, in  the  Citizens'  Bank,  the  Savannah  Investment  Company,  and  is 
a  member  of  the  board  of  managers  of  Savannah's  ancient  charity,  the 
Union  Society,  and  takes  an  active  interest  in  the  management  of  the 
Bethesda  Orphan  House.  He  is  just  in  the  prime  of  life  and,  with  his 
clear  head  and  business  habits,  bids  fair  to  attain  to  higher  positions  than 
he  has  yet  been  honored  with  by  his  fellow- citizens. 


FLANNERY  JOHN  was  born  in  Nenagh,  County  Tipperary,  Ireland, 
on  the  24th  of  November,  1835,  his  parents  being  John  and  Hannah 
Flannery,  the  latter  a  daughter  of  Malachi  Hogan  of  the  Silvermines,  same 
county.  Financial  embarrasments,  resulting  mainly  from  the  effects  of 
the  famine  and  pestilent  visitations  covering  parts  of  1845,  '4^  and  '47, 
and  the  disturbed  state  of  affairs  in  Ireland  before  and  after  the  attempted 
rebellion  in  1848,  compelled  the  father  of  our  subject  to  close  out  his  busi- 
ness in  Nenagh,  after  disposing  of  the  property  he  owned  there,  and  as  a 
matter  of  enforced  economy  to  move  to  the  village  of  the  Silvermines 
early  in  1850.  The  prospects  for  the  future  at  this  place  being  very  un- 
promising the  father  and  son  decided  to  try  their  fortune  in  the  United 
States  the  following  year.  They  left  home  on  September  13th  for  Liver- 
pool, England,  at  which  point  they  engaged  passage  for  Charleston,  S.  C, 


Biographical.  597 


on  the  American  ship  Austria,  Captain  Borland,  which  sailed  on  Septem- 
ber 1 8th,  and  arrived  at  its  destination, after  a  pleasant  passage,  on  October 
26th.  Upon  arrival  at  Charleston  they  were  received  and  welcomed  by- 
Mrs.  Mary  A.  Reedy  the  only  sister  of  the  elder  Flannery  and  who  had 
been  a  resident  of  that  city  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Young  Flannery,  not  being  brought  up  to  any  profession,  trade  or 
business,  was  unable  to  find  employment  until  the  following  spring  when 
on  April  12th  he  went  to  Atlanta,  then  a  small  town,  under  an  engage- 
ment to  clerk  for  a  Mr.  Frankfort,  who  carried  on  a  large  business  for 
those  days,  in  dry  goods  and  clothing  on  Whitehall  street.  He  did  not 
take  favorably  to  Atlanta,  which  had  few  attractions  for  young  men  at 
that  time,  and  in  consequence  resigned  his  place  and  returned  to  Charles- 
ton in  August.  Soon  after  his  return  he  obtained  a  situation  at  LaPaine's 
dry  goods  store  on  King  street  where  he  remained  only  a  few  months 
when  he  left  to  take  a  better  place  in  the  larger  establishment  of  Will- 
iam Howland  on  the  same  street.  He  was  with  Mr.  Howland  less  than 
two  years  when  that  gentleman  failed  in  business.  This  decided  him 
upon  removing  to  Savannah,  where  he  had  some  relatives  living  at  the 
time.  He  arrived  in  Savannah  on  December  16,  1854,  having  previously 
engaged,  through  his  cousin  P.  J.  Flannery,  his  service  as  a  clerk  to  T. 
&  L.  McKenna  &  Co.  then  carrying  on  a  dry  goods  business  on  Brough- 
ton  street.  He  remained  with  this  firm  until  the  following  October, 
when  having  taken  a  dislike  to  the  retail  dry  goods  as  a  business,  he  left 
to  take  a  position  as  book-keeper  and  general  clerk  with  A.  Backer,  who 
carried  on  a  wholesale  liquor  business  on  Whitaker  street  near  Bay.  He 
remained  only  a  few  months  in  this  place  when  he  resigned  to  take  the 
position  of  book-keeper  with  John  G.  Falligant,  who  carried  on  a  large 
business  in  paints,  oil,  sash,  blinds  etc.,  on  the  west  side  of  Johnson 
square.  After  being  in  this  place  for  about  a  year  and  a  half  he  decided 
upon  making  another  change  and  we  next  find  him,  in  the  fall  of  1857, 
occupying  the  position  of  book-keeper  for  M.  J.  Reilly,  a  wholesale 
grocer  on  Bay  street.  Mr.  Reilly  having  failed  the  following  year,  Mr. 
Flannery  was  offered  a  position  as  account  sales'  clerk  by  Evans  Harris 
&  Co.,  cotton  factors  on  Bay  street,  which  he  accepted.  He  was  pro- 
moted to  be  book-keeper  about  a  year  later  when  a  vacancy  occurred  in 
that  position.      He  was  in  this  place  in  January,  1861,  when  Governor 


59^  History  of  Savannah. 

Brown  called  on  the  Savannah  military  to  occupy  and  hold  Fort  Pulaski. 
Being  a  member  of  the  Irish  Jasper  Greens,  which  corps  he  joined 
in  October,  1857,  he  was  among  the  number  of  those  who  responded  to 
the  call  and  performed  garrison  duty  at  the  Fort,  as  a  non-commissioned 
officer,  during  parts  of  January,  February  and  March,  1861.  He  was 
elected  a  brevet  lieutenant  in  the  "  Greens  "  in  March,  1861.  On  May 
30,  1861,  he  entered  the  Confederate  service  with  the  Greens  for  sixty 
days  and  on  August  loth,  was  again  mustered  in  for  six  months.  The 
greater  part  of  these  two  terms  was  served  in  garrison  duty  at  Fort  Pul- 
aski. On  January  30,  1862,  he  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant.  On 
February  12,  1862,  the  Greens  were  mustered  out  of  service  and  on  the 
14th  they  re-enlisted  for  another  term  of  six  months,  which  was  soon 
after  changed  to  "three  years  or  the  war."  On  the  22d,  they  were  or- 
dered to  Lee  Battery,  a  work  of  importance  then  being  built  on  the 
Savannah  River  below  Fort  Jackson.  While  at  this  place  Lieutenant 
Flannery,  in  addition  to  his  duties  in  his  company,  was  acting  as  quarter- 
master for  the  Savannah  River  batteries  and  advanced  posts  from  April 
to  July  1862,  when  he  was  relieved  of  the  latter  duty  by  Lieutenant, 
afterwards  Captain,  T.  W.  Neely  of  the  quartermaster's  department. 

On  the  reorganization  of  the  First  Volunteer  Regiment  of  Georgia  on 
October  20,  1862,  Captain  Ford  of  the  "Greens,"  was  elected  major  of 
of  the  regiment  and  Lieutenant  Flannery  succeeded  him  as  captain  and 
his  company  was  designated  as  "  Company  A  "  of  the  regiment.  In  the 
early  part  of  1863  Captain  Flannery  was  appointed  "Instructor  in  In- 
fantry Tactics"  for  the  officers,  about  thirty  in  number,  serving  at  the  river 
batteries,  which  position  he  held  until  May,  1864.  About  the  middle  of 
the  same  year  Lee  Battery,  with  a  garrison  of  two  companies  numbering 
about  two  hundred  men,  was  placed  in  his  immediate  charge  under 
Major  T.  D.  Bertody  of  the  Twenty  second  Battalion  of  Georgia  Artillery 
as  commander  of  the  post  comprising  Fort  Jackson  and  Lee  Battery  and 
Colonel  E.  C.  Anderson  C.  S.  A.,  as  commander  of  all  the  "  Savannah 
River  Batteries  and  Advanced  Posts." 

Captain  Flannery  remained  at  Lee  Battery  until  May,  1864,  when  the 
"  Greens  "  were  relieved  from  duty  there  and  directed  to  rejoin  the  First 
Volunteer  Regiment  then  under  orders  to  report  to  General  Mercer  com- 
nj^nding  a  b^rigade,  in  the  artay  of  the  Tennessee  under  General  John- 


BlbCRAPHICAL.  59^ 


ston,  near  Dallas,  Ga.  He  served  with  this  army  under  Johnston  and 
Hood  from  May,  1864,  to  January,  1865,  except  for  a  few  weeks  in  mid- 
summer while  incapacitated  for  active  duty  by  severe  illness.  Early  in 
January,  1865,  h-e  was  taken  seriously  sick  near  Corinth,  Miss.,  where  the 
army  rested  a  few  days  while  en  route  for  Tupelo  from  the  disastrous 
campaign  in  Tennessee.  This  practically  ended  his  active  connection 
with  the  army,  although  when,  about  April  ist,  he  believed  himself  able 
to  resume  active  duty  he  asked  for  and  obtained  a  discharge  from  hos- 
pital at  Columbus,  Ga.,  where  he  then  was,  and  started  to  rejoin  his 
command  which  was  in  North  Carolina.  Being  delayed  at  camps  at 
Macon  and  Augusta  while  en  route  he  did  not  get  beyond  Chester,  S.  C, 
which  point  he  only  reached  in  time  to  be  ordered  back  on  account  of 
'^' Stoneman's  raid,"  which  cut  off  communication  in  that  direction  with 
Johnston's  army.  From  Chester,  he  with  the  other  Confederates  at  that 
point,  fell  back  successively  to  Newberry  and  Abbeville,  S.  C,  and  Wash- 
ington, Ga.,  where  the  news  of  Johnston's  surrender  was  received,  and 
where  the  various  detachments  were  disbanded  as  they  arrived.  Captain 
Flannery  went  from  Washington  to  Sharon,  Ga.,  where  he  remained  fOr 
several  days  as  the  guest  of  Mr.  W.  J.  Harty,  then  living  at  that  point. 
He  next  went  to  Augusta,  where  he  became  the  guest  for  a  few  days  of 
Mr.  John  M.  Gannon  of  the  Globe  Hotel,  who,  as  a  boy,  was  his  fellow 
passenger  from  Liverpool  to  Charleston  in  1851.  He  was  paroled  on 
May  15th  at  Augusta,  and  having  secured  transportation  by  the  steamer 
Amazon,  he  soon  after  left  for  Savannah.  The  trip  down  the  river  occu- 
pied three  days  and  was  not  by  any  means  a  pleasure  excursion,  as  the 
boat  was  crowded,  and  all  the  accommodations  being  on  deck,  horses, 
darkies.  Federal  soldiers,  and  Confederates  were  mixed  up  indiscrimin  ■ 
ately.  Savanrtah  presented  a  desolate  appearance  when  he  arrived 
there  and  it  was  several  days  before  he  was  able  to  obtain  employ- 
ment of  any  description.  The  first  position  that  offered  was  at  Hilton 
Head,  S.  C,  where  the  firm  of  McKune  &  Roo-ebrook  wanted  a  com- 
petent accountant  to  adjust  and  balance  their  books,  as  they  were 
preparing  to  close  up  business.  This  position  he  obtained  through  the 
influence  of  some  friends,  and  his  services  being  needed  at  once,  he 
left  a  sick-bed  to  go  to  work,  so  as  not  to  loose  the  chance  for  em- 
ployment.    After  being  about  six  Weeks  at  Hilton  Head  he  succeeded 


6oo  History  of  Savannah. 

in  securing  a  position  as  book-keeper  with  John  N.  Keene  &  Co., 
shipping  and  commission  merchants  of  Savannah.  On  his  return  to 
Savannah  to  accept  this  position,  Mr.  L  J.  Guilmartin  proposed  to  him 
to  form  a  co-partnership  to  do  a  cotton  factorage  and  general  commission 
business,  which  proposition  Captain  Flannery  accepted,  after  obtaining  a 
release  from  his  engagement  with  Messrs.  Keene  &  Co.  Mr.  E.  W. 
Drummond  also  became  a  member  of  the  co-partnership  which  com- 
menced business  on  July  12.  1865,  under  the  firm  name  of  L.  J.  Guil- 
martin &  Co.  The  firm  started  with  practically  no  capital  but  with 
many  friends  whose  patronage  and  assistance  aided  in  making  its  business 
a  success.  The  firm  soon  after  commencing  business  secured  the  agency 
,of  the  steamers  Dictator  and  City  Point,  running  between  Charleston, 
S.  C,  and  Palatka,  Fla.,  via  Savannah,  etc.  This  was  an  important 
freight  and  passenger  line  at  that  time  and  for  several  years  after.  The 
firm  also  done  a  general  shipping  business  up  to  1868,  when  Mr.  Drum- 
mond retired  and  this  branch  was  discontinued. 

On  May  31,  1877,  the  firm  was  dissolved  and  Captain  Flannery  pur- 
chased all  its  assets.  He  at  once  formed  a  new  co-partnership  with  Mr. 
John  L.  Johnson,  who  had  been  the  traveling  agent  of  the  old  firm,  under 
the  firm  name  of  John  Flannery  &  Co.  This  firm  has  been  successful  in 
business,  is  still  in  existence  and  occupies  a  prominent  position  among 
the  cotton. houses  of  Savannah. 

In  1866  Captain  Flannery  went  to  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  visiting 
his  mother,  whom  he  had  not  seen  since  he  left  for  America  in  1851,  and 
with  the  hope  that  the  trip  would  benefit  his  health,  which  was  very 
much  impaired  as  a  result  of  severe  malarial  poisoning  while  at  Lee  Bat- 
tery 1  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1862  and  of  1863,  and  of  exposure,  etc., 
during  the  campaign  in  Tennessee  in  the  winter  of  1864. 

In  April,  1867  Captain  Flannery  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Nor- 
ton, a  niece  of  Mrs.  John  McMahon,  by  whom  she  was  raised  from  early 
girlhood.  This  marriage  proved  to  be  a  happy  one  and  the  fruits  of  it 
were  six  children,  only  two  of  whom  are  living — Katie,  the  oldest  daugh- 
ter and  John  McMahon,  the  third  son. 

1  To  illustrate  how  unhealthy  this  post  was  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  it  is  only 
necessary  so  say  that  the  garrison,  consisting  nominally  ol  ?Cao\x\.  two  hundred  men  and 
nine  officers,  was  at  one  time,  August  29,  1862,  reduced  by  sickness  to  arf«a//>' nineteen 
men  and  one  officer  (Lieutenant  Flannery)  for  duty. 


Biographical.  6oi 


On  the  re-organization  of  the  Georgia  Volunteers  in  May,  1872,  he 
was,  against  his  expressed  wish,  re-elected  captain  of  the  "  Irish  Jasper 
Greens  "  and,  notwithstanding  the  unsatisfactory  condition  of  his  health 
then  and  most  of  the  time  since  we  still  find  him  at  the  head  of  the 
corps  and  J:aking  an  active  part  in  volunteer  military  affairs.  When 
his  dwelling  was  burned  to  the  ground  in  the  big  fire  of  April  6,  1889, 
it  was  found  that  among  the  many  souvenirs  destroyed  was  a  dress 
sword  presented  to  him  by  the  "Greens"  in  1874.  The  members  of  the 
corps,  as  soon  as  they  became  aware  of  this,  immediately  ordered  another 
sword  with  special  designs  and  of  finer  quality  which  was  formally  pre- 
sented on  May  28,  1889,  as  a  mark  of  their  continued  esteem  and  to  show 
that  time  had  not  weakened  their  respect  for  and  confidence  in  him. 

He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Hibernian  Society  since  March  17,  1866, 
and  served  one  term  as  vice-president.  He  has  always  taken  an  active 
interest  in  Irish  affairs  and  lent  aid  to  every  movement  of  a  natioiial 
character,  which  he  thought  might  benefit  his  native  land. 

Captain  Flannery  was  one  of  the  corporators  of  the  Southern  Bank  of 
the  State  of  Georgia  organized  in  1870,  and  was  a  member  of  its  first 
board  of  directors  and  has  been  re-elected  every  year  since.  Upon  the 
death  of  Captain  John  McMahon,  vice-president  of  the  bank,  in  January, 
1 88 1,  he  became  acting  vice-president  and  on  February  9,  following,  was 
elected  president,  in  place  of  Mr.  Eugene  Kelly  of  New  York,  who  re- 
signed for  that  purpose,  and  he  is  still  in  that  position.  The  new  bank 
building  on  Drayton  street,  completed  in  1886,  was  put  up  on  his  urgent 
recommendation  and  the  work  carried  on  under  his  direction. 

He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Savannah  Cotton  Exchange  since  1877 
and  served  as  a  director  for  several  years.  He  was  vice-president  for 
two  terms  and  president  for  one  and  served  as  a  member  of  the  commit- 
tee under  whose  direction  the  Exchange  building  at  the  foot  of  Drayton 
street,  completed  in  1887  while  he  was  president,  was  put  up. 

He  has  been  a  director  for  several  years  in  the  "  U.  H.  Cotton  Press 
Co."  and  in  the  "Tyler  Cotton  Press  Co."  in  each  of  which  he  has  a  large 
interest,  and  has  served  in  similar  positions,  from  time  to  time,  in  several 
other  organizations  of  more  or  less  importance. 

He  was  among  the  number  of  those  who  recognized  the  importance 
of  having  a  first  class-  hotel  in  Savannah  and  took  an  active  interest  in 


6o2  History  of  Savannah. 

securing  and  holding  tlie  "  Oglethorpe  Barracks  "  block  as  a  site  for  such 
a  building,  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  subscribe  for  stock  and  to  take  an 
active  part  in  organizing  the  "  Savannah  Hotel  Co." — of  which  he  was 
elected  a  director  on  its  organization  in  April,  1888, — which  built  the 
"  DeSoto,"  completed  in  1889,  on  that  site. 

On  the  organization  of  the  "  Savannah  Sinking  Fund  Commission," 
in  December,  1878,  he  was  unanimously  elected  a  member  by  the  City 
Council  and  served  as  its  chairman  until  1888,  when  he  retired  from  the 
commission,  after  declining  a  re-election  for  another  term. 

He  was  one  of  the  original  thirteen  who  organized  the  "  Jasper  Mon^ 
ument  Association,"  in  1878,  and  on  the  death  of  Captain  McMahon,  its 
president,  in  1881,  he  was  elected  to  succeed  him.  While  the  work  of 
accumulating  funds  went  on  rather  slowly  for  some  time  after  Captain 
McMahon's  death,  the  object  for  which  the  association  was  formed  was 
finally  accomplished.  The  monument  in  Madison  square,  which  was 
unveiled  on  February  22,  1888,  speaks  for  how  well  this  was  done. 

Captain  Flannery  being  a  Roman  Catholic,  always  took  an  active  in- 
terest in  whatever  concerned  the  welfare  of  that  great  religious  organiza- 
tion. He  served  as  a  member  of  the  committee  under  whose  directions 
the  Cathedral  on  Abercorn  street  was  put  up  until  the  building  was 
roofed  in  and  made  weather  tight  in  1875  when  he  resigned.  He  was 
president  of  the  "  Catholic  Library  Hall  Association  "  when  that  organ- 
ization purchased  the  old  Cathedral  property  from  the  Bishop  of  Savan- 
nah in  1888,  and  as  chairman  of  the  building  committee  took  an  active 
part  in  superintending  the  work  of  remodeling  the  building  to  suit  the 
wants  of  the  association  and  to  add  to  the  city's  accommodations  a  hall 
which  for  public  or  private  entertainments  is  second  to  none  within  its 
limits. 

As  chairman  of  the  trustees  selected  by  the  bondholders  whobought 
in  the  "  Georgia  Military  Academy  "  building  and  lots  on  Abercorn  street, 
at  the  foreclosure  sale  in  1886,  he  rendered  valuable  aid  to  the  "First  Vol- 
unteer Regiment  of  Georgia"  in  enabling  it  to  acquire  the  property  for 
an  armory,  by  inducing  the  owners  to  agree  to  accept  a  moderate  price 
and  to  give  the  regiment  easy  terms  for  payment,  in  consideration  of  the 
purpose  for  which  the  property  was  to  be  used. 

While,  as  a  rule,  Captain  Flannery  has  taken  but  little  interest  in  pel- 


Biographical.  doj 


itics,  and  has  invariably  declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  office,  he  has 
always  held  his  vote  ready  for  use  at  every  election  and,  when  occasion 
demanded,  he  has  not  hesitated  to  take  an  active  part  in  municipal 
and  other  elections  and  to  use  any  influence  that  he  possessed  to  help 
to  elect  good  and  competent  men  to  office  over  unsuitable  or  incom- 
petent candidates.  He  never  failed  to  do  any  duty  devolving  on  him 
as  a  citizen  and  always  realized  that,  "  property  has  its  duties  as  well  as 
its  rights,"  and  therefore  that  his  debt  of  obligations  to  the  community 
of  which  he  was  a  member  increased  with  the  increase  of  his  worldly 
possessions,  and  that  his  mere  living  in  that  community  did  not  dis- 
charge this  debt,  as  so  many  men  of  means  appear  to  think.  He  has 
ever  been  ready  to  do  his  full  share  towards  making  each  enterprise  or 
movement  inaugurated  by  the  citizens  of  Savannah  for  her  benefit  a 
success,  without  waiting  to  figure  out,  in  advance,  what  direct  benefit  he 
was  likely  to  receive  for  the  money  contributed  or  for  the  time  and  labor 
expended  in  trying'to  accomplish  the  object  proposed. 


FLEMING  GRANTLAND  du  BIGNON.  Ask  any  Savannahian 
who  is  the  most  prominent  young  man  in  this  city  and  without  a 
moment's  hesitation  he  will  answer,  Senator  Fleming  G.  du  Bignon. 

Here  is  a  strong  and  interesting  individuality,  an  exceptionally  fine 
mind,  an  eloquent  orator  whose  thoughts  are  ever  dressed  in  classic  lan- 
guage which  flows  'with  all  the  natural  ease  and  spontaneity  of  waters 
from  a  fountain.  A  lawyer  who  crowds  the  court  rooms,  a  speaker 
who  on  the  platform  arouses  the  enthusiasm  of  his  audience  to  the 
highest  pitch,  effective  in  debate,  quick  and  crushing  in  repartee  and 
full  of  all  the  expedients  and  manoeuvres  of  a  skilled  parliamentarian. 
He  has  the  dash  of  the  cavalier — that  beau  esprit  which  dazzles  and  fas- 
cinates. Gifted  far  beyond  most  men,  and  ambitious,  he  has  risen  rapidly 
to  a  height  where  the  greatest  public  honors  are  within  his  reach. 

In  the  early  history  of  Georgia  there  was  a  patriot  who  declined  the 
governorship  of  his  State  saying  that  he  considered  himself  too  young  a 
man  for  the  position.  There  has  been  just  one  other  young  man  since  those 
early  days  who  has  put  the  honor  away  from  him.  Senator  du  Bignon, 
with  the  most  flattering  prospects  of  succeeding  to  the  coveted  chair, 
when  his  name  was  on  the  tongue  of  every  intelligent  man  in  the  State, 


6o4  Historv  of  Savannah. 

having  more  than  the  good  will  of  the  leading  men  in  every  section  of 
Georgia — yes  having  their  promised  support  unsought,  to  help  him  to 
what  would  be,  as  it  were,  but  the  stepping-stone  to  the  very  highest 
goal,  in  short,  with  a  future  tempting  him  to  a  career  probably  unequaled 
in  brilliancy  by  any  other  man's  in  all  the  South,  he  deliberately  turned 
away  from  it  to  devote  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Of 
course,  there  was  a  strong  motive  for  this  decision,  and  it  was  a  choice 
between  the  competence  which  a  prosperous  profession  brings  and  public 
honors  with  meager  emoluments. 

Fleming  Grantland  du  Bignon  was  borp  July  25,  1853,  at  Woodville 
near  Milledgeville,  the  old  country  seat  of  his  maternal  grandfather.  His 
father,  Capt.  Charles  du  Bignon,  was  born  and  reared  on  Jekyl  Island, 
one  of  the  prettiest  of  the  chain  of  islands  which  stretches  along  the 
Georgia  coast.  Capt.  du  Bignon  was  a  private  gentleman  descended 
from  Admiral  du  Bignon  of  the  stock  of  French  political  refugees  who 
had  to  abandon  their  country  in  one  of  the  political  revolutions  which 
convulsed  it  within  the  last  century.  Senator  du  Bignon's  mother,  whom 
he  resembles  in  many  traits  of  character,  is  Mrs.  Ann  Virginia  du  Bignon, 
the  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Seaton  Grantland.  Mr.  du  Bignon's  early 
education  was  begun  under  the  private  tutorship  of  the  celebrated  Wash- 
ington Baird,  D.  D.  After  receiving  a  military  education  at  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute  at  Lexington,  Mr.  du  Bignon  went  thence  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia.  Upon  leaving  that  institution  he  spent  more  than 
a  year  in  Europe  to  complete  his  education.  Returning  to  Georgia  he 
settled  in  Savannah,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  began  the  practice  of 
law  here.  In  1875  he  married  Miss  Carro  Nicol  Lamar,  daughter  of  the 
late  Col.  Charles  A.  L.  Lamar,  (and  granddaughter  of  Judge  Nicol  of  the 
U.  S.  District  Court),  and  soon  thereafter  he  removed  to  "Milledgeville, 
where  he  began  the  practice  of  law  under  the  favorable  auspices  of  family 
influence. 

It  was  soon  acknowledged  that  the  young  attorney  was  strong  in  de- 
bate and  possessed  to  a  high  degree  the  graces  of  an  accomplished  orator. 
He  had  the  capacity  to  win  success  in  the  face  of  opponents  of  wider 
experience  and  estabhshed  reputations.  From  1875  to  1877  he  was 
county  judge  of  Baldwin  County  and  for  one  year  of  that  time  was  asso- 
ciated as  partner  with  R.  Whitfield,  esq.,  and  afterwards  when  that   law 


Biographical.  605 


firm  was  dissolved  he  formed  a  partnership  with  A.  McKinley,  esq.  In 
1880  he  became  a  candidate  for  Representative  of  Baldwin  County  in  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  State  and  he  defeated  his  opponent  the  mayor 
of  Milledgeville  by  a  large  majority. 

In  the  lower  House  of  the  General  Assembly  Mr.  du  Bignon  took  an 
active  and  prominent  part.  He  was  the  author  of  the  measure  which 
appropriated  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  dollars  ($165,000), 
for  the  purpose  of  erecting  new  and  additional  buildings  at  the  State 
Lunatic  Asylum  and  for  improving  the  treatment  of  the  unfortunates 
there  confined.  The  measure,  though  bitterly  opposed  at  first,  was  carried 
finally  by  an  overwhelming  vote  upon  the  conclusion  of  an  earnest  ap- 
peal by  Mr.  du  Bignon  for  its  passage.  Mr.  du  Bignon's  speech  upon 
the  occasion,  delivered  before  an  immense  crowd  which  had  been  at- 
tracted to  the  House,  has  been  considered  by  some  of  his  friends  one  of 
the  best  of  his  Legislative  efforts.  With  this  appropriation  the  Trustees 
of  the  Institution  have  erected  two  large  and  attractive  recreation  halls 
for  the  male  and  female  patients.  Also  a  handsome  amusement  hall  for 
the  convalescent,  as  well  as  two  commodious  buildings  for  colored  patients. 
Mr.  du  Bignon  has  frequently  said  that  should  he  accomplish  nothing 
else  in  life,  his  successful  effort  in  behalf  of  "  these  unfortunates  "  would 
more  than  repay  him  for  all  the  annoyances  and  sacrifices  which  he  had 
suffered  in  public  life. 

At  the  same  session  of  the  Legislature  he  introduced  and  passed  a  bill 
appropriating  five  thousand  dollars  ($5,000,)  for  the  repair  of  the  old 
capitol  building  at  Milledgeville  and  to  fit  it  for  the  use  of  The  Middle 
Georgia  Military  and  Agricultural  College.  This  college  is  a  depart- 
ment of  the  State  University  and  is  in  a  most  flourishing  state.  Mr.  du 
Bignon  is  a  member  of  its  Board  of  Trustees. 

In  1882  at  the  end  of  his  term  in  the  House,  Mr.  du  Bignon  was 
elected  without  opposition  to  the  State  Senate  from  the  20th  Senatorial 
District,  comprising  the  counties  of  Baldwin,  Hancock  and  Washington. 

Upon  the  organization  of  the.  Senate,  Mr.  du  Bignon's  friends  urged 
him  to  allow  the  use  of  his  name  for  President  of  that  body,  but  he  pre- 
ferred to  be  upon  the  floor  and  declined.  He  was  appointed  Chairman 
of  the  Judiciary  Committee  which  is  the  most  important  committee  in 
the  whole  Legislature.     It  is  to  this  committee  that  all  important  Legis- 


6o6  History  of  Savannah. 


lation  is  referred  before  enacted  into  laws.  After  the  organization  of  the 
Senate  a  poll  of  its  members  was  made  and  it  was  found  that  there  was 
but  one  vote's  difference  between  Mr.  du  Bignon's  following  and  that  of 
Mr.  Boynton  who  was  elected  President.  Should  Mr.  du  Bignon  have 
been  elected,  he  would  have  succeeded  to  the  Gubernatorial  office  upon 
the  death  of  Gov.  A.  H.  Stephens,  which  occurred  shortly  afterwards  and 
would  have  been  the  youngest  man  who  ever  entered  that  high  office. 
Both  in  1882  when  elected  to  the  Senate  for  the  20th  District  and  in 
1888  when  elected  for  the  1st  District,  Mr.  du  Bignon  ran  ahead  of  the 
entire  State  ticket.  The  republican  convention  which  met  in  Savannah 
to  nominate  candidates  for  the  Legislature  in  1888,  and  which  was  com- 
posed almost  entirely  of  colored  men,  declined  to  nominate  any  one 
against  Mr.  du  Bignon  although  they  nominated  three  candidates  for  the 
House.  They  intended  by  their  action  to  convey  to  Mr.  du  Bignon  their 
appreciation  oi  h\s  fearless  and  m/ar/««/ administration  of  the  law  while 
in  the  office  of  solicitor- general,  and  Mr.  du  Bignon  is  said  to  have  been 
very  much  touched  and  pleased  by  their  action. 

After  a  residence  of  a  few  years  in  Milledgeville  Mr.  du  Bignon  re- 
turned to  Savannah  and  was  directly  afterwards  elected  solicitor-general 
of  the  Eastern  Judicial  Circuit  which  embraces  the  counties  of  Chatham, 
Bryan,  Liberty,  Mcintosh  and  Effingham.  Here  in  Savannah,  in  the 
Superior  Court  of  Chatham  County,  he  won  a  splendid  and  a  deserved 
reputation  as  a  fearless  and  successful  prosecuting  attorney  for  the  State. 
No  influence  was  strong  enough  to  deter  him  from  prosecuting  to  the 
full  extent  of  his  ability  a  violator  of  the  law.  No  offender  was  high 
enough  to  escape  through  position.  The  Solicitor's  purpose  was  to  ad- 
minister his  office  without  fear,  favor  or  affection.  The  years  of  1885 
and  1886  were  fruitful  of  crime  in  the  city  of  Savannah.  Tragedies  all 
but  trod  upon  each  other's  heels,  numerous  assaults  were  frequent,  the 
gambler  flourished  and  there  were  constant  complaints  of  mal-adminis- 
tration  in  the  offices  of  the  justices  of  the  peace.  When  the  Court  was 
in  session,  convicted  prisoners  day  after  day  struck  terror  into  the  hearts 
of  the  criminally  minded.  An  attempt  to  particularize  would  be  out  of 
place.  But  of  all  the  trials,  the  most  noted  case  was  the  prosecution  of 
John  Walsh  for  the  murder  of  Dawson.  The  strong  influences  of  nation- 
ality and  religion   were  set  at  work  for  the  defendant.      It  was  a  brilliant 


Biographical.  607 


trial  concluding  with  a  magnificent  speech  by  Solicitor-General  du  Big- 
non  who  spoke  three  hours  in  a  densely  crowded  court  room,  and  the 
jury  convicted.  Then  came  a  request  from  the  United  States  govern- 
ment to  Mr.  du  Bignon  to  assist  in  the  prosecution  of  a  (notorious) 
moonshiner,  Johnson,  from  Montgomery  County.  Johnson  was  indicted 
for  shooting  at  a  deputy- marshal.  There  were  especial  reasons  why  the 
government  desired  a  conviction  in  that  case  and  Mr.  du  Bignon  con- 
victed him.  Still  later  and  moat  dramatic  of  all,  so  recent  that  it  is  yet 
fresh  in  the  minds  of  every  one,  was  the  trial  of  Thomas  Cassidy  for  the 
murder  of  George  Smith.  Eminent  counsel  defended  the  prisoner,  the 
trial  was  a  long  one  and  when  the  arguments  by  counsel  began  the 
Superior  Court  room  in  the  old  Court-House  was  thronged.  On  the 
last  day  Mr.  du  Bignon  made  an  able  and  eloquent  speech  and  the  jury 
convicted  on  circumstantial  evidence.  There  are  scores  of  other  cases 
which  might  be  cited  for  their  strong  prosecution.  This  is  a  matter  of 
record  throughout  his  career  as  solicitor- general.  Mr.  du  Bignon  rarely 
lost  a  case.  When  he  resigned  after  being  re-elected,  murders,  in  the 
words  of  the  newspapers,  were  a  rarity,  aggravated  assaults  were  less 
frequent  than  for  years,  the  gambling  dens  were  broken  up  and  the  mag- 
istrates offices  were  more   satisfactorily  conducted  than  in    many  years. 

Mr.  du  Bignon  took  an  active  part  in  local  politics  and  in  1888  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  without  opposition.  He  resigned 
the  office  of  solicitor-general  and  on  the  assembling  of  the  Senate  was 
unanimously  elected  its  President.  He  filled  the  chair  with  dignity,  im- 
partiality and  ability.  Legislation  was  in  a  great  measure  in  his  hands 
and  as  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  secret  history  of  the  two  ses- 
sions know,  the  designs  of  certain  foreign  corporations  to  mulct  the 
State's  treasury  were  thwarted  mainly  through  his  efforts.  All  during 
1889  a  sentiment  kept  spreading  and  deepening  in  favor  of  Senator  du 
Bignon  for  Governor  to  succeed  Gen.  John  B.  Gordon.  From  all  parts  of 
Georgia  he  received  proffers  of  aid  if  he  would  accept  and  these  proffers 
came  from  the  most  influential  men  whose  combined  influences  no  other 
candidate  could  defeat.  Those  kindly  offers  he  declined  and  stated  pos- 
itively that  he  intended  to  retire  from  public  office  and  practice  his  pro- 
fession. This  he  did  and  accepted  a  partnership  in  the  law  firm  of  Chisholm 
&  Erwin,  the  counsel  for  the  Plant  system  of  railways  and  steamships  and 


6o8  History  of  Savannah. 

for  the  Southern  Express  Company  and  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany.    The  firm  name  is  now,  Chisholm,  Erwin  &.  du  Bignon. 

,  As  a  conversationalist  Senator  du  Bignon  is  of  the  most  entertaining 
of  men.  He  has  a  vast  fund  of  anecdote  reminiscence  and  a  keen  per- 
ception of  the  ludicrous.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  aggressive,  thoroughly  fa- 
miliar with  the  rules  of  practice,  quick  to  catch  the  fatal  flaw  of  the  opposing 
side,  a  sharp  cross-examiner,  dramatic  and  effective  before  a  jury.  His 
wide  experience  as  a  criminal  lawyer  has  equipped  him  in  that  branch  of 
his  profession  as  thoroughly  as  any  lawyer  in  Georgia. 


BALLANTYNE,  THOMAS.— The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in 
Glasgow,  Scotland,  August  5,  1831,  and  is  the  son  of  Thomas  Ball- 
antyne,  whose  strong  integrity,  indomitable  industry,  and  genial  charac- 
teristics he  inherited.  Thomas  Ballantyne,  the  younger,  was  educated  at 
Hutchinson's  Academy,  a  school  of  renown  in  Glasgow,  after  which  he 
served  his  apprenticeship  as  an  iron  founder.  Shortly  after  having  mas- 
tered his  trade  he  enlisted  in  the  Scottish  Greys,  or  Second  Royal  Dra- 
goons, famous  in  song  and  story  for  its  celebrated  charge  at  Balaklava. 
Mr.  Ballantyne  was  on  shipboard  on  the  way  to  his  regiment  when  the 
charge  was  made  "  into  the  jaws  of  death  by  the  gallant  three  hundred." 
He  participated  in  the  Crimean  War,  and  was  at  the  capture  of  Sebasto- 
pol.  After  serving  two  years  in  that  historic  corps  Mr.  Ballantyne  bought 
his  discharge  and  returned  home,  and  after  working,  eight  months  at  his 
trade  in  Glasgow,  he  sailed  for  New  York  in  1856,  and  it  was  not  long  af- 
ter his  arrival  when  his  superior  excellence  as  an  iron  moulder  led  to  his 
being  put  in  charge  as  foreman  of  the  Newark  machine  works,  one  of  the 
largest  establishments  in  this  country.  In  1859  he  was  sent  for  to  come  to 
Savannah  to  do  a  piece  of  work  which  no  other  could  do  here,  and  he  was 
persuaded  to  remain,  and  was  given  charge  of  the  late  Alvin  N.  Miller's 
foundry  and  machine  works.  While  here  the  war  broke  out  and  he  was  re- 
tained as  superintendent  and  manufacturer  of  ordnance  for  the  gun-boats 
of  the  Confederate  Navy,  and  during  the  last  two  years  of  the  war  he  was 
in  charge  of  the  Confederate  States'  Foundry  at  Habersham  and  Taylor 
streets,  which  turned  out  ordnance  work  for  the  late  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment. With  the  fall  of  Savannah  the  Federal  government  confis- 
cated  the  Miller  machine  shops  and  foundry,  and  Mr.  Ballantyne  was 


SiograpHicAl.  6o0 


put  in  charge  to  superintend  the  repairing  of  government  property  for  the 
steamships  and  gunboats  of  the  government.  In  1866  Mr.  Ballantyne  and 
John  McDonough  started  a  foundry  at  Arnold  and  Liberty  streets  under 
the  firm  name  of  McDonough  &  Ballantyne,  and  a  year  later  built  ex- 
tensive machine  and  boiler  shops  and  foundry  at  East  Broad,  Perry  and 
McDonough  streets,  which  are  the  largest  and  best  shops  of  the  kind  in 
Savannah,  employing  fifty  men  and  turning  out  engines,  boilers  and  ma- 
chinery of  all  descriptions,  and  which  has  made  for  many  years,  and  is  still 
making,  all  the  iron  castings  for  the  Central  railroad.  The  firm  still  bears 
the  name  of  McDonough  &  Ballantyne,  Mr.  J.  J.  McDonough  having 
succeeded  to  the  partnership  after  the  death  of  his  father. 

While  the  war  was  in  progress  Mr.  Ballantyne  commanded  a  com- 
pany of  men  recruited  from  the  machine  shops  for  home  defense.  He  is 
an  honorary  member  of  the  Georgia  Hussars,  the  oldest  troop  of  cavalry 
in  the  United  States  of  which,  in  the  days  of  his  active  service,  he  was 
second  sergeant.  He  went  to  join  his  company  the  first  year  of  the  war 
but  was  turned  back  at  Richmond ;  the  Confederate  government  consid- 
ered his  services  more  valuable  in  the  manufacture  of  ordnance,  and  sent 
him  back  to  Savannah. 

Mr.  Ballantyne  is  one  of  the  jury  commissioners  forthe  selection  of 
jurors  for  the  courts.  He  served  as  alderman  on  the  board  for  several 
years,  and, was  chairman  of  markets,  and  chairman  of  the  health  and  san- 
itation committee  during  the  epidemic  of  1876,  having  charge  of  the  san- 
itation of  the  city,  and  he  labored  zealously  and  earnestly  during  that 
afflicting  period  until  he  himself  was  stricken  down  near  the  close  of  the 
epidemic. 

Mr.  Ballantyne  is  connected  with  many  enterprises  of  a  public  char- 
acter, and  he  is  always  foremost  in  promoting  every  industry  calculated 
to  advance  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  city  in  which  he  has  long 
been  one  of  its  most  conspicuous  and  industrious  citizens.  He  has  sub- 
scribed to  all  enterprises  looking  to  the  promotion  of  Savannah. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Presbyterian  Church  and  has 
served  on  its  board  of  trustees.  He  has  also  been  the  president  of  the 
St.  Andrew's  society,  and  is  one  of  the  most  pleasant  and  genial  members 
that  sits  around  its  board. 

Mr.  Ballantyne  has  been  a  Free  Mason  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 


6io  History  of  Savannah. 

tury,  and  is  recognized  by  the  fraternity  outside,  as  well  as  inside  of  its 
assemblies,  as  one  of  its  most  zealous  members  ;  in  whatever  is  best  cal- 
culated to  advance  the  interest  of  the  craft  he  is  ever  ready  to  devote  his 
time  and  means.  He  is  a  proficient  worker  in  the  temple,  having  the 
rare  gift  of  expounding  the  rituais  of  the  several  degrees  in  a  perfect  and 
impressive  manner.  This  gift  and  his  devotion  to  the  principles  of  Free- 
masonry have  won  for  him  the  well  deserved  preeminence  which  he  en- 
joys with  his  brethren.  Mr.  Ballantyne  has  held  nearly,  if  not  all,  the 
honors  that  can  be  conferred  by  the  fraternity.  Early  in  his  masonic 
career  he  filled  the  various  offices  in  the  lodge,  Zurubbabel  No.  15,  holding 
the  office  of  worshipful  master  for  five  or  six  years.  He  was  high  priest 
of  Georgia  Chapter  No.  3,  R.  A.  M.,  for  twelve  years,  and  filled  the  office 
of  thrice  illustrious  master  in  Georgia  Council  No.  2,  R.  and  S.  M.  during 
the  same  period.  He  now  holds  the  position  of  eminent  commander  of 
Palestine  Commandery  No.  7,  Knights  Templar,  having  recently  been 
re-elected  against  his  earnest  protest,  though  he  had  held  the  office  for 
seven  years.  In  addition  to  the  honors  conferred  upon  him  by  his  breth- 
ren in  Savannah,  Mr.  Ballantyne  was  for  two  years  grand  commander  of 
Knights  Templar  for  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  was  also  deputy  grand 
master  of  Royal  and  Select  Masters  of  Georgia.  He  is  now  deputy 
grand  high  priest  of  the  Grand  Royal  Arch  Chapter  of  Georgia. 

Mr.  Ballantyne  is  a  celibate  and  has  one  brother,  William  Ballantyne, 
employed  at  the  foundry,  and  one  sister,  Mrs.  Margaret  Hunter,  residing 
in  Glasgow,  Scotland. 

LESTER,  DANIEL  B.,  one  of  the  most  prosperous  wholesale  and  re- 
tail grocers  of  Savannah,  largely  interested  in  real  estate  and  other 
interests  in  which  he  is  connected,  and  which  bring  him  a  very  large  rev- 
enue, affords  an  example  of  what  a  young  man  of  energy,  industry  and 
integrity  can  do  when  thrown  upon  his  own  resources. 

Mr.  Lester  was  born  June  18,  185  i,  in  Bulloch  county,  Ga,,  and  is 
the  son  of  the  late  Malcom  B.  Lester,  a  prosperous  farmer  of  that  county 
who  responded  to  the  call  of  his  section  and  enlisted  in  the  Confederate 
army  and  lost  his  hfe  during  the  war.  Mr.  Lester's  family,  like  many 
other  families  in  the  South,  found  itself  in  straitened  circumstances,  but  this 
did  not  discourage  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  determined  to  replace 


%^ 


^"9''i"^re!i-- 


7 


Biographical.  6i  i 


the  losses  occasioned  by  the  war,  and  with  this  determination  in  view 
he  started  out  single-handed  to  battle  with  adversity,  and  by  strength  of 
character  he  has  nobly  succeeded. 

With  only  the  rudiments  of  a  common  school  education,  he  educated 
himself  at  Lookout  Mountain  Educational  Institution,  having  first  ob- 
tained a  situation  as  clerk  in  a  general  store  at  Marietta,  Ga.,  where,  after 
close  application  to  business  for  several  months,  he  found  it  necessary  to 
get  something  more  than  the  schooling  he  had  obtained  in  the  primitive 
country  school-house.  After  a  year  spent  in  earnest  study  at  Lookout 
Mountain  he  came  to  Savannah,  and  for  over  six  years  was  occupied  as 
clerk  in  the  grocery  business,  and  having,  by  a  life  of  frugality,  husbanded 
his  means,  he  went  into  business  for  himself,  being  associated  in  the  firm 
of  Lester  &  Harmon,  grocersj  at  No.  31  Whitaker  street.  In  1876  he 
disposed  of  his  interest,  and  established  a  grocery  of  his  own,  which  he 
now  conducts. 

With  a  shrewd  business  foresight  Mr.  Lester  saw  that  real  estate  in 
and  about  Savannah  would  soon  rapidly  appreciate  in  value,  and  in  1879 
he  began  to  buy  real  estate,  in  which  he  has  ever  since  been,  and  is  now 
largely  interested.  He  was  one  of  the  original  twenty-five  who  built  the 
Belt  Line  Street  Railroad,  the  longest  and  best  equipped  line  of  street 
railroad  in  the  South,  all  of  its  street  cars  being  of  the  celebrated  pattern 
of  the  Broadway  cars  of  New  York.  He  is  connected  with  various  com- 
mercial, industrial,  and  railroad  enterprises,  to  all  of  which  he  has  been 
a  liberal  subscriber,  and  in  many  of  which  he  is  a  director.  He  was  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  Merchants'  and  Mechanics'  Loan  Association,  and 
served  as  director  for  a  long  while.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Home  Build- 
ing Company,  and  president  of  the  Savannah  Plumbing  Company,  in 
which  he  was  one  of  the  moving  spirits. 

Mr.  Lester  is  one  of  the  most  genial  and  pleasant  gentlemen,  and 
always  easy  of  access  to  the  most  humble,  no  matter  how  pressing  the 
demand  which  his  varied  interests  make  upon  his  time.  He  married  Miss 
Margaret  I.  Russell,  daughter  of  the  late  Judge  Levi  S.  Russell,  from 
which  union  there  were  two  children,  a  son  and  daughter ;  the  latter,  an 
interesting  child,  died  quite  recently.  Mr.  Lester  resides  in  an  elegant 
mansion  on  one  of  the  principal  residence  streets  of  the  city,  fronting 
Park  Extension,  and  all  the  surroundings  show  the  cultured  and  refined 
taste  of  himself  and  his  estimable  wife. 


6i2  History  of  Savannah. 

MELDRIM,  Hon.  PETER  W.  Hon.  Peter  W.  Meldrim,  the  son  of 
Ralph  and  Jane  Meldrim  was  born  in-Savannah,  December  4,  1848. 
His  education  was  acquired  at  the  Chatham  Academy,  under  a  private 
tutor  and  at  the  State  University.  He  graduated  from  the  academic  de- 
partment in  1868,  and  from  the  law  department  in  1869.  Returning 
home  he  began  the  practice  of  law,  and  in  his  profession  he  went  steadily 
and  rapidly  to  the  front.  While  at  the  University  he  gained  a  reputation 
as  a  close  student  and  a  promising  orator.  In  the  wider  fields  of  his 
profession  he  continually  added  to  his  laurels  as  an  eloquent  speaker,  and 
for  a  decade  and  a  half  has  shared  honors  on  many  public  occasions  with 
Savannah's  oldest  and  best  orators. 

Two  days  before  the  state  election  in  1881,  Mr.  Meldrim  was  nomi- 
nated for  the  Senate  from  this  district  and  he  was  elected.  A  writer  in 
summing  up  Mr.  Meldrim's  senate  career  says  that  it  "  was  active,  high- 
toned  and  brilliant.  He  was  ever  ready  to  give  his  vote  and  his  voice 
to  those  measures  of  policy,  or  to  the  statutes  which  seemed  to  him 
essential  to  individual  and  public  welfare.  In  all  his  acts  he  reflected  the 
liberality  and  intelligence  of  his  constituents,  and  for  this  was  beloved 
and  admired  by  all  who  witnessed  his  course.  His  efforts  in  debate 
sustained  his  reputation  as  an  orator.  As  chairman  of  the  committee 
of  military  affairs,  he  was  indefatigable  in  his  labors  in  behalf  of  the  per- 
fect organization,  equipment  and  discipline  of  the  volunteer  troops  of 
the  State.  His  speeches  on  this  subject  before  the  committees  and  in 
the  Senate  were  models  of  eloquence  and  logic.  Then  when  the  bill  to 
make  tuition  forever  free  at  the  State  University  was  put  upon  its  pas- 
sage and  the  measure  was  violently  opposed,  he  came  to  the  rescue  fear- 
lessly and  grandly,  aiding  materially  in  bringing  about  the  happy  result 
of  its  triumphant  passage.  His  constituents  and  the  people  of  Georgia 
have  reason  to  be  proud  of  his  talents  and  character.'' 

For  several  years  Mr.  Meldrim  has  been  associated  with  Col.  William 
Garrard  in  the  practice  of  law.  These  gentlemen  have  long  had  the 
reputation  of  enjoying  a  large  practice,  larger  than  any  other  firm  in  Sa- 
vannah. Mr.  Meldrim  is  the  court-house  lawyer  of  the  firm  and  unlike 
many  attorneys  he  is  as  successful  in  criminal  cases  as  in  civil  suits. 

He  is  widely  read,  not  only  in  law  but  in  literature,  and  even  his 
speeches  to  judges  and  juries  often  glitter  with  allusions  or  pictures  which 


Biographical.  613 


relieve  the  tedium  of  sheep-bound  authorities,  he  always  goes  into  court 
thoroughly  prepared,  knowing  not  only  his  own  case  but  that  of  the 
other  side.  In  many  of  the  Georgia  decisions  where  Mr.  Meldrim's 
cases  appear,  there  are  high  compliments  from  the  Supreme  Bench. 

In  all  things  appertaining  to  Irish  affairs,  Mr.  Meldrim  takes  a  deep 
interest.  He  has  been  president  of  the  Hibernian  society  for  years  and 
that  organization  excels  in  every  respect  any  similar  association  in  this  or 
neighboring  States.  Every  year  the  honorable  society  is  extending  its 
reputation,  and  the  lustre  of  its  name  is  spreading  farther  and  farther  by 
reason  of  its  President's  efforts.  It  is  Mr.  Meldrim's  ambition  to  give  his 
society  a  national  reputation  and  no  one  who  knows  him  well  doubts  that 
he  will  succeed.  Once  a  year  he  brings  about  its  board  the  brightest  schol- 
ars, the  most  learned  lawyers  and  the  ablest  men  in  various  professions. 

In  the  erection  of  the  monument  to  Sergt.  Jasper  in  Madison  Square 
Mr.  Meldrim  has  no  small  share  of  the  credit.  The  Jasper  Monument 
Association  had  no  more  earnest  and  tireless  worker  than  he. 

Every  political  canvass  brings  Mr.  Meldrim  to  the  front.  Candidates 
need  his  aid  and  influence  which  is  far-reaching,  being  a  good  planner 
and  organizer  his  friends  invariably  get  him  interested.  He  is  too  busy 
with  pressing  professional  business  to  aspire  to  office  himself,  but  every 
two  years  he  is  urged  to  become  a  candidate  for  Congress.  The  volun- 
teer military  interests  him  too,  and  he  is  the  Major  of  the  First  Volunteer 
Regiment  of  Georgia  Cavalry  to  which  position  he  was  promoted  from 
lieutenancy  in  the  Georgia  Hussars. 

Mr.  Meldrim  is  a  delightful  speaker,  whether  at  the  Bar  or  in  response 
to  a  toast  on  some  formal  occasion.  As  a  ready  debater  he  is  the  equal 
of  the  best.    His  sarcasm  is  a  weapon  which  opponents  dread. 

Mr.  Meldrim  is  known  from  one  end  of  Georgia  to  the  other.  The 
cause  of  State  aid  to  education  has  no  warmer  friend,  and  his  influence 
and  his  zeal  in  this  direction  were  recognized  by  a  place  on  the  State 
University's  Board  of  Trustees. 


DUNCAN,  WILLIAM,  M.D.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in 
Savannah,  Ga.,  January  1,  1840,  and  is  of  Scotch  and  Irish  parent- 
age. His  elementary  studies  began  in  the  Chatham  Academy,  Savan- 
nah, Ga.,  one  of  the  oldest  institutions  of  learning  in  this  country,  fol- 


6i4  History  of  Savannah. 

lowed  by  a  course  of  studies  at  the  Springfield  Academy  in  Effingham 
county,  Ga.  He  completed  his  academic  course  at  Oglethorpe  Univer- 
sity, near  Milledgville,  Ga.,  in  1857.  In  1858  he  commenced  the  study 
of  medicine  under  the  late  Dr.  Richard  D.  Arnold,  matriculated  at  the 
Savannah  Medical  College  in  November  of  the  same  year  and  received 
his  diploma  from  that  institution  in  March,  1861.  Soon  after  receiving 
his  degree  in  medicine.  Dr.  Duncan  was  appointed  assistant  surgeon  in 
the  provisional  army  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  was  stationed  at 
Fort  Jackson  (now  Fort  Oglethorpe)  in  the  spring  of  1861  with  Captain 
Jacob  Read,  of  company  D,  First  Georgia  Regulars.  In  the  summer  and 
fall  of  1861  he  was  with  the  First  Georgia  Regulars  in  Virginia ;  in  1862 
he  was  assigned  to  the  Savannah  Medical  College  hospital  where  he 
served  until  the  spring  of  1863  when  he  was  assigned  to  duty  with  the 
Fourth  Alabama  Regiment,  Law's  Brigade,  Hood's  Division,  Long- 
street's  Corps  of  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia.  Later  in  the  spring  of 
1863  he  was  stationed  temporarily  at  Mississippi  Hospital  No.  2,  corner 
of  Seventh  and  Carey  streets,  Richmond,  Va.,  and  at  the  Army  Hospital 
at  Harrisonburg,  Va.,  while  convalescing  from  an  attack  of  smallpox 
covering  a  period  of  six  weeks,  rejoining  his  regiment  immediately  after 
the  Pennsylvania  campaign.  In  1864,  he  was  relieved  from  duty  in  the 
field,  and  assigned  to  duty  at  Howard's  Grove  Hospital,  Richmond,  Va., 
where  he  remained  until  the  fall  of  the  Confederate  capital  in  April,  1865, 
which  virtually  terminated  the  war.  After  the  war  Dr.  Duncan  spent 
one  year  abroad  in  the  prosecution  of  his  medical  studies  and  returned 
to  Savannah  in  the  summer  of  1866,  when  he  entered  upon  the  active 
practice  of  his  profession,  in  which  he  is  still  engaged. 

Dr.  Duncan  is  a  member  of  the  State  Medical  Association  of  Georgia 
nd  of  the  Georgia  Medical  Society  (local)  of  Savannah,  and  was  dean 
"  of  the  faculty  of  the  Savannah  Medical  College  until  the  suspension  of 
the  exercises  of  that  institution  several  years  since,  which  was  necessita- 
ted in  consequence  of  the  death  of  several  of  the  professors,  and  an  ina- 
bility to  fill  satisfactorily  the  vacancies  thus  occasioned. 

Dr.  Duncan  was  one  of  the  surgeons  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  Railroad, 
and  is  now  connected  in  the  same  capacity  with  the  Savannah,  Florida 
and  Western  Railway,  under  the  Plant  system;  Ije  held  the  position  of 
surgeon  of  the  cavalry  squadron  reorganized  soon  after  the  war  under  the 


Biographical.  615 


late  Colonel  E.  C.  Anderson,  jr.,  having  been  commissioned  by  the  gov- 
ernor of  Georgia  under  the  law  regulating  such  appointments.  He  is 
superintendent,  and  one  of  the  medical  staff,  of  the  Savannah  Hospital, 
which  positions  he  has  held  since  1867.  He  was  secretary  and  treasurer 
of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Georgia  Infirmary  for  colored  persons, 
from  the  year  of  its  organization  1870,  to  1887,  and  is  still  one  of  the 
members  of  the  board  of  trustees.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  board 
of  sanitary  commissioners  of  the  city  of  Savannah  from  the  period  of  its 
organization  until  two  years  since,  and  author  of  the  ordinance  of  the 
city  providing  for  the  organization  of  said  board  in  1877,  immediately 
after  the  epidemic  of  yellow  fever  in  1876. 

In  an  active  professional  life  Dr.  Duncan  has  not  manifested  any  am- 
bition for  preferment,  but  has  served  on  the  board  of  aldermen  during 
the  incumbency  of  Captain  J.  F.  Wheaton,  as  mayor,  and  during  two 
terms  of  the  incumbency  of  Hon.  Rufus  E.  Lester,  embracing  a  period 
of  ten  years. 

Dr.  Duncan  has  always  taken  an  interest  in  educational  affairs,  as  in 
other  matters  looking  to  the  advancement  and  progress  of  the  commun- 
ity in  which  he  resides;  he  is  a  member  of  the  board  of  education  of  the 
city  of  Savannah  and  county  of  Chatham,  also  a  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  Chatham  Academy,  is  past  master  of  Ancient  Landmark 
Lodge  No.  231,  F.  and  A.  M.,  Savannah,  Ga.,  member  of  Georgia  Chap- 
ter No.  3  Royal  Arch  Masons,  member  of  Georgia  Council  No.  2  Royal 
and  Select  Masons,  member  of  Palestine  Commandery  Knights  Templar 
No.  7,  and  sublime  prince  of  the  Royal  Secret,  thirty-second  degree  An- 
cient and  Accepted  Rite  of  Scottish  Masons. 


DORSETT,  CHARLES  HENRY,  was  born  in  Savannah,  Ga.,  No- 
vember 29,  1845,  ^"d  is  the  son  of  John  and  Sarah  R.  Dorsett.  The 
father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  master  ship  carpenter,  and  had 
charge  of  the  largest  ship  yards  in  Savannah.  He  died  in  1846,  and  his 
wife  survives  him. 

Mr.  Dorsett  was  educated  at  Chatham  Academy,  Savannah,  Ga.,  and 
immediately  after  leaving  the  academy  accepted  a  clerkship,  in  his  six- 
teenth year.  He  enlisted  as  a  member  of  Major  Shellman's  battalion  for 
the  defense  of  the  city  during  the  late  war  when  the  Federal  forces  were 


6i6  History  of  Savannah. 

investing  the  city.  Mr.  Dorsett  married  Miss  Josie  Gross,  a  daughter  ol 
Charles  Gross,  a  merchant  of  Savannah;  the  fruit  of  this  union  is  a  beau- 
tiful daughter  now  in  her  tenth  year. 

Although  Mr.  Dorsett  is  comparatively  a  young  man,  his  life  has  been 
one  of  great  activity,  energy  and  industry.  Entering,  as  we  have  seen, 
commercial  life  before  he  had  attained  his  seventeenth  year,  he  has  from 
a  small  clerkship  risen  to  his  present  commanding  position  in  the  com- 
mercial and  monetary  circles  of  Savannah.  To  attempt  to  follow  him 
from  the  humble  position  he  occupied  when  a  boy  in  the  counting-room 
up  to  his  present  position  as  a  wealthy  land-owner  and  financier,  would 
require  greater  space  than  has  been  assigned  the  writer  of  this  sketch. 
During  his  earlier  years  he  was  employed  as  a  book-keeper  for  leading 
grocery,  banking  and  cotton  houses.  He  was  for  ten  years  cashier  of 
the  late  A.  S.  Hartridge,  one  of  the  prominent  cotton  factors  of  his  day, 
managing  Mr.  Hartridge's  business  for  the  ten  years  preceding  his  death. 
In  December,  1876,  Mr.  Dorsett  embarked  in  business  for  himself,  estab- 
lishing the  firm  of  Dorsett  &  Kennedy,  auctioneers  and  real  estate  dealers. 

The  business  proved  to  be  a  lucrative  one  from  the  start.  The  partner- 
ship was  dissolved  in  1879,  since  which  time  Mr.  Dorsett  has  conducted, 
and  still  conducts  the  business  on  his  own  account.  He  has  disposed  of 
most  of  the  city  and  suburban  property  sold  in  and  about  the  city  for  the 
last  ten  years,  and  his  counsel  is  daily  sought  by  those  seeking  invest- 
ments, as  his  judgment  is  unerring  in  matters  pertaining  to  real  estate. 
He  has  an  extensive  real  estate  interest  of  his  own,  owning  as  he  does  a 
great  deal  of  city  and  suburban  property,  and  a  summer  residence  at  the 
Isle  of  Hope.  He  organized  the  Savannah  Real  Estate  Company,  which 
marked  the  period  of  the  first  activity  here  in  real  estate  transactions,  and 
which  proved  to  be  a  most  profitable  investment  for  those  who  were  con- 
nected with  the  company.  Mr.  Dorsett  also  organized  the  Savannah  In- 
vestment Company,  which  built  the  Belt  Line  Railway,  which  company 
not  only  has  one  of  the  best  roads  of  the  kind  in  the  South,  but  owns 
nearly  five  hundred  lots  in  the  extended  city  limits,  now  rapidly  building 
up.  Mr.  Dorsett  is  a  director  in  and  treasurer  of  both  companies;  he  is 
vice-president  and  director  of  the  Chatham  Real  Estate  and  Improvement 
Company  which  he  organized;  he  was  also  active  in  the  organization  of 
the  Citizens'  Loan  Association,  which  has  since  been  succeeded  by  the  Cit- 


Biographical.  617 


izens'  Bank,  and  of  which  Mr.  Dorsett  is  vice-president  and  a  director.  He 
is  a  charter  member  and  director  of  the  Title  Guarantee  Company,  and 
Dime  Savings  Bank,  and  he  has  extensive  interests  in  all  the  principal  real 
estate  and  financial  agencies  in  the  city.  His  superior  judgment  in  mat- 
ters pertaining  to  finance  was  exemplified  in  the  purchase  of  the  Pritch- 
ard  plantation  for  the  county  while  a  member  of  the  board  of  county 
commissioners.  This  plantation  was  being  cultivated  in  rice  by  tide- wa- 
ter culture,  and  materially  interfered  with  the  proper  drainage  of  that 
section  of  the  county.  There  was  but  one  way  to  obviate  this,  and  that 
was  the  purchase  of  the  plantation  of  1,300  acres  by  the  county,  which 
Mr.  Dorsett  not  only  suggested,  but  strongly  advocated,  until  he  carried 
his  point,  Mr.  Dorsett  claiming  that  the  county  would  not  only  solve  the 
problem  of  drainage  in  that  section,  but  would  be  able  to  thus  provide  the 
county  with  an  extensive  tract  of  land  for  the  poor  farm,  and  at  the  same 
time  could  dispose  of  enough  land  to  pay  for  the  original  cost  of  the  en- 
tire tract  By  subsequent  appreciation  of  the  lands  in  that  portion  of  the 
county,  due  to  the  opening  of  new  roads  which  Mr.  Dorsett  advocated, 
the  county  will  be  able  to  sell  two- thirds  of  its  purchase  for  more  than 
the  entire  tract  cost,  and  will  still  have  left  350  acres  of  the  most  fertile 
agricultural  lands  in  the  county,  and  situated  only  five  miles  distant  from 
the  city. 

Mr.  Dorsett  was  appointed  one  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners 
by  Governor  Gordon,  and  at  once  took  rank  as  a  thorough,  energetic 
and  conscientious  public  servant.  It  was  by  his  earnest  endeavors  that 
the  Waters  road  was  opened  to  the  Montgomery  cross  road,  and  Estill  ave- 
nue from  the  White  Bluff  road  to  Waters  road.  These  highways  brought 
into  notice  large  areas  of  lands  which  had  before  been  almost  inaccessible. 
This  important  public  improvement  was  accomplished  without  cost  to 
the  county  other  than  the  labors  of  the  convict  force.  The  opening  of 
these  roads  demonstrated  the  value  of  such  improvements,  and  since  then 
the  public  sentiment  has  been  strongly  in  favor  of  better  highways  and 
more  of  them.  It  is  not  saying  too  much  to  assert  that  through  Mr. 
Dorsett's  foresight  and  energy  the  value  of  land  in  Chatham  county  has 
largely  increased,  and  in  consequence  a  large  sum  has  been  added  to  the 
public  revenues.  If  Mr.  Dorsett  had  done  nothing  more  than  to  in- 
augurate a  system  of  roads  from  which  the  people  and  the  county  are 

78 


6i8  History  of  Savannah. 

daily  receiving  benefit,  his  name  should  stand  high  on  the  roll  of  public 
benefactors.  He  is  better  known  and  his  worth  appreciated  more  to-day 
than  when  he  was  a  commissioner,  and  it  can  therefore  be  well  understood 
that  the  clear-headed  business  man  that  he  is  known  to  be,  rendered  val- 
uable service  to  the  public  in  his  official  capacity.  In  the  reappointment 
of  county  commissioners  in  1888  Mr.  Dorsett  declined  to  permit  his 
name  to  be  presented.  The  large  and  costly  jail  and  jailer's  residence  was 
built  while  Mr.  Dorsett  was  on  the  board,  and  the  court-house  completed 
in  the  summer  of  1890  was  determined  upon  while  he  was  a  member. 

Mr.  Dorsett  has  been  a  liberal  subscriber  to  almost  every  enterprise 
which  has  been  started  in  this  city  for  the  past  ten  years,  and  this  includes 
subscriptions  to  real  estate,  financial,  railroad,  hotel  and  other  industrial 
and  public-spirited  enterprises,  calculated  to  further  the  progress  of  the 
city,  and  in  most  of  these  enterprises  he  has  taken  a  leading  part  to  in- 
terest others  in  this  direction. 

He  is  a  member  of  Wesley  Monumental  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  chairman  of  its  board  of  trustees,  and  was  chairman  of  the  board  of 
stewards,  and  superintendent  of  its  sunday-school  for  many  years.  He 
is  a  member  of  Landrum  Lodge,  Master  Masons.  Mr.  Dorsett  ranks  very 
high  in  the  society  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  has  held  all  the  positions  in  the 
order  in  the  State  of  Georgia  but  that  of  grand  master.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  De  Kalb  Lodge  No.  9, 1.  O.  O.  F.  with  which  he  has  been  connected 
for  over  twenty-one  years  ;  he  has  held  all  the  offices  up  to  that  of  grand 
representative.  He  is  now  serving  his  sixth  year  as  one  of  the  three  rep- 
resentatives of  the  State  of  Georgia  to  the  Sovereign  Grand  Lodge  of  the 
world.  He  is  lieutenant-colonel  on  the  staff  of  General  John  C.  Under- 
wood, grand  sire  and  generalissimo  of  the  order  of  Independent  Odd  Fel- 
lows throughout  the  world. 

LOVELL,  EDWARD,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  Med- 
way,  Mass.,  March  4,  18 16.  He  located  in  Savannah  in  1835  and 
two  years  later  opened  a  gun  store,  and  in  1840  he  added  to  his  already 
increasing  business  a  line  of  hardware.  In  1857  he  established  the  firm 
of  Lovell  &  Lattimore,  admitting  his  brother,  Nathaniel  Lovell,  and  Will- 
iam Lattimore  into  partnership;  in  1868  he  retired  from  the  firm  and 
formed  a  co-partnership  with  his  son,  Edward  F.  Lovell,  and  William  C. 


BlOGRArHlCAL.  619 

Crawford  under  the  firm  name  of  Crawford  &  Lovell,  which  partnership 
was  terminated  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Crawford  in  1884.  After  the  death 
of  Mr.  Crawford,  Mr.  Lovell  admitted  his  son,  Robert  P.  Lovell,  into  the 
firm  of  Edward  Lovell  &  Sons,  under  which  name  a  very  large  and  ex- 
tensive business  was  conducted  until  the  death  of  the  senior  member, 
which  occurred  August  25,  1888.  After  a  continued  illness  during  the 
winter  and  spring  of  1888,  he  was  taken  north  in  the  hope  that  a  change 
of  air  and  scenery  would  restore  his  health,  but  the  best  medical  skill  was 
unavailing,  and  he  died  at  Ballston  Spa.,  N.  Y.  The  sons  Edward  F. 
and  Robert  P.  Lovell  still  continue  the  business  under  the  firm  name  of 
Edward  Lovell's  Sons,  which  is  one  of  the  largest  hardware  houses  in  the 
South. 

The  deceased  was  a  man  of  great  industry,  of  the  most  charitable  im- 
pulses, and  a  public-spirited  citizen,  ready  at  all  times  to  forward  and 
fpster  every  commercial  and  manufacturing  enterprise  calculated  to  ad- 
vance the  interest  and  prosperity  of  the  city  in  which  he  was  an  honored 
citizen  for  over  half  a  century,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  left  a  large 
estate,  the  result  of  a  long  life  of  industry  and  business  integrity. 

Edward  Lovell  was  married  May  4,  1845,  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Bates,  of 
Boston,  Mass.,  who  survives  him  as  do  their  four  children ;  Edward  P., 
Ellen  M.,  Grace  B.,  and  Robert  P. 

Mr.  Lovell  was  a  man  who  had  little  ambition  for  political  preferment 
but  one  whose  domestic  ties  and  commercial  life  kept  him  out  of  the 
arena  of  politics,  although  frequently  solicited  to  enter  the  public  ser- 
vice. He  served  on  the  aldermanic  board  of  Savannah  for  six  years 
rom  considerations  of  public  duty  and  was  one  of  its  most  efficient  and 
conservative  members.  He  was  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Gulf  Railroad ;  president  for  many  years  of  the  Savannah  and  Ogeechee 
Canal  Company  ;  president  of  the  Savannah  Brick  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  vice-president  of  the  Oglethorpe 
Savings  and  Trust  Company.  No  higher  recommendation  was  required 
to  lend  confidence  to  an  enterprise  than  to  know  that  Mr.  Lovell  was 
connected  with  it  in  some  capacity,  as  his  well-known  integrity  and  fidel- 
ity and  careful  methods  of  doing  business  were  well  known  in  this  com- 
munity. 

During  the  war  Mr.  Lovell  was  in  the  detached  service  and  assisted 


620  History  of  Savannah. 

in  the  plans  and  construction  of  the  artillery  defenses  for  the  defense  of 
the  city.  He  served  his  time  as  an  active  member  in  the  Chatham  Ar- 
tillery, the  oldest  artillery  company  in  the  country,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  was  an  honorary  member.  The  deceased  was  a  member  of  Live 
Oak  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F. 

OLMSTEAD,  COLONEL  CHARLES  H.,  was  born  in  Savannah,  Ga., 
in  1837,  and  is  the  son  of  Jonathan  and  Eliza  (Hart)  Olmstead.  His 
father,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  and  of  English  descent,  early  in  life  re- 
moved to  Savannah,  where  he  was  married  and  for  many  years  engaged 
in  the  banking  business. 

Young  Olmstead  was  educated  at  the  Georgia  Military  Institute,  grad- 
uating in  the  class  of  1856,  being  at  the  time  adjutant  of  the  corps  of  ca- 
dets. After  leaving  school  he  commenced  a  business  career  as  clerk  in 
the  mercantile  house  of  Brigham,  Kelly  &  Co.,  of  Savannah,  but  his  pro- 
gress in  commercial  life  was  soon  arrested  by  the  war  between  the  States. 
For  some  time  before  actual  hostilities  commenced,  many  foreseeing  the 
drift  of  affairs,  were  convinced  that  the  questions  involved  could  not  be 
settled  except  by  an  appeal  to  arms.  The  greatest  interest  was  revived 
in  military  organizations  all  over  the  South,  and  especially  in  Savannah ; 
old  companies  were  strengthened,  new  ones  were  formed,  and  every  prep- 
jiration  was  made  for  the  impending  conflict.  In  these  preparations  young 
Olmstead  took  an  enthusiastic  part  as  a  member  of  the  first  volunteer  reg- 
iment of  Georgia.  In  i860  he  was  appointed  adjutant  of  the  regiment  by 
Colonel  A.  R.  Lawton  (afterward  general  and  quartermaster-general  in 
the  Confederate  States  Army,  and  late  United  States  Minister  to  Vienna), 
and  in  that  capacity  served  at  Fort  Pulaski  when  it  was  seized  by  order 
of  Governor  Brown  on  the  3rd  of  January,  1861. 

In  the  spring  of  1861  the  First  Regiment  was  reorganized  and  mus- 
tered into  the  Confederate  service.  Soon  after  Colonel  Lawton  was  pro- 
moted to  a  brigadier- generalship,  and  Hugh  W.  Mercer  was  elected  col- 
onel of  the  regiment ;  W.  S.  Rockwell,  lieutenant- colonel,  and  Charles  H. 
Olmstead,  major.  During  the  following  summer  the  regiment  was  scat- 
tered to  various  points  along  the  Georgia  coast,  being  stationed  at  Forts 
Pulaski  and  Jackson  and  other  points  on  the  Savannah  River,  Tybee  Isl- 
and, Causton  Bluff,  Thunderbolt,  Green  Island  and  St.  Catharine  Island. 


Biographical.  621 


In  December,  1861,  Colonel  Mercer  was  promoted  to  a  brigadier- 
generalship,  and  Major  Olmstead  was  elected  colonel  of  the  regiment. 
At  this  time  with  the  resources  at  command  it  was  deemed  impracticable 
to  defend  all  of  the  outlying  islands  of  the  Georgia  coast.  Tybee  Island 
was  evacuated  and  Fort  Pulaski  garrisoned  by  the  First  Regiment  under 
Colonel  Olmstead  became  the  outwork  of  the  line  of  defense.  In  Janu- 
ary following  the  Federals  seized  Tybee  Island  and  commenced  the  erec- 
tion of  batteries  with  the  intention  of  besieging  the  fort.  A  few  weeks 
thereafter  the  enemy  succeeded  in  passing  their  vessels  through  Wall's 
Cut  and  entered  the  Savannah  River  above  the  fort,  thus  cutting  it  oft 
from  all  communication  with  Savannah.  Thus  isolated  without  hope  of 
assistance  from  any  quarter,  the  little  garrison  with  its  400  men  on  the 
loth  of  April  was  confronted . with  eleven  land  batteries  mounted  by 
thirty- six  well  protected  heavy  guns.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  loth 
(Greneral  Gilmore,  commanding  the  besieging  force,  sent,  under  a  flag  of 
truce,  an  order  "  for  the  immediate  surrender  and  restoration  of  Fort  Pu- 
laski to  the  authority  and  possession  of  the  United  States,"  to  which  Col- 
onel Olmstead  commandant  of  the  fort,  after  acknowledging  the  receipt 
of  the  order,  heroically  and  laconically  replied:  "I  am  here  to  defend  the 
fort,  not  to  surrender  it."  A  few  minutes  after  the  return  of  the  flag  of 
truce  the  bombardment  of  the  fort  commenced,  and  was  continued  all 
day  with  great  danger  to  the  fort.  The  firing  was  resumed  on  the  follow- 
ing morning,  and  at  midday  all  the  guns  of  the  fort  bearing  upon  Tybee 
except  two  were  disabled.  It  was  seen  that  further  resistance  was  use- 
less, and  under  the  circumstances  Colonel  Olmstead  believing  the  lives  of 
his  command  to  be  his  next  care,  gave  the  necessary  order  for  a  surren- 
der. Colonel  Olmstead  and  the  other  ofificers  of  the  garrison  were  taken 
as  prisoners  of  war  to  Governor's  Island,  New  York  harbor,  and  finally  to 
Johnson's  Island,  near  Sandusky,  O.,  where  they  remained  until  their  ex- 
change was  effected  in  September,  1862. 

At  the  reorganization  of  the  First  Regiment  in  October,  1862,  Col- 
onel Olmstead  was  again  placed  in  command.  For  many  months  it  con- 
tinued to  do  service  at  various  points  along  the  coast,  being  stationed  at 
battery  Wagner,  James  Island,  and  Charleston  Harbor. 

In  the  spring  of  1864  the  scattered  companies  of  Colonel  Olmstead's 
command  were  brought  together  and  joined  General  Joseph  S.  Johnston's 


622  History  op  Savannah. 

army  in  Northern  Georgia,  being  assigned  to  General  Mercer's  brigade, 
in  Walker's  division,  Hardee's  corps.  From  that  time  until  the  close  of 
the  war  the  First  bore  an  honorable  part  in  the  history  of  the  army,  suf- 
fering its  first  severe  loss  in  the  battle  of  Kenesaw  Mountain. 

The  summer  of  1864  was  a  period  of  almost  constant  fighting,  and  at 
Smyrna  Church,  Peachtree  Creek  and  the  battles  around  Atlanta,  the 
First  did  heroic  service.  Colonel  Olmstead  was  wounded  on  July  22, 
1864,  on  the  same  day  that  General  Walker  was  killed.  After  the  death 
of  General  Walker,  General  Mercer's  brigade  was  assigned  to  the  divis- 
ion of  General  Pat.  Cleburne,  at  the  same  time  General  Mercer  being  as- 
signed to  duty  elsewhere,  the  command  of  the  brigade  fell  upon  Colonel 
Olmstead  as  senior  colonel,  and  he  continued  in  command  until  the  fall 
of  Atlanta.  General  J.  Argyle  Smith  was  then  placed  in  command  of  the 
brigade. 

At  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Nashville  Colonel  Olmstead  was  on  de- 
tached service  with  the  brigade  under  General  N.  B.  Forest,  who  was 
then  operating  against  Murfreesboro.  At  this  time  General  Smith  had 
succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  division,  and  from  this  time  until  the 
close  of  the  war  the  command  of  the  brigade  fell  to  Colonel  Olmstead. 
After  the  defeat  of  Hood  at  Nashville  the  force  under  General  Forrest 
made  a  forced  march  to  rejoin  Hood,  reaching  his  army  at  Columbia, 
Tenn.,  from  which  point  Smith's  brigade  formed  a  part  of  the  rear  guard 
o'f  General  Hood's  retreating  army  to  the  Tennessee  River. 

After  a  short  rest  the  army  was  called  to  the  east  and  Smith's  brig- 
ade once  more  came  under  its  old  leader  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  at 
Smithville,  N.  C,  what  was  left  of  Colonel  Olmstead's  old  command,  the 
First  Volunteer  Regimeut  of  Georgia,  was  consolidated  with  the  Fifty- 
seventh  and  Sixty-third  Regiment  under  the  name  of  the  First  Regiment, 
and  placed  under  Colonel  Olmstead's  command.  A  short  time  there- 
after it  surrendered  with  General  Johnston's  army  at  Greensboro,  N.  C. 

After  the  war  Colonel  Olmstead  returned  to  Savannah  and  became  a 
partner  in  the  shipping  and  commission  house  of  Brigham,  Hoist  &  Co. 
In  1873  he  was  made  treasurer  of  the  Citizens  Mutual  Loan  Company, 
and  in  1883  with  Henry  Hull  and  Francis  S.  Lathrop,  under  the  firm 
name  of  C.  H.  Olmstead  &  Co.,  succeeded  to  the  business  of  Henry  Hull 
&  Co.,  private  bankers,  a  business  in  which  he  is  still  engaged. 


Biographical.  623 


Colonel  Olmstead  is  an  active  member  and  has  taken  a  deep  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society,  of  which  he  is  now  sec- 
ond vice-president  and  for  several  years  has  been  curator.  He  is  also 
vice-president  of  the  Georgia  Infirmary.  He  is  a  member  of  and  for  the 
last  twenty  years  has  been  an  elder  of  the  Independent  Presbyterian 
Church. 

Colonel  Olmstead's  career  viewed  from  all  sides  has  been  an  eminently 
honorable  one,  such  as  befits  the  well-rounded,  symmetrical  character  of 
the  man.  He  has  been  content  to  go  modestly  along  doing  his  duty  as 
he  understood  it  without  fear  or  favor.  As  a  military  leader  he  was  faith- 
ful to  every  trust,  never  shirked  a  responsibility,  and  discharged  every 
duty  laid  upon  him  with  high  credit  to  himself  and  the  cause  he  es- 
poused. He  is  quiet  and  retiring  in  disposition,  and  one  to  whom  public- 
ity in  any  form  is  distasteful.  He  is  literar)?  in  his  taste,  is  a  great  reader, 
and  a  graceful  writer.  His  pen  has  done  much  to  preserve  the  military 
history  of  Savannah  soldiers  during  the  war.  One  of  his  recent  articles 
"  Savannah  in  War  Time,"  published  in  Historic  and  Picturesq^ie  Savan- 
nah is  a  striking  example  of  his  concise  and  powerful  grouping  of  facts, 
combined  with  smoothness  and  elegance  of  diction.  He  is  public  spir- 
ited and  progressive  in  his  ideas,  and  warmly  espouses  every  project 
which  promises  to  advance  the  material  interest  of  Savannah.  He  is 
genial  and  social  in  nature,  and  is  evei'  ready  to  aid  with  his  time  and  his 
labor,  his  presence  and  his  counsel  whatever  tends  to  social,  moral  or  iur 
tellectual  advancement.  As  a  business  man  his  course  has  ever  been 
marked  with  the  strictest  integrity,  and  no  one  holds  more  securely  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  Savannah's  commercial  community. 

Colonel  Olmstead  was  married  in  1859  to  Miss  Florence  L.  Williams, 
daughter  of  Peter  J.  Williams,  of  Milledgeville,  Ga.  They  have  three 
daughters. 

SCREVEN,  JOHN.      A  history  of  Savannah  would  be  lacking  in  com- 
pleteness, if  the  life  and  character  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  were 
not  included.      He  comes  from  a  patriotic  parentage  on  both  sides  of  the 
family  tree  : — The  Screvens  and  Bryans,  of  whom  he  is  a  lineal  descen- 
dant, having  been  conspicuous  during  the  war  for  American  Independence. 
Colonel  John   Screven  was  born   in   Savannah,  September  18,  1827, 


624  History  of  Savannah. 

and  is  the  eldest  son  of  Doctor  James  Proctor  Screven  and  Hannah 
Georgia  Bryan.  His  first  American  ancestor,  the  Rev.  William  Screven 
emigrated  from  England  in  1640,  settling  at  Kittery,  Maine,  but  the  re- 
ligious persecutions,  which  marred  the  history  of  that  day,  led  him  to 
come  South,  where  he  founded  the  first  Baptist  church  in  South  Carolina. 
Colonel  Screven  is  also  a  lineal  descendant  of  Thomas  Smith,  one  of  the 
landgraves  and  governor  of  the  province  of  South  Carolina.  Collaterally 
he  is  a  descendant  of  General  James  Screven,  for  whom  Screven  count}', 
in  Georgia,  is  named. 

On  the  mother's  side,  Colonel  Screven  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  Jona- 
than Bryan,  who  figured  conspicuously  in  the  early  settlement  of  Savan- 
nah and  the  Georgia  colony,  and  being  one  of  the  fathers  and  principal 
founders  of  the  colony,  Bryan  county  was  named  in  his  honor  and  to 
perpetuate  his  memory.  .Although  an  associate  justice  of  the  general 
court  of  the  province  of  Georgia,  and  a  member  of  the  Royal  Governor's 
Council,  Jonathan  Bryan  resigned  those  places  of  honor  to  range  himself 
with  the  patriots,  with  whom  he  took  an  active  and  distinguished  part. 
He  was  for  a  time  acting  governor  of  Georgia.  When  Savannah  was 
surrendered  to  the  British  in  1778,  Mr.  Bryan  was  made  a  prisoner,  and 
although  in  advanced  age,  long  and  cruel  imprisonment  was  the  penalty 
paid  for  his  patriotic  course. 

The  father  of  Colonel  Screven  was  one  of  the  most  successful  physi- 
cians of  his  day.  He  was  a  man  of  distinguished  character  and  attain- 
ments, and  had  a  firm  hold  upon  the  affections  of  the  people.  He  held 
many  positions  of  public  trust  and  honor,  in  which  his  services  were 
marked  by  fidelity  and  integrity,  characteristics  inherited  by  the  sons. 
Doctor  Screven  was  mayor  of  Savannah,  was  a  State  senator,  and  the 
founder  and  first  president  of  the  Atlantic  &  Gulf  Railway.  He  died  in 
July,  1859,  in  his  60th  year.  His  wife  survived  him  until  March,  1887, 
when  she  fell  asleep  in  her  80th  year.  They  were  the  parents  of  Colonel 
John  Screven,  Captain  Thomas  Forman  Screven,  George  Proctor  Screven, 
and  Mrs.  Sarah  Ada  Henderson.  George  Proctor  Screven,  the  youngest 
son,  is  deceased,  but  his  wife  and  children  survive  him  and  reside  in 
Savannah. 

There  are  many  events  in  the  life  of  Colonel  John  Screven  which  are 
remarkable  coincidents,  taken  in  connection  with  a  review  of  his  father's 


Biographical.  625 


life.  In  fact,  the  son  seems  to  have  followed  closely  in  the  honored  path 
which  his  father  trod,  being  like  the  father  courteous  and  obliging  and 
with  his  stern  virtues  and  intellectual  endowments,  has  filled  nearly  every 
position  of  honor  and  trust  held  by  the  father. 

John  Screven  commenced  his  studies  in  Savannah.  At  Edgehill 
School,  Princeton,  N.  J.,  he  was  taught,  1839-1841,  by  the  Rev.  John 
S.  Hart,  LL.  D.,  an  eminent  teacher  of  literature  and  rhetoric,  an  author 
of  several  text-books  in  that  department,  and  finally  professor  of  rhetoric 
and  English  in  Princeton  College.  The  last  school  Colonel  Screven  at- 
tended was  that  of  Antoine  Bolmar,  at  Westchester,  Pa.  Bolmar  had 
been  a  captain  of  cavalry  in  the  army  of  Napoleon  the  First,  and  was  a 
survivor  of  the  famous  Russian  expedition.  His  school  was  a  model  of 
discipline  and  careful  tuition,  and  he  was  himself  the  editor  of  a  number 
of  standard  text-books  for  teaching  the  French  language. 

From  Bolmar's  school.  Colonel  Screven  entered  Franklin  College, 
Athens,  Ga.,  but  leaving  before  he  had  completed  his  course,  he  finished 
his  collegiate  studies  at  home  under  private  instruction.  While  at  Frank- 
lin College  he  divided  the  first  honor,  gold  medal,  awarded  for  declam- 
ation, to  Sophomore  speakers.  This  was  the  first  medal  of  the  kind  ever 
given  in  the  college. 

Colonel  Screven  then  turned  to  the  study  of  law,  under  the  tuition  of 
the  late  Judge  William  Law.  After  remaining  with  him  about  one  year,  he 
was  sent  to  Europe,  February,  1848,  to  extend  his  professional  studies 
in  a  broader  field.  Under  the  advice  of  Hon.  George  Bancroft,  then 
United  States  Minister  at  London,  a  personal  friend  of  his  father,  he  was 
sent  to  Heidelberg  with  letters  to  Schlosser  and  other  eminent  professors 
in  the  university,  from  whom  he  received  much  kindness.  His  health 
giving  way  before  he  could  be  fairly  prepared  by  sufficient  knowledge  of 
the  German  language  to  become  a  matriculate  in  the  university,  he  was 
compelled  to  return  to  Savannah.  Here  his  law  studies  were  resumed,  and 
early  the  following  year  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  late  Judge 
William  B.  Fleming,  but  remained  in  the  practice  of  the  profession  a  few 
months  only.  Leaving  the  bar,  he  devoted  himself,  at  his  father's  wish, 
to  the  management  of  the  latter's  large  landed  estate. 

On  the  3rd  of  July,  1849,  he  married  Miss  Mary  White  Footman,  the 
youngest  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  Richard  Footman  of  Bryan  county. 


626  History  of  Savannah. 


To  this  marriage  eight  children  were  born,  of  whom  three  now  survive : 
Georgia  Bryan  Screven,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Woodbridge  Arnold,  and  Captain 
Thomas  Screven.    Mrs.  Screven  died  on  the  3rd  of  July,  1863. 

In  1852  Colonel  Screven  was  elected  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Inferior 
Court  of  Chatham  county.  This  court  had  concurrent  jurisdiction  in 
civil  matters  only,  with  the  superior  courts  of  the  State,  and  had  also 
charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  county.  He  remained  in  this  office  until  1866, 
when  the  court  was  abolished,  and  its  duties  as  to  county  affairs  trans- 
ferred to  commissioners.  In  1857,  upon  the  resignation  of  his  father 
from  the  same  office,  he  was  promoted  from  the  ranks  and  elected  cap- 
tain of  the  Savannah  Volunteer  Guards,  the  oldest  and  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  infantry  corps  of  the  State.  Retaining  his  command  when 
the  war  broke  out  between  the  States,  he  was  commissioned  major  of 
artillery  in  the  Confederate  States'  army,  and  assigned  to  the  command 
of  the  battalion  to  which  his  company  was  attached.  This  battalion 
was  afterward  designated  as  the  Eighteenth  Georgia  Battalion.  He 
served  with  it  on  the  outer  sea  defences  of  Savannah,  superintended  the 
erection  of  fortifications,  and  was  in  charge  of  the  obstructions  to  the 
water  approaches  of  the  Savannah  River  below  Fort  Oglethorpe. 

He  remained  in  strict  military  service  until  the  close  of  December, 
1862,  when  at  the  request  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Atlantic  & 
Gulf  Railroad  Company,  he  was  ordered  back  to  his  place  as  president 
of  the  company.  He  had  been  elected  to  this  office,  after  the  death  of 
his  father  in  1859,  and  had  been  granted  this  prolonged  leave  of  absence 
from  railroad  duty  in  consideration  of  his  being  under  military  obligation 
when  the  war  began.  While  he  was  in  actual  service  with  his  command, 
the  Atlantic  &  Gulf  Railroad  had  become  a  more  important  agent  in  the 
military  affairs  of  the  Confederacy.  The  increasing  transportation  of 
troops  and  supplies,  and  the  internal  affairs  of  the  company  itself,  imper- 
atively demanded  the  presence  and  direction  of  the  president  of  the  com- 
pany. Believing  that  he  could  so  best  serve  the  Confederate  cause,  he 
returned  to  his  railroad  duties  and  there  remained  during  the  war.  In 
1864,  however,  he  raised  for  local  defence,  from  railroad  and  government 
employees  within  the  city  of  Savannah,  a  battalion  of  five  companies  of 
which  he  was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel  commanding,  and  for  a  time 
was  intrusted  with  the  charge  of  the  inner  line  of  defences  of  Savannah. 


Biographical.  627 


Ordered  by  General  Hardee,  when  Savannah  was  closely  threatened  by 
General  Sherman,  he  moved  south  of  the  Altamaha  with  the  trains  and 
effects  of  the  Atlantic  &  Gulf  Railroad.  He  returned  to  Savannah  late 
in  May  or  in  June,  1865,  and  at  once  commenced  the  restoration  of  the 
railroad,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  the  enemy  from  Savannah  be- 
yond the  Altamaha. 

In  1859  he  was  elected  from  Chatham  county  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  served  during  two  ses- 
sions. It  was  this  legislature  which  called  the  secession  convention  of 
1 86 1.  His  colleagues -were  General  A.  R.  Lawton  in  the  Senate,  and 
the  Hon.  Julian  Hartridge  in  the  House. 

Continuing  in  the  presidency  of  the  Atlantic  &  Gulf  Railroad  Com- 
pany, he  retained  that  position  until  1880,  over  twenty  years,  when  this 
company  was  succeeded  by  the  Savannah,  Florida  &  Western  Railway 
Company. 

In  December,  1865,  he  married  Mrs.  Mary  Eleanor  Brown,  second 
daughter  of  Dr.  Hugh  O'Keeffe  Nesbitt,  and  a  niece  of  the  late  Hon. 
John  Macphers©n  Berrien.  The  two  children  of  this  marriage  are  Mrs. 
Lila  Screven  Atkinson,  wife  of  Samuel  Carter  Atkinson,  of  Brunswick, 
Ga.,  ajid  Martha  Berrien  Screven.  Mrs.  Screven  died  at  Savannah  June 
30,  1883,  in  her  39th  year. 

In  1859  he  was  elected  mayor  of  Savannah,  and  was  thrice  success- 
fully elected  to  that  office. 

In  1877  he  was  elected  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  convention  which 
formed  the  present  constitution  of  Georgia.  He  took  a  prominent  part 
in  resisting  that  clause  of  the  constitution  which,  he  believed  would  ex- 
tend unnecessary  and  unjust  powers  to  the  legislature  in  limiting  the 
vested  rights  and  privileges  of  the  railway  corporations  of  the  State. 

In  1880  he  was  elected  an  associate  arbitrator  of  the  Southern  Rail- 
way and  Steamship  Association,  and  still  continues  in  that  office. 

Early  after  the  war  he  was  elected  one  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
University  of  Georgia;  .and  when  under  the  act  of  1889  the  old  board 
was  dissolved,  he  was  appointed  for  the  long  term,  one  of  the  new  board 
from  the  first  congressional  district.  In  1883  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  commissioners  to  erect  the  new  capitol  of  the  State,  but  declined  the 
office.     He  has  held  various  other  offices ;  among  them  he  is  now  pres- 


62^  History  of  Savannah. 

dent  of  the  University  Club  of  Savannah,  is  one  of  the  trustees  of  Chat- 
ham Academy,  Fellow  of  the  Geographical  Society  of  New  York,  and 
first  vice-president  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society. 

No  citizen  of  Savannah  commands,  to  a  greater  degree,  the  respect 
and  esteem  of  those  who  know  him.  He  belongs  to  the  type  of  an  old- 
time  hospitable  southern  gentleman.  It  may  be  said  of  him  that  while 
not  a  man  of  brilliancy  or  dash,  he  is  a  man  of  great  intellectual  capacity, 
with  a  mind  well  poised,  and  while  some  men  might  for  the  time  attract 
a  greater  following,  none  would  retain  it  so  long  as  would  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  whose  deeper  reasoning,  pleasantly  modulated  voice,  and 
depth  of  sincerity  would  far  outweigh  the  short-lived  eloquence  of  an 
hour. 

Colonel  Screven  is  the  last  man  who  can  be  flattered  by  panegyrics. 
The  latent  mental  force  of  the  man  is  known  to  those  who  have  watched 
his  career  and  know  how  thoroughly  equipped  he  is  in  dealing  with 
questions  upon  which  he  is  called  upon  to  express  his  views. 

Colonel  Screven  is  a  man  of  high  literary  attainments,  and  has  one  of 
the  most  valuable  private  libraries  in  Savannah.  In  the  companionship 
of  his  books  many  hours  of  his  leisure  are  spent.  He  has  many  warm 
personal  friends.  Some  of  these  friendships  began  in  the  school-room 
and  have  deepened  with  the  eventful  years  of  Colonel  Screven's  life,  that 
most  crucial  test  of  a  man's  character ;  for  such  kindly  ties  are  riveted 
only  where  the  objects  are  deserving.  In  the  community  where  Colonel 
Screven  has  lived  for  more  than  half  a  century,  it  may  be  truthfully  said 
of  him  that  he  enjoys,  to  the  fullest  degree,  the  admiration  of  those  who 
know  him  intimately  and  well,  and  the  universal  respect  of  all.  His  af- 
fable manners,  the  valuable  services  rendered  his  native  state,  his  county, 
and  his  city,  with  courage,  wisdom  and  prudence,  and  often  when  the 
gravity  of  the  occasion  was  pronounced,  the  fidelity  and  integrity  which 
has  been  characteristic  of  his  public  services,  and  his  proverbial  honesty 
and  sincerity,  all  have  combined  to  fix  him  firmly  in  the  affections  of  his 
people  as  one  of  their  honored  landmarks  and  a  man  "  sans  peur  et  sans 
reproche." 


Biographical.  629 


YOUNG,  JOHN  REMER,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in 
Thomas  County,  Ga.,  April  7,  1856,  and  is  a  son  of  the  late  Remer 
Young,  who  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  successful  planters  in  Lowndes 
County,  to  which  county  he  removed  in  1859,  where  the  earlier  years  in 
the  life  of  John  R.  Young  were  spent.  From  estimable  and  cultured  pa- 
rents the  son  inherited  splendid  traits  of  character.  He  was  educated  at 
Valdosta  Institute,  and  at  the  University  of  Georgia.  After  completing 
his  education  he  spent  a  few  years  on  his  father's  plantation,  and  in  the 
management  of  the  plantation  of  J.  W.  Lathrop  &  Co.,  in  Lowndes  Coun- 
ty, after  which,  with  an  associate,  he  began  the  manufacture  of  naval 
stores,  a  business  venture,  which  proved  to  be  successful,  but  which  he 
disposed  of  to  accept  a  position  with  the  large  naval-stores  house  of  Pea- 
cock, Hunt  &  Co.,  in  1888.  After  two  years  with  this  firm,  Messrs.  Ellis 
and  Holt,  the  junior  partners,  withdrew  from  the  company,  and  formed  a 
copartnership  under  the  firm  name  of  Ellis,  Holt  &  Co.,  and  offered  Mr. 
Young  an  interest  in  the  business,  which  he  accepted.  Subsequent  to  the 
death  of  Mr.  Holt,  Mr.  C.  B.  Parker  was  admitted,  and  the  firm  became 
Ellis,  Young  &  Co.,  under  which  it  has  built  up,  and  now  conducts  one 
of  the  largest  trades  in  turpentine  and  rosin  in  the  world.  That  the 
present  high  standing  and  immense  naval-stores  trade  of  the  firm  of  Ellis, 
Young  &  Co.,  is  largely  due  to  the  energy  and  business  foresight  of  Mr. 
Young,  cannot  be  doubted;  this  young  man  of  34,  who  came  to  Savannah 
seven  years  ago  an  entire  stranger,  is  to-day  president  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  and  so  thoroughly  identified  with  every  enterprise  of  a  public 
character,  that  no  one  is  better  known  on  'change  and  throughout  Geor- 
gia and  Florida.  In  seven  years  Mr.  Young  has  stamped  the  impress  of 
his  sterling  business  qualities  and  infectious  zeal  upon  every  project 
looking  to  the  advancement  and  progress  of  not  only  his  own  city  and 
State,  but  it  has  been  extended  to  the  peninsula  State  of  Florida. 

In  addition  to  his  share  of  the  active  management  of  the  naval  stores 
and  general  merchandise  interest  of  the  firm  of  Ellis,  Young  &  Co.,  Mr. 
Young  organized  the  Georgia  Pine  Investment  Company,  of  which  he  is 
president.  This  corporation  has  a  Capital  of  $75,000,  owns  100,000  acres 
of  the  best  pine  lands  of  the  South,  and  an  interest  in  five  of  the  largest 
turpentine  farms  in  the  South.  No  man  has  a  more  abiding  faith  in  the 
continued  prosperity  and  future  grandeur  of  this  sea-port,  whose  every 


630  History  of  Savannah. 

industrial,  commercial  and  railroad  interest  he  has  aided  to  foster,  and  to 
the  development  of  which  he  has  brought  to  bear  individual  enthusiasm 
which  has  been  infectious. 

Mr.  Young's  success  and  ability  as  a  business  man,  so  widely  attracted 
attention  throughout  the  oommercial  channels  of  Savannah,  that  four 
years  after  he  settled  in  Savannah  he  was  elected  vice-president  of  the 
Board  of  Trade,  and  was  at  the  following  election  promoted  to  the  presi- 
dency by  the  Board,  and  the  next  year  was  re-elected,  and  is  now  serv- 
ing his  second  term.  Mr.  Young's  address  in  189O,  reviewing  the  trade 
of  Savannah  for  1889,  was  one  of  the  ablest  documents  of  its  kind  ever 
presented  for  the  consideration  of  the  Board,  and  showed  that  all  the  ram- 
ifications in  the  city's  commerce  had  been  thoroughly  canvassed  by  him, 
and  that  he  was  familiar  with  every  statistical  detail  of  the  most  prosper- 
ous commercial  year  known  to  the  city  of  Savannah.  In  that  report  he 
showed  that  Savannah  had  done  a  naval  stores  business  for  that  year  of 
nearly  $6,000,000,  an  increase  of  $1,500,000  over  the  year  previous,  and 
that  the  grain,  provision  and  grocery  trade  had  increased  25  per  cent., 
and  this  in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  prices  on  nearly  all  the  leading  ar- 
ticles were  lower  than  for  several  years  before,  showing  that  there  was  an 
increase  in  bulk  considerable  in  advance  of  the  percentage  in  value.  His 
recommendations  on  the  increase  of  industrial  industries  and  increasing 
railroad  facilities,  not  only  commanded  attention  at  home,  but  has  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  capitalists  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Young  is  a  director  of  the  Metropolitan  Loan  Company  of  Savan- 
nah, a  director  of  the  Citi2ens'  Bank,  and  is  directly  interested  in  many 
other  enterprises  which  have  been  established  in  Savannah  within  the  last 
five  years. 

GUCKENHEIMER,  SIMON,  who  stands  at  the  head  in  the  commer- 
cial ranks  of  the  city  of  Savannah,  was  born  April  6th,  1830,  of  Jew- 
ish parents  at  Burghaslach,  a  town  in  Bavaria,  Germany,  thirty  miles  south 
of  the  ancient  city  of  Nuremberg,  wherein  his  childhood  days  he  received 
a  common  school  education  which  proved  to  be  the  foundation  of  a  sub- 
sequent stirring  and  prosperous  life.  He  eagerly  seized  every  opportu- 
nity for  self  advancement  and  prosecuted  his  studies  with  a  zeal  and 
fixedness  of  purpose  which  have  characterized  his  commercial  and  financial 


Biographical.  63 1 

operations  in  later  years.  His  parents  were  people  of  moderate  circum- 
stances, and  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years  young  Simon  was  withdrawn  from 
school,  and  at  fifteen  was  apprenticed  by  his  father  to  a  merchant  weaver, 
where  he  learned  his  trade,  and  assisted  in  the  store  connected  with  the 
factory,  where  his  ability  soon  attracted  the  attention  of  his  employer, 
and  it  was  here  that  the  young  weaver  and  clerk  formed  an  attachment  in 
his  youth  by  losing  his  heart  to  the  daughter  of  his  employer,  whom,  in 
later  years,  he  made  his  wife. 

A  few  years  satisfied  young  Guckenheimer  that  he  was  designed  to  be 
more  than  an  apprentice  boy,  and  after  having  served  four  years  with  Mr. 
Haas,  was  called  home;  his  elder  brother  was  taken  sick,  and  he  took 
his  place  in  assisting  his  father,  who  farmed  and  also  kept  a  small  dry 
goods  store,  and  two  years  later"signified  his  intention  of  going  to  Amer- 
ica. Having  obtained  the  consent  of  his  parents  he  bade  them  and  the 
object  of  his  heart's  affection  farewell  and  embarked  March  i,  1851,  in 
the  sailing  vessel,  Meta,  at  Bremenhaven,  bound  for  America.  He  ar- 
rived in  New  York  six  weeks  later  unable  to  speak  the  English  language, 
and  a  stranger  in  a  strange  country.  His  capital  was  fifty  florins,  or 
twenty  dollars,  out  of  which  he  invested  $12  in  notions,  and  started  out 
as  a  peddler.  Many  young  men  would  not  have  overcome  the  difficulty 
he  experienced  and  the  hardships  of  his  occupation  which  his  ignorance 
of  the  language  and  manners  and  customs  of  the  people  in  a  strange 
country  occasioned,  but  the  persevering  young  man  had  but  one  pur- 
pose, and  that  was  to  succeed,  and  to  carve  out  a  fortune  from  this  small 
beginning,  which  he  has  so  thoroughly  done.  He  continued  in  this  oc- 
cupation until  August  5,  when  by  his  industry  and  frugality  he  had  so  far 
increased  his  capital  as  to  enable  him  to  pay  his  passage  to  Savannah, 
where  he  arrived  August  8,  185 1,  with  the  capital  increased  from  $20  to 
$40,  and  again  he  took  up  his  country  travels,  having  invested  his  cap- 
ital in  another  stock  of  goods,  which  he  replenished  from  time  to  time, 
journeying  from  place  to  place,  until  the  spring  of  1852,  when  his  earn- 
ings enabled  him  to  purchase  a  horse  and  wagon,  not  only  to  facilitate  his 
travels,  but  to  enable  him  to  carry  a  larger  stock,  which  his  business  re- 
quired— soon  after  a  larger  wagon,  drawn  by  two  horses,  was  necessary. 
His  increasing  trade  demanded  more  frequent  visits  to  larger  markets,  and 
in  1853,  two  years  after  his  arrival  South,  his  trade  had  so.largely  increased 


632  History  of  Savannah. 

that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  visit  New  York  to  purchase  his  supplies. 
In  1855  Mr.  Guckenheimer  discontinued  peddHng  and  opened  a  general 
store  in  Centre  Village,  Charlton  county,  Ga.,  where  for  five  years  he  con- 
ducted a  most  profitable  business,  his  courteous  dealings  with  the  trad- 
ing public  marked  by  a  scrupulous  integrity  having  been  the  foundation 
which  made  his  business  venture  there  so  profitable. 

While  at  Centre  Village  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  Railroad  and  the  Flor- 
ida Railway  and  Navigation  Railroad  were  built,  diverting  the  trade  of 
the  village  to  larger  markets,  and  the  keen  business  foresight  of  Mr.  Guck- 
enhiemer  led  him  to  prepare  to  establish  himself  in  one  of  the  larger  cities 
of  the  South.  He  sold  out  his  store,  and  after  settling  up  his  business  he 
turned  his  face  toward  the  Fatherland,  embarking  on  the  steamer  for  Ger- 
many. During  the  nine  years  of  absence  many  changes  had  taken  place 
under  the  old  roof  tree  ;  his  father  had  died,  and  the  longing  desire  to  see 
his  widowed  mother,  and  those  near  and  dear  to  him,  led  Mr.  Gucken- 
heimer to  return  home,  but  probably  no  magnet  was  so  attracting  as  that 
of  his  young  sweetheart,  Miss  Sarah  Haas,  who  was  but  a  child  of  thir- 
teen years  when  he  left  home,  but  who,  during  the  nine  years  of  absence, 
had  grown  into  womanhood  with  her  child  love  deepened  into  that  firmer 
affection  which  led  her  to  become  his  wife  October  23,  i860.  In  No- 
vember of  that  year  the  happy  bridal  pair  took  passage  for  Savannah  by 
steamer  via  New  York,  arriving  December  11,  i860. 

When  Mr.  Guckenheimer  returned  to  Savannah  he  began  the  jobbing 
tobacco  business,  which  was  the  foundation  of  the  present  enormous  es- 
tablishment now  conducted  by  himself  and  sons.  This  tobacco  business 
was  succeeded  by  the  wholesale  grocery  store  conducted  under  the  firm 
name  of  Guckenheimer  &  Selig.  In  1870  Mr.  Selig,  the  junior  partner 
died,  but  the  business  continued  until  1872  under  the  same  name  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  last  request  of  Mr.  Selig,  Mr.  Guckenheimer's  part- 
ner, between  whom  there  was  more  than  an  ordinary  business  relation- 
ship, the  two  partners  being  firm  and  fast  friends.  In  1872  Mr.  Gucken- 
heimer conducted  the  business  in  his  own  name,  subsequently  S.  Guck- 
enheimer &  Co.,  and  in  1882  he  admitted  his  son  Samuel  into  the  busi- 
ness, the  firm  becoming  S.  Guckenheimer  &  Son,  under  which  name  the 
extensive  business  has  been  conducted  up  to  May  i,  1890,  when  his  sec- 
ond son,  Abraham  S.,  was  admitted,  the  firm  becoming  S.  Guckenheimer 
&  Sons. 


BlOGRAPttlCAL.  633 


The  rapid  development  of  the  South  bringing  increasing  business  to 
the  firm  it  necessitated  more  extensive  quarters,  and  in  1888  Mr.  Guck- 
enheimer  erected  one  of  the  most  imposing  mercantile  structures  in  the 
South,  suitably  and  conveniently  arranged  for  the  business  of  his  firm,  and 
which  might  well  be  called  a  mercantile  palace,  which  is  not  only  an  in- 
dex to  the  steady  growth  of  Savannah,  but  is  a  monument  to  the  name 
of  Guckenheimer,  Savannah's  most  princely  merchant. 

A  recital  of  Mr.  Guckenheimer's  early  experience  of  his  lonely  trips 
through  the  country  would  fill  a  volume  ;  his  name  is  familiar  in  almost 
every  household  throughout  the  territory  in  which  the  large  trade  of  his 
house  extends ;  many  of  the  older  citizens  remember  him  in  his  early 
days  ;  his  representations  could  be  relied  upon,  and  some  of  the  largest 
and  best  customers  of  his  present  extensive  business  are  those  who  bought 
goods  from  him  in  a  small  way  nearly  forty  years  ago.  These  early  pat- 
rons and  their  children,  many  of  whom  are  now  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits  in  the  interior,  never  fail  to  call  on  Mr.  Guckenheimer  when  they 
visit  Savannah.  His  business  integrity  has  been  a  household  word  with 
them  for  nearly  half  a  century.  Honest  and  straightforward  dealings 
have  been  the  characteristic  traits  of  the  man,  and  by  reason  of  which  he 
enjoys  the  confidence  of  the  people. 

Such  a  man  necessarily  fills  a  prominent  position  in  a  progressive  city 
like  Savannah,  where  constant  demands  are  being  made  to  advance  public 
enterprises,  none  of  which  find  a  more  liberal  patron  and  advocate  than 
Mr.  Guckenheimer.  He  is  pre-eminently  a  public-spirited  citizen,  and 
his  connection  with  financial  enterprises  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  for  pub- 
lic confidence.  He  occupies  many  prominent  positions  in  various  organ- 
izations, being  a  director  in  the  Merchants'  National  Bank,  in  the  Savan- 
nah and  Western  Railroad,  and  in  many  other  such  institutions.  He  is, 
and  has  been  one  of  the  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners  of  the  city  of  Sa- 
vannah ever  since  that  office  was  created.  He  is  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Cotton  Exchange  and  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  He  worships  at  the 
Temple  Mickva  Israel,  has  been  its  president  for  many  years,  and  is  now 
one  of  its  trustees. 

Mr.  Guckenheimer's  family  consists  of  his  wife,  three  sons  and  two 
daughters ;  the  children  are  Samuel  S.,  Abraham  S.,  Moses  S.,  Mrs.  Al- 
bert Gerst,  of  Danville,  Va.,  and  Mrs.  L.  Adler. 

80 


634  History  of  Savannah. 

While  Mr.  Guckenheimer  still  exercises  a  supervision  of  his  large  busi- 
ness, he  does  not  so  actively  engage  in  it  as  in  former  years,  as  his  sons* 
who  have  received  under  him  a  careful  business  training,  relieve  him  of 
his  exacting  duties,  and  enable  him  to  enjoy  many  of  the  pleasures  which 
were  denied  him  in  his  earlier  days  when  he  was  applying  himself  to  lay 
the  foundation  for  what  is  now  the  most  extensive  grocery  establishment 
in  the  State. 


PURSE,  DANIEL  G.  Captain  Daniel  G.  Purse,  capitalist,  was  born 
in  Savannah,  November  14,  1839,  his  father,  Hon.  Thomas  Purse, 
being  a  prominent  citizen,  mayor  of  the  city,  a  member  of  the  Georgia 
Senate,  one  of  the  original  projectors  of  the  Central  Railroad,  and  hold- 
ing various  positions  of  public  and  private  trust,  and  the  son  has  inher- 
ited many  of  the  characteristic  traits  of  the  father. 

Captain  Purse  received  his  education  in  Savannah.  His  collegiate 
studies  were  prosecuted  at  Emory  College,  Georgia,  and  he  took  a  bus- 
iness course  at  a  commercial  college  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  After  completing 
his  studies,  he  became  a  teacher,  and  later  took  up  the  study  of  law, 
which  he  thereafter  abandoned  to  enter  commercial  life.  The  outbreak 
of  the  war  in  1861  terminated  his  commercial  pursuits,  and  he  enlisted 
with  the  second  company  of  the  Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry  ;  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  War  Department,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  was  con- 
nected with  the  engineering  department  of  the  Confederate  States,  with 
the  rank  of  captain.  After  the  war,  and  in  July,  1865,  he  renewed  the 
commercial  life  which  had  been  interrupted  by  the  war,  and  established 
a  commission  business  under  the  firm  name  of  Cunningham  &  Purse. 
His  next  business  venture  was  as  senior  partner  of  the  firm  of  Purse  & 
Thomas,  in  the  fertilizer  and  coal  trade,  a  business  connection  which 
lasted  for  twelve  years,  when  the  firm  was  dissolved.  Captain  Purse  contin- 
uing the  fertilizer  branch  of  the  business  on  his  own  account  until  1885, 
since  which  time  Captain  Purse  has  been  interested  in  various  financial 
enterprises,  chiefly  that  of  the  development  of  Tybee  Island  as  a  pleas- 
ure resort,  and  after  the  successful  development  of  which  he  conceived 
the  idea  and  carried  to  a  practical  finish  the  construction  of  a  railroad 
from  Savannah  to  Tybee. 

Captain  Purse  is  a  man  of  versatile   genius,  and  his   restless,  tireless 


Biographical.  635 

brain  is  never  idle.  Many  of  the  enterprises  which  he  has  brought  to  a 
successful  termination  were,  at  the  inception,  ridiculed  by  men  whose 
conservative  views  always  did  much  to  chill  what  were  considered  doubt- 
ful enterprises  and  vagaries  of  a  restless  mind.  Among  pome  of  these 
may  be  mentioned  the  development  of  artesian  water  in  Savannah,  as 
the  result  of  which  pure  artesian  water,  for  domestic  purposes,  has  taken 
the  place  of  the  muddy  and  contaminated  waters  of  the  river,  and  the  in- 
troduction of  which  has  tended  largely  to  the  increasing  healthful  sanita- 
tion of  the  city,  and  to  bringing  its  mortahty  list  to  the  minimum,  and 
to  such  a  remarkable  degree,  that  it  has  arrested  the  attention  of  sani- 
tarians throughout  the  South,  and  has  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  the  ar- 
tesian well  system  in  all  the  principal  cities  and  towns  of  Georgia,  South 
Carolina  and  Florida,  a  far-reaching  benefit  which  can  only  be  appreci- 
ated by  those  who  live  in  a  semi-tropical  country,  where  pure  water  is 
the  great  desideratum.  When  Captain  Purse  first  originated  the  idea  of 
bringing  the  supply  of  pure  artesian  water  from  a  deep  under-lying 
strata  of  water-bearing  formation,  he  was  not  only  subjected  to  the  good- 
natured  levity  of  those  residing  in  his  immediate  community,  but  the 
Charleston  News  and  Courier,  and  other  papers  outside  of  the  State,  ar- 
gued in  a  lofty  way  to  convince  Captain  Purse  of  the  utter  futility  of 
what  they  termed  "a  chimerical  vagary."  Charleston,  situated  at  a  dis- 
tance of  but  a  little  over  one  hundred  miles  from  Savannah,  had  attempted 
to  develop  its  subterraneous  artesian  water  supply  but  unsuccessfully, 
and  this  fact  added  great  weight  to  the  criticism  of  the  Charleston  paper, 
and  would  have  tended  to  discourage  almost  any  other  man  but  Captain 
Purse  in  his  explorations,  and  when  he  had  obtained  a  flow  of  pure  ar- 
tesian "water  in  the  southwestern  portion  of  Savannah,  at  a  depth  of  less 
than  six  hundred  feet,  the  fact  was  discredited  by  the  Charleston  critics. 
To-day  a  population  of  sixty  thousand  people  in  Savannah  are  supplied 
with  pure  artesian  water  from  more  than  twenty  wells,  affording  a  flow 
of  seven  million  gallons;  and  the  city  council,  in  the  spring  of  1890,  be- 
gan to  lay  the  foundation  for  a  more  extended  water  plant,  which  will 
more  than  double  the  supply  of  the  city  furnishing  it  with  twenty  mil- 
lion gallons  of  pure  artesian  water  daily,  and  the  doubting  Charleston  is 
now  being  supplied  with  artesian  water,  and  is,  at  the  time  this  sketch  is 
written,  sinking  other  artesian  wells  to  increase  its  water  supply. 


636  History  of  Savannah. 

Following  his  successful  water  developments  in  Savannah,  Captain 
Purse  next  turned  his  attention  to  the  water  supply  of  the  sea-coast 
islands  contiguous,  and  at  a  depth  of  two  hundred  and  forty  feet  on  Ty- 
bee  Island,  within  six  hundred  feet  of  the  mighty  waves  and  roaring 
thunder  of  the  ocean,  he  struck  a  vein  of  pure  artesian  water,  which 
flowed  fifteen  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  since  that  time  a 
system  of  water- works  has  been  established  on  the  island,  and  on  all  the 
sea  coast  islands  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  the  sluggish,  brackish, 
and  unhealthful  surface  water  has  given  way  to  the  artesian  water  sup- 
ply. Not  only  did  this  development  of  artesian  water  by  Captain  Purse 
have  its  sanitary  influences,  but  it  also  had  an  influence  upon  the  agri- 
cultural and  industrial  enterprises  of  this  section,  as  all  the  ice  manufact- 
ories have  since  sunk  their  own  wells  and  manufactured  ice  of  pure  ar- 
tesian water.  Truck  farmers  have  sunk  artesian  wells,  irrigating  their 
crops  with  the  waters  which  appear  to  be  as  healthful  to  plant  life  as  they 
have  been  eminently  so  to  animal  life.  If  Captain  Purse  had  done  noth- 
ing else  in  'a  stirring  and  eventful  life,  his  developments  in  this  direction 
entitle  him  to  be  placed  high  on  the  list  of  public  benefactors. 

In  the  narrow  confines  of  a  sketch-of  this  character  one  cannot  deal 
so  fully  with  the  man  as  he  deserves,  but  this  can  be  said  here  in  brief — 
that  few  of  the  enterprises  he  has  undertaken  have  ever  been  begun 
without  the  opposition  of  those  who  do  not  enjoy  the  keen  foresight  ot 
Captain  Purse,  but  there  are  those  characteristics  of  the  man,  that  as  op- 
position becomes  more  intense,  the  zeal  of  Captain  Purse  increases  in 
proportion,  and  as  a  result  of  this,  no  enterprise  which  he  has  begun  has, 
in  any  instance  failed.  His  project  of  building  a  railroad  from  Savannah 
to  Tybee  was  ridiculed  even  more  generally  than  his  project  to  supply 
the  city  with  artesian  water,  and  for  this  reason  long  sweeps  of  marsh 
over  which  the  Atlantic  tides  rise  seemed  to  present  obstacles,  and  it  was 
predicted  that  even  if  the  roadbed  could  be  constructed  from  Savannah 
to  Tybee,  if  the  first  locomotive  did  not  sink  from  sight  in  the  marsh  the 
spring  tides  and  storms  on  the  Atlantic  would  wash  away  its  roadbed  ; 
but,  nothing  discouraged,  Captain  Purse  organized  his  company  for  the 
construction  of  the  road,  and  on  the  9th  day  of  August,  1886,  he 
and  a  few  friends  of  the  enterprise  assembled  on  his  Deptford  Plantation, 
near  Savannah,  and  a  divine  blessing  having  been  invoked  by  Rabbi  I.  P. 


Biographical.  637 


Mendes,  of  the  Congregation  Mickva  Israel,  Master  Thomas  Purse,  son 
of  the  Captain,  stepped  forward  with  a  miniature  silver  spade  and  Hfted 
the  first  dirt  of  what  is  now  the  Savannah  and  Atlantic  Railway,  that 
safely  carries  thousands  to  Tybee  Island.  A  half  century  before  the 
grandfather  of  Master  Thomas  Purse  performed  the  same  service  for  the  • 
Great  Central  Railroad  of  Georgia.  The  steel  rails  and  solid  roadbed 
are  not  to  be  excelled  by  any  other  road  in  the  South,  and  the  road  has 
withstood  the  tempest  as  its  projector  said  it  would  four  years  ago. 
Captain  Purse  is  the  president  of  the  road,  a  position  he  has  held  ever 
since  the  road  was  constructed. 

As  one  of  the  two  owners  of  the  Barnard  &  Anderson  Railroad 
which  has  felt  the  impetus  of  his  farsightedness  in  the  development  of 
Battery  Park  and  the  Liberty  street  branch,  Captain  Purse  was  largely 
instrumental  in  the  consolidation  of  the  Barnard  &  Anderson  street  rail- 
way with  the  Savannah,  Skidaway  &  Seabrbok  railroad  under  the  name 
City  &  Suburban,  and  was  until  1885  one  of  the  four  owners  of  this  cor- 
poration. 

To  no  man  is  more  credit  due  than  to  Captain  Purse  for  the  intro- 
duction of  electric  lighting  in  Savannah  and  it  was  through  his  efforts 
that  Savannah  was  the  first  city  of  any  size  in  the  world  to  entirely  dis- 
card gas  for  electricity  in  street  lighting.  The  organization  of  the  Brush 
Electric  and  Power  Co.,  one  of  the  strongest  corporations  of  the  city, 
was  the  result  largely  of  his  perseverance  and  energy,  and  of  which  com- 
pany he  has  been  vice-president.  There  is  no  enterprise  for  the  advance- 
ment and  progress  of  Savannah  with  which  Captain  Purse  is  not  prom- 
inently identified.  He  is  vice-president  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  president 
of  the  Merchants'  and  Mechanics'  Loan  Association,  a  member  of  the  Cot- 
ton Exchange,  a  director  in  the  Tybee  Beach  Company,  and  chairman 
of  its  managing  committee,  a  director  in  the  Southern  Mutual  Insurance 
Company,  of  Athens,  Georgia,  fellow  of  the  American  Geographical 
Society,  and  an  extensive  rice  planter,  and  manager  of  landed  estates  for 
foreign  owners  at  Augusta  and  other  points  in  Georgia  and  Florida. 

To  Captain  Purse  the  city  is  indebted  for  the  successful  funding  of 
its  seven  per  cent,  city  bonds  in  1877.  These  bonds  at  that  time  were 
rated  at  forty  cents  on  the  dollar,  but  were  funded  by  Captain  Purse 
for  five  per  cent,  bonds,  which  are  now   rated  on  the  market  at  105  and 


638  History  of  Savannah. 

106.  There  was  serious  objections  on  the  part  of  the  original  bond-hold- 
ers to  any  funding  of  the  debt,  and  when  the  plan  was  suggested  by  Captain 
Purse,  then  chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  City  Council,  his 
utter  failure  was  predicted;  but  with  that  energy  which  has  always  char- 
acterized his  eventful  enterprises,  he  visited  Augusta,  Charleston,  Balti- 
more, and  other  cities  where  the  bonds  were  held,  and  addressing  meet- 
ings of  the  bond-holders,  succeeded  in  getting  their  unanimous  consent 
that  the  bonds  should  be  funded.  In  this  connection,  it  may  be  re- 
marked that  when  Captain  Purse  visited  Baltimore  on  that  errand,  he  was 
met  at  thedoor  of  a  leading  banking  institution  in  thatcity  where  the  bonds 
were  held,  and  told  that  there  was  no  use  to  attempt  to  effect  any  such 
arrangement  with  the  Baltimore  bond-holders.  His  reply  was  that  all 
he  wanted  was  a  respectful  hearing.  They  could  give  him  no  less,  and 
after  addressing  the  bond-holders  they  were  so  thoroughly  impressed 
with  the  factsas  presented  by  him  that  when  he  left  the  bank  building 
he  took  with  him  the  written  consent  of  all  the  bond-holders  of  Balti- 
more for  the  refunding  of  the  old  seven,  in  new  five  per  cent,  bonds. 

To  Captain  Purse  the  county  is  also  largely  indebted  for  the  law  es- 
tablishing the  board  of  county  commissioners  of  Chatham  County,  which 
was  enacted  in  1873.  There  was  great  apprehension  at  that  time  that 
unscrupulous  elements  might  control  the  county's  affairs,  and  voting  pre- 
cincts be  scattered  broadcast,  and  in  localities  where  unscrupulous  men 
could  easily  control  the  large  colored  element  in  the  country  settlements, 
and,  as  a  result,  the  county's  finances  would  be  mismanaged  and  the  pro- 
gress and  prosperity  of  the  city,  which  is  the  greater  part  of  Chatham 
County,  would  be  retarded.  In  the  face  of  a  vigorous  opposition.  Cap- 
tain Purse,  foreman  of  the  grand  jury,  recommended  the  passage  of  the 
bill,  and  interested  himself  in  the  enactment  of  the  law  the  wisdom  of 
which  has  been  so  abundantly  established  by  the  wise  and  competent 
management  of  the  county's  affairs  by  the  board  of  county  commissioners 
appointed  by  the  governor  under  the  law  which  had  its  origin  with  Cap- 
tain Purse  in  the  grand  jury  room. 

Captain  Purse  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Laura  Ashby,  of  Fau- 
quier County,  Virginia,  who  is  a  near  relative  of  General  Turner  Ashby, 
a  famous  Confederate  cavalry  officer,  and  the  fruit  of  this  union  is  five 
sons.     Their  home  is  one  of  elegance  and  refinement,  situated  on  one  of 


BlOGRAfMlCAL.  639 

the  most  beautiful  avenues  in  the  city,  and  under  the  shadows  of  that 
magnificent  pile  of  architecture — the  De  Soto  Hotel,  to  secure  the 
site  of  which  Captain  Purse  took  a  leading  part. 

Captain  Purse,  in  addition  to  his  many  enterprises  of  an  agricultural, 
commercial,  financial,  railway,  and  industrial  character,  is  so  methodical 
in  the  conduct  of  his  business  as  to  find  much  time  in  his  library,  which 
is  composed  of  one  of  the  most  valuable  collections  of  books  in  Savannah. 
He  is  a  patron  and  member  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society.  He  is  a 
member  of  St.  John's  Episcopal  Church,  and  has  been  its  treasurer,  and  a 
vestryman  for  over  twenty  years.  He  was  one  of  the  moving  spirits  in  the 
collection  of  a  fund  for  the  building  of  St.  John's  Chapel,  and  chairman 
of  the  building  committee  which  executed  the  work. 

Captain  Purse  ranks  high  in  the  Masonic  order.  He  has  taken  every 
degree  up  to  and  including  the  Scottish  Rites  thirty- second  degree.  He 
has  been  a  mason  for  thirty  years,  and  has  for  the  past  nine  years  been 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  property  of  Solomon's  Lodge  No.  1,  F.  & 
A.  M.,  and  a  recent  report  written  by  him  upon  the  lodge's  affairs  has 
greatly  added  to  his  reputation  as  a  writer  upon  financial  subjects. 

In  the  study  and  acquaintance  of  such  a  character  and  man  as  Cap- 
tain Daniel  G.  Purse,  many  points  are  to  be  considered,  for  he  is  a  many- 
sided  man.  He  has  a  touch  of  genius  about  him,  with  decided  talent. 
Captain  Purse  belongs  to  that  class  which  is  known  as  the  mental  san- 
guine temperament,  that  gives  mental  activity,  aggressiveness,  vim  and 
energy  in  a  great  degree.  Such  a  mind  is  suggestive,  and  planning, 
and  is  never  demoralized  by  defeat  or  failure,  but  asserts  itself  by 
new  suggestions,  greater  energy  and  fuller  resources.  Broad  ideas,  com- 
prehensive plans  and  brilliant  projects  play  through  his  brain.  He  is 
never  content  to  work  in  the  common  rut  or  to  confine  his  thoughts  to 
only  one  idea.  The  many  successful  undertakings  of  Captain  Purse  are 
tokens  of  his  peculiar  mentality  ;  and  his  success  in  whatever  he  has  un- 
dertaken display  his  mental  resources.  For  this  reason  he  is  more  san- 
guine than  the  average  man.  because  of  that  peculiar  mental  activity. 
With  his  seeming  visionary  mind  he  is  in  truth  and  fact  a  cautious  man ; 
he  is  first  a  thinker,  then  an  actor.  He  wants  time  to  reason,  to  see,  to 
weigh  facts,  and  then,  when  his  mind  has  laid  out  his  plans,  he  throws 
his  whole  soul,  temperament  and  mental  resources  into  what  he  under- 


640  History  of  Savannah. 

takes.  He  first  knows  what  is  to  be  accomplished,  and  then  he  plans  in 
his  own  way  for  the  accomplishment ;  when  he  is  convinced  in  his  own 
naind  that  he  is  right,  then  he  becomes  the  embodiment  of  a  mental  cy- 
clonic dash,  before  which  obstacles  disappear,  opposition  is  crushed  and 
success  assured.  It  is  such  characters,  with  such  brain  force  and  tem- 
peraments who  become  leaders  among  men,  who  are  known  as  public- 
spirited  men,  fathers  of  great  projects,  and  leaders  in  all  great  enter- 
prises. Captain  Purse  is  not  a  man  given  to  doubt  himself,  for  his  nat- 
ural energy  and  grasp  of  mind  sees  farther,  grasps  more  and  will  accom- 
plish more  than  men  with  great  brains  who  are  wanting  in  mental  ac- 
tivity. 

In  all  the  enterprises  and  public  and  private  trusts,  and  Captain  Purse 
has  held  many  such,  his  official  conduct  has  been  characterized  by  the  strict- 
est fidelity  of  purpose  and  a  scrupulous  integrity.  No  citizen  of  Savannah 
is  imbued  with  deeper  public  spirit  than  Captain  Purse,  and  the  prosper- 
ity of  this  section  is  due  to  just  such  a  class  of  men,  who  have  not  only 
been  benefited  and  enriched  by  their  unerring  judgment,  their  unflag- 
ging zeal,  and  their  superior  financial  ability,  but  at  the  same  time  while 
enriching  themselves  they  have  added  to  the  wealth,  the  prosperity  and 
the  progress  of  the  communities  in  which  they  live. 


MCDONOUGH,  JOHN  J.,  is  one  of  the  representative  manufactur- 
ers and  business  men  of  his  city  and  State.  He  was  born  in  Au- 
gusta, Ga.,  August  3,. 1 849,  and  is  the  third  oldest  son  of  John  and  Mary 
McDonough,  who  were  the  parents  of  eight  children,  four  of  whom  sur- 
vive. The  father  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  was  brought  to  Savannah 
in  infancy.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  a  prominent  lumber  man- 
ufacturer and  dealer  in  lumber  and  conducted  extensive  foundry  and  ma- 
chine works  in  Savannah,  having  moved  thither  from  Augusta  in  1866. 
John  J.  McDonough  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  in  Atlanta,  Ga., 
and  completed  his  education  at  St.  Francis  Xavier  College,  New  York  city. 
In  1866  he  was  given  a  clerical  position  in  one  of  his  father's  lumber 
yards  in  Savannah  ;  three  years  later  he  was  appointed  superintendent 
of  his  father's  mills  in  the  interior,  and  was  admitted  to  the  firm  in  1870, 
which  became  that  of  John   McDonough  &  Son.     Ten  years  later  he 


Biographical.  64! 


bought  out  his  father's  local  interest  in  Savannah,  since  which  time  he 
has  been  engaged  in  all  branches  of  lumber  manufacture.  In  1877  he 
purchased  his  father's  interest  in  the  foundry  and  machine  works  of  Mc- 
Donough  &  Ballantyne,  which  interest  he  still  retains. 

He  has  an  extensive  lumber  and  planing  mill  in  Savannah,  which 
does  an  annual  business  of  $100,000.  Here  everything  in  the  line  of 
doors,  sash,  blinds,  and  all  kinds  of  interior  finish,  including  hard  woods 
for  the  finest  classes  of  buildings,  are  manufactured.  The  inside  finish  of 
the  new  hotel  "  De  Soto  "  and  that  of  the  new  court  house  of  Savannah  was 
turned  out  at  Mr.  McDonough's  factory.  In  addition  to  the  Savannah 
mill,  he  owns  two  of  the  largest  and  finest  saw- mills  in  Georgia  which 
are  located  in  Clinch  and  Pierce  Counties.  They  turn  out  about  25,000,- 
000  feet  of  lumber  annually  for  domestic  and  foreign  markets.  With 
them  are  connected  forty  miles  of  railroad,  laid  with  steel  rails. 

These  roadways  are  equipped  with  locomotives  and  cars  for  the  mov- 
ing of  logs  from  the  timber  lands  to  his  mills. 

Mr.  McDonough  manufactures  and  builds  cars  for  his  own  railroads. 
Machine  shops  are  connected  with  his  mills  where  locomotives  and  ma- 
chinery of  all  kinds  are  rebuilt  and  repaired.  With  his  out-of-town  mills 
are  connected  large  stores  or  commissaries  from  which  the  necessaries  for 
his  five  hundred  employees  and  their  families  are  supplied. 

R|r.  McDonough  is  now  serving  his  second  term  as  Alderman  of  the 
City  of  Savannah.  He  has  been  Chairman  of  the  Harbor  and  Wharf 
Committee  and  that  on  Assessments,  which  latter  he  resigned  in  the 
spring  of  1890  to  accept  the  Chairmanship  of  the  Water  Commitee,  as  a 
more  extensive  water  plant  was  then  contemplated  and  he  was  urged  to 
accept  the  first  place  on  that  Committee,  in  view  of  his  practical  mechan- 
ical fitness  for  that  important  position.  Mr.  McDonough  was  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Savannah  and  Tybee  Railroad  and  when  it  was  reor- 
ganized under  the  name  of  the  Savannah  and  Atlantic  Railway  Co.,  be- 
came a  director  in  the  same. 

He  is  largely  interested  in  the  Tybee  Beach  Co.,  of  which  he  is  the  Presi- 
dent and  has  taken  a  decided  interest  in  the  improvements  of  this  favorite 
southern  sea-side  resort.  Mr.  McDonough  is  a  member  of  the  Cotton 
Exchange  and  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  is  connected  with  many  en- 
terprises of  a  progressive  character.      He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  South 


642  History  of  Savannah. 

Bound  Railroad  and  the  Savannah  Construction  Co.,  which  was  organ- 
ized in  the  spring  of  1890  to  build  the  railroad  from  Columbia,  S.  C,  to 
Savannah,  Ga.  Mr.  McDonough  is  a  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  and  is  a  liberal  supporter  of  a  number  of  benevolent  and  civil 
societies.  He  is  also  connected,  as  honorary  member,  with  many  of  the 
military  organizations,  for  which  Savannah  has  been  famous  for  more 
than  a  century. 

In  his  domestic  relations  he  is  most  happy.  He  was  united  in  mar- 
riage November  5,  1869  with  Miss  Ellen  M.  Cullen,  of  Savannah,  by 
whom  he  has  two  children,  Marie  and  John.  He  is  a  kind  and  indul- 
gent husband  and  father.  His  social  qualities  are  many  and  well  known 
to  all  who  enjoy  his  personal  acquaintance. 

He  is  liberal  as  an  entertainer  and  his  host  of  friends  who  frequent 
his  pleasant  home  always  enjoy  his  large-hearted  hospitality. 


INDEX. 


ACADEMIES  and  schools,  511  et  seq. 
of  Georgia,  early,  513. 
Adjustment  of  Mary  Musgrove's  claim,  299. 
African  Baptist  Church,  First,  510. 
Agriculture,  society  for  improvement  of,  321. 
Allies,  loss  of,  at  seige  of  Savannah,  283. 
Anderson,  Dr.  Hugh,  436. 
Anderson  Street  Church,  507. 
Arms,  first  passage  of,  224. 
Arnold,  Dr.  Richard  D.,  439. 
Arrest  of  Governor  Wright,  220. 
Artillery  company,  organization  of,  314. 
Assault  upon  Savannah  by  allied  army,  275. 
Assembly,  address  of  both  Houses  of,  to  the 

King,  185. 

royalist,  called  together  by  Governor  Wright, 

296. 
Attorney-General,  arrival,  and    measures  of, 

155. 
Attorneys,  leading,  at  close  of   last  century, 

421. 

BAILIFFS,  and  their  works  of  office,  418. 
Ballantyne,  Thomas,  biography  of,  608. 
Banks,  488. 

Merchants^  National,  489. 
Savannah  Bank  and  Trust  Co.,  489. 
Southern  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia, 

489. 
National  Bank  of  Savannah,  489. 
Oglethorpe  Savings  and  Trust  Co.,  490. 
Citizens'  Bank,  490. 
Charles  H.  Olmstead  &  Co.,  490. 
Henry  Blun,  490. 
Baptist  Church,  508. 
Bar,  post-bellum  members  of  the,  430. 
prominence  of  the  early,  418. 
roster  of,  435, 
Barracks,  erection  of,  347. 
Bartow,  General,  sketch  of,  362  note. 
Battalion,  ordered  to  be  raised  by  Continen- 
tal Congress,  217. 

officers   of,  on   organization,  Januarv  7, 
1776,  218. 
Battery  Park,  538, 


Bonaventure  Cemetery,  539. 

Bulloch,  President,  death  of,  236. 

Bulloch,  Dr.  William  G„  442. 

Burr,  Aaron,  visit  of,  331. 

Beaulieu,  535. 

Benevolent  Association,  the  Savannah,  551. 

Berrien,  Judge  John  McPherson,  426. 

Bethesda,  Whitefield's,  512,  546. 

Bills  of  exchange,  146. 

Biography  of, 

Ballantyne,  Thomas,  608. 

Dorsett,  Charles  Henry,  615. 

du  Bignon,  Fleming  G.,  603. 

Duncan,  Dr.  William,  613. 

Estill,  Col.  John  H.,  562. 

Plannery,  John,  596. 

Guckenheimer,  Simon,  630. 

Hartridge,  Alfred  Lamar,  565. 

Jones,  Colonel  Charles  C.  585. 

Lawton,  Gen.  Alexander  P.,  575. 

Lester.  Daniel  B.,  010. 

Lovellj  Edward,  618. 

McDonough,  John  J.,  640. 

McMahon,  Captain  John,  570. 

Meldrim,  Peter  W.,  612. 

Mercer,  Col.  George  A.,  567. 

Olmstead,  Charles  H.,  620. 

Purse,  Daniel  G.,  634. 

Screven,  John,  622. 

Thomas,  Daniel  R„  594. 

Young,  John  R.,  629. 
Blues,  the  Republican,  416. 
Bosomworth  enters  Savannah  with  belligerent 
Indians,  125. 

result  of  influence  of,  over  his  wife,  125. 

Rev.  Thomas,  villainy  of,  122  et  ."ieq. 

Mrs.  final  settlement  of  claim  of,  129. 

treacherous   compact  with  Malatche,  123 
et  seq. 
Boston  Port  bill,  197. 
Boundary  conference  in  1768,  188. 
Boundaries,  extension  of,  in  1763,  173. 
Brandt,  Dr.  C.  N.,  453. 
British  outrages  at  Savannah,  247. 

ships  of  war,  arrival  of,  238. 


644 


Index. 


Brown,  Governor,  order  of,  to  Colonel  Law- 
ton,  in  1861,  358. 
Bryan,  Hon.  Jonathan,  notice  of  death  of,  in 
"Georgia  Gazette,"  320. 
motion  to   expel  from  council,  McCall's 
account  of,  198 

CADETS,  Savannah,  415. 
Calamitous  year,  353. 
Campbell,  report  of  Lieut.-Col.,  238. 
Capital,  efforts  to  remove  the,  to  Hardwick. 

461. 
Capture  of  vessels  at  wharf  of  Savannah,  232. 
Cathedral  Cemetery,  the,  542. 

of  St.  John,,  the,  509. 
Catholic  Library  Hall  Association,  the,  491. 
Catholics,  exclusion  of,  492. 
Causton,  Thomas,  affairs  entrusted   to,  during 
absence  of  Oglethorpe,  64. 

charge  of  the  colony  reposed  in,  66. 
charges  against,  100. 
death  of,  102. 
defalcation  of,  99. 
disnaissal  of,  101. 

malignity  towards  John  Wesley,  92.' 
offenses,  as  stated  by  Oglethorpe,  104. 
Oglethorpe's  arraignment  of,  101. 
John,  usurpation  of  power  by,  419. 
Cemeteries,  539. 
Cemetery,  mutilation  of  Catholic,  by  Federals, 

386. 
Central  Railroad,  the,  479  et  seq. 

absorption  of  other  lines  by  the,  483. 
and  Banking  Company,  480. 
effect  of  opening  of,  471. 
synopsis  of  growth  of,  484. 
Ceremonies  of  Indians  at  landing  of  Colonists, 
31. 

upon  piomiilgation  of  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, 234. 
Charlton,  Dr.  Thomas  J.,  447. 
Charlton,  Judge  R.  M.,  famous    deci.iion  of, 

429 
Charlton,  Judge  T.  U.  P.,  425,  427,  429. 
Charlton,  Walter  G.,  433. 
Charters,  Dr.  William  M.,  445. 
Chatham  Academy,  513,  514. 
Chatham    Artillery,    guns    presented    to,    by 

Wushington,  325. 
Chatham  Real  Estate  and  Improvement  Com- 
pany, the,  490. 
Chisholm,  Judge  Walter  S.,  431. 
Cholera,  353. 

Christ  Church,  49,  159,  note,  495. 
founding  of,  492. 


Christian  Church,  511. 

Churches,  establishment  of,  161,  et  seq  note. 
Churches  of  colored  people,  511. 
Church  of  the  Sacred  Heart  parish,  509. 
Citizens  Bank,  the,  490. 
City  Court  judges,  435. 
Civil  government,  establishment  of,  152. 
Civil  war,  events  immediately  preceding  the, 
356  et  seq. 

Olmstead's  account  of  opening  of,  359. 
Clifton,  William,  433. 
Colding,  Dr.  C.  H.,  453. 

Colonies,  determination  of,  to  resist   English 
taxation,  189. 

joy  of,  upon  repeal  of  Stamp  Act,  185. 
Colonists,  accessions  to,  in  1733,  44. 

benefits   accruing  to,  from  friendship  of 
Oglethorpe  and  Tomo-chi-chi,  32. 

causes  for  complaint  of,  107. 

English,  not  successful  agriculturists,  120. 

favor  shown  to,  by  South  Carolina,  19. 

first  arrival  of,   17,  21. 

first  labors  of,  22. 

Hebrew,  50. 

petition  of,  to  trustees,  107  et  seq. 

precarious  condition  of,  32. 

worthiness  of,  18. 
Colony,  business  of,  in  1760,  170. 

depressed  condition  of  the  finances  of,  99. 

practical  failure  of,  142 

rapid  advaiioe  of,  69. 
Colonization,  commissioners  of,  in  conflict  with 
the  trustees,  50.     " 

strange  fatality  attending  attempts  at,  in 

the  swamp  region,  46. 
Commerce,  early  efforts  to  develop,  458  et  seq. 

resumption  of,  at  close  of  civil  war,  472. 

revival  of,  after  the  Revolution,  465. 
Commercial  house,  first  in  Georgia,  459. 

statistics  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  present 
century,  difficulty  in  collating,  467. 
Committee  on   resolutions,  expressive  of  the 

sentiments  of  Georgia  regarding  England's 
course,  198. 

to  solicit  subscriptions  for  suffering  poor 
of  Boston,  200. 
Communication,   tardiness  of,   with  England, 

173. 
Confederate  Veterans'  Association,  502. 
Conference  between  Oglethorpe  and  Indians, 

graphic  account  of,  35  et  seq. 

with  Indians,  in  1757,  164. 
Congregational  Church,  511. 
Congregation  of  B'nai  B'rilh  Jacob,  the,  498. 

of  Chebrah  Talmud  Torah,  the,  498. 


Index. 


645 


Congregation  of  Mickva  Israel,  497. 
Congress,    Georgia   not    represented '  in    first 

American,  204. 

of  Indians  in  1774,  196. 

response  of  delegates  to  American,  182. 
Constitution,  adoption  of  temporary,  221. 

first  regular,  224. 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1776,  236. 
Continental    and    militia    officers    killed    and 

wounded  at  assault  upon  Savannah,  286. 

Congress,  parishes  that  approved  resolu- 
tions of,  205. 
Convention  to  discuss  the  Stamp  Act,  176. 
Correspondence  between  General  Prevost  and 

Count  D'Estaing,  256. 
Cotton,    competition    in    trade    in,    between 

Charleston  and  Savannah,  467. 

confiscation  of,  after  surrender  of  Savan- 
nah, 386. 

first  foreign  shipment  of,  462. 

gin,  stimulus  imnarted  to  cotton  raising 
by  the,  466. 
Whitney's,  465. 

Sea  Island,  466. 

small  shipments  of,  in  1788,  320. 

trade,  importance  of  the  establishmenr  of, 

467. 
Council  of  safety,  members  of,  appointed  in 
1775,  217. 

resolutions  of,  224  et  seq. 
Court,   clash  of  authority   between  city  and 

Superior,  425. 

date  of  the  first,  418. 

establishment  of,  155. 

extraordinary  proceeding  in  early,  422. 

in  1751,  420. 

the  first,  418. 

of  inquiry  in  case  of  General  Howe,  248. 

account  of,  by  Francis  Moore,  420. 

discontinuance  of,  after  the   Revolution, 
421. 
.    incidents  in  early,  422. 

the,   immediately   after   the    Revolution, 
421. 
Creeks,  trouble  with,  the,  122. 
Cionk,  Joseph,  433. 
Cunningham,  Captain  Henry,  434. 
Custom-house,  erection  of,  353. 

possession  taken  of,  by  patriots,  216. 

DAILY  ADVERTISER,"  526. 
Daniel,  Dr.,  438. 
Daufuskie  Island,  538. 
Declaration  of  Independence,  234. 
Declaration  of  rights,  182. 


Deed,  text  of  original,  conveying  lands  in  Sa- 
vannah, 55. 
Deed,  change  of  conveyance  in.  after  surrender 

of  charter  by  trustees,  61. 
D'Estaing,  Count,  attack  upon  Savannah,  252 
et  seq. 

appreciation  of  services  of,  by  General  As- 
sembly, 293. 
estimate  of  character  of,  292. 
fatal  error,  258. 
outwitted  by  Prevost,  260. 
summons  to  the  British  to  surrender,  255. 
Delegates    elected   to   Continental    Congress, 
207. 

election  of,  to  provincial  congress  in  Christ 
Church  parish,  204. 
De  Lyon,  Levi  S.,  428.    . 
Denmark,  Adams  &  Adams,  431. 
Difficulties,  threatened,  between  Georgia  and 

South  Carolina,  105. 
Disagreements,  effects  of,  between  the  Liberty 

party  and  loyalists,  201. 
Disappointment  of  Americans  at  failure  to  cap- 
ture Savannah,  292. 
Disease,  tempest  and  tides  of  1854,  355. 
Dorsett,  Charles  H.,  biography  of,  615. 
du  Bignon,  Fleming  G.,  432,  608. 
Duncan,  Dr.  William,  450,  613. 
Dunn,  Dr.  Matthew  F.,  453. 
Duties,  feeling  over,  464. 

of  provincial  assembly,  149. 

I.-^IGHTBBNTH  Century,  close  of,  328. 
J     Elbert,  Hon.  Samuel,  death  of,  319. 
Elliott,  Dr.  William  H„  451. 
Ellis,  Governor,  arrival  of,  158. 
death  of,  168.. 

fitting  out  of  a  war  ship  by,  163. 
good  will  and  harmony  under  administra- 
tion of,  1 58. 
health  of,  affected  by  climate,  166. 
regrets  of  people  at  departure  of,  168. 
resignation  of,  167. 
English  Church  prestige  accorded  to,  161. 
forces  defending  Savannah,  282. 
garrison,  exaltation  of,  293. 
losses  at  siege  of  Savannah,  284. 
Equitable  Building  and  Loan  Association,  the 

491. 
E-;tates  purchased  for  Generals  Wayne  and 

Greene,  307. 
"Evening  Express,"  526. 
"  Evening  Journal,"  526. 
"Evening  Mirror,"  526. 
Estill,  Col.  John  H.,  562. 


646 


Index. 


Events,  stirring,  of  1777  and  1778,  236. 
Evergreen  Cemetery,  539. 
Excelsior  Loan  and  Savings  Company,  491. 
Exports  for  twenty  years  prior  to  civil  war, 
471. 

in  1773,  464. 

of  cotton  since  the  war,  473. 

IT'AITHFULNESS  of  Tomo-chi-ohi,  34. 

J_       False  charge  against  Savannah,  18. 

"  Familien  Journal,"  526. 

Female  Orphan  Asylum,  550. 

Fillmore,  President,  visit  of,  to  Savannah,  353. 

Financial  stringency,  effect  of,  caused  by  Caus- 

ton's  mismanagement,  102. 
Fire  of  1820,  destructive,  340  et  seq  460. 

of  November,  1796.  326. 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  506. 

provincial  assembly,  150. 
Fish,  Dr.  John  D.,441. 
Flag,  the  secession,  357. 
Flannery,  John,  biography  of,  596. 
Forces  engaged  in  defending  assault  on  Sa- 
vannah, 285. 
Forsyth  Park,  533. 
Fort  Argyle,  building  of,  45. 
Bartow,  364. 
Boggs,  365 
Brown,  365. 
McAllister,  364. 

account  of  capture  of,  by  Major  Ander- 
son, 377. 
account   of   final  siege   of,  by   Colonel 

Jones,  379.    . 
attack  upon,  371. 
final  capture  of,  by  Sherman,  377. 
lasfattack  upon,  372  et  seq. 
Mcintosh,  capture  of  236. 
Pulaski,  bombardment  of,  367. 
erection  of,  begun  in  1831,  347. 
incidents  of  siege  of,  370. 
occupation    of   by    Savannah   military 

companies,  360. 
summons  for  surrerder  of,  367. 
surrender  of,  368. 
troops  surrendered  at,  369. 
Fourth  of  July  toasts  in  1787.  326. 
Franci.o,  Dr.  John  Wakefield,  447. 
Franklin,   Benjamin,   services  of,  secured   by 

Georgia,  188. 
Franklin  Savings  and  Security  Company,  491. 
Eraser,  Wallace  W.,  433. 
Frederica,  61,  76,  78,  118,  140. 
Freedom,  growing  spirit  of,  196. 
Free  Masonry,  555. 


French  army   before   Savannah,  strength  of, 

281. 

assistance  and  its  results,  251. 

officers  killed,  and  wounded  at  assault  on 
Savannah,  285. 
Frost,  great,  of  1769,  187. 

GARRARD  &  MELDRIM,  433. 
General  Assembly  dissolved  by  Haber- 
sham, 196. 
Georgia,  a  body   politic   independent  of   the 
crown,  218. 

amounts   received  by,  from  royal  treas- 
ury, 209. 
Central  Railroad,  348. 

Col.  Stephens  made  president  of,  140. 
condition  of,  as  stated  by  Capt.  McCall, 

174. 
cost  of  maintaining  province  of,  in  1772, 

187. 
deplorable  condition  of,  at  close  of  Revo- 
lution, 307. 
division  of,  into  church  parishes,  159  et 

seq. 
division  of,  into  two  counties,  140. 
enmity  of  South  Carolina  towards,  on  ac- 
count of  Stamp  Act,  184. 
entire  coast  of,  open  to  the  British,  250. 
exhibit  of  productions  of,  from  1755  to 

1767,  187. 
fearful  condition  of,  after  fall  of  Savan- 
nah, 297. 
first  secession  convention  of,  215. 
"  Georgia  Gazette,"  516. 
"Georgia  Gazette"  in  1774,  201. 
Georgia  Historical  Society,  348,  528. 
Georgia,  marked  improvement  in  condition  of, 
186. 

pitiable   condition  of   sea-coast   of,  after 

D'Bstaing's  retreat,  294. 
planting  colony  of,  25. 
population  of,  in  1760,  167. 
population  of,  in  1774,  197. 
population  of,  in  1783,  308. 
rapidly  evincing  republicanism  in   1774, 
205. 
"  Georgia  Republican,"  516. 
Georgia,  re-establishment  of  government  of, 
308. 
troops  of,  at  beginning  of  Revolution,  233. 
universal  welcome  to  the  Declaration  of 

Independence  throughout,  235. 
Upper,  in  the  hands  of  the  Federals,  299. 
Germain,  Lord  George,  military  plans  of,  237. 
Glen,  Dr.  James,  438. 


Index. 


647 


Q-overnor  and  Council,  disagreements  between, 

192. 
Grand  Army  Post,  562. 
Graham,  Patricia,  appointed  president,  157. 
Grantees  of  lands,  56. 

schedule  of,  and  numbers  and  locations  of 
lots,  59. 
Grants,  conditions  of,  57. 
Greene,  General  Nathanael,  interment  of,  314. 
inability  to  locate  grave  of,  316. 
tradition  concerning  remains  of,  318. 
Greens,  the  Irish  Jasper,  416. 
Grover,'  William,    extraordinary   conduct   of, 

176. 
Guokenheimer,  Simon,  biography  of,  630. 
Guerard,  Captain  John  M.,  430. 
Gun  Clubs,  555. 

HABERSHAM,  Dr.  Joseph  C,  443  et  seq. 
Habersham.  James,  letter  of,  142. 
affihations  of,  195. 

as  acting  governor  during  Wright's  ab- 
sence, 194. 
his  argument  in  favor   of  importing  ne- 
groes, 144. 
statement  of  regarding  Stamp  Act,  184. 
Habersham,  Hon.  John,  death  of,  327. 
Harden,  Judge  Edward  J.,  430. 
Harden,  Judge  William  D.,  432. 
Harris  &  Habersham,  147. 
Harris,  Dr.  Raymond  B.,  452. 
Harris,  Dr.  Stephen  P.,  442. 
Hartridge,  Alfred  Lamar,  biography  of,  565. 
Hartridge,  Hon.  Julian,  431. 
Healthfulness  of  Savannah  endangered  by  rice 

culture,  173. 
Hebrew  Benevolent  Society,  the,  551. 

colonists,  acts  of  trustees  concerning  the, 
51  et  seq. 
Herbert,  Dr.  Henry,  17,21. 

first  clergyman,  492. 
Hibernian  Society,  the,  550. 
Highlanders,  arrival  of,  67. 
Hopkins,  punishment  of,  for  opposition  to  lib- 
erty, 213. 
Hopkins,  Sophia,  91  et  seq. 
Horrors  of   the   bombardment  of   Savannah, 

271. 
Horton,  General  William,  succeeds   to  com- 
mand of  Oglethorpe's  regiment,  119. 
Hospital,  Savannah,  552. 
Houstoun,  Dr.  J.-  P.  S.,  4.'i3. 
Howe,  retreat  of  General,  246. 

severe  criticism  of  General,  247. 
Hussars,  the  Georgia,  416. 


INCIDENTS,  interesting,  at  the  assaulf  upon 
Savannah,  287. 
Incomprehensibility  of  trustees'   land  tenure 

resolutions,  115, 
Independent  Presbyterian  Church,  500. 
Indian  delegates,  36. 
grave-mound,  319. 
friendship  of,  for  Oglethorpe,  30. 
intrigues  of,  with  the  French,  164. 
theory  of  prayer,  84. 
Wesley's  cathechism  of  the,  85. 
Industrial   Relief  Society  and  Home  for  the 

Friendless,  the,  551. 
Infantry,  Oglethorpe  Light,  416. 
Infirmary,  St.  Joseph's,  553. 

the  Georgia,  553. 
Important  enterprises,  inauguration  of,  348. 
Irvine,  Dr.  John,  437. 
Isle  of  Hope,  536. 
Italians,  arrival  of,  in  1733,  44. 

encouraging   success  of,  in   silk  culture, 
103. 

JACKSON,  Andrew,  day  of  mourning  for, 
348. 
Jackson,  General  Henry  R.,  430. 
James,  ship,  first  to  arrive  at  Savannah,  44,  45 

note. 
Jasper  Greens,  the,  in  the  Mexican  War,  349. 
Jasper,  monument  to,  288. 
Jasper  Mutual  Loan  Association,  the,  490. 
Jasper,  Sergeant,  death  of,  287. 
Jasper  Springs,  536. 

Jones,  Colonel  Charles  C,  biography  of,  585. 
Jones,  Dr.  Noble  W.,  437. 

elected  speaker  of  the  Lower  House,  1 93. 
Governor  Wright  refuses  to  saction  elec- 
tion of,  193. 
Jones,  Thomas,  100  et  seq. 
Johnson  square,  48. 

Judges,  fees  of,  at  close  of  Revolution,  421. 
Judicial  Act  of  1799,  part  taken  in  by  Savan- 
nah bar,  418. 

annals,  meagerness  of  early,  417. 
Jury,  first,  50. 

the  first  grand,  418. 
Justice,  success  in  administration  of.  425. 

KENT,  Captain  Richard,  118. 
King  George,  burial  of,  in  effigy  235. 
Knights  of  Pythias,  561. 
Knights  Templar,  559. 

LAFAYETTE,   house  occupied   by,  when 
visiting  Savannah,  347. 


648 


Index. 


LaFayette,  laying  of   corner-stone  of  monu- 
ments by,  347. 
visit  of,  342  et  seq. 
Landtenures,  enlargement  of,  114. 
Lands,  allotment  and  deeding  of,  54. 
Laurel  Grove  Cemetery  541. 
Lavrton,  G-en.  Alexander  R.,  430,  575. 
appointed  brigadier-general,  362. 
ordered  to  General  Lee,  371. 
Law  firms,  principal,  for   period  adjaeent  to 

1840,  428. 
Lawyers  of  fifty  years  ago,  429. 
Lee,  General  R.  E.,  arrival  of,  in  Savannah  in 

1861,  365. 
Legislation  affecting  Savannah,  309,  et  seq. 

lack  of,  during  Revolution,  219. 
Legislature,  acts   of   immediately   succeeding 

close  of  Revolution,  306  et  seq. 
Legislative     enactment      concerning      Christ 

Church,  159. 
Le  Hardy,  Dr.  J.  C,  451. 
Lester,  Colonel  Rufus  E.,  434. 
Lester,  Daniel  B.,  biography  of,  610. 
Lexington,  effect  of  the  news  from,  210. 
"  Liberty  Boys,"  toasts  of,  212. 
Liberty  county,  208. 
Liberty,'  new  spirit  of,  engendered,  185. 
Liberty  pole,  first  erected,  212. 
Library  Society,  Savannah,  527. 
Lighthouse,  first,  on  Tybee,  i59. 
Lincoln,  Dr.  Prank,  452. 
Little  Minnie  Mission,  553. 
Loan  Associations,  490. 
Lodges  Masonic,  560. 
Lovell,  Edward,  618. 
Lower  House,  opposition   and  aggression  of, 

193. 
Lutheran  Church,  499. 

"iY/ToCALL,   Captain,    letter   of,    concerning 
iVX     healthfulness  of  Georgia.  166. 

statement  of,  regarding  the  opposition  to 
the  committee  of  1774,  202. 
MacDonell,  Alex.  R.,  433. 
McDonough,  John  J.,  biography  of,  640. 
Mcintosh,  Colonel  James,  death  of,  350. 
MoMahon,  Captain  John,  biography  of,  570. 
Magistrates,  commissioning  of,  for  the  province 
119. 

dismissal  of,  113. 
Malatche,  fickleness  of,  127. 
Malcontents  forced  to  leave  the  province,  110. 

scurrilous  tract,  of  the,  110. 
Marlow,  Nicholas,  498. 
Martin,  Dr.  John  D.,  452. 


Mary  Telfair  Home,  the,  557. 

Masonic  lodges,  555  et  seq. 

Masons,  organization  of  Grand  Lodge  of,  313. 

Means,  Dr.  Alexander,  448. 

Medical  College,  453. 

Medical  Society,  455. 

Meeting   to  discuss  the  coercive  measures  of 

England,  197. 
Meldrim,  Peter  W.,  biography  of,  612. 
Mercer,  Col.  George  A.,  434,  567. 
Mercer  General  Hugh  W.,  371. 
Merchants'  and  Mechanics'  Loan  Association, 

491. 
Merchants'  National  Bank,  the,  489. 
Methodist  Church,  beginning  of,  in  America, 

88. 
Metropolitan  Savings  and  Loan  Company,  the, 

491. 
Military  operations    at   the   begining   of  the 

Revolution,  226  et  seq. 
Military  incidents  at  Port  Pulaski  in  1861,  360. 
Military  organizations: 

Chatham  Artillery,  390  et  seq. 
become  a  part  of   the  Pirst  Regiment, 

392. 
entrance  of,  into  the  Confederate  ser- 
vice, 392. 
escort  to  General  Washington,  390. 
first  public  service  of,  390. 
reorganization  of   after  the  civil  war, 

395  etseq. 
consolidation    of    companies   into    the 
First  Volunteer  Regiment,  407. 
First  Georgia  Regiment,  the,  388. 
Georgia  Hussars,  the,  416. 
German  Volunteers,  416. 
Independent  Volunteer  Battalion,  406. 
Irish  Jasper  Greens,  416. 
Oglethorpe  Light  Infantry,  the,  407,  416. 
Regiment,  roster  of  the  companies  of  the 

Pirst  Volunteer,  408. 
Regiment,  service  of  First  Volunteer,  409 
et  seq. 

representation  in,  of  colored  citizens, 
417. 
Republican  Blues,  416. 
Savannah  Cadets. 
Sav.  Vol.  G'ds,  Lafayette's  compliment  to 

the,  399. 
Savannah  Volunteer  Guards,  monuments 
erected  by,  405. 

muster  of,  into  the  Confederate  service 
400.  ' 

ordered  to  Virginia  under  Lee,  i02. 
organization  of,  397. 


iNDEJf. 


649 


Military  organizations : 

reorganization  of,  iO'i. 
roster  of  officers  of,  404. 
second  enlistment  of,  401. 
Military  spirit,  Olmstead's  account  of  the  early, 

388. 
Militia,  first  muster  of,  150. 
Millen,  John,  428. 

Mistakes  of  the  siege  of  Savannah,  291. 
Monroe,  President,  visit  of  at  Savannah,  337 

et  seq. 
Monuments,  542  et  seq. 

corner-stones  of,  laid  by  Lafayette,  317. 
Moore,  Francis,  account  of  early  courts  by,  420. 
Moravians,  arrival  of,  67. 
"  Morning  News,"  519. 
Musgrove,  Mary,  Coosaponakesee,  33. 

marries  Bosomworth,  122. 
Myers,  Dr.  Robert  P.,  449. 

NATIONAL  Bank  of  Savannah,  the,  489. 
Naval  stores,  trade  in,  473. 
Naval  engagement,  the  first,  226,  et  seq. 
Nevirspaper,  first,  516. 
Nitschman,  Moravian  bishop,  89. 
Non-importation  resolutions,  effect  of,  192. 

resolved  upon,  189. 
Norwood,  Thomas  M.,  431. 
Nunis,  Dr.,  436. 
Nunn,  Dr.  Richard  J.,  450. 

OATH  of  allegiance  to  King  G-eorge,,  249. 
Ocean  Steamship  Company,  485. 
Odd  Fellows,  561. 

Oglethorpe,  Governor,  17-29,  31,  33-40,  44, 
45,  47-49,  51,  53-55,  61,  63-66,  69-70, 
76-84,  99-102,  105-111,  113,  115-119, 
122,  127-129,  131,  140,  147,  389. 
account  of  visit  of  South  Carolinians  to, 
■  27. 
action  of,  relative  to  Israelite  colonists, 

53. 
address  of,  on  declaration  of  war  between 

England  and  Spain,  115. 
advanced  to  rank  of  colonel,  106. 
aid  extended  by,  105. 
and  Charles  Wesley,  79. 
and  the  Hebrew  Colonists,  51,  53. 
and  the  Indians,  meeting  of,  35. 
arrival  of,  at  Charlestown,  19. 
call   of,  for   convocation  of   colonists   to 

form  village,  47. 
club,  the,  554. 

dealings  of,  with  the  Indians,  30. 
delegation  of  powers  to  others  by,  49. 


Oglethorpe,  dififerences  between,  and  Charles 
Wesley,  78. 
extension  of  military  posts  by,  45, 
first  letter  of,  to  trustees,  23. 
fitness  of,  for  the  head  of  the  colony,  18. 
informs  trustees  of  efiect  of  their  reply  to  ■ 

colonists'  petition,  113. 
justice  of,  106. 
letter  of,  25,  26. 

letter  of,  on  the  slavery  question,  109. 
letters  of,  on  the  introduction  of  slaves, 

108  et  seq. 
Light  Infantry  the  first  in  the  field,  362. 
measures  of,  for  retrenchment,  102. 
methods  of  maintaining  his  influence  over 

the  Indians,  31. 
orders  citizens  to  do  police  duty,  116, 
part  taken  by,  in  the  Causton  afiair,  100 

et  seq. 
peaceful  relations  with  Indians  due  to,  44. 
preparations  of,  for  final  return  to  Eng- 
land,  118. 
promotion  of,  106. 
protest  of,  against  change  of  land  tenures, 

109. 
return  of,  from  second  trip  to  England, 

107. 
Savings  and  Trust  Company,  the,  490. 
second  visit  to  England,  99. 
takes  Tomo-chi-chi  and  other  Indians  to 

England,  64. 
to  originator  of  the  colonization  of  Geor- 
gia, 18. 
to  the  trustees  on  financial  needs,  103  et 

seq. 
treatment  of  Indians  by,  30. 
visits  England,  64. 
visit  of,  to  Charlestown,  29. 
visit  of,  to  limits  of  province,  61. 
Olmstead,  Charles  H.,  biography  of,  620. 
Opposition  to  celebration  of  the  King's  birth- 
day, 212. 
Orphan  house,  first  collection  for,  134. 

routine  of,  136. 
Order,  memorable,  of  Governor  Brown  to  Col- 
onel Lawton,  358. 
Outposts,  extension  of,  45. 
Owens,  Dr.  W.  W.,  453. 

PARKER,  Henry,  appointed  president,  148. 
succeeds  Stephens,  141. 
Parliament,  acts  of,  declared  unconstitutional 

at  meeting  of  merchants  in  1769,  189. 
Parties,  the  two,  count  noses,  203. 
Penfield  Mariner's  Church,  510. 


6so 


Index. 


Physicians  deceased  since  1850,  444. 
Pinokney,  &eneral,   plans  of,  for   defense  of 
Savannah,  333. 
letter  of,  289  note. 
Polk,  President,  visit  of,  to  Savannah,  351. 
Poorhouse  and  Hospital  Society,  the,  552. 
Population  of  Georgia  in  1774,  197. 
Portrait  of  Tomo-chi-ohi,  33. 
Port  Royal,  efifect  of  bombardment  of,  in  Sa- 
vannah. 365. 
Posey,  Dr.  John  P.,  443. 
Powder,  large  amount  of,  captured  by  citizens 

of  Savannah,  214. 
President  and  assistants  of  Savannah  appoint- 
ed for  entire  colony,  118. 
Prevost's  disposition  of  his  troops,  263. 
general  order  of,  264. 
refusal  of,  to  permit  General  Mcintosh's 

family  to  leave  Savannah,  266. 
reply  of,  to  D'Estaing's  summons  to  sur- 
render, 256. 
temporizing  successfully,  259. 
Priber,  Christian,  frustration  of  scheme  of,  122. 
Proclamations  of  Colonel  Campbell  and  Sir 

Hyde  Parker,  249. 
Province,  serious  condition  of,  in  1772,  196. 
Provincial  Assembly,  149. 

congress,  adjournment  of,  207. 
of  1775  at  Savannah,  204,  214. 
of  1776,  221. 
reading  of  Declaration  of  Independence 

before,  234. 
resolutions  of,  submitted  to  General  As- 
sembly, 206. 
Provisions  of  temporary  constitutions  of  1776, 

222  et  seq. 
Public  buildings,  account  of,  in  1738,  420. 
roads  about  1764,  175. 
Thanksgiving,  day  of,  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernor Wright,  295. 
Pulaski,  fatally  wounded,  279. 
Pulaski  Loan  Association,  491. 
Pulaski,  monument  to,  288. 
Puritan    element,   effect  of,   in  the   rebellion 

movement,  208. 
Purse,  Daniel  G.,  biography  of,  634. 

EAILROAD  Loan  Association,  the,  490. 
Read,  Dr.  J.  Bond,  449. 
Rebellion,  spirit  of,    exhibited  on  announce- 
ment of  Stamp  Act,  177. 
Regiment,  First,  363. 
Religious  efforts  of  the  Wesleys,  493. 
Noted,  leaders,  494. 
opinions,  83. 


"  Republican  and  Savannah  Evening  Ledger, 

The,"  516. 
Republican  council  of  safety,  216. 
Resolutions  against  importations,  190  et  seq. 
of  city  council,  bestowing  thanks  for  serv- 
ices during  epidemic  of  1854,  355. 
of  condemnation  aga'pnst  importers,  190. 
of  council  of  safety  relative  to  vessels  sail- 
ing from  Savannah,  224. 
of  council  upon  American  naval  victories, 

335. 
of  delegates  to  Continental  Congress,  215. 
of  provincial  congress    thanking    South 

Carolina  troops,  232. 
recommending  association  of  Georgia  with 

other  colonies,  212. 
of  the  committee  of  1774,  199. 
of  the  Lower  House  relation  to  Dr.  Jones, 

193. 
to     encourage    American    Manufactures, 

190. 
upon  death  of  General  Greene,  316. 
Retaliatory  acts  of  royalist  assembly,  297. 
Reward  for  Georgia  committee  and  assembly 

men,  249. 
Reynolds,    Governor,   administration  of,    not 
provocative  of  peace,  158. 
arrival  of,  153. 
earliest    impressions   of,    concerning   the 

province,  154. 
inauguration  of  administration  of,  154. 
military  enterprise  of,  156. 
proposal  of  to  estabhsh  capitol  at  Hard- 
wick,  155. 
Richards,  R.  R.  434. 
Richardson,  Dr.  Cosmo  P.,  442. 
Rioting  on  account  of  Stamp  Act,  177. 
River  obstructions,  477. 
Royalist  party,  strength  and  influence  of,  201. 

plundering  and  stealing  by,  306. 
Rum,  abrogation  of  laws  against  introduction 
of,  145. 

ST.  ANDREWS  Society,  549. 
St.  Augustine,  General  Lee's  plan  to  cap- 
ture, 235. 
St.  John's  Church,  497. 

St.  John's  parish  faithful  to  the  liberty  cause, 
203. 

firmness  of,  207. 
the  head  of  the  Rebellion,  208. 
St.  Patrick's  parish,  509. 
Saltzburgers,  colony  of,  62. 

location  assigned  to,  64. 
Saussy,  J.  R.,  432. 


Index. 


6s  I 


Savannah,  account  of  evacuation  of,  in  "  His- 
torical Record,"  381. 

act  incorporating,  as  a  city,  311. 

American  loss  at  capture  of,  246. 

arrival  of  General  Sherman  in,  383. 

arrival  of  first  ship  at,  45  note. 

assault  upon,  October  9,  1779,  275. 

attack  upon  by  British,  237  et  seq. 

attention  received  by,  from  General  As- 
.sembly,  162. 

banks  of,  488  et  seq. 

bar  of,  435. 

Board  of  Trade,  478. 

breaking  up  of  aUied  camp  before,  290. 

British  proclamation  at  248. 

capture  and  occupation  of,  by  the  British 
245. 

capture  of  vessel  in  harbor  of,  by  patri- 
ots, 213. 

celebration  of  ratification  of  treaty  of 
peace  of  1815  at,  337. 

churches  of,  492  et  seq. 

commercial  history  of,  457. 

condition  of,  under  Habersham's  rule,  195. 

convention  at  to  discuss  the  Stamp  Act, 
176. 

Count  D'Estaing's  siege  of,  252  et  seq. 

county.  Col.  Stephens  made  president  of, 
140. 

convocation  for  the  formation  of  the  vil- 
lage of,  47. 

damages  to  by  bombardment,  296. 

dearth  of  historic  events  in,  up  to  1812, 
332. 

defeat  of  allies  at  the  siege  of,  280. 

defeat  of  the  Americans  at,  244  et  seq. 

description  of  by  Moore,  69  et  seq. 

destructive  fire  in,  in  1820,  340. 

details  of  attack  upon,  240. 

details  of  siege  of,  264  et  seq. 

disastrous  fire  in,  in  1820,  469. 

division  of,  into  wards,  310. 

early  description  of,  27. 

earl3'  legislation  affecting,  309. 

early  military  spirit  in,  388  et  seq. 

early  steamboat  lines  of,  467. 

early  vineyard  at,  120. 

effect  of  repeal  of  Stamp  Act  at,  185. 

efforts  to  remove  State  capitol  from,  461. 

evacuation  of,  304. 

evacuation  of,  ordered  by  Sir  Guy  Carle- 
ton,  302. 

evacuation  of,  under  General  Hardee,  380. 

exports  from,  in  1773,  464. 

exodus  of  royalists  from,  305. 


Savannah,  first  century  of  commercial  historv 
of,  470. 

first  foreign  shipment  of  cotton  from,  462. 

first  newspaper  in,  516. 

first  Sea  Island  cotton  raised  near  466. 

first  seal  of,  332. 

first  use  of  steam  in,  as  an   aid  to  com- 
merce, 467. 

fortifications  of,  attention  directed   to  in 
1760, 171. 

General  Howe's  blunder  at   defense  of, 
241. 

General   Moultrie's   censure   of   General 
Howe,  relative  to  defense  of,  242. 

generous  aid  of  South  Carolinians  to  first 
settlers  of,  25. 

Georgia  Medical  Society  of,  455 

great  fire  in,  in  1865,  386. 

great  loss  at,  assault  upon,  280. 

growth  of  commerce  of,  at  end  of  second 
decade  of  present  century,  469. 

healthfulness  of,  affected  by  rice  culture, 
173. 

hospital,  552. 

Howe's  line  of  battle  at,  243. 

importation  of  ice  in,  469. 

in  1800,  467. 

in  1760,  170. 

introduction  of  the  cotton  gin  in,  466. 

investment  of  by  the  Federal  forces,  366. 

investment  of  by  Sherman's  army,  376. 

isolated  situation  of,  during  the  War  of 
the  Revolution,  250. 

lack  of  manufactures  in,  478. 

leading  citizens  of,  publish  protest  against 
resolutions  of  committee  of  1774,  201. 

Library  Society,  527. 

Lord  Germain's  plan  of  attack  upon,  237. 

measures  for  defense  of,  in  1812,  333. 

Medical  College,  453. 

military  companies  of,  at  besinning   of 
"War  of  1812,  334. 

military  companies  of,  in  1860,  358. 

military  organizations  of,  .388  et  seq. 

military  protection  afforded  to  by  South 
Carolina,  24. 

military  works  around,  in  the  civil  war 
363  et  seq. 

named  as  seat  of  provincial  congress,  204. 

naming  of  wards,  streets  and  squares  of 
by  Oglethorpe,  47. 

Oglethorpe's    dreams  of  commercial   su- 
premacy of,  458. 

Oglethorpe's  efforts  to  develop  the  com- 
merce of,  458, 


6S2 


Index. 


Savannah,  order  of  attack  by  Lincoln  at  siege 
of,  272. 

order  of  battle  at  defense  of,  241. 

outrages  by  British  at,  247. 

plans  of  citizens  of,  for  defense,  370. 

plantations  in  vicinity  of,  in  1733,  46. 

population  of,    at   beginning   of   present 
century,  330. 

population  of,  in  1760,  462 

powder  magazine  at,  broken  open  by  rev- 
olutionists, 210. 

proclamation  of  mayor,   on  approach  of 
Sherman's  army,  375. 

progress  of  from  1855,  356. 

prominence  of  delegates  from  in  the  Amer- 
ican Congress,  182. 

real  beginning  of  the  commerce  of,  460. 

reason  for  not  attempting   recapture  of, 
by  Republicans,  299. 

record  of  first  day's  bombardment  of,  267. 

release  of  military  restrictions   upon,  at 
close  of  the  war,  388. 

resolutions  of  submission  after  surrender 
of,  385. 

salaries  of  city  officials  of  in  1801,  331. 

school  advantages  prior  to  the  Revolution, 
513. 

Sherman's  demand  for  surrender  of,  and 
Hardee's  reply,  380. 

Sherman's  general  order  upon  occupation 
of,  383. 

siege  of,  as  related  by  Colonel  Jones,  376. 

slow  commercial  growth  of,  461. 

sufi'ered  from  attempted  removal  of  seat 
of  government  to  Hardwick,  172. 

sympathy  of,  with  patriots  in  New  Eng- 
land, 211. 

the  objective  point  of  Sherman's  march, 
375. 

topographical  and  natural  characteristics 
of  site  of,  20. 

vineyard  in  colonial  days.  120. 

visit  of  Aaron  Burr  to.  .3-31. 

visit  of  Lafayette  at,  342. 

visit  of  President  Munroe  at,  337. 

visit  of  Washington  to,  321  et  seq. 

yellow  fever  in,  in  1820,  341,  469. 
Savannah  and  Tybee  Railroad  Company,  488. 
Savannah  Bank  and  Trust  Company,  the  489. 
"  Savannah  Daily  Courier,"  526. 
"  Savannah  Daily  Times,"  525. 
Savannah,  Florida  and  Western  Railway,  486. 
"Savannah  Georgian,"  518. 
"  Savannah  Independent  and    Brotherhood," 
527. 


"  Savannah  Local,"  526. 
"Savannah  Museum,"  519. 
Savannah,  the  first  steamboat,  468. 
"  Savannah  Tribune,"  527. 
Saw-mills,  absence  of,  29. 
Schools  and  academies,  511  et  seq. 

private,  515. 
School  teachers,  early,  512. 
Screven,  Dr.  James  P.,  438. 
Screven,  John,622. 
Seal,  public,  adopted,  153. 
Secession,  effect  of  announcement  of,  357. 

ordinance  of,  result  of  adoption  of,  361. 
Secret  societies,  miscellaneous,  561. 
Sense  of  curiosity  experienced   by  G-overnor 

Wright,  297. 
Sherman's,  General,  march  from  Atlanta,  375 

order  sending  families  of  Confederate  of- 
ficers out  of  the  city,  387. 
Shipping,  statistics  of,  478. 
Siege  of  Savannah  resolved  upon,  261. 
Silk  culture  and  wine  producing,  disappoint- 
ment in,  120. 

culture,  458,  460,  463. 

first  result  of  culture  of,  67. 

production,  failure  of,  187. 
Slavery,  admission   of,  a  question  of   policy, 
113. 

and  rum,  66. 

believed  to  be  politic,  142. 

evasions  by  Colonists  to  introduce,   143. 

excitement  over  introduction  of,  144. 

introduction  of,  145. 

necessity  for,  113. 

Oglethorpe's  protest  against,  109. 

the  exclusion  of,  detrimental  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  colony,  113. 

the  question  of  the  introduction  of,  108. 
Slaves  owned  by  governor  and  council,  192. 

purchases  of,  openly  made,  143. 
Smith,  Dr.  Thomas,  446. 

SociSte  Francaise  de  Bienfaisance  de  Savan- 
nah, Ga.,  552. 
Solicitor-generals,  435. 
"Sons  of  Liberty,"  204. 

first  engagement  between,  and  the  King's 
troop.'!,  224. 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  threatened  inter- 
ruption of  friendly  relations  between,  105. 

troops  at  Savannah  in  1776,  231. 
Southern  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  the, 

489. 
Southern  Mutual  Loan  Association,  491. 
Spain  and  Bngl,and,  war  between,  115. 
Spaniards,  25,  32,  82,  117. 


Index. 


653 


Stamp   act,  calm   succeeding   repeal  of,  only 
temporary,  186. 

effect  of,  176. 
Stamp  duties,  opposition  to,  188. 
Standard  Club,  the,  554. 
Starr,  Dr.  E.  P.,  446. 
State  Capitol  removed  to  Augusta,  313. 

government,  first  steps  towards,  235. 

records  removed  for  safety,  238. 
Statistics  of  exports  and  imports,  475. 
Steamship,  the  first,  sent  across  the  Atlantic, 

468. 
Stephens,  Colonel  William,  102. 

appointed  president  of  Savannah,  118. 
.  death  of,  141. 

extract  from  journal  of,  120. 

made  president,  140. 

speech  of,  to  Indians  deceived  by  Bosom- 
v^orth,  128. 

succeeds  Oglethorpe,  119. 

trustees  directions  to,  119. 
Streets  and  wards,  establishment  of,  48  et  seq. 
Stone,  Dr.  George  H.,  453. 
Storm  of  1854,  355. 

of  September,  1804,  331. 
Sufferings  of  the  French  navy  at  siege  of  Sa- 
vannah, 265. 
Sunbury,  importance  of,  175. 
Sunday-school,  the  first,  493. 
Superior  Court  jiidges,  434. 
Surrender  of  Fort  Pulaski,  terms  of,  368. 

of  Savannah  302. 


TAILFER,  Dr.  Patrick,  110,  436. 
and  companions  leave  the  colony,  113. 
chief  of  malcontents,  1 1 0. 
Taylor,  Zachary,  death  of,  352. 
Telfair  Academy  of  arts  and  sciences,  533. 
Telfair  Hospital  the,  553. 
Thomas,  Daniel  R.,  biography  of,  594. 
Thomas,  Dr.  James  G-.,  447. 
Thunderbolt,  536. 

Title  Guarantee  and  Loan  Company  of  Savan- 
nah, the.  490. 
Toasts  at  the  banquet  given  President  Monroe, 

338. 
Tomo-chi-chi  and  Wesley,  83. 

beneficial  results  oE  visit  of,  to  London, 

65. 
concerning  monument  to,  117. 
death  of,  116. 

first  visit  of  Oglethorpe  to,  20. 
gratitude  due,  34. 
idea  of  Christianity,  83. 


Tomo-chi-chi,    letter    describing    death    and 
funeral  services  of,  116. 

influence  of,  in  securing  friendship  of  oth- 
er Indians,  34. 
sketch  of,  31,  et  seq. 
Trade,  growth  of  naval  stores,  474. 
rice  and  lumber,  474. 
the  fertilizer,  474. 
the  fruit  and  vegetable,  475. 
Treaty  between  Oglethorpe  and  Indians,  text 
of,  40  et  seq. 
boundaries,  39. 
of  1733,  influence  of,  upon  other  tribes, 

43. 
of  Oglethorpe  and  Indians,  ratification  of, 

39  note, 
pacific  relations  established  by,  43. 
with  Indians,  consummation  of,  39. 
Trial,  the  first  notable,  419. 
Trinity  Methodist  Church,  508. 
Troops,  landing  of  British,  before  Savannah, 

239. 
Truce  granted  before  Savannah.  257. , 
Trustees    approve    Habersham's  suggestions, 
142. 

care  and  prudence  of,  and  administration 

of  colonial  affairs,  147. 
extracts  from  journal  of,  relative  to  He- 
brew colonists,  52  et  seq, 
forced   to    admit    slavery    and    distilled 

liquors,  145. 
obdurate  against  introduction  of  slavery, 

142. 
original  deed  of,  54. 
reply  of,  to  petition  of  colonists,  111. 
surrender  their  charter,  151. 
timely  financial  relief  to,  62. 
Turn  Verein  Club,  the  Savannah,  554. 
Tybee  Island,  535. 
light-house,  172. 
occupation  of,  by  the  Federals,  367. 


u 


NION  Society,  547. 


VESSELS  captured  by  the  French  before 
Savannah,  290. 
of  war  under  D'Estaing,  291. 
Vigilance  committee,  powers  of,  336. 
Villages,  establishment  of,  45 

laying  out  of,  45. 
Visit  of  Washington  to  Savannah,  graphic  ac- 
count of,  323  et  seq. 


654 


Index. 


Volunteers,  the  German,  416. 
Von  Reck,   Baron,   impressions  of,  of  Savan- 
nah, 63. 


WARING,  Dr.  J.  J.,  444. 
Waring,  Dr.  W.  R.,  438. 
Washington's  visit  to  Savannah,  321  et  seq. 
Wayne,  General,  general  order  of,  304. 

investment  of  Savannah  by,  301. 

sent  to  Georgia,  300. 

terms  of  surrender  oiFered   to  British  at 
Savannah,  303. 
Webster,  Daniel,  visit  of,  to  Savannah,  350. 
Wesleys,  arrival  of  the,  6^. 
Wesley,   Charles,   animosity    of   colonists   to- 
wards, 78. 

departure  of  for  London,  81. 

failure  of,  aa  a  business  man,  77. 

private  secretary  to  Oglethorpe,  76. 

resignation  of,  82. 

statement  of  his  reconciliation  with  Ogle- 
thorpe, 80. 
Wesley,  John,  abrupt  and  notorious  conclusion 
of  services  of,  91  et  seq. 

and  Charles,  492. 

and  Tomo-chi-chi,  82. 

and  Tomo-chi-chi  dine  with  Oglethorpe. 
83. 

arrival  of,  at  Savannah,  82. 

charges  against,  94. 

conference  between,   and   Indian  chiefs, 
85  et  seq. 

criticisms  of,  89. 

decides  to  return  to  England,  96. 

detention  of,  97. 

final  departure  of,  98. 

findings  of  grand  jury  in  case  of,  95. 

first  impressions  of,  of  Savannah,  87. 

his  intolerance,  89. 

his  services,  88. 

loss  of  influence  and  power  by,  90. 

warrant  of  arrest  for,  92. 

unclerical  steps  of,  90. 
Wesleys,  the,  as  school  teachers,  512. 
West,  Charles  N.,  432. 
Workingmen's  Benevolent   Association,   the, 

552. 
Workingmen's   Literary  and  Relief  Associa- 
tion, the,  554. 
Workman's  and   Traders'  Loan  and  Building 

Association,  the,  492. 
Worth  of  Highlander  colonists,  68. 
Wharfage  rates  in  1774,  464. 
Whatley,  J.  L.,  433. 


White,  Rev.  George,  514. 

Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  arrival  of,  494. 

as  school-teacher,  512. 

Bethesda  Orphan  House  the  outcome  of 
efforts  of,  130  et  seq. 

death  of,  x38. 

energy  and  labors  of,  134. 

financial  difficulties  of,  135. 

grant  of  land  to,  for  orphans'  home,  135. 

his  argument  in  favor  of  importing  ne- 
groes, 144. 

in  favor  slavery,  132. 

journeys  to  England,  133. 

labors  of,  to  establish  orphans'  home,  132 
et  que. 

conduct  of,  approved  by  the  king,  185. 

contradictory  accounts  sent  by,  to  Eng- 
land, 298. 

efforts  of,  to  suppress  provincial  congress, 
205. 

endeavors   of,  to  quell   excitement   over 
Stamp  Act,  179. 

escape  of,  220. 

failure  of,  to  enforce  Stamp  Act,  183. 

faithful  to  loyal  cause,  170. 

fitness  of,  for  position,  169. 

goes  on  leave  of  absence  to  England  in 
1771,  194. 

inability  of,  to  control  the  "  Liberty  peo- 
ple," 216. 

lamentations  of,  216. 

letter  of,  after  his  escape,  221. 

letters  to,  from  John  Wesley,  131. 

loyalty  of,  to  home  government,  183. 

merits  of  administration  of,  209. 

military  force  of  Georgia  at  inception  of 
administration  of,  170. 

offers  reward  for  despoilers  of  the  pow- 
der magazine,  211. 

perseverance  of,  in  building  defenses  for 
Savannah,  298. 

personality  of,  131. 

pitiable  phght  of,  217. 

return  of,  in  1773,  196. 

return  of,  in  July,  1779,  250. 

satisfaction  of,  at  refusal   to  opno'sp  the 
Stamp  Act.  176.  ^ 

second  letter  of,  to  Secretary   Conwav 
181.  ^' 

severe  measures  of,  against  rebel  inhabi- 
tants of  Savannah,  295. 

statement  of,  relative  to  military   force 
180. 

statement  of,  relative  to  stamped  papers 
178.  ' 


Index. 


655 


Whitefleld,  stormy  administration  of,  169. 

Wright,  arrest  of,  219. 

strenuous  exertions  of,  to  overcome  ris- 

arrival of,  167. 

ing  sentiment  for  freedom,  202. 

communication  of,  to  Secretary  Oonway, 

want  of  prudence  of,  137. 

177. 

will  of,  138. 

Widows'  Society,  the  Savannah,  551. 

Williams,  Robert,  land  agitator,  109. 

VTAOHT  Club,  the  Savannah,  555. 
X      Yamacraws,  33. 

Wine  producing  and  silk  culture,  disappoint- 

ment in,  120. 

Yellow  fever,  341. 

Wright,  Governor,  alarm  of,  at  action  of  com- 

in 1820,  469. 

mittee,  198. 

in  1854,  354. 

Wright  adjourns  the  General  Assembly  to  pre- 

in 1854,  labors  of  physicians  during  the. 

vent  action  on  resolutions  of  provincial 

443. 

congress,  206. 

Young,  Dr.  Thomas,  biography  of,  437.